Giving up on weight loss may be the best way to lose weight
I've written quite a bit (some would say excessively) about making lifestyle changes to lose weight, almost to the point where the phrase 'healthy lifestyle,' may have to be stricken from my vocabulary just from overuse.
I talk about lifestyle changes because I think there's a big difference between people who focus on health and allow the weight loss to come naturally and people who focus on losing weight, which often involves restrictive dieting and frustrating episodes involving scales and swearing.
That's one reason I found this study in Preventive Medicine so interesting. While there are any number of studies promoting different methods of losing weight (low carb diets, low fat diets, etc.), what we find is that most people lose weight. The problem? Most people gain it back, as well.
This study focused on how people responded to a healthy lifestyle program, as opposed to a weight loss program. 144 overweight and obese adults followed a 6-month clinic-based weight management program which focused on healthy lifestyle behaviors. The results? After 3 months, participants lost weight and body fat and saw decreases in total cholesterol as well as BMI. They still maintained these changes after 6 months.
This study is based on a small population of people, but emphasizes the idea that focusing on weight loss seems to work for the short term. Focusing on being healthy works best for long-term weight loss.
What do you think? Have you had more success by focusing on being healthy instead of losing weight? Is it easier to make healthy changes when you're not focused on the scale? Leave a comment and tell us what you think.
Rieve, D.; Greene, G.; Ruggiero, L.; et al. Evaluation of a Healthy-Lifestyle Approach to Weight Management. Preventive Medicine. Vol 36, Issue 1, Jan 2003, Pages 45-54.
Comments
Being tall and thin, it’s very hard to get healthy while not obsessing over the scale. It seems like when I exercise and build muscle, the number starts creeping up. It will eventually make me lose my mind. My husband is about ready to throw the scale out the window.
I was 182 lbs about two years ago and was a borderline diabetic and had high cholesterol. I started losing weight when I got engaged and got down to 135. I started focusing on being healthy and I gained weight because I started building muscle. I just recently had blood work done and I am incredibly healthy for someone that has a propensity towards diabetes and high cholesterol since it runs in my family. So I stopped looking at the scale and have been a healthy size 8 for two years. I don’t worry about losing weight anymore just about feeling good about myself.
I can’t even tell you how true this rings for me. I spent three years dieting while my weight fluxuated between 185 and 195 because I would lose ten pounds on pretty much every diet I tried in that period and then eat it back when I became frustrated. Then I got a new job that I really loved, and I decided I didn’t have time to keep up the crazy diets that hadn’t been working anyway, so I just stopped them and threw out my scale! I did need to eat healthy food so that I wouldn’t crash midafternoon, so I started making sandwiches for myself, stopped the eating out, and started to go on walks more to have more time to think. Ten months later I weighed myself on my friend’s scale and realized I had dropped forty pounds! The funniest thing to me is that it was easy, SO easy, to lose weight that way compared to all of the restrictive diets I tried. I never even thought about what I was doing really, I just thought about living my life the way I would if I were already thin and healthy and the rest followed naturally.
i was never a skinny kid, and really my weight didn’t bother me too much until i went away to college. i was probably around 180 when i graduated high school, and between my freshman and sophomore year of college i reached about 196. i didn’t weigh myself regularly (because i was big and i just didn’t want to know), but one day i was home and i was curious, and then i was disgusted. i cut out all junk foods, then i cut out all meat but fish, and then i cut out all animal products/byproducts, and i’m currently at 128. in the beginning, i said “i’ll be happy when i can fit into a size 8.” and i was definitely happy when i reached that goal, but i wanted to keep going. i’m extremely happy now, size 4 (not that size really matters, but i never thought i’d be this small), but i’d still love to drop just 3 more pounds. and it’s true that when i weigh myself and see 128, i say “okay, that’s healthy and i have nothing to worry about,” and that’s when i find i have lost a little bit more by the next day.
I completely agree with this study. When you are loosing weight you’re excited. You set weight loss goals along the way. You don’t mind reducing what you eat. You have an abundant amount of time to log your calorie intake. You’re exited to research what foods are healthily to eat. You avoid sugar and fatty foods. Your will power is strong. Before you know it you’re fitting in smaller clothes. Then the months, years drag on and you want to eat tasty sugar and fatty foods. You don’t have time to log what you eat. Life makes you ignore staying healthy. Your kids and job related needs over shadow your health needs and you’re overweight again.
Once the weight is off if you can replace the weight loss goals with health related goals you might be able to stick with it. Everyone I know that has kept their weight off, stayed healthy did it because of their family medical history or they have health problems and loosing weight was the cure. For me, I watched by Dad live the last few years of his life in misery because he did not live a healthily lifestyle. My sis is ten years older than me. She had a hysterectomy; both knees replaced, and is board line diabetic. All of this is happening because she is obese. I don’t need a crystal ball to tell me what my health will be like if I don’t take care of myself now.
Very interesting piece of writing…and I must say that I agree!
I haven’t really thought of it like this before. Many people wanting to lose weight probably make really big changes in their life from day 1, with one thing in mind…”I have to lose weight and lose it fast”! I think it would be better to approach your weight loss goal step by step, and like you say, keep the weight off for good.
People going from zero discipline concerning weight loss to extreme discipline in just a couple of days will often put that weight back on.
I think it would be easier to achieve your goals when you focus on being healthy, rather than focusing on weight loss.
Quite right. I have written a book on just these topics! How to focus on and live fit, trim, healthy for life through lifestyle via NON-Diet methods.
I love this article as it exactly mirrors my experience of losing 50lbs in 6 months during 2007 and keeping the weight off since.
Getting healthy in order to lose weight is much better than losing weight in order to get healthy. It’s a very different mindset and sets up habits that last a lifetime.
What would you say are the biggest challenges in making the change to a healthy lifestyle?
It’s so true. The times I have done my best and lost the most weight is when I stopped obsessing over the scale and just focused on eating healthy and exercising almost every day. The key to any success, I think, is to take everything one day at a time. I know that’s kind of a cliche, but it’s true. If you focus on the future and what you need to do in the future, it becomes so overwhelming it’s exhausting but, if you just focus on the now everything will fall into place.
I stopped planning ahead for what I needed to do for the week, or the month, or the year, and just started focusing on today, and now, and I have noticed a decrease in anxiety and frustration and an increase in productivity and success!
I’ve lost 40 pounds now and kept it off. I think my Metabolism was messed up, because once I got that taken care off, the weight just fell off. I found a diet website, got the book and followed the instructions. And like I said, the weight just fell off and hasn’t returned. You could do this too.