Nutrition

The Big Picture of Permanent Weight Loss

Will Brink provides some ways of viewing a diet program that will allow us to decide if it is appropriate.

For most people reading this article, finding an effective diet that works most of the time must seem as complicated as nuclear physics. It is not, but there are many diet choices out there. High fat or no fat? High fat or no fat? High carbohydrate or no carbohydrate? Low protein or high protein? To make matters worse, a million variations and combinations of the above diet scenarios add to the confusion. It seems endless and causes many people to throw their hands in frustration and give up.

Some general guidelines, rules of thumb, and ways of viewing a diet program will allow you to decide, once and for all, if it is the proper diet. You may not always like what I say, and you should be under no illusions that this is another quick fix, "lose 100 lbs. in 20 days" guide. However, if you are sick and tired of being confused, tired of taking the weight off only to put it back on, and tired of wondering how to take the first steps to decide the proper diet for you that will result in permanent weight loss, then this is the article that could change your life.

Do you need to be a scientist to apply what you learn here? No. A mind reader or clairvoyant? No. A nutritionist or medical doctor? Not at all. It would help if you were open-minded and willing to learn key concepts that will allow you to sort through the confusion.

You can apply what you learn here to any diet and decide if it makes sense! The process, however, is neither easy nor quick per se, but I never promised you either of those things. This article does not look at specific diets but will teach you to take a logical approach and apply common sense to choosing a nutritional plan for lifelong weight loss. Let us proceed if you are willing and able to make a paradigm shift.

Does your diet pass "The Test"?

What is the number one reason diets fail long-term, above all else? The number one reason is the lack of long-term compliance. The numbers do not lie; most people who lose weight will regain it - and often exceed what they lost.

Yet, what are you doing to avoid it? Here is another reality check: virtually any diet you pick which follows the basic concept of "burning" more calories than you consume - the well-accepted "calories in, calories out" mantra - will cause you to lose weight. To some degree, they all work Atkins-style, no-carb diets, low-fat, high-carb diets, and all manner of fad diets - it does not matter in the short term.

If your want to lose weight quickly, pick one and follow it. I guarantee you will lose some weight. Studies generally find that any commercial weight-loss diet will get approximately the same weight off after six months to a year. For example, a recent study found the Atkins' Diet, Slim-Fast plan, Weight Watchers Pure Points program, and Rosemary Conley's Eat Yourself Slim diet were all equally effective (Truby et al. 2006)^[1].

Other studies comparing other popular diets have come to essentially the same conclusions. For example, a study that compared the Atkins diet, the Ornish diet, Weight Watchers, and The Zone Diet found them to be essentially the same in their ability to take the weight off after one year (Michael et al. 2005)^[2].

Recall what I said about the one reason diets fail: a lack of compliance. The lead researcher of this recent study stated:

"Our trial found that adherence level rather than diet type was the primary predictor of weight loss" (Dansinger 2005)^[3].

Translated, it is not which diet they chose per se, but their ability to stick to a diet that predicted their weight loss success. I can see the hands rising now, "But Will, some diets must be better than others, right?" Are some diets better than others? Some diets are healthier than others. Some diets are better at preserving lean body mass, and some are better at suppressing appetite - there are many differences between diets. However, while most popular diets will work for taking the weight off, what is abundantly clear is that adhering to the diet is essential for keeping the weight off long-term.

What is a diet?

A diet is a short-term strategy to lose weight. Long-term weight loss is the result of an alteration in lifestyle. We are concerned with life-long weight management, not quick-fix weight loss. I wouldn't say I like the term diet, as it represents a short-term attempt to lose weight vs. a lifestyle change. Want to lose a bunch of weight quickly? Heck, I will give you the information on how to do that here and now for no charge.

For the next 90 to 120 days, eat 12 scrambled egg whites, one whole grapefruit, and a gallon of water twice daily. You will lose plenty of weight. Will it be healthy? Nope. Will the weight stay off once you are done with this diet and are forced to return to your "normal" way of eating? Not a chance. Will the weight you lose come from fat, or will it be muscle, water, bone, and (hopefully!) some fat? The point is, there are many diets out there that are perfectly capable of getting the weight off you, but when considering any eating plan designed to lose weight, you must ask yourself:

"Is this a way of eating I can follow long-term?"

