Please read that article and tell me, WTF?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
WHY DOES IT SEAM LIKE EVERYONE IS TRYING TO TELL ME I'M GOING TO STAY FAT????
It started with that god awful Ted Talk that told us our brains only give us a 10-20 lb threshold before it craps out on the diet and makes us gain it all back.
5%??? FIVE FREAKING PERCENT?!?!?!!?
Please, people of the message boards - if you've been successful with your weight loss please tell me how long you've been able to keep it off!!
Oh hi, most insanely frustrating line in the whole article: "That raises another troubling question. If diets don't result in weight loss, what does? At this point the grim answer seems to be that there is no known cure for obesity, except perhaps surgically shrinking the stomach.
side bar - i don't like the word "diet" and i get why they don't work - but are they trying to tell me that with even the magical "lifestyle change" approach, it's all effing futile?
It seems like this article may have been written by someone who is ignorant of exactly how weight loss works, first of all. But more so, is ignorant of how scientific studies are conducted and how to draw conclusions from them. I personally am in the field of biology and know how to critique and properly interpret studies and journals. Which means many many many things go into considering the legitimacy of a claim such as this. In short, it is ridiculous and based on no real facts that can be traced.
What are doing reading MSN articles anyway? I find they are mostly written for a wow-factor and do not adhere to prestigious journaling guidelines whatsoever. There isn't even an author/journalist listed as having written it. It's garbage. Drivel. Intentional cockamamie.
It is yet another sideline commentary that overcomplicates a rather simple (in principle) process on purpose. For money. And to get people to read it. So that they can be exposed to the advertising on the site. Websites need traffic to get money from advertising companies. I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but in the case of crappy "news articles" all over the web, this is exactly what it is. Nothing more.
Use your own brain! Absolutely no one (perhaps baring a legit condition such as Prader-Willi syndrome) is condemned to be obese for their entire lives. Of course there are so many biological and chemical functions going on that may contribute to our TENDENCIES and BEHAVIOUR that lead to weight gain.
But mind ultimately controls matter.
Eat less and you will lose weight. Eat the amount needed to maintain weight and you will maintain weight. Eat more, gain more. All diets, strategies, and mental tools differ in their guidelines but they all amount to exactly this.
That is the BOTTOM LINE.
You CAN lose weight. You CAN keep it off for as long you have the emotional stamina to eat the appropriate energy needs. There is NO driving force to will gravitate you against your will to going back to obesity unless you are someone truly confused about your lifestyle. And I don't think you are
The Stats are really bad. However I am not sure about the 5% figure I was under the impression it was closer to 10 but regardless it doesn't matter because YOU don't have to be a statistic.
I have always believed that for most people losing weight is easy the hard part is keeping it off. One must find a new WOE that limits caloric intake or you will eventually regain because it is very easy to fall back into the pattern that got us fat in the first place.
This is a great opportunity for me to plug intermittent fasting. While not for everyone it has been a game changer for me.
Aww, hugs to you Kaybee! I'm still struggling, but I think the key is maintaining the lifestyle after the weightloss. Some say it's harder than the original weight loss!
Earthling--re MSN: that was my first reaction too about accuracy or lack thereof, but the article is actually from CBC.ca which is a national news channel in Canada and not (for the most part on a good day) an entertainment site. Granted, the two professors quoted aren't biologists--they're professors of psychology and health law respectively, and admittedly not the source of the studies (except meta-analysis in the case of one). But running an eating lab for 20 years? I think you'd have at least a couple of salient observations. (I don't mean that sarcastically).
Well kaybee i can understand your distress. But then i wouldn't go quite to the end that earthling has gone. No i'm not a scientist but this article, concurs with articles in legitimate hard copy magazines i've read in Australia.
Legitimate hard copy magazines? I'm not sure if that means the same thing in the States. Do you mean peer reviewed journals or magazines? Please DON'T EVER take any article you have read in a magazine about dieting or health seriously. Ever.
I stand by my comments on it. I know they are harsh. I am not talking about the phd's or the study they did which are flawed in their own way and (I'll use the phrase "appear to" because I can't get my hands on any published paper by them) give statistics that cannot be extrapolated to this extent, but the warped nature of the the articles' conclusions. They are ridiculous and seem intended to wow for shear sake of it. Because the average jo will not read about these statistics (or the frailty of their nature!) if it isn't packaged in movie drama fashion to lure them in.
Quote:
Earthling--re MSN: that was my first reaction too about accuracy or lack thereof, but the article is actually from CBC.ca which is a national news channel in Canada and not (for the most part on a good day) an entertainment site.
My bad for not seeing the CBC.ca logo. But even national news channels (at least in the US) are MAJOR participants in this phenomena. They love reporting the latest outliers in an otherwise humdrum world of literature as "breaking news" or "evidence" when it rarely is.
My major issue is that there is NO author or journalist listed. When this happens, no real journaling took place. None. Sorry. Not even a date as to when it was written.
"Obesity research confirms long-term weight loss almost impossible" is a horribly misleading title. Not only was nothing confirmed by the study that it misleadingly described, but the study itself confirmed nothing. NOTHING. Just added a few statistics to the pot which by themselves confirm nothing. They have to be taken A. into context and B. in conjunction with other studies. That is the best way to find the true value (or best estimate) or the thing you are seeking. Sampling distribution. Sampling distribution. Sampling distribution.
