„I‘ve lost the weight before, I can do it again.“ „This is the diet that worked for me in my 20‘s so I‘ll try it again.“ „I already lost 10 pounds just cutting carbs and keeping a food journal, but now I‘m stuck. The weight just won‘t come off.“
A variety of these statements would come across my desk in the form of a client intake form almost everyday. Serial dieters, or the unfortunate moniker of „yo-yo dieters“ as they‘ve been named, made up the bulk of my practice in my early years, especially since I worked as a dietitian at a health club. These clients had tried it all- Atkins, South Beach, Dukan, Slim Fast, Ornish, Raw Foods, Macrobiotics, Jenny Craig- and almost all had lost weight…and then gained it all back and then some. I felt bad for these people, and I felt bad that they were really trying, and failing, at a game they were destined to lose.
Isn‘t it all just simple math?
The premise of these diets, and all the ones that have come afterwards, is that through simple math, you‘ll lose weight. The „calories in/calories out“ myth was derived from the diet industry and most dietitians, like myself, believed in this mantra and served it up to our clients. If you could burn more calories than you were putting in, in theory, this would result in weight loss. And, it does. Until it doesn‘t.
Besides the message that losing the weight is so simple, that if you just burn more than you consume, the marketing geniuses of these weight loss diet schemes also tell you that if you don‘t succeed at losing the weight by following the formula, that it‘s your lack of willpower that caused you to fail. And, even more so if you lose the weight and then regain it. The blame (and shame) is put on you since you didn’t continue to follow the plan … which was not sustainable in the first place.
Metabolic Rate Sabotage
The reality is that there are more factors that come into play when it comes to dieting. When you diet and lose weight, you are also decreasing your Basal Metabolic Rate, which is the rate in which you burn calories in order to support basic functions like breathing, blinking and blood circulation. This rate goes down during weight loss since not only are you losing fat mass when you lose weight, but also fat free mass or muscle mass, which is your metabolically active tissue. This means at the new lower weight, you are burning less calories at rest.
Another thing comes into play when you are losing weight: a change in appetite hormone levels. Appetite hormones, like ghrelin, which signals hunger in the brain, will increase when you lose weight. This is your body’s physiological response to weight loss and thus the body thinks you are entering „starvation mode“. You can thank your ancestors for this.
Furthermore, hormones like leptin and GLP-1, which signal fullness or satiety are shut off. Unfortunately, this combination of decreased Basal Metabolic Rate, increased hunger and the mechanisms that signal fullness being shut down are a recipe for regaining the weight you lost.
And, here is the icing on this crappy cake! After one regains the weight that they lost, their Basal Metabolic Rate doesn’t return to where it was before. It stays at the lower rate, therefore slowing metabolism so that the body can conserve more energy at rest. This was demonstrated in a follow up study to the popular, but now defunct show „The Biggest Loser“, where morbidly obese contestants lost huge amounts of weight, yet most regained the weight when assessed at a 6 year follow-up. What researchers found was that contestant‘s BMR had decreased, due to the circumstances described above, along with alterations to their appetite hormones and not being able to sustain the diet and exercise program they were asked to follow after the show.
Building and Maintaining Lean Muscle is the Key
So, am I telling you that you should just give up on losing weight if you need to? No, but what I am saying is that there is definitely a better way to go about it. Daily exercise that includes ways to build more lean muscle mass (which is slightly more metabolically active than fat mass), eating a diet high in lean protein and fiber to help stabilize blood sugar and satiety levels, staying hydrated and getting enough sleep are where we should start.
The goal should be to gain muscle, which is the metabolically active tissue in the body. Weight loss will be gradual, or you may stay at your current weight yet gain muscle. If you do lose weight and it is gradual, this may give the body time to adjust to the new weight and BMR. (If you want to read more about this type of research and how to lose weight gradually without sabotaging your BMR, I would highly recommend looking into Dr. Nick Fuller, an obesity and weight management researcher from the University of Sydney.)*
Whatever your journey is, be it weight loss, weight gain, muscle gain or you just want to be able to go for a 20 minute run and not be stuck in bed the next day, give yourself time to work up to it and a little bit of a break. Dieting sucks. If you’re eating to lose weight and avoiding foods because you think you’ll „pay for it later“, forget about it. Move away from this mentality. Eat stuff that makes your body feel good, and just get out for a walk everyday. Stretch. Dance. And remember that you are beautiful.
*This is not a paid advertisement and in fact, Dr. Fuller and his program have absolutely no idea that I mentioned him in this blog. I‘m just super impressed with his research and think his program could be helpful to some people.
The Stuff at the end…
Women’s brains are thriving in Japan. A study in the Nutrition Journal found that women who followed the traditional Japanese diet had less cognitive decline (reduced parietal lobe atrophy). What’s interesting is this same effect was not observed in men. The diet consists of whole grains, seafood, vegetables, fruit, mushrooms, soybean products, and green tea. You can read more about it here.
Our guts are not created equal. After analyzing stool samples in both male and female subjects, researchers found that certain microbes associated with „slimness“ were less present in heavier individuals. Furthermore, the microbes that are associated with obesity differed amongst men and women, which will hopefully help researchers determine sex-specific treatments when it comes to obesity treatment. Read more about these findings here.
Temperature is rising. I need a cold dinner. What is it with my Pinterest and Insta feeds? Obviously it‘s mostly food, motivational quotes, and cute animal grooming videos (come on…yours is too) but this salad is from back in the day when the Rachel haircut was in style, and it still hits just right. It‘s one of those „make a big batch, keep it in the fridge and eat it for 3 days spoonful by spoonful“ type of salads. There are literally so many posts about it, but this one from Eating Bird Food is simple and easy to make.
That‘s it for now!
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