Which brings me to my test: I call it the "Can I eat that way for the rest of my life?" Test. It does not exactly roll off your tongue, but it gets the point across.

The lesson here is that any nutritional plan you pick to lose weight must be part of a lifestyle change you will be able to follow forever. If it is not a way of eating you can comply with indefinitely, even after you reach your target weight, then it is worthless.

Thus, many fad diets you see out there are immediately eliminated, and you do not have to worry about them. The question is not whether the diet is effective in the short term but if the diet can be followed indefinitely as a lifelong way of eating. Going from "their" way of eating back to "your" way of eating after reaching your target weight is a recipe for disaster and the cause of the well-established yo-yo dieting syndrome. The bottom line is that there are no shortcuts, no free lunch, and only a commitment to a lifestyle change that will keep the fat off long-term. I realize that is not what most people want to hear, but It is the truth, like it or not.

The statistics do not lie: getting the weight off is not the most challenging part. Keeping the weight off is! If you look closely at the many popular fad/commercial diets out there, and you are honest with yourself and apply my test above, you will find most of them no longer appeal to you as they once did. It also brings me to an example that adds additional clarity: If you have diet A, which will cause the most weight loss in the shortest amount of time but is unbalanced and essentially impossible to follow long-term, whereas diet B, which will take the weight off at a slower pace, but is easier to follow, balanced, healthy, and something you can comply with year after year, which is superior? If diet A gets 30 lbs off you in 30 days, but by next year you have gained back all 30 lbs, but diet B gets 20 lbs off you in the next three months with another 20 lbs 3 months after that, and the weight stays off by the end of that year, which is the better diet?

If you do not know the answer to those questions, you have missed the point of this article and the lesson it is trying to teach you and is set up for failure. Go back and reread this section. By default, diet B is superior.

Teach a Man to Fish

A well-known Chinese proverb is: Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

This expression fits perfectly with the next essential step in deciding what eating plan you should follow to lose weight permanently. Will the diet plan you are considering teach you how to eat long-term or spoon-feed you information? Will the diet rely on select bars, shakes, supplements, or pre-made foods they supply?

Let us do another diet A vs diet B comparison. Diet A will supply you with their foods and special drinks or bars and tell you exactly when to eat them. You will lose - say - 30 lbs in two months. Diet B is going to attempt to help you learn which foods you should eat, how many calories you need to eat, why you need to eat them, and generally try to help teach you how to eat as part of a total lifestyle change that will allow you to make informed decisions about your nutrition. Diet B causes a slow, steady weight loss of 8 -10 lbs per month for the next six months, and the weight stays off because you now know how to eat correctly.

Recall the Chinese proverb. Both diets will help you lose weight. However, only one diet will teach you how to be self-reliant after your experience. Diet A is easier, to be sure, and causes faster weight loss than diet B, and diet B takes longer and requires some thinking and learning. However, when diet A is over, you are right back to where you started and have been given no skills to fish. Diet companies do not make their profits by teaching you to fish. They make their money by handing you a fish, so you must rely on them indefinitely or return to them after you gain all the weight.

Thus, diet B is superior for allowing you to succeed where other diets failed, with knowledge gained that you can apply long-term. Diet programs that attempt to spoon-feed you a diet without teaching you how to eat without their help and rely on their shakes, bars, cookies, or pre-made foods are another diet you can eliminate from your list of choices.

Diet plans that offer weight loss by drinking their product for several meals followed by a "sensible dinner;" diets that allow you to eat their special cookies for most meals along with their pre-planned menu; or diets that attempt to have you eating their bars, drink, or pre-made meals, are of the diet A variety covered above. They are easy to follow but destined for failure, long-term. They all fail the "Can I eat that way for the rest of my life?" test unless you think you can eat cookies and shakes for the rest of your life. The bottom line is that if the nutritional approach you use to lose weight, be it from a book, a class, a clinic, or an ebook, does not teach you how to eat, it is a loser for long-term weight loss and should be avoided.

