Just about every person who has spent time as a “yo-yo dieter” knows that dieting is a lot harder than it looks … emotionally, physically, and psychologically. 

Scientific findings present a bleak picture of the effectiveness of diets, in fact research indicates that 95% of all dieters will regain all of their lost weight in 1-5 years, plus more, and will wind up heavier than they were before dieting.

It is common knowledge that while “the Diet” gets credited for successful weight-loss,  weight re-gain is blamed on the dieter. If Viagra failed 95% of the time would we blame guys for not trying hard enough, or would we say that the medicine didn’t work?

Who would be foolish enough to buy a ticket on an airline which failed to get 95% of all passengers to their planned destination?  Yet, we choose to continue chasing the elusive target of  “forever thin”. 

Below is an excellent article by two scientific researchers on this subject.
 

How Your Body Fights Back
When You Diet
 
By Traci Mann and A. Janet Tomiyama

Diets do not work.

The scientific evidence is clear as can be that cutting calories simply doesn't lead to long-term weight loss or health gains.

We suspect most dieters have realized this by now too. And yet, here they are again, setting the same weight loss goal this year that they set last year.
   
The only people who don't seem to appreciate this are people who have never dieted.  It's particularly hard for them to believe because it doesn't square with their own eating experiences.

Take Nicky, for instance. She eats sensibly much of the time, with some junk food here and there, but it doesn't really seem to affect her weight. She's not a dieter. She is Naturally Thin Nicky, and it's not surprising that she believes what she sees with her own eyes and feels in her own body. Nevertheless, Nicky has it wrong.

We are researchers who have been studying why diets fail for a long time. We have seen that diet failure is the norm. We have also studied the stigma that heavy people face, and witnessed the blame game that happens when dieters can't keep the weight off. From a scientific perspective, we understand that dieting sets up an unfair fight.

But many Nickys we've encountered -- on the street, in the audience when we give talks, and even fellow scientists -- get confused when we say dieting doesn't work, because it doesn't square with their own observations.


An unfair fight

Nicky thinks she's thin because of the way she eats, but actually, genetics play a huge role in making her thin. Nicky gets all the credit though, because people see the way she eats and they can't see her genes.

Many heavy people wouldn't be lean like Nicky even if they ate the same foods in the same quantities. Their bodies are able to run on fewer calories than Nicky's, which sounds like a good thing (and would be great if you found yourself in a famine).

However, it actually means that after eating the same foods and using that energy to run the systems of their body, they have more calories left over to store as fat than Nicky does. So to actually lose weight, they have to eat less food than Nicky. And then, once they've been dieting a while, their metabolism changes so that they need to eat even less than that to keep losing weight.

It's not just Nicky's genetically given metabolism that makes her think dieting must work. Nicky, as a non-dieter, finds it really easy to ignore that bowl of Hershey's Kisses on her co-worker's desk.

But for dieters, it's like those Kisses are jumping up and down saying "Eat me!"

Dieting causes neurological changes that make you more likely to notice food than before dieting, and once you notice it, these changes make it hard to stop thinking about it.

Nicky might forget those chocolates are there, but dieters won't.

In fact, dieters like them even more than before. This is because other diet-induced neurological changes make food not only taste better, but also cause food to give a bigger rush of the reward hormone dopamine. That's the same hormone that is released when addicts use their drug of choice. Nicky doesn't get that kind of rush from food.

And besides, Nicky is full from lunch. Here again, dieters face an uphill battle because dieting has also changed their hormones. Their levels of the so-called satiety hormone leptin go down, which means that now it takes even more food than before to make them feel full. They felt hungry on their diets all along, but now feel even hungrier than before. Even Nicky's regular non-diet lunch wouldn't make dieters full at this point.

Where's your willpower?

People see Nicky and are impressed with her great self-control, or willpower.

But should it really be considered self-control to avoid eating a food when you aren't hungry?

Is it self-control when you avoid eating a food because you don't notice it, like it or receive a rush of reward from it?

Anyone could resist the food under those circumstances. And even though Nicky doesn't really need willpower in this situation, if she did need it, it would function quite well because she's not dieting.

On top of everything else, dieting disrupts cognition, especially executive function, which is the process that helps with self-control. So dieters have less willpower right when they need more willpower. And non-dieters have plenty, even though they don't need any.

And of course, even if Nicky were to eat those tempting foods, her metabolism would burn up more of those calories than a dieter's metabolism.
 
So Nicky is mistakenly being given credit for succeeding at a job that is not only easy for her, but easier than the job dieters face.

The cruel irony is that after someone has been dieting for some time, changes happen that make it hard to succeed at dieting in the long run.

It is physically possible, and a small minority of dieters do manage to keep weight off for several years. ...

... But not without a demoralizing and all-encompassing battle with their physiology the entire time.

It's easy to see why dieters usually regain the weight they lose on their New Year's resolution diet, and we have the following suggestions for when that happens:

If you are a Nicky, ...
... remember the self-denial these dieters have subjected themselves to and how little they were eating while you treated yourself to decadent desserts. Be impressed with their efforts, and grateful that you don't have to attempt it.

If you are a dieter,... 
... remind yourself that you aren't weak, but that you were in an unfair fight that very few win.

