I'm sure this article, NYT's "The Fat Trap" by Tara Parker-Pope (12/28/11), http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/ma...-fat-trap.html, must have been posted here when it originally came out, but I haven't come across it, not to mention it's worth repeating. How many of us have taken off weight somewhere along the line only to regain it? You can put your hands down because it was a rhetorical question. Probably most if not all of us at 3FC have! If you haven't read this article, please don't let it discourage you. Let it open your eyes, and use it to motivate yourself to make whatever changes you have to make in order to take the weight off and maintain it for life!
I don't believe it. I think the problem is more that to diet effectively and keep the weight off you need to learn how your body works. You need to work out what foods and exercise work for you. You can't just take these off the shelf. You need to find them through trial and error. I have. I know what foods I like that make me gain and those that don't. And those I like that I can just eat with abandon. It's no use feeding people food they do not like or those that make them gain 'cos their body just works like that.
For example, I can eat fish, eggs and broccoli until the cows come home and I won't gain an ounce. Same with drinking beer and wine.
Not so with pizza or candy or cake or rum and coke. That's just how my body works.
Ian, how does the following paragraph from the article compare to how much you exercise and how you eat? It's already apparent you eat very healthily.
"There is no consistent pattern to how people in the registry lost weight — some did it on Weight Watchers, others with Jenny Craig, some by cutting carbs on the Atkins diet and a very small number lost weight through surgery. But their eating and exercise habits appear to reflect what researchers find in the lab: to lose weight and keep it off, a person must eat fewer calories and exercise far more than a person who maintains the same weight naturally. Registry members exercise about an hour or more each day — the average weight-loser puts in the equivalent of a four-mile daily walk, seven days a week. They get on a scale every day in order to keep their weight within a narrow range. They eat breakfast regularly. Most watch less than half as much television as the overall population. They eat the same foods and in the same patterns consistently each day and don’t “cheat” on weekends or holidays. They also appear to eat less than most people, with estimates ranging from 50 to 300 fewer daily calories."
A very long and interesting article. It really shows how difficult it is and I really hope I succeed with weight loss and maintenance. Thanks for sharing.
And I KNOW it's true with me needing to do more and eat less to maintain losses. It's stinks, but I also did it to myself (but even that is debatable).
Ian, how does the following paragraph from the article compare to how much you exercise and how you eat? It's already apparent you eat very healthily.
"There is no consistent pattern to how people in the registry lost weight — some did it on Weight Watchers, others with Jenny Craig, some by cutting carbs on the Atkins diet and a very small number lost weight through surgery. But their eating and exercise habits appear to reflect what researchers find in the lab: to lose weight and keep it off, a person must eat fewer calories and exercise far more than a person who maintains the same weight naturally. Registry members exercise about an hour or more each day — the average weight-loser puts in the equivalent of a four-mile daily walk, seven days a week. They get on a scale every day in order to keep their weight within a narrow range. They eat breakfast regularly. Most watch less than half as much television as the overall population. They eat the same foods and in the same patterns consistently each day and don’t “cheat” on weekends or holidays. They also appear to eat less than most people, with estimates ranging from 50 to 300 fewer daily calories."
Thanks. For me, this is all BS. To lose weight, you need to cut calories and/or do more cardio. This will burn fat and muscle. To maintain weight, the easiest way is to change what you eat and how you exercise. I eat a lot more now than I used to but I am trying to maintain while building muscle. So I do more weight training and eat lean protein while keeping processed carbs low. But my calorie intake is very high. Yep, a calorie is not a calorie folks.
The problem is that people think the equation to lose weight is similar to the one to maintain i.e. just eat more or exercise less. In fact, it is very different. Specifically you should eat a lot more but different and exercise different.
The weight loss game is about fat and muscle. What we really want to do is lose the fat while maintaining or building muscle otherwise you end up looking like sh!t. But to do both at once is very hard. So in practice you need to break yourself down and then build yourself up again. Which requires two diet and exercise strategies, not one like the article naively suggests.
