Why we lose weight and why not


October 18, 2021 – Brian Martin Sr. struggles with weight loss for most of his life. He says the fight developed 3 years ago when he needed a hip replacement.

His doctor told the 64-year-old from Woodstock, MD, the good news was that hip replacement was the solution to his problem, but the bad news was that he had to lower his body mass index or BMI before the operation could succeed. At the time, he weighed just under 400 kilograms.

“Having a body mass index of about 55 and I had to drop to 40, which led to weight loss of about 85 kilograms, it was kind of, well, it affected me a lot in many ways. My ego was the first way, but then how to formulate a plan was the next. “

Creating this plan is the key, experts say, but no template will work for everyone. Switching from a diet plan to a diet plan is not uncommon and is usually unsuccessful. But some people have found effective strategies and the best weight loss plan seems to be the one you find interesting and feasible.

The 6-foot-tall Martin says he’s always been a big man, but quite healthy. He was obese, but he did not have any of the conditions that often come with obesity, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. He was 50 when he decided to focus on managing his weight.

“Then I started trying different things and everything worked, but nothing was left, which I’m sure is not just my story,” he recalls. “I always tell people that I’m the most disciplined person in the world for the first 21 days, but something happens on those 22 days.nd day I still can’t explain. “

National crisis, many opportunities

Martin is not alone. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, more than 70% of American adults are overweight or obese.

Boston Medical Center, which houses the Boston Center for the Study of Eating Obesity, says about 45 million Americans are on a diet each year and spend a whopping $ 33 billion a year on weight loss products.

There are dozens of diets and weight loss strategies to choose from.

Catherine Talmage, a registered nutritionist / nutritionist, designs weight loss, nutrition and wellness programs for people, corporations and restaurants. She says you need to change the way a person thinks and behaves. Goals must be realistic and flexible.

“Everyone should find their own unique way of eating and living, which is comfortable, pleasant, satisfying. You have to love what you eat and your lifestyle. This will not be successful unless everything you eat is tasty and unless you love the way you feel and are happier than ever, ”says Talmaj, author of The diet is simple and founder of Personalized Nutrition, a wellness coaching business.

If someone feels deprived or unhappy, nothing will work, she says.

The keys we know work

Talmaj says a lot of evidence suggests the best ways to lose weight.

“There are no mysteries here. It’s amazing how just a few simple changes can create a satisfying, even joyful, way of eating and living to achieve weight loss and health goals, ”she says.

Diets like the Mediterranean, Dash and Okinawa, which is a Japanese diet low in calories, fat and salt, but high in carbohydrates and vegetables, are good, but Talmaj says many diets do not teach you how to personalize your diet. She believes that for 90% of people, all that is needed is small changes and minor adjustments.

“Focus on the positive. “What to do, instead of what NOT to do, is crucial to the success of everyone’s ability to lose weight and keep it going,” she said.

Tallmadge says it is possible to do this without pain. Her advice is to make fruits and vegetables at least 50% of each meal. Monitor your food intake, physical activity and weight every day. Beware of all misinformation and never give up.

Kevin Schulze focuses on the positive in his weight loss journey. The 52-year-old from Chevy Chase, a doctor of medicine, has always worked, but noticing that with age, it was harder to maintain weight.

At 6 feet 3 and 220 pounds, he was worried about becoming overweight. When the clothes started to feel tight, he knew he was out of shape, so he tried different diets – Weight Watchers, Atkins and Body for Life.

“They all worked for me for a while because it’s exciting, it’s new and it works,” Schulze recalls.

Some diets require a very drastic change, he says, such as the Atkins diet, which emphasizes a lot of protein and little, if any, carbohydrates.

“It’s hard to maintain, and I knew it,” he said. “And I knew that the toughness of that, and then you know the drastic measures, the changes you have to make, just don’t work for me after a while.”

A friend recommended Tallmadge. Schulze attributes the individual attention she receives to her success and says she makes losing weight interesting and fun. Now he tilts the scales at 210 kilograms and says that 200-205 is his optimal weight.

