In contrary to popular belief, there are two separate stages of weight loss rather than one. The first known stage, which, of course, is fundamental to losing weight, is that we need to reduce our calories each day to produce a caloric deficit necessary to lose fat. But a second, often thought wrongly as a given, stage is that we can maintain that weight loss. However, this weight management stage is just as hard to achieve as the weight loss stage itself enhancing the risk of weight regain.
As weight-loss experts here at Plato Weight Management who have helped 100s of diets through our highly sought after weight management program, which you can contact us here about, we’re aware that weight loss is half the battle, given the rates of weight regain, which we will delve into momentarily.
As we never set out to provide a temporary solution for our client’s, our focus is to instil habits to maintain weight as well as to lose it.
So, in this article, we’ll break down:
- Weight regain research
- Weight regain reasons
- Tips to not regain weight
Weight regain research
The evidence demonstrating the likeliness of weight regain is overwhelming, to say the least. Here are just a few examples from various scientific papers.
One study by Grodstein in 1996 found that three years after completing a weight loss program, only 12% of participants had maintained at least 75% of the weight lost, whereas 40% of participants regained even more weight than they had lost immediately after the program.
Another study by Foster, Wadden, Kendall, Stunkard and Vogt (1996) discovered that in the five years following a weight reduction program which lasted 26 weeks, a group of women were 8 pounds (3.6 kg) heavier than their initial weight.
Moreover, a study by Shai & Stampfer (2008) found that only 1 in 5 individuals were able to maintain a 10% weight loss for five years.
Furthermore, a study by Sarwer, von Sydow Green, Vetter and Wadden (2009) found that following a weight loss intervention, participants regained around a third of their weight within a year, with half returning to their starting weight after five years.
It’s noteworthy that these rates of weight regained exhibited may actually be higher than reported as a team of experts who analyzed 14 weight reduction studies explained that the number of participants who were able to be followed up with was not optimal, and weight recorded may be inaccurate as its often self-reported by email rather than from specialist assessment (Mann et al., 2007).
Additionally, while some diets are associated with less regain than other diets, weight regain tends to occur independently of the kind of diet used. In one study, subjects who adhered to a diet high in good fat regained less fat than subjects who adhered to a low fat or regular diet.
So now that we’ve shown the incidence of weight regain in society today, what may be causing it?
Weight regain reasons
It has previously been suggested that our bodies can’t differentiate between what is dieting and what is starvation. As a result, our bodies natural response to losing weight is to protect our health as it feels we’re in danger when really we are trying to improve it (Schwartz, Woods, Porte, Seeley, & Baskin, 2000).
For example, when your body notices that you have lost fat and muscle stores, it will start secreting appetite hormones such as Ghrelin to indicate that you need to eat more (Jacquet, Schutz, Montani, & Dulloo, 2020).
So much so that it has been estimated that for every 2 lbs (1 kg) lost, your body will want 100 calories more to consume than usual (Polidori, Sanghvi, Seeley, & Hall, 2016)!
Additionally, the decrease in calorie intake and muscle mass stores brought about by dieting can make your metabolism slower, and since it accounts for as much as 60% of total calories you burn each day, this means that regaining weight will be easier once you go back to your normal eating routine.
For example, Müller et al. (2015) showed that when a sample of men undertook a diet that halved their calorie intake over three weeks, they began using 255 less calories each day.
Moreover, suppose you decide to use a fad diet in order to lose weight fast through a reduction in water storage.
In that case, you will experience weight regain as quick as you lost it when your water levels replenish when you return to your normal eating habits.
Further, as these diets are based on rules rather than lifestyle changes, the likelihood of maintaining weight loss is a lot less likely.
However, don’t be discouraged by these compensating mechanisms. There are many scientifically established methods for maintaining weight loss, which we shall go through now.
Tips to not regain weight
Be mindful of carb intake
It’s also a good idea to take notice of the types and amounts of carbs you consume as excessive refined carbs like white bread, white spaghetti, and white rice, might be disruptive to your weight-loss upkeep.