So, let me rework the article for you:
" a weight-loser should put in the equivalent of a four-mile daily walk, seven days a week with no weight training. They get on a scale every day in order to make sure their weight is dropping. They eat breakfast regularly. Most watch less than half as much television as the overall population. They eat the same foods and in the same patterns consistently each day and don’t “cheat” on weekends or holidays. They also eat less than most people, with estimates ranging from 50 to 300 fewer daily calories."
" a maintainer who may also want to build muscle should put in the equivalent of a four-mile daily walk, seven days a week and lift weights. They should get on a scale every day in order to monitor their weight within a 10lb range. They eat breakfast regularly. Most watch no television. They eat the same foods and in the same patterns consistently each day and occassionally “cheat” on weekends or holidays. They eat more than most people, of foods high in protein, low in saturated fats but high in good fats e.g. omega 3s and eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetable which are high in fiber. They keep processed carbs low and ignore calorie intake."
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Thanks for posting that link Jacqui. Very interesting. I have read similar articles with the same discouraging information. I can only speak from my own experience and he's my take on this.
Growing up, we ate meals only. There was no snack food etc, in the house. Since my parents were low-income, we got enough food to live, no extras, and lots of carbs, potatoes, rice, pasta, to stretch the amount of protein they could afford. When meal time came, we were hungry! We weren't eating just because the food was there. I didn't exercise, but as a child, I played outside, running and jumping. No video games, no TV. When I went to play with friends, no one drove me to their house. No car. I walked the couple blocks to their house. Then sometimes we would leave from there and walk to another friends house. Sometimes we would play records and dance. Jitterbug was in style back then. When we went to the library, we walked. About a mile, and back.
When I grew up I moved out on my own. I bought and ate the foods when I was hungry. Paying my own way, money was still scarce, so I bought only what I needed. I belonged to a gym, plus I spent time in the dance clubs a couple nights a week. Exercise.
Then I met and married DH, who brought along 2 pre-teen kids. Instant family. Food was flowing. I was eating things I wasn't used to having, and eating when it was mealtime since I was cooking for a family. Hunger had nothing to do with it. Exercise became cleaning the house and doing the laundry. I gained, and gained, and here I am. All my good habits went out the window.
My answer to this is eat when you're hungry and stop when you're satisfied. Unlike Intuitive Eating, I believe that we should not be eating food that has no nutritional value. It's fuel. What would happen if your car had a 10 gallon gas tank but you decided to put in 12 gallons. And what if you put in water instead of gasoline. Also, some cars are more fuel efficient and you don't have to buy gas as often or as much. They are all different, and we are all different.
It's been proven that exercise doesn't really burn enough calories to cause a big weight loss, but it changes your body chemistry to start your body burning more fat and doing a better job of processing what you eat. Our bodies were meant to move.
Having said all that, why am I still fat? Because I have developed very bad habits over the years and they are very hard to break.
I believe we can lose and maintain because I know of people who have done it. But you have to want it bad enough to do what it takes.
Last edited by Wannabehealthy; 06-13-2015 at 10:14 AM.
" a maintainer who may also want to build muscle should put in the equivalent of a four-mile daily walk, seven days a week and lift weights. They should get on a scale every day in order to monitor their weight within a 10lb range. They eat breakfast regularly. Most watch no television. They eat the same foods and in the same patterns consistently each day and occassionally “cheat” on weekends or holidays. They eat more than most people, of foods high in protein, low in saturated fats but high in good fats e.g. omega 3s and eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetable which are high in fiber. They keep processed carbs low and ignore calorie intake."
That's similar to what I'm doing to lose weight only I'm not ignoring calorie intake and I'm only lifting weights a small amount. Seems to be working so far.
What I took away from the article is that once you start dieting, your body will not be the same, and once you get to the lower weight where you want to be, if you don't watch what you eat and exercise, you'll go right back up to the higher weight and more. I believe that's true. As a yo-yo dieter, it's certainly been my experience. Ian, I know you disagree but you are eating right and exercising. If you stopped, I believe you'd gain your weight back and possibly more. You seem to me to be living proof of the point it's making and an example of one of the successful maintainers in the minority of overall dieters.
