Can you lose weight and keep it off? Well, the research states potentially not. Only
5% of people who lose weight due to exercise and dieting regimens able to
keep that weight off over a period of time. So what does this mean for the
other 95% of us? Is dieting futile and why is it so hard to manage our weight?
To discuss this in more detail and look at some tactics for maintaining weight
loss I'm going to discuss this with Dr. Gina Cleo. Dr. Gina is a registered
dietitian, a nutritionist, and has spent years investigating and studying the
science underlying weight loss and weight management.
Gina, thanks so much for coming here today. Thanks Christian, it's great to be
here. Most people get heavier with age, and we
hear a lot about diets and exercise regimens as a way to successfully lose
weight, but research shows that most people simply return to their original
size. The status quo therefore, is to put any weight you lose back on again. So
Gina why is it so hard to maintain weight loss over a period of time? This
is definitely the most frustrating part of any weight loss journey and we we
find that ninety-five percent of people who lose weight will then regain that
weight again so it can be such a difficult journey and we do know
though that the majority of people who are regaining that weight are just
simply eating too much for what their body needs and we often think that it's
a lack of willpower or motivation but there are actually a number of
physiological effects that take place in the body when we lose weight. So what are
these internal effects? So our body has a predefined level of fat stores. It's
what it calls the set point or the ideal point. So when we lose weight we also
stimulate a series of physiological responses which are designed to get us
back to this ideal weight, that's the weight that our bodies like, and so what
happens is we have an increase in our hunger hormones and a decrease in the
hormones that make us feel full. So straight away we're losing weight but
we're actually getting hungrier so we eat more and then we regain that weight
again. The science behind this is patchy, a little bit contradictory, but
when we lose weight it seems like the fat cells don't necessarily die off. They
simply shrink in size, and so when we're dieting we look thinner but it's very
easy then to refill those with fat, that when we get off our health regimen or we
stop dieting they can very easily refill. Now one thing that I find when I
exercise a lot is that I feel like I've deserved it and I'm more likely to eat a
lot more junk food or extra portions of food is this just me or is this a common
phenomenon. No you are definitely not alone this is a very common thing that I
see and I've actually called this the "Halo Effect"
so we exercise and then we feel like, Yes, I've deserved to have extra
food or food that I wouldn't normally be eating, and we also really overestimate
how many calories we burn during a workout so in one study for example the
participants had lost between 2 and 300 calories during their workout but when
they were asked how many calories they think they burnt they estimated about
800 calories and so as a consequence we're overcompensating and eating a lot
more than they need it to what about motivation yay another factor with
weight regain is absolutely motivation so when we're losing weight we might
seek the advice of it say a dietician or a health coach for example but we don't
continue consulting them when we're just maintaining the weight you know we've
we've achieved our goal and we've lost our weight and so then we stopped seeing
those health professionals and so we lose the accountability and we lose that
support system and therefore we're not as motivated to maintain the weight does
self control then have anything to do with us absolutely actually self-control
is one of the main reasons that people regain their weight so think of
self-control like a muscle and the more you use it the more exhausted that it
gets and self-control is a resource that depletes throughout the day and any
stressful type of situation can deplete your self-control
it could be bad traffic a difficult exam or an argument that you had with someone
for example so as your self-control to please you have less of it to then be on
a really strict diet or exercise regimen and so you just throw your hands up in
the air and go oh just I don't want to do this anymore and you end up eating
whatever you can reach for. So the focus seems to be consistently on dieting
whereas actually having a long term plan for health weight maintenance after you
lose that weight is just or even more important. What do you recommend then as
a way to maintain any weight loss? I always recommend that people look at
changing their habits rather than depending on their self-control so
habits are the things that you do automatically in your day that you're
not completely conscious of so that could be
things like brushing your teeth or tying your shoelace putting your seat button
in the car you know the things that you do automatically so we form habits by
firstly making small manageable changes and that could be something that I would
say do something so small that you can't say no to doing it and then repeating
those until they become like second nature that you don't even have to
really consciously think about doing them anymore so by making habits that
burn calories or habits that help you with that weight loss it then removes
the self-control the motivation of always having to do something. Thank You
Gina, I really appreciate you coming, it has been very helpful. Thanks for
having me it's been great to be here. Now that was meant to be the end of the
video but as I was editing and listening to what Gina was saying I had a couple
of extra questions about some tips and tactics that she recommended to maintain
that weight loss over a period of time and learn two other things that I'd love
to keep discussing in more detail. So I asked her to come back and talk with us
again. So Gina, the big worry is if dieting
isn't working for that many people even 95% of people are going to simply put that
weight back on again then is dieting a sham? What's the point of it? The thing is
that every single diet is packaged differently. The low carbohydrate diet
gives different promises and is packaged differently to say a ketogenic diet or a
paleo diet a fasting diet and so those diets can work in the short-term but
they don't offer that long-term benefit and unless a diet is specifically
promising long term outcomes then it's not necessarily a sham because
you know short term it can be effective for weight loss a major question I had
as well was you mentioned that making things have bitch you'll no longer need
their self-control and the motivation to do them so what are some examples of
healthy habits that people can do to maintain weight loss so healthy habits
can be things like eating from a smaller plate or walking and taking the stairs
instead of the escalator or standing up for 10 minutes in every hour just to be
more conscious of being more active so it's really just a little things that
you could do in your day that then add up over over the week or over the months.
In summary, listening to Gina and hearing about the most recent research why it's
hard to keep any weight we lose off is starting to make more sense. We're
bombarded by weight loss strategies and diets every day. New age, exciting eating
plans or interventions with many of them working quite well. We're not against
dieting and in fact watching and considering what you eat is vitally
important and healthy the problem is that we rarely put into place tactics
for maintaining any weight lost over long periods of time we rush into diets
and exercise plans with enthusiasm, drive and motivation, yet as Gina described,
over time these attributes wear thin and we end up back in our normal routines so
what can we do? Well, in the long term weight maintenance is far more important
than weight loss. What's the point of putting all that effort and sweat into
losing weight if it's just going to rebound straightaway? Now, as soon as
possible, or before you start dieting put into place strategies that don't rely
upon motivation and self control strategies that you can work with in the
long term. Gina's advice and research finds that making good practices into
habits is a fantastic way to start whether it's standing up for 10 minutes
every hour or ensuring that you have bitch'll a pack an apple or healthy
snack each day make your hard work count and focus on maintaining any lost weight
over the long term you'll be more active, you'll feel better about yourself and
one step closer to having a happy, healthy body!
you