Weight loss is hard -- why we wrote it
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Genetics-based diet books, revolutionary eating plans, appetite-quelling supplements, metabolism-boosting drinks. ... The Health section could churn out a story every week about the newest products or theories to help readers lose weight. And those would be legitimate stories - useful and relevant and, sometimes, just a snapshot of the consumption-obsessed world in which we live. But an overemphasis on this type of weight-loss story would be doing readers a disservice.
Because losing weight isn’t the problem. Almost anybody can do that - with pretty much any diet plan. High protein. Low fat. It doesn’t especially matter. But keeping the weight off. ... That’s almost impossible. And that’s the true problem.
It’s so difficult that former dieters either beat themselves up when they regain those pounds, feeling like weak-willed failures, or they give up their weight loss struggle completely.
What we wanted to do is explain why sustained weight loss is so hard, to give context and explanation for the losing battle that so many people face. And what we found, as researchers are learning, is bleak. In short, our bodies are sabotaging us. It wants those pounds back - now. The brain, the metabolism, the hormones and the fat storage system all know the weight was there and they are absolutely desperate to regain it.
This is not an issue of aesthetics. If it were, we wouldn’t care that a shocking percentage of the population bears a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. There’s a body type to fit every preference and who are we to say which is the most fetching. Mrs. Claus probably thinks Santa’s pretty hot, come to think of it. But the flab-related health risks are real - heart disease and Type 2 diabetes and some cancers. And that’s just for starters. The likelihood of all these conditions increases with weight.
That’s why we wrote the story. All these stories. It’s time to understand what we’re doing to our bodies with the daily handful of peanut-butter-filled pretzels, the occasional dish of ice cream, the extra slice of pizza or that slice of a co-worker’s birthday cake. (Office workers, I’m convinced, age faster than the general population. Everyone seems to get two or three cakes a year.) That type of mindless, casual eating exacts a price for years to come.
If you’ve been able to overcome that price and thwarted your body’s desperate attempts to put the weight back on, tell us, please, how you did it. You’re rare. And next week, we’ll share some of those stories.
But if, more likely, you encounter the same roadblocks or pitfalls every time you lose weight, ones that cause you to start climbing again, ones that prevent you from ever cleaning the fat clothes from your closet, share your struggles with us. Maybe together we can find a solution.
- Tami Dennis