Why 95% of diets fail

rowanh

I was listening to a Joe Rogan podcast with Dom D'agostino and Layne Nortan this morning. Layne mentions in it x out of 10 people are able to lose a substantial amount of weight but the percentage of people who gain it back in the first and second year is very high and its 95% by the third year. They discuss this a bit and talk about how the post diet diet is as important as the diet itself. As someone who has lost around 10kg before, stopped trying to lose weight and then put it back on quickly I can certainly see what they mean. They discuss how the body wants to gain the weight back and becomes much more efficient at gaining weight after weight loss. The talk is based around keto vs conventional weight loss but they cover a lot, its a very informative and enjoyable 3 hours if that kind of thing interests you. I just though this one piece of info was worth mentioning.

Alf Veedersane

The problem is where people treat it as a diet rather than a sustainable change to their eating/drinking.

blade1

It's all about habit.
Start falling back into bad habits and you'll be back to square soon enough.

endacl

Eat differently for a bit = see results for a bit.

Conorbarry1984

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

The problem is where people treat it as a diet rather than a sustainable change to their eating/drinking.

Have to agree, it’s not about using a diet to get to your desired weight and then, hey presto you can return to old habits, it has to be about a lifestyle change.

dball

rowanh wrote: »

I was listening to a Joe Rogan podcast with Dom D'agostino and Layne Nortan this morning. Layne mentions in it x out of 10 people are able to lose a substantial amount of weight but the percentage of people who gain it back in the first and second year is very high and its 95% by the third year. They discuss this a bit and talk about how the post diet diet is as important as the diet itself. As someone who has lost around 10kg before, stopped trying to lose weight and then put it back on quickly I can certainly see what they mean. They discuss how the body wants to gain the weight back and becomes much more efficient at gaining weight after weight loss. The talk is based around keto vs conventional weight loss but they cover a lot, its a very informative and enjoyable 3 hours if that kind of thing interests you. I just though this one piece of info was worth mentioning.

sounds interesting , any idea what date the podcast is from
Tx

Alf Veedersane

dball wrote: »

sounds interesting , any idea what date the podcast is from
Tx

28th September 2018 - it's episode #1176.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Need to eat more elk.

Penn

The 95% figure is misleading, as I'd have to imagine that takes into account the number of people who might try lose a relatively small amount of weight for an upcoming event or holiday, then just go back to their normal diet after.

I'm sure there are definitely a lot of people who do put back on the weight after. It's definitely something I'm conscious of possibly doing myself. That's why this time one of my big focuses has been on finding healthy food I enjoy and that I would want to eat regardless of diet (maybe increased portion sizes or a different side to accompany it) rather than just eating something because it's low calorie. That's what makes diets easier to stick to, when it doesn't feel like a diet. When it doesn't feel like you're restricting yourself or not being able to eat food you enjoy.

Ultimately when my diet ends and I don't have to count calories, I will allow myself the odd treat and allow myself some bigger portions (that's one thing about the diet, while I'm rarely ever hungry, I'm almost never 'full' either). But being on the diet for so long has me in a place where I almost can't conceive of eating the stuff I had been. My food habits have changed. That takes time and making sure your new habits are ones you can, but more importantly want, to stick to.

jaykhunter

Penn wrote: »

That's what makes diets easier to stick to, when it doesn't feel like a diet. [...] being on the diet for so long has me in a place where I almost can't conceive of eating the stuff I had been. My food habits have changed.

Well said - This is huge. Finding a sustainable way to lose weight via making positive adjustments to your diet is mentally and long-run is the healthiest. Crash diets and crazy calorie restriction mean you haven't unlearned bad, self-destructive habits, and would pile on the weight when ya can't keep it up. Changing how you view food and your habits is absolutely the key!

Side note, I saw a medical journal article that said post-weight loss, people that have added exercise to their routine saw a much higher success rate for keeping it off I'll try find it.

Dalomanakora

I think it's just common sense though.

If you treat it as a diet, you'll only lose weight while you diet.

If you want to keep weight off, you need to be prepared to eat in your healthy manner for the rest of your life. It needs to be sustainable and you need to enjoy your food or you'll never keep the weight off.

Macy0161

Penn wrote:

The 95% figure is misleading, as I'd have to imagine that takes into account the number of people who might try lose a relatively small amount of weight for an upcoming event or holiday, then just go back to their normal diet after.

The stat I've heard the likes of Donal O'Shea quote is only 10% of people who lose more than 10% of their starting weight keep it off.

My own opinion, so far being one of those 10% (this time) is that it's been a change of diet rather than a diet...

Mellor

rowanh wrote: »

They discuss how the body wants to gain the weight back and becomes much more efficient at gaining weight after weight loss.

I think a much bigger factor is tat people's "normal" diet made them fat. When they go back to their normal diet, they start gaining fat again until they reach some sort of energy balance.

Penn wrote: »

The 95% figure is misleading, as I'd have to imagine that takes into account the number of people who might try lose a relatively small amount of weight for an upcoming event or holiday, then just go back to their normal diet after.

I really don't think 95% is much of an exaggeration. It's certainly above 90%.
It's really common for people who have tried 10 fad diets in the last 5 years. IF they succeed with the 10th, that's a 90% fail rate.
If their neighbour doesn't suceed in 10 attempts, combined that's 95%.

Simplistic numbers, but you get my point.

That's why this time one of my big focuses has been on finding healthy food I enjoy and that I would want to eat regardless of diet (maybe increased portion sizes or a different side to accompany it) rather than just eating something because it's low calorie. That's what makes diets easier to stick to, when it doesn't feel like a diet. When it doesn't feel like you're restricting yourself or not being able to eat food you enjoy.

Ultimately when my diet ends and I don't have to count calories, I will allow myself the odd treat and allow myself some bigger portions (that's one thing about the diet, while I'm rarely ever hungry, I'm almost never 'full' either). But being on the diet for so long has me in a place where I almost can't conceive of eating the stuff I had been. My food habits have changed. That takes time and making sure your new habits are ones you can, but more importantly want, to stick to.

You've had fantastic results, but you are in no way a representation of a typical person attempt at dieting. Good for you, sucks for them

silverharp

apparently there is the idea that if you can keep the weight off for 2 years that your body will change its "set point" to the new weight otherwise its fighting to get to get back to a higher set point. At a minimum whatever you did to lose the weight you have to do a modified version to maintain it for life not to mention that your calorie maintenance will have dropped so even going back to a pre loss maintenance way of eating will mean you gain weight.