The missing link for long-term weight loss

We now go to another test to help you choose a nutrition program for long-term weight loss, and it does not involve nutrition. The missing link for long-term weight loss is exercise. Exercise is an essential component of long-term weight loss. Many diet programs do not contain an exercise component, which means they are losers for long-term weight loss from the very start. Any program focusing on weight loss without a comprehensive exercise plan is like buying a car without tyres or a plane without wings. People who have successfully kept the weight off overwhelmingly have incorporated exercise into their lives. The studies that look at people who have successfully lost weight and kept it off invariably find these people were consistent with their diet and exercise plans (Kruger et al. 2006)^[4].

I am not going to list all the benefits of regular exercise here. However, regular exercise positively affects your metabolism, allows you to eat more calories yet still be in a calorie deficit, and can help preserve lean body mass (LBM), essential to your health and metabolism. The many health benefits of regular exercise are well-known, so I will not bother adding them here. The bottom line here is (a) if you have any intentions of getting the most from your goal of losing weight and (b) plan to keep it off long-term, regular exercise must be an integral part of the weight loss strategy. So, you can eliminate any program, be it a book, ebook, clinic, etc., that does not offer direction and help with this essential part of long-term weight loss.

A quick note on exercise

Any exercise is better than no exercise. However, like diet plans, not all exercise is created equal, and many people often choose the wrong form of exercise to maximize their efforts to lose weight. For example, they will do aerobics exclusively and ignore resistance training. Resistance training is an essential component of fat loss, as it builds muscle essential to your metabolism, increases 24-hour energy expenditure, and has health benefits beyond aerobics.

The reader will also note that I mentioned fat loss above, not weight loss. Though I use the term 'weight loss' throughout this article, I do so only because it is a familiar term most people understand. However, the focus and goal of a correctly set up nutrition and exercise plan should be on fat loss, not weight loss. The wrong approach is to focus on losing weight, which may include a loss of essential muscle, water, bone, and fat. Losing fat and keeping all significant lean body mass (LBM) is the goal, and the method for achieving it can be found in my ebook (s) on the topic, which is beyond the scope of this article. The bottom line is that the type of exercise, the intensity, the length of time doing that exercise, etc., are essential variables when attempting to lose FAT while retaining (LBM).

Psychology 101 of long-term weight loss

Many diet programs do not address the psychological aspect of why people fail to achieve long-term weight loss. However, quite a few studies have looked at just that. The psychological element is the most important for long-term weight loss and the most underappreciated component.

Studies comparing the psychological characteristics of people who have successfully kept the weight off to those who have regained the weight see apparent differences between these two groups. For example, one study looked at 28 obese women who had lost weight but regained the weight that they had lost, compared to 28 formerly obese women who had lost weight and maintained their weight for at least one year and 20 women with a stable weight in the healthy range, found the women who regained the weight:

Tended to evaluate self-worth in terms of weight and shape
Had a lack of vigilance about weight control
Had a dichotomous (black-and-white) thinking style
Tended to use eating to regulate mood.

The researchers concluded

"The results suggest that psychological factors may provide some explanation as to why many people with obesity regain weight following successful weight loss." (Byrne et al. 2003)^[5].

This study was conducted with women, reflecting some of women's specific psychological issues. Make no mistake here - men also have psychological problems that can sabotage their long-term weight loss efforts. (Borg et al. 2004)^[6].

Additional studies on men and women find psychological characteristics such as "having unrealistic weight goals, poor coping or problem-solving skills and low self-efficacy" often predict failure with long-term weight loss (Byrne 2002)^[7].

On the other hand, psychological traits common to people who experienced successful long-term weight loss include "an internal motivation to lose weight, social support, better-coping strategies and ability to handle life stress, self-efficacy, autonomy, assuming responsibility in life, and overall more psychological strength and stability" (Elfhag et al. 2005)^[8].

The main point of this section is to illustrate that psychology plays a major role in determining if people are successful with long-term weight loss. If it is not addressed as part of the overall plan, it can be the factor that makes or breaks your success. However, it is not an area most nutrition programs can adequately tackle and should not be expected to. However, better programs generally help with motivation, goal setting, and support. If you see yourself in the above lists from the groups that failed to maintain their weight long-term, then know you will need to address those issues via counselling, support groups, etc. Do not expect any weight loss program to cover this topic adequately, but look for programs that offer support, goal setting, and resources that will keep you on track.