Not being able to see exactly which studies the author is referring to at specific points in the article is also problematic for me to assess the advantages and disadvantages of the studies and it reenforces the specious tone of the article. But one thing is this.
Folks who are typically in these studies are usually are in them for a reason. Usually because they have particular difficulty in losing weight. They're sampling pool is not representative of the population. And also, I hardly call 2 years long term when the title of the article is so utterly dire about hopeless eternity.
Also, another thing stood out. For most of the article, the author does not reference the studies AT ALL. Just the opinions of some guy named Cauffield who is particularly pessimistic (i am too and I agree with many of his opinions) but has nothing to do with the studies. At all. Read it again. Furthermore, his comments are cut and paste. The "author" is only giving you a few sentences of Cauffield's that superficially appear to confirm this idea. I have no sense at all that Cauffield was even referencing this particular study even. And they were probably taken out of context by the author.
Your mind controls your matter. Specifically your consciousness controls your matter. Thousands and millions of years of evolution is telling you that your body craves food. But it is your mind that puts the food in you. Not your body. And while yes, we are in a way evolved with the result of wanting food, fortunately, our brains and minds have evolved too.
Well, I can never be sure of breaking statistics but after 10 years of maintenance (and two pregnancies), the key for me is this:
Every day, every meal, I am conscious of what will happen if I don't control my eating. I have good and bad days, more good than bad, but not a day has gone by this decade that I dont have to make a conscious choice about what I eat. Yes, it isn't fun, but I guess its a price I pay instead of staying overweight.
10 yrs ago, I lost 25 lbs. I was only a little overweight at that time and I lost that weight through dieting. After that, I kept off that weight for 3 full years and I gained again only because I got pregnant. But I remember maintaining some sort of an ongoing diet, restricting the portion sizes and staying away from fatty foods. This time around, I have lost 35 lbs, and I have yet to see how effectively I am maintaining this new weight, and I hope to do well, as I know how much of a work it was to lose it.
Please read that article and tell me, WTF?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
WHY DOES IT SEAM LIKE EVERYONE IS TRYING TO TELL ME I'M GOING TO STAY FAT????
It started with that god awful Ted Talk that told us our brains only give us a 10-20 lb threshold before it craps out on the diet and makes us gain it all back.
5%??? FIVE FREAKING PERCENT?!?!?!!?
Please, people of the message boards - if you've been successful with your weight loss please tell me how long you've been able to keep it off!!
Oh hi, most insanely frustrating line in the whole article: "That raises another troubling question. If diets don't result in weight loss, what does? At this point the grim answer seems to be that there is no known cure for obesity, except perhaps surgically shrinking the stomach.
This is extremely depressing.
A depressing article indeed. I'm with Earthling, who's taking credit for this opinion article? Nobody has attached their name to it, therefor it is anonymous opinion. And there are certain things said that are.... DUMB! Like, the only known cure for obesity is surgically shrinking the stomach - uhm what a dumb conclusion. No wonder nobody wanted to sign their name, it's a sensationalist claim.
I firmly believe that diets don't work. "Lifestyle change" is the newfangled word for diet now. I don't identify with any of those terms "WOE," "maintenance mode" "diet," "lifestyle change" etc., none of it applies to me. I'm rewiring my brain, neutralizing my relationship with food, finding ways to address my emotional needs without food, and making sure that every eating experience is enjoyable and satisfying. That's not a lifestyle change, it's a personality change lol. I literally have to become someone else, I have to become a person that does not depend on food to cope with emotional distress, a person who does not rely on external diets to dictate when/what/how much I will eat.
C'mon over and visit the Maintainer's forum, kaybee! There's a whole klatch of folks here with amazing losses and still doing it every day, with plenty of different strategies. You're going to spend the vast majority of your life after weight loss as a Maintainer, so anything you can pick up ahead of time is just going to put you that much further ahead!
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Many years ago I lost 25 lbs and maintained that weight for 10 years. I ate sweets, pizza, hamburgers, pasta.....just not every day. It was a once in a while thing and I weighed daily to make sure the weight was not creeping back on. I also spent hours dancing in the dance clubs several nights a week. My lifestyle changed drastically after I got married and was cooking for a family. Now I am finding it close to impossible to get back to my previous lifestyle and lose the weight. So for me, maintaining was much easier for those 10 years than losing is now. Give me a way to get this weight off, and I will maintain that loss the rest of my life.
We all know people who have lost the weight and kept it off. It takes a great deal of persistence and effort, but it's not impossible. The majority bounce back, but it's not impossible to maintain.
We don't need this kind of negativity in our lives. LOL
I think that the article is right that most people lose weight regain it, but its like they are wrong about the reason why?
I would bet that the majority of people who lose weight do so with restrictive diets that they can not stick with on top of that there is just always temptation. Society is so based off food. Going out with friends, holidays, everyday being drowned out in commercials for food & restaurants. Plus keeping fit is an everyday lifelong activity. Everyone can have a lazy day sometimes but you can't ever really slack off with watching what you eat or being active if you wanna keep it. I can easily see why the majority of people regain.
But that doesn't mean everyone will. I think if you are honest about what you want and are making real changes in your habits and life then you are building a good foundation to stick with it for life.
what the EFF is this all about?!?!?!
on a good day) an entertainment site. Granted, the two professors quoted aren't biologists--they're professors of psychology and health law respectively, and admittedly not the source of the studies (except meta-analysis in the case of one). But running an eating lab for 20 years? I think you'd have at least a couple of salient observations. (I don't mean that sarcastically).