It doesn't take rocket science to figure out what went wrong.
The study had these people eating 500-550 calories a day for 8 weeks. They were literally starving their bodies. Sure you can survive of that few calories and it won't kill you but you won't benefit from it either!
You need to EAT to lose weight. Seriously. What you need to be doing is gradually changing your diet to be eating healthy foods in healthy portions for your body. Once you are eating healthy the weight comes off naturally. Plus, you are not hungry. When you get hungry you eat. If you are dieting and your hungry you are doing something wrong. Your body needs foods that power you, energize you, feed you nutrients, good fats, etc.
This article is interesting but it really doesn't cover all the whys and ways it didn't work for these people. Honestly I feel sorry for them. They were doomed to get fat from day 1 following that diet regime. At least the majority of them will. Those that don't would be the exception rather than the rule.
I am certainly not a fan of Optifast, which was used in the study, or any quick-loss plan, and I do believe studies need to be conducted with participants who lose weight at a reasonable rate. However, I don't think only quick loss plans account for the numbers in this quote: "Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, says that while the 10,000 people [who have lost at least 30 lbs and kept it off for at least a year] tracked in the [The National Weight Control R]registry are a useful resource, they also represent a tiny percentage of the tens of millions of people who have tried unsuccessfully to lose weight."
Thanks. For me, this is all BS. To lose weight, you need to cut calories and/or do more cardio. This will burn fat and muscle. To maintain weight, the easiest way is to change what you eat and how you exercise. I eat a lot more now than I used to but I am trying to maintain while building muscle. So I do more weight training and eat lean protein while keeping processed carbs low. But my calorie intake is very high. Yep, a calorie is not a calorie folks.
The problem is that people think the equation to lose weight is similar to the one to maintain i.e. just eat more or exercise less. In fact, it is very different. Specifically you should eat a lot more but different and exercise different.
The weight loss game is about fat and muscle. What we really want to do is lose the fat while maintaining or building muscle otherwise you end up looking like sh!t. But to do both at once is very hard. So in practice you need to break yourself down and then build yourself up again. Which requires two diet and exercise strategies, not one like the article naively suggests.
So, let me rework the article for you:
" a weight-loser should put in the equivalent of a four-mile daily walk, seven days a week with no weight training. They get on a scale every day in order to make sure their weight is dropping. They eat breakfast regularly. Most watch less than half as much television as the overall population. They eat the same foods and in the same patterns consistently each day and don’t “cheat” on weekends or holidays. They also eat less than most people, with estimates ranging from 50 to 300 fewer daily calories."
" a maintainer who may also want to build muscle should put in the equivalent of a four-mile daily walk, seven days a week and lift weights. They should get on a scale every day in order to monitor their weight within a 10lb range. They eat breakfast regularly. Most watch no television. They eat the same foods and in the same patterns consistently each day and occassionally “cheat” on weekends or holidays. They eat more than most people, of foods high in protein, low in saturated fats but high in good fats e.g. omega 3s and eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetable which are high in fiber. They keep processed carbs low and ignore calorie intake."
For me, it isn't all that complex. It absolutely comes down to calories in/calories out, as far as weight management, both in losing mode and maintenance.
I've lived it for 20 years and never regained my original weight, although I've fluctuated by 20 pounds or so.
I completely agree with Ian's post here. If you put someone on an extremely low calorie diet and then expect them to maintain their weight by going back to normal eating habits, it is never going to work! Simple. People who keep it off are usually those who have learned about what is good for their bodies and adapted to a more active lifestyle. No one will keep weight off if they stop what they were doing to lose it and go back to old habits.
Maybe I have simplified the article but it is what it is to me!
New York Times "The Fat Trap"
Probably most if not all of us at 3FC have! If you haven't read this article, please don't let it discourage you. Let it open your eyes, and use it to motivate yourself to make whatever changes you have to make in order to take the weight off and maintain it for life! 
