Depressing articles about how dieting do not work

kommodevaran wrote: »

Diets work great, for the diet industry! "Diets" as in fad diets, or temporary diets, don't work for dieters - you lose, but regain. Dieting, as in eating less, but sustainably, to lose weight, works. Your diet is also just what you eat. If you eat like a fat person, you become and stay a fat person. If you eat like a normal weight person, you become and stay a normal weight person. I was overweight for many years, lost and regained a couple of times, at one point I was slightly obese. Then I decided to lose weight, again, but also to lose the lifestyle that made me overweight. It worked. I eat, move and think like "we" did in the 50's, and my body is how it would have been all the time, if this was the 50's.
There's always a kernel of truth in these articles, and yes, you have to eat less to weigh less, but you' renot going to eat less than a person of the same size that has never dieted - it may feel that way, because a person who is, or has been, overweight, tend to underestimate food intake. If set point theory was a thing, your weight would set, not go up, and it would'n find a "new set point". It's all about behavior, and most of us like better to eat than to move.

I'm just going to give you an unsolicited heads-up: What you are trying to do now, is to put yourself off the foods you love. It doesn't work. Telling yourself how weird sugar tastes and how much you love broccoli, only works for a short while, sooner or later temptation will strike, and you will fall for it, and if you think that those foods are better avoided completely, a lick will mea that you've failed, so you can just as well eat the whole bag and get it over with, after all this is the last time, ever, it just has to be.

As I am sure you know @kommodevaran , I think you're one of the most insightful, common sense, and accurate posters in the forums these days. And i agree with 90% of your post. However I do not agree with the bolded and there is a preponderance of studies that point to some degree of impact from having dieted to reach a lower weight. THIS DOES NOT MAKE dieting a BAD IDEA for people who need to engage in the practice. But it does mean that creating huge deficits with no regard to preparing for maintenance is NOT a great idea. The rest of your advice, including your heads up, is on point, as usual, of course

maillemaker wrote: »

Here's the harsh reality:
Once you have gained weight, it is pretty much irreversible health damage for most people.

People who are able to lose the weight and keep it off have one common trait: They make weight loss/maintenance their life-long single most important focus.

There is lots of real science now that indicates that the human body acts defensively to protect fat stores. Body fat produces the hormone Leptin, which our bodies use as a proxy for measuring how much fat we have. The more fat you have, the more Leptin you have. And when our bodies detect lowered Leptin levels, they respond with a host of physiological responses designed to restore fat (and thus Leptin) levels back to their previous "high water mark". Among these responses are increased sensations of hunger, increased feelings of cold, menstrual irregularity, and an increase in skeletal muscle efficiency of about 20% which results in an overall reduction in metabolism of about 10-15%.

Initial indications were that these symptoms persisted indefinitely. New research indicates that after approximately one year of maintenance the body may "reset" to the new fat store levels.

Currently the only known mechanism to force an immediate reset of these body responses is bariatric surgery.

In order to persevere and succeed with weight loss, you have to endure that discomfort for however many years it takes to lose the weight and achieve your maintenance weight, and then you have to continue to endure it for a year after that.

If you are 100 pounds overweight, you are looking at at least 2 years of weight loss plus an additional year of maintenance before you body might stop rebelling against the weight loss.

Most people are unable to stick it out that long, and this is why the majority of people who attempt weight loss fail at it long term.

It can be done - lots of people do it. You have to make a multi-year commitment to it.

I would like to know why @maillemaker is getting a multitude of woos on the above, except perhaps for the part where there is new evidence about reversal at the one year mark which I would love to see as most of the past studies I've looked at indicated longer term impingement absent persistent weight regain. OK, and maybe 'cause increased muscle efficiency is not the only cause for adaptive thermogenesis.

Knowing that there is a price to pay to achieve something does not mean that the goal is not worthwhile.
Knowing the dangers is one of the few ways you can attempt to mitigate them.

For example, knowing all this you might decide to stack the deck to your advantage and achieve your weight loss using reasonable caloric deficits of the order of 20% or less when normal weight or overweight and no more than 25% while obese and structure the deficits such that 50% come from restricting caloric intake and 50% come from increases in activity and exercise. You might do all that while eating relatively high protein at 2x RDA and while engaging in a structured strength training program (assuming your health and temperament permit you to). And you might decide to take your time to achieve all this and make multiple small gradual changes that build on each other and go into it with the expectation that you will have to manage your weight and health long term.... and then you just might surprise yourself with your success.*

*does not mean that there are no other avenues to success. This is what I decided to do (well, except for my total lack of ability to commit to a strength training program). You do you

One thing's for sure: I've yet to find the "fire and forget" success stories!

Congratulations on your decision to use MFP. It works. I lost the weight I wanted to and am successfully maintaining at that goal weight. There’s a lot of misinformation that says you can’t lose weight, improve your skin, orgasm after you turn 60, please a man unless you do (fill in the blank), or retire comfortably unless you have $2.5 million in the bank. It’s too bad there are so many sources that purport to “prove” why we can’t succeed in life. Sometimes you just have to laugh it off. Keep doing what you’ve started. Prove the idiots wrong!