Weight-reduction plan and “lifestyle programs” can feel so seductive in a culture that tells you your body is mistaken and desires to be fixed. But what does the science actually say about weight-reduction plan for weight reduction? Does it work? Is it sustainable? Does it improve our overall health? We’re diving into all of that and more in today’s post.Content warning: mentions of stigmatizing language around weight utilized in research, weight reduction numbers
Recent Yr, Recent Me messaging is rampant originally of the 12 months and with that comes an onslaught of latest 12 months’s resolutions and eating regimen corporations’ marketing in full force.
I’ve heard January known as “National Weight-reduction plan Month” because so many eating regimen / wellness / “lifestyle” corporations (or whatever they’re calling themselves as of late) are pervasive this time of 12 months, and plenty of individuals are especially vulnerable to their marketing messages entering a latest 12 months.
What the $77B eating regimen industry is just not telling you is the entire research that shows diets don’t work in the long run. Because their bottom line relies on repeat customers – the identical folks trying their program again, and again, and again.
It’s helpful to know what the scientific literature says about weight-reduction plan and weight reduction but much more vital (IMO) than research is YOUR lived experience. Have diets worked for you up to now? How long did they work for? Did you find yourself eventually gaining the burden back? Have diets / lifestyle programs felt sustainable for you? Why or why not? You understand your body best.
The research on weight-reduction plan and weight reduction
A 2007 review of the scientific literature on weight-reduction plan and weight reduction by Mann et al. found that only 14 research studies checked out weight reduction outcomes 4 years or more out. Meaning that every one the opposite literature on diets and weight reduction have very short-term follow-up (typically 1 12 months). These study designs profit the eating regimen industry because we all know that diets work within the short-term but anywhere from a pair to several years out most individuals gain the burden back.
The review found that of the studies they checked out, participants lost anywhere between 10-65 lbs. At follow-up, a lot of the weight had been regained. Results ranged from a net 15lb loss to a 8lb weight gain from where they began.
30-64% of participants ended up at or above the burden where they began before the eating regimen.
Only 9% of participants ended up with a BMI lower than 35. And those that lost greater than 15% of their weight actually doubled their risk of mortality.
A 2018 umbrella review of meta-analyses on weight reduction interventions found that there’s “no high-quality evidence to recommend treating ‘obesity’ with a particular nonsurgical or non-pharmacological intervention amongst many available.” AKA we’ve no good evidence to recommend eating regimen or lifestyle interventions for weight reduction.
Naturalistic studies (where you observe folks of their natural environments and record behaviors) have concluded that weight-reduction plan is definitely a predictor for weight gain. So not only do diets not work but additionally they predict weight gain. Some meta-analyses and comprehensive reviews have reported the identical outcomes – that lifestyle interventions actually result in weight gain, especially with long-term follow-up.
Other reviews have shown that 3-5% weight reduction is feasible for years later if all features of treatment are maintained. To offer that more context, that might be a weight reduction of 6-10 lbs for a 200 lb person. Health advantages of this sort of modest weight reduction will not be clear. And most of the people are searching for a 30% weight reduction, not 3-5%.
Are health risks related to weight resulting from weight cycling?
Studies show that weight cycling (shedding pounds, gaining it back, rinse and repeat) is a risk factor for diabetes, dyslipidemia, poorer self-perception, insulin resistance, hypertension, and visceral fat.
A 15 12 months study showed that the best mortality rate was in individuals who lost weight and never in those that gained weight or stayed weight stable. This and other studies shows us that weight cycling could also be worse in your health than staying at / maintaining the next weight.
What if the health risks we see related to weight are literally resulting from the repeated attempts to drop extra pounds and the stress that puts on the body and never the actual size of the body?
We all know that health-promoting behaviors (exercising, eating more fruit and veggies, getting enough sleep) can reduce mortality risk no matter any weight changes. Yes, that’s right. You possibly can improve your health markers without losing any weight.
It’s also vital to think about how weight stigma or anti-fat bias plays a job within the correlational data we see between higher weights and poorer health outcomes. It’s been stated within the literature that “bias may impair efforts to have interaction in healthy lifestyle behaviors through negative emotional distress and unhealthy eating patterns.”
It also feels price noting that every one studies on weight and health risks are correlational. And if you learn how one can read and analyze research, the one thing that all the time gets stressed is “correlation doesn’t equal causation.” We cannot say that weight causes chronic disease – there’s no literature that supports that.
In case you have a look at all the info on smoking / tobacco use and lung cancer and see that there’s a correlation between those with yellow stained teeth and lung cancer, you’d never say that yellow teeth caused the cancer, you’d say that’s a side effect of smoking. Yellow teeth is just not a behavior.
Simply because weight is correlated with chronic disease doesn’t mean it’s the cause. Weight can be not a behavior.
“Chubby” BMIs have the bottom risk of mortality
We have now been sold the assumption that being “obese” is bad in your health. What we’ve not heard is that studies show being “obese” has a lower risk of mortality in comparison with “normal weight.” A BMI of 30-34.9, referred to within the medical field as “class 1 obesity” has also been shown to not have the next risk of mortality in comparison with “normal” weight.
Why isn’t any one talking concerning the protective effect of being “obese?” Because that wouldn’t bode well for all of the pharmaceutical corporations selling weight reduction medications and the eating regimen industry selling their lifestyle programs.
BMI is complete bullshit anyway but I could write one other whole blog post on that topic so I’ll reserve it for one more time.
References:
Mann, T., Tomiyama, A. J., Westling, E., Lew, A.-M., Samuels, B., & Chatman, J. (2007). Medicare’s seek for effective obesity treatments: Diets will not be the reply. American Psychologist, 62(3), 220–233. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.62.3.220
Solmi, M., Köhler, C. A., Stubbs, B., Koyanagi, A., Bortolato, B., Monaco, F., … & Carvalho, A. F. (2018). Environmental risk aspects and nonpharmacological and nonsurgical interventions for obesity: An umbrella review of meta‐analyses of cohort studies and randomized controlled trials. European Journal of Clinical Investigation, 48(12), e12982.
Lissner, L., Odell, P. M., D’Agostino, R. B., Stokes, J., Kreger, B. E., Belanger, A. J., & Brownell, K. D. (1991). Variability of Body Weight and Health Outcomes within the Framingham Population. Recent England Journal of Medicine, 324(26), 1839–1844. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199106273242602
Tolvanen, L., Ghilotti, F., Adami, H.-O., Ye, W., Bonn, S. E., Bellocco, R., & Lagerros, Y. T. (2023). Prospective study of weight reduction and all-cause-, cardiovascular-, and cancer mortality. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 5669. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32977-8
Mulligan, A. A., Lentjes, M. A. H., Luben, R. N., Wareham, N. J., & Khaw, K. T. (2018). Weight change and 15 12 months mortality: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer in Norfolk (EPIC-Norfolk) cohort study. European journal of epidemiology, 33(1), 37–53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-017-0343-y
Flegal, K. M., Kit, B. K., Orpana, H., & Graubard, B. I. (2013). Association of All-Cause Mortality With Chubby and Obesity Using Standard Body Mass Index Categories: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA, 309(1), 71–82. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2012.113905
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