The reason for this is because refined carbs have their natural fibre taken out of them, which is required to produce satiety and keep you feeling full throughout the day to avoid snacking. It is generally recommended to consume 30g of fibre each day while dieting.
Limiting carbohydrate consumption also assists in maintaining weight loss as it has been shown that individuals who undertake low-carb diets after losing weight are more likely to keep the weight off in the long run (Clifton, Condo, & Keogh, 2014).
Breakfast
Breakfast is one of the most common ways described by those who successfully keep their weight.
Wyatt et al. (2002) showed that almost 80% of 2959 individuals reported having breakfast each day to maintain 30 lbs of weight loss.
Hydration
Getting enough water is important for weight loss and weight maintenance because sometimes our bodies can misinterpret feelings of thirst for hunger (Davy, Dennis, Dengo, Wilson, & Davy, 2008).
Additionally, an adequate amount of water consumption before meals has been shown to increase satiety and reduce calorie intake while increasing the number of calories you use through physical activity.
Weigh yourself
Setting foot on the scale continually to assess your weight is useful for keeping your weight in check because it allows you to be conscious of your progress or when you might be slipping in the wrong direction.
People who use a weighing scale regularly may also consume fewer calories daily, aiding in weight maintenance further.
In one study, those who used a weighing scale most days per week had 300 less calories daily than dieters who measured themselves less often (Steinberg et al., 2013).
Although given that weight fluctuates day to day due to hydration and food intake levels, this may not be the best approach in terms of motivation.
That said, it’s entirely up to you how frequently you check your weight.
Some people feel that weighing every day is beneficial, while others feel that monitoring their weight once weekly is enough.
Lift
As noted earlier, a small decrease in muscle mass stores is a typical side effect experienced while dieting, which makes your metabolic rate slower, resulting in less calories burned daily at rest.
So, to offset this, engaging in body weight or weight training can help us to maintain these muscle mass stores and subsequently the calories we use through our metabolism as much as possible.
A 2006 study by Kruger, Blanck and Gillespie (2006) has shown that people who lift following weight loss have a higher likelihood of preventing weight regain.
Whether you use bodyweight or resistance training to maintain muscle is down to your preference but it’s advised to perform either, using all muscle groups, at least two times per week.
Exercise
Getting adequate amounts of exercise is a great way to prevent weight regain as it assists you in burning off some additional calories and increasing your metabolism, which is especially important when dieting as we’ve gone through.
Several studies have found that people who do at least 200 minutes of moderate physical activity a week (30 minutes a day) after losing weight are more likely to maintain their weight.
You may have heard of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommending 150 minutes of physical activity per week to maintain health, but due to the compensatory mechanisms people experience while dieting that we have discussed, the ACSM recommend 200 minutes per week to avoid weight regain (Swift, Johannsen, Lavie, Earnest, & Church, 2014).
Now, this doesn’t mean we need to be in the gym for 200 minutes each week, even walking for 30 minutes daily is sufficient.
Bear in mind also, though that doesn’t mean you can eat anything you want as you will still need to eat healthily (most of the time).
The ideal type of exercise is one that you like and can commit to doing for a long time.
Sleep
Sleep is fundamental when losing and maintaining weight too. As sleep is critical for hormonal balance, suboptimal sleep has been linked to more hunger hormones and less satiety hormones, meaning a tendency to intake more calories while also resulting in less energy for physical activity the following day meaning less calories used (Beccuti & Pannain, 2011).
It is recommended that the majority of adults should aim for at least 8 hours of sleep per night.
Conclusion
To conclude, even though a small proportion of individuals are successful in losing weight and keeping it off, the majority of individuals regain some or all of the original weight they lost over time due to compensatory mechanisms and reduce motivation over time.
However, by understanding this susceptibility to weight regain that successful dieters face, they can take steps such as moving, drinking, weighing and sleeping more to prevent it and enjoy the fruits of their labour for many years to come.
For help in finding a path to weight loss that also meets your nutritional needs and avoids the dangers of fad diets, contact us here at Plato Weight Management. We are weight-loss experts and can help you reach your ideal body weight in an effective and evidence-based manner.
