Researchers have recently compared the results from several of the most popular weight loss programs and they discovered something interesting. The overall success rate is pretty much equivalent among all the weight loss plans studied! The researchers discovered something else that was interesting too. The most important determining factor in the success of a weight loss program for a given individual had almost nothing to do with the methods of the program. What determined success was how closely the person followed the program!
Given this information, I wish to discuss what in my experience are the top three reasons why people fail to lose weight and/or are unable to keep the weight off long term.
In my experience, the first problem is that most people trying to lose weight view weight loss as a short-term “project” or goal, rather than as a long-term lifestyle change. They set out to lose some amount of weight within a set period of time, they choose their diet and or exercise program, and they get started. Then one of a couple of things happen. Some will lose motivation and quit in the first week or so, while a smaller number will follow through and they meet their weight loss goal (or get close to it). In the case of someone who successfully lost the weight they set out to lose, what happens next? In many cases, they declare “mission accomplished”, they immediately stop their diet and exercise program, and begin to gain weight again. To combat this problem, I recommend that anyone contemplating losing weight go in right from the start with the concept that weight control requires a life-long change in lifestyle.
This next reason people fail to lose weight is that they lie to themselves. People trying to lose weight often become self-delusional as to how well they are following diet and exercise recommendations. Often when I review the diet journals of the people on my weight loss program, it becomes readily apparent that they haven’t even come close to following my recommendations.
For example, I usually recommend that people cut out bread and other refined carbohydrates altogether because insulin release in response to consuming carbs is the most powerful block to fat burning that there is. Yet, those people who complain that they are doing everything perfectly but it’s not working will almost always have things like sandwiches (on bread), toast, cereal, pasta, and even cookies and cake on their diet journals. When I confront them about it, they’ll usually say something about that just being a one-time exception – yet they have a “one-time” exception on every meal! While it can be difficult to stop self-delusional thinking, a diet journal is an excellent way to keep yourself honest. By writing down (or digitally recording it in some way) what you have to eat, when you eat it (don’t wait to write it down later when you may “forget” that brownie!), you have a record to review and help keep yourself honest. The process of writing down what you eat AND reviewing it each day (my patients who claim they have been perfect on the diet have usually not reviewed their diet journals on their own) will help you keep yourself honest, and hopefully the realization of how many times you are cheating will begin to prevent you from doing it.
Finally, probably the biggest reason people fail to lose weight and/or keep it off is that they simply haven’t found a really motivating reason. Weight loss is often approached as a short-term goal rather than a long-term lifestyle change because the motivating factor is usually a temporary reason. A lot of people have motivation to lose weight that is tied to an event, such as a wedding, a reunion, or a vacation. Whatever it may be, the vast majority of the time, when people want to lose weight by a set time or event, the motivation to control their weight vanishes when that time or event has passed.
The other part of people not having found a good enough motivation to lose weight is that they really don’t have any major emotion behind their weight loss goals. There’s a big difference in the emotion and therefore the amount of motivation in the person who casually says “I want to lose 20 pounds” and the person who angrily proclaims “I am sick of being fat and I am going to lose these disgusting 20 pounds of flab if it KILLS me!”.
If you can’t find some highly emotional motivating factor to lose weight, I recommend you forget about trying to lose weight until you do. People are often taken in by advertising hype for a weight loss product or program, but no matter how easy they seem from the advertising, you are wasting your time and money on it if you are not strongly motivated to lose the weight. The fact of the matter is almost all sensible weight loss programs work, but they all require effort on your part to make them work and you do need to be motivated to put forth the necessary effort.
Different people will find motivation in different things. For some, maybe it’s about fear of health problems if they don’t lose weight. Others may be more motivated because losing weight will make them more attractive to others and help them in their social lives. Some may be motivated for monetary reasons (some studies have shown that more attractive people are often more successful in business). Whatever the reason is, the more emotion and purpose you can put behind your desire to lose weight, the better your chances are of making it happen.
To sum things up, to maximize your chances of losing weight and keeping it off, you first need to start thinking of weight control as a change in long-term lifestyle, not as a short-term goal. Second, be honest with yourself, and make sure to have a system of accountability to keep yourself on track with your weight loss program. Finally, you need emotionally-charged motivation to continually push you to stick to your weight control program.