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Table of Contents
Introduction
Millions of people every year will start some form of diet with the intention of rapidly losing weight. A puzzling aspect of this popular resolution is the absence of correlation between the psychologic need to undertake a cure and the physiology of the individual who undertake it. Basically, people “going for it” don’t necessarily have “obesity” problems.
Behind this paradox, a diet-industry, which has an annual turnover in excess of $150 billion/year in Europe and United States added together and a social environment who has been conditioned to link slimness with health.
And as we are going to see, the consequences can be dramatic.
Dieting the better way to gain weight
Going on diet seems to be for most people completely pointless to say the least. Up to two-thirds of the weight lost is regained within one year and almost all is regained after a maximum of five years. Even more concerning, studies of the long-term outcomes are showing that at least one-third of dieters regain more weight than they lost. In addition, prospective studies suggest that dieting during childhood and adolescence can predicts future weight gain and obesity.
Another worrying phenomenon must be added to this preoccupying overview. This phenomenon is called yo-yo dieting or weight cycling. It occurs when people enter a spiral of repeated cycles of deliberate weight loss followed by weight regain they can’t prevent. In addition, this yo-yo dieting curse correlates with increase risks of cardiometabolic diseases.
Obviously, these observations could be solely explained by some kind of unconscious negligence after a period of strict restriction. Unfortunately, if this explanation could play a role, other mechanisms are involved defying this simple question of will.
Our body physiologically adapt to weight loss
To maintain its weight, our body commands a dynamically adjusted equilibrium of energy intake and energy expenditure, called homeostasis. To rapidly lose weight, an individual undergoes strict caloric restriction to create a negative energy balance. In reaction, its body will adapt to maintain homeostasis by a global reduction in energy expenditure. This reduction can last for years after the end of the period of diet. Consequently, when the individual will go back to a “normal” diet, its body will favour weight gain rather than restoring energy expenditure to its former level.
In addition, losing weight by reducing caloric intake is correlated with an increase in hunger and rewarding value of food and this sensation is maintained beyond the restriction period. For example, altered level of the circulating hormones, controlling our ingestive behaviour and accelerate weight regain, could persist for at least one year.
This physiologic adaptation is an epigenetic mechanism
Epigenetic comes from the Greek “epi” which means above and designs any change in gene expression which is not associated with changes at the DNA level. “Gene expression” is the process determining, which proteins will be synthesized by the cell and, consequently, what this cell will do and how.
Our behaviour in response to diet, like a reduction in caloric intake, is regulated in the brain at the epigenetic level, altering the function of neurones. These cells will keep an epigenetic memory of this event long after caloric intake is back to normal.
Why? Because the function of the brain is not to accommodate our willing to lose weight, but to control homeostasis, as explained above. Any drastic change in our diet habits will be interpreted as a treat to our health and keeping memory of these drastic changes a way to react faster and better to avoid damaging our body.
How to lose weight?
Before to discuss ways to counteract these mechanisms of adaptation to changes, it is important to stress out that quickly losing weight is not always the way forward. Obesity is a disease in its own right that affects the quality of life and life expectancy. It’s firstly calculated based on the Body Mass Index or BMI. BMI is a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. A person with a BMI above 30 falls within the obesity range. A BMI of 40 or higher is classified as “severe” obesity.
Today, bariatric surgery, a chirurgical operation radically modifying the digestive system, is currently the only option to sustainably losing weight. This option is normally proposed to people who are very obese (with a BMI over 40), or people with a BMI over 35 who have other serious health problems like cardiovascular disease or diabetes. If you are aiming at losing few pounds before bikini time in summer, it might not be the best approach.
Fasting is also becoming a popular method to lose weight. Multiple approaches exist and I will focus on these aspects in another article soon. If recent studies suggest that fasting could be mainly beneficial for our health and even our life span, it has to be stress out that from a scientific point of view, these are still early days. One particular question, which has still not been answered is related to the body adaptation to fasting and its capacity to regain weight when back to a normal caloric intake as discussed in the previous chapter.
Changing for a healthier life
Being overweight is obviously a marker of habits, which are not optimum for your health. Being overweight increases the risks of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, inflammatory and chronic diseases as well as cancer. Instead of taking care of yourself few weeks per year to undertake the last fashionable diet, the best approach to reach a healthy weight, is certainly to change your way of life ones and for all.
Undertaking exercise and improving the content of your dishes is the recipe for success. A good diet is a diet which will be adapted to your caloric and nutritional needs and, as importantly, that you will enjoy.
Reading this last sentence, you may wonder why such a simplistic formula has not been implemented everywhere eradicating obesity worldwide in few years?
I provide a more complete answer during my consultations. But to put it simply, we can distinguish two often complementary obstacles that prevent us from adopting a balanced daily diet. On the one hand, a loss of contact with raw food and its nutritional value and, just as importantly, a lifestyle that does not give sufficient importance to everything that revolves around meals.
Bread and Better accompanies those who wish to do so on their way to unblocking these two obstacles.
Conclusion
The decision to quickly lose weight should not be taken lightly. As discussed in this article, our body tends to adapt to these changes in caloric intake, in a way detrimental to our health in the medium and long term. Some people can even enter the spiral of yo-yo dieting a detrimental process difficult to escape from.
If you are concern for your health or just wish to have an improved life expectancy without having to see your doctor, the best approach is certainly to forget about your weight and focus on adopting a balanced diet and stick to it. Your health should improve and you should reach a healthy weight in few years, depending of your starting point.
Do not hesistate to contact us if you have questions regarding this article.