“What my nutritionist has taught me is that you have a better chance of losing weight if you decide to make small changes, such as adding sliced ​​fruit to your diet instead of refined sugar, making batches of soup or chili over the weekend, for yes you can eat them all week, alternating eating red meat and chicken or fish at night, making sure you take 10,000 steps a day, and weighing yourself every day to stay on track. “

These small steps, he says, make long-term weight management easier.

Grace Guggenheim met with Talmaj more than 15 years ago. The 62-year-old from Washington, D.C., says her weight has varied since she left college with those extra 15-year-olds. She has tried several diets over the years; often, she says, with disastrous results.

“The kind of diet I understood was just not eating or a diet that made me feel hungry or unwell,” she says. “Isn’t it awful?” Looking back, this is a scary way to keep up. “

The Guggenheim now weighs 142 kilograms and says she has learned to stay away from dietary “tricks”.

“I believe that personalized nutrition is the way to go and it doesn’t take long. Understanding the basic principles is all you need and knowing that you can enjoy what you eat and why, ”she says.

Her advice to others struggling to lose weight is not to get discouraged and take the time to educate yourself.

“The wrong name for the diet is that things are taken away from you forever, and that’s not true. That should not be the case. “

Calories are not the only thing

According to Dr. Trisha Psota, managing director of Nutrition on Demand, reducing calories is important, but losing weight is more complicated than that.

“Genetics and metabolism come into play, as do chronic conditions. “While we encourage people to reduce calories (if they need to lose weight) and eat healthier foods, other factors such as mental health, activity, genetics and risk of chronic diseases must be taken into account,” she said.

The US Department of Agriculture’s dietary guidelines for Americans say that to lose weight, you need to reduce the number of calories from food and drink and increase physical activity. Guidelines rooted in science recommend a healthy diet with nutrient-rich foods and beverages.

Foods high in nutrients are high in nutrients and low in calories. It contains vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates, lean proteins and healthy fats. Fruits and vegetables, seafood, whole grains, eggs, beans, lentils and nuts are rich in nutrients. They have no added sugar, salt or saturated fat.

Psota believes that science provides solid evidence.

“We know a lot about what works,” she says. “Weight loss strategies should not focus only on food or nutrients alone.”

Successful programs also focus on other things that affect the way you eat, such as food preferences, culture, and what foods you have access to.

“When we talk about weight loss engines, behavioral changes are vital to help people lose weight and then maintain the weight they lose,” she says.

Psota says he doesn’t recommend diets because they make people fail.

What do we eat for how much

There are many schools for ways to lose weight. An article by the American Nutrition Society published in Science Daily, suggests “focusing on what we eat rather than how much we eat is a better weight management strategy.”

Both Tallmadge and Psota dispute this concept.

A recent study in JAMA open network examined whether financial rewards and environmental changes affect weight loss and found that people who received these interventions did not lose significantly more weight than other participants, which led researchers to suggest that individualized weight loss strategies may work. better.

Jason Evold is a registered nutritionist in the Mayo Clinic’s healthy lifestyle program. He believes that one of the best ways to lose weight is to focus on the habit changes you can maintain.

“The focus is on small, realistic changes over time to create new health habits and break less healthy habits,” he says. “This can be in the form of setting a goal around, say, increasing the portions of fruits and vegetables to five servings a day or reducing the consumption of soda from three carbonated drinks a day to one.”

Evold says that if you achieve your goal, over time it will become a habit – just part of your routine. If you do not achieve this goal, change it to make it more realistic or change it completely.

“Of course, when it comes not only to weight loss, but also to too To maintain weight loss, the approach must be individualized and sustainable, ”he says. “If someone loses weight unsustainably through diet, not through changing habits, the chances of regaining weight are high.”

It took Martin almost 3 years to lose 85 pounds. He started with something he knew he could control — portion sizes — and began eating smaller meals. The last time he stepped on the scales, he weighed 302 kilograms. His goal is to reach 250. He says he knows the frustration of fabrics, the loss of positions, and recommends that when others get to this place, you look at what motivates you and stick to it.

For him, this motivation was to have a first grandchild and want to be here for him.

“I am now 64, I will be 65 in December. The honest report on my life is that I have less sunrise in front of me than behind me, but I want as many of these sunrises as I can get, ”he says. “So I would just say anything that motivates you, just remember: keep these things in front of you and let them help you cope.



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