References
Grodstein, F. (1996). Three-Year follow-up of participants in a COMMERCIAL weight loss program. Archives of Internal Medicine, 156(12), 1302. doi:10.1001/archinte.1996.00440110068009
Foster, G. D., Wadden, T. A., Kendall, P. C., Stunkard, A. J., & Vogt, R. A. (1996). Psychological effects of weight loss and regain: A prospective evaluation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64(4), 752-757. doi:10.1037/0022-006x.64.4.752
Sarwer, D. B., Von Sydow Green, A., Vetter, M. L., & Wadden, T. A. (2009). Behavior therapy for obesity: Where are we now? Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Obesity, 16(5), 347-352. doi:10.1097/med.0b013e32832f5a79
Mann, T., Tomiyama, A. J., Westling, E., Lew, A., Samuels, B., & Chatman, J. (2007). Medicare’s search for effective obesity treatments: Diets are not the answer. American Psychologist, 62(3), 220-233. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.62.3.220
Blomain, E. S., Dirhan, D. A., Valentino, M. A., Kim, G. W., & Waldman, S. A. (2013). Mechanisms of weight regain following weight loss. ISRN Obesity, 2013, 1-7. doi:10.1155/2013/210524
Schwartz, M. W., Woods, S. C., Porte, D., Seeley, R. J., & Baskin, D. G. (2000). Central nervous system control of food intake. Nature, 404(6778), 661-671. doi:10.1038/35007534
Jacquet, P., Schutz, Y., Montani, J., & Dulloo, A. (2020). How dieting might make some fatter: Modeling weight cycling toward obesity from a perspective of body composition autoregulation. International Journal of Obesity, 44(6), 1243-1253. doi:10.1038/s41366-020-0547-1
Müller, M. J., Enderle, J., Pourhassan, M., Braun, W., Eggeling, B., Lagerpusch, M., . . . Bosy-Westphal, A. (2015). Metabolic adaptation to caloric restriction and subsequent refeeding: The Minnesota Starvation Experiment revisited. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 102(4), 807-819. doi:10.3945/ajcn.115.109173
Polidori, D., Sanghvi, A., Seeley, R. J., & Hall, K. D. (2016). How strongly does appetite counter weight loss? Quantification of the feedback control of human energy intake. Obesity, 24(11), 2289-2295. doi:10.1002/oby.21653
Swift, D. L., Johannsen, N. M., Lavie, C. J., Earnest, C. P., & Church, T. S. (2014). The role of exercise and physical activity in weight loss and maintenance. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 56(4), 441-447. doi:10.1016/j.pcad.2013.09.012
Wyatt, H. R., Grunwald, G. K., Mosca, C. L., Klem, M. L., Wing, R. R., & Hill, J. O. (2002). Long-Term weight loss and breakfast in subjects in the National weight CONTROL REGISTRY. Obesity Research, 10(2), 78-82. doi:10.1038/oby.2002.13
Steinberg, D. M., Tate, D. F., Bennett, G. G., Ennett, S., Samuel-Hodge, C., & Ward, D. S. (2013). The efficacy of a Daily SELF-WEIGHING weight loss intervention using Smart scales and e-mail. Obesity, 21(9), 1789-1797. doi:10.1002/oby.20396
Clifton, P., Condo, D., & Keogh, J. (2014). Long term weight maintenance after advice to consume low carbohydrate, higher protein diets – a systematic review and meta analysis. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, 24(3), 224-235. doi:10.1016/j.numecd.2013.11.006
Kruger, J., Blanck, H. M., & Gillespie, C. (2006). Dietary and physical activity behaviors among adults successful at weight loss maintenance. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 3(1), 17. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-3-17
Davy, B. M., Dennis, E. A., Dengo, A. L., Wilson, K. L., & Davy, K. P. (2008). Water consumption reduces energy intake at a breakfast meal in OBESE older adults. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 108(7), 1236-1239. doi:10.1016/j.jada.2008.04.013
Beccuti, G., & Pannain, S. (2011). Sleep and obesity. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 14(4), 402-412. doi:10.1097/mco.0b013e3283479109