fbpx

Weight Maintenance: New Study Shows How Your Body Works Against You

Weight Maintenance: New Study Shows How Your Body Works Against YouIt’s an unfortunate fact that most people who lose a significant amount of weight gain a significant amount of it back over time. Statistics show that up to 90% of people who lose weight regain it back within 5 years. Why is weight maintenance so difficult?

There’s a theory that you have a genetically pre-determined set point, a weight at which your body tries to maintain. When you deviate too far from this set point, your body sabotages your weight loss attempt by boosting your appetite and decreasing your activity level. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine seems to confirm this idea.

Researchers in Australia recruited 50 obese and overweight people to participate in a calorie-restricted diet and exercise program to lose weight. Over the course of the 10-week program, the participants lost an average of 14% of their body weight. Unfortunately, when they followed up with the “successful losers” 62 weeks later, they had regained almost half of the weight they had lost.

During the course of the study, they measured levels of hormones that control appetite including leptin, ghrelin, CCK, GIP, insulin and peptide YY. Weight loss caused levels of hormones like leptin that suppress appetite to drop and ghrelin levels to rise. Ghrelin is a hormone produced by cells that line the stomach that increases the desire to eat. It’s ghrelin that gives you that rumbly feeling in your stomach when you’ve gone too long without eating.  In addition, the participants reported feeling hungry much of the time. This isn’t surprising since their ghrelin levels were still elevated.

What Does This Mean?

When you lose weight, leptin levels typically fall since it’s produced by fat cells. When energy stores are high, more leptin is produced, which causes appetite suppression. As energy levels decline through calorie restriction or weight loss, leptin levels go up, which stimulates appetite. Ghrelin levels increase with energy restriction, which motivates you to eat. This study suggests that these hormonal changes persist a year or longer after losing weight, so people who successfully lose are fighting a battle with their appetite hormones. For many people, that’s an easy battle to lose. Hunger is a strong motivator and one that’s difficult to ignore.

Is Weight Maintenance Impossible?

Fighting your appetite hormones can be a challenge, but exercise, especially strength training and high-intensity exercise, may tilt the scale in your favor. Higher intensity exercise has an appetite suppressive effect for many people, and strength training builds lean body mass, which boosts metabolism. Many people also let their guard down after losing weight and gradually fall back into their old habits. One way to prevent this is to weigh twice a week and make adjustments based on what the scale shows. It’s easy for two pounds of weight gain to turn into four when you don’t adjust your diet. It’s also a good idea to keep a food diary to make sure you’re staying on track.

 

References:

Aetna InteliHealth. “Stopping that Rebound in Weight”
N Engl J Med 2012; 366:380-382.

 

Related Articles By Cathe:

You Lost the Weight. Now, What’s the Most Critical Factor for Weight Maintenance?

What Type of Diet is Best for Weight Maintenance After Weight Loss?

Weight Maintenance: 3 Hormones That Make It Easy to Regain Weight Once You’ve Lost It

Successful Weight Maintenance After Weight Loss: What Research Shows

Weight Maintenance: How to Maintain Weight Loss Once You’ve Lost It

Are Protein Shakes Causing You to Gain Weight? It Depends on When You’re Drinking Them

Do These 5 Foods Boost Weight Loss or Not?

How Many Calories Do You Need Daily to Maintain Your Weight?

Hi, I'm Cathe

I want to help you get in the best shape of your life and stay healthy with my workout videos, DVDs and Free Weekly Newsletter. Here are several ways you can watch and work out to my exercise videos and purchase my fitness products:

Get Your Free Weekly Cathe Friedrich Newsletter

Get free weekly tips on Fitness, Health, Weight Loss and Nutrition delivered directly to your email inbox. Plus get Special Cathe Product Offers and learn about What’s New at Cathe Dot Com.

Enter your email address below to start receiving my free weekly updates. Don’t worry…I guarantee 100% privacy. Your information will not be shared and you can easily unsubscribe whenever you like. Our Privacy Policy