Traci Mann is a professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota and author of "Secrets from the Eating Lab." She has received grants from the National Institutes of Health, NASA and the USDA. A. Janet Tomiyama is an associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

For more on this issue, read my recent DietHobby article, “Winner of the 5 percent Lottery of Hell”.

 Babies who are
in the Process of Eating Intuitively.

Video Below

Part of my Dieting Hobby is to Experiment with various Diets, Food Plans, Ways-of-Eating etc. 

You can find some examples of meals that I've actually eaten during various food experiments here at DietHobby in my Photo Gallery, which is located under the Section Heading: RESOURCES. 

Today I posted a new Album in my Photo Gallery for an experiment I'm running that involves eating Meals the size of the palm of my own hand.

Below is a photo of my Photo Gallery, which is linked above.

For information about some of the details that are involved in my current Experiment, see my previous article: Palm of the Hand.

You have to eat small to be small.  If you eat large, you will be large.
When reducing your meal-size,
it is Important to stick to your normal number of meals. 
If you just start eating smaller meals more frequently,
you're not necessarily eating less food overall,
you’re just reducing the amount you eat at each sitting.

A normal undistended stomach is about the size of your fist. This is really helpful in visualizing how much food to eat.  An average-size fist is about 1 cup. A bigger person usually has a bigger hand. A smaller person’s hand is usually smaller. 

Your own hand is a personalized (and portable) measuring device
for your food intake,
and can be helpful in estimating portion size. 

Taking in small meals to lose weight is not a foreign concept.  It’s been around for decades. Your body will show positive weight results if you:

    ▪    Eat at mealtimes only; and
    ▪    Eat no more than three meals daily, and
    ▪    Visualize your fist over your plate at every meal, and
    ▪    Make certain your entire meal’s food portion is NOT larger than your fist.

The digestive system is only able to digest a certain amount of food before it has to start storing the food for later.

Think of your stomach like a muscle. When it's filled with large meals three times a day, the distensibility (the scientific term for the amount your stomach walls can stretch) increases — just like your biceps would get bigger if you were working them out three times a day,

And when you head in the other direction — eating only small meals of a similar volume — your stomach's capacity drops.

After adapting to eating small meals with no food in-between you'll naturally feel full with less food, and your body will send signals to stop eating sooner.

So, if you regularly eat large meals, your stomach's distensibility (or ability to become stretched) will increase to accommodate the food. If you instead eat only small amounts at a time, your stomach's distensibility will decrease.

Remember, however, that without some type of bariatric surgery, one’s stomach reduction or expansion is only a Temporary measure.  The stomach will stay adapted to eating small meals only as long as one CONSISTENTLY eats only a small amount of food, of about the same small volume, at EVERY meal.  

Consistently practicing portion control has taught me to be more satisfied with the process of eating less food.  An IDEAL weight-loss or maintenance plan for ME is eating small food portions of approximately equal volume at three regular semi-set-mealtimes, with no in-between meal eating.

After bariatric surgery, the entire amount of the food on a person’s plate for their entire meal should be no larger than the palm of their hand.  I found that two Splenda packages exactly fit the palm of my hand.  So I took some photos of the packages, my hand, and my plates.


Below is a photo of that process.

Notice how a palm-sized food portion looks on four different size plates: A tiny dessert plate; a teacup size saucer; a salad plate; and a 10 inch dinner plate. For more, read my article, Palm of the Hand.

I've posted a great many of my actual meals here at DietHobby under the Menu Heading: RESOURCES, Photo Gallery.  The section, Petite Meals demonstrates some of my personal efforts at Portion Control.

One thing that I fully understand is that no matter how precisely I weigh and measure and record my food, it is impossible … due to many reasons…. for anyone living outside a laboratory to get a totally accurate calorie count.

However, tracking my food intake …which includes counting calories… has been essential to me in my own weight-loss and maintenance journey.  I do the best I can to track my food accurately, but (except for a temporary trick of the scale due to excess salt/water/waste) … no matter WHAT number my calorie records give me… if my weight is increasing, it means that I need to manage, in some way, to eat fewer calories.

This is because eating only 100 calories above one's own individual-personal-energy-balance-point every day for one year will cause a 10 pound fat regain. 

Serving oneself on a very small plate is helpful for Portion Control.

Think small, eat small..... be small.....

Note: Originally posted in May 2017 - Bumped up for new viewers.

The size of an adult woman’s palm is equal to somewhere between one-fourth and one-half cup depending on her basic frame size. 

Bariatric surgeon, Dr. Duc Vuong, says that his patients should always serve themselves only a very small portion of food, and that the entire amount of the food on their plate for their meal should be no larger than the palm of their hand. 

He makes an exception for salads consisting of ONLY green leafy vegetables, and says for a meal that consists of only raw leafy vegetables, the portion can be as large as the entire hand.  This recommendation is based on the fact that during the first 6 months or so after a person has Weight Loss Surgery, the stomach pouch will only stretch to about the size of the palm of the hand.

Dr. V talks about this in his Facebook videos.  He calls the rule, 2x2x1. The circumference of this food volume is the length of 4 fingers across the palm of the hand, and the height of the food volume is 1 finger. 


In his videos he demonstrates the concept of 2x2, by placing two fingers on one-half his palm, then two fingers on the other one-half of his palm.  Essentially, a “sleeve” gastric surgery results in a rectangular thin pouch (2x2), while a “RNY” gastric surgery results