"There's a sucker born every minute"

So, why do you not see this type of accurate information about the realities of long-term weight loss more often? Let us be honest; telling the truth is not the best way to sell bars, shakes, books, supplements, and programs. Hell, if by some miracle everyone who read this article followed it and sent it on to millions of others who followed it, makers of said products could quickly be in financial trouble. However, they also know - as the man said - "there's a sucker born every minute," so I doubt they will be kept up at night worrying about the effects that I, or this article, will have on their business.

So, let us recap what has been learned here: the big picture realities of permanent weight loss and how you can look at a weight loss program and decide for yourself if it is for you based on what has been covered above:

Permanent weight loss is not about finding a quick-fix diet but making a commitment to lifestyle changes that include nutrition and exercise
Any weight loss program you choose must pass the "Can I eat that way for the rest of my life?" test
The weight loss program you choose should ultimately teach you how to eat and be self-reliant so you can make informed long-term choices about your nutrition
The weight loss program you choose should not leave you reliant on commercial bars, shakes, supplements, or pre-made foods for your long-term success
The weight loss program you choose must have an effective exercise component
Your weight loss program should help with motivation, goal setting, and support but cannot replace psychological counselling if needed.

Conclusion

I want to add some additional points and clarity to this final section. For starters, the above advice is not for everyone. It is not intended for those who have their nutrition dialled in, such as competitive bodybuilders and other athletes who benefit from fairly dramatic changes in their nutrition, such as 'off-season' and 'pre-contest'.

The article is also not intended for those with medical issues who are following a specific diet to treat or manage a particular medical condition. It is intended for the average person who wants to get off the Yo-Yo diet merry-go-round once and for all.

People should also not be scared of my "you have to eat this way forever" advice. It does not mean you will be dieting for the rest of your life and have nothing but starvation to look forward to. However, it does mean that you will have to learn to eat properly even after reaching your target weight, and that way of eating should not be a vast departure from how you ate to lose weight in the first place. Once you reach your target weight - and/or body fat levels - you will go onto a maintenance phase, which generally has more calories and food choices, even the occasional treat, like a slice of pizza or whatever.

Maintenance diets are a logical extension of the diet you used to lose weight, but they are not based on the diet you followed that put the weight on in the first place!

Regardless of your chosen program, use the above-picture approach to keep you on track for long-term weight loss. See you at the gym!

References

TRUBY, H. et al. (2006) Randomised controlled trial of four commercial weight loss programmes in the UK: initial findings from the BBC "diet trials". BMJ, 332, p. 1309-1314
Michael D. et al. (2005) Comparison of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers, and Zone Diets for Weight Loss and Heart Disease Risk Reduction. A Randomized Trial. JAMA. 293, p. 43-53
DANSINGER, M. (2005) Comparison of Diets for Weight Loss and Heart Disease Risk Reduction - Reply. JAMA, 293, p. 1590-1591
KRUGER, J. et al. (2006) Dietary and physical activity behaviors among adults successful at weight loss maintenance. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 3, p. 17
BYRNE, S. et al. (2003) Weight maintenance and relapse in obesity: a qualitative study. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord., 27(8), p. 955-62
BORG, P. et al. (2004) Food selection and eating behaviour during weight maintenance intervention and 2-y follow-up in obese men. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 28 (12), p. 1548-1554
BYRNE, S.M. (2002) Psychological aspects of weight maintenance and relapse in obesity. J Psychosom Res., 53 (5), p. 1029-1036
ELFHAG, K. et al. (2005) Who succeeds in maintaining weight loss? A conceptual review of factors associated with weight loss maintenance and weight regain. Obes Rev., 6 (1), p. 67-85

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About the Author

Will Brink has over 15 years of experience as a respected author, columnist, and consultant in the supplement, fitness, bodybuilding, and weight loss industry and has been extensively published. Will graduated from Harvard University with a concentration in the natural sciences and is a consultant to major supplement, dairy, and pharmaceutical companies.