The sad reality is that you have about as great a chance of losing
weight and keeping it off as you do of winning the lottery. This is
just a simple fact of life. Everybody knows it. Every magazine article and
television show on the topic gives the same facts: 95% of diets fail, and
for those who do lose weight, it’s just about guaranteed that they’ll gain
it all back. When the media interviews experts who study weight loss
The results of weight-loss failure surround us. Everybody has
coworkers, neighbors, friends, and family who have lost weight—lots
of it—only to gain it back within a relatively short period of time.
There are many reasons why sustained weight loss is impossible.
For some people, it is because they have a medical condition like a
slow thyroid or a naturally slow metabolism. Another reason is that losing
weight slows down the metabolism, forcing your body to regain the
weight even though you’re eating less.
Losing weight and keeping it off ? It’s just not possible!
Kernels of Truth
There are reports from credible sources that give some pretty negative
statistics. In the 1950s, Dr. Albert J. Stunkard summarized his findings
about weight-loss methods available at that time. The finding was that
95% of diets fail. Likewise, an expert panel from the National Institutes
of Health (NIH) reported in 1992 that people who completed a weightloss
program could expect to regain about two-thirds of the loss after
one year and virtually all their lost weight after five years. These two
reports are widely used and reused in the media and in scientific circles.
Another kernel of truth is that no single weight-loss method available
today can help every overweight or obese person get down to an
ideal weight and stay there forever. This book shows that that there is
no one-size-fits-all approach to weight loss. Every person needs a
slightly different approach.
It’s also true that weight loss means a lower metabolism—the number
of calories burned in the course of daily living.You’ll read more about
metabolism in the following chapters, but it’s based on the fact that a
smaller body simply needs fewer calories than a larger body. A smaller
body typically has less muscle on it, and this translates into a lower
metabolism. In addition, restricting calories during the weight-loss
process can cause metabolism to slow down a bit, especially if the
restriction is extreme (for example, an 800-calorie-a-day diet).The effect
isn’t enough to prevent weight loss, but it will slow down the rate of loss.
And it’s also true that certain medical conditions and treatments
can make weight loss more difficult. A slow thyroid, called hypothyroidism,
slows metabolism and calorie burning. Medications, such as
steroids used to treat inflammatory diseases, several drugs used to treat
anxiety, depression, and similar conditions, and some drugs used to
treat diabetes, stimulate the appetite. For people taking these medications,
it’s tough to stay committed to a weight-loss program because
they are truly hungry.
Finally, our environment works against sustained weight loss. We
are surrounded by a lot of food that is filled with calories, tastes good,
Have you ever heard ...
“Since I can’t keep weight off, I’m better off just accepting
myself the way I am at my current weight.”
Excess weight increases your disease risk. We discuss this in
detail in the next chapter. Although positive self-reinforcement
is important, losing weight and keeping it off is paramount for
your health. This book provides you with the proof—both from
the world of science and from experiences of Weight Watchers
members—that sustainable weight loss is possible.
and is heavily advertised.We also live in an environment where modern
technology has taken away a lot of our opportunities to burn calories.
We don’t even have to get up from the couch to change the
channels on our televisions anymore.The combination of the two—too
much great-tasting food and too little activity—can make sustained
weight loss a challenge.
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