Are you resolving to have a "healthier" company this year? Worried about your employees weight and health? Trying to decrease sick days?
Eduardo, a Facebook friend from Augusta asks:
“Dr. Karp, for my New Year’s resolution, I want to lose weight.?The last time I dieted, I did lose weight, but I gained it all back when I finished the diet (and more!).?Lately, I have been reading and hearing a lot about “weight rebound” and metabolic weight “set point.”?Is it simply useless for me to try to permanently lose weight??Are the cards stacked against me?”
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This is an important question to answer, especially during the “New Year’s Resolution” time-of-the-year.” ?There is a flawed idea “floating around” that once you gain weight, you cannot permanently lose it.?The idea is that your body has a pre-determined metabolic weight “set point,” which, like the set point on a thermostat, always gets you back into a specific weight range, regardless of what you do.?It is called the “weight rebound” effect.?Urban wisdom advises you not to even try to lose weight, because not only will you gain your original weight back, but you will also gain back more.?With this approach to thinking, you are simply a passive cog in your metabolic wheel, so just give up.?You are pre-ordained to fail, so why bother??With this approach to weight loss, you will probably end up depressed, despondent and still overweight.
Like most urban legends, you can always find some buried truths.?Evolving research does, in fact, indicate that your body has a metabolic weight set point which operates to keep your weight within a certain limit.?This metabolic set point works against your long-term weight loss goal and may be responsible for the weight rebound effect.?However, you are not pre-destined to a life of being overweight.?The good news is that we now understand that it is possible to change your weight set point and avoid weight rebound.
To do this, the most important rebound to avoid is LIFESTYLE rebound, rather than metabolic rebound.?What do I mean by lifestyle rebound??It means going back to your old eating and physical activity habits once the dieting is over.?It is “falling off the wagon.”??Evidence is accumulating that you can re-set your metabolic weight thermostat and avoid the weight rebound effect by making very gradual changes in your weight and lifestyle over a prolonged period.??You must be an active participant when you alter your eating and activity habits.?You do not reach this goal by buying pre-prepared meals or by having someone else tell you what to eat in their latest fad diet book or on their blog.?Rather, you need to be active, slow, deliberate and thoughtful in facilitating your very own changing life habits.?It is expected that you “fall off the wagon” in your journey.?Just pick yourself up and hop back on.?You want the change to be slow, self-motivated, sustainable, lifelong and positive.
This approach means that you forget about quick weight loss diets.?They are the ones leading to “yo-yo” dieting.?They do not help you re-set your metabolic weight set point.?If your goal is to feel and look better in your summer clothes, begin this journey the autumn before, not in the spring.?It means that with your weight loss resolution in January, you should not expect to see permanent effects until next January (or later).?Remember, your goal is not simply to lose weight, it is to change your metabolic weight set point by permanently changing your life.
I would be a very wealthy man if I had a dollar for every time people have bemoaned to me all their unsuccessful diets.?They have tried The Keto Diet, The Atkins Diet, Oprah’s Diet, The Paleo Diet, The South Beach Diet, The Zone Diet, The GOLO Diet…on and on…what do you lose on these diets??You lose faith, not weight.?You lose faith in your ability to permanently lose weight.
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???????????You do not have to spend money to find evidenced-based, medically sound information on healthful eating.?A great place to start is The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics website.?Another website I use quite regularly is The National Institutes of Health.?These are both evidenced-based, scientific sources of diet and nutrition information.?As a starting point, learn the eating principles that are part of either the Mediterranean or Dash way of eating.?These are lifelong approaches to eating and food, they are not diets.?Lifelong physical activity habits need to change, also.?Find some physical activity that you like to do, not activity you do not like to do.?You hate to jog??No problem, walk your chocolate lab, instead.?You hate to ride a stationary cycle??No problem, cycle down the canal towpath, instead.?Find something.
???????????What is the “No-Nonsense Nutrition” advice to begin 2023??It is possible to permanently lose weight, avoid weight rebound and change your body’s weight set point.?You can do this by changing your LIFE and avoiding lifestyle rebound.?Move, move, move every day, choose more fruit/veggies, more whole grain foods, more vegetable-based protein and foods that are lower fat, lower salt, lower sugar and lower calorie.?Be an active participant in your quest for a healthy lifestyle.?The more active you are and the more deliberate and slow the changes occur, the more successful you will be.?The science on all this is evolving, so stay tuned.?Most importantly, have Happy and Healthy New Year!
Have a question about food, diet or nutrition? Post or private message your question or email your question to [email protected] Warren B. Karp, Ph.D., D.M.D. is Professor Emeritus at Augusta University. He has served as Director of the Nutrition Consult Service at The Dental College of Georgia and is past Vice Chair of the Columbia County Board of Health. You can find out more about Dr. Karp and the download site for the public domain eBook, Nutrition for Smarties, at wbkarp.com Dr. Karp obtains no funding for writing his columns, articles or books and has no financial or other interests in any food, book, nutrition product or company. His interest is only in providing freely-available, evidenced-based, scientific nutrition knowledge and education. The information is for educational use only; it is not meant to be used to diagnose, manage or treat any patient or client. Although Dr. Karp is a Professor Emeritus at Augusta University, the views and opinions expressed here are his and his alone and do not reflect the views and opinions of Augusta University or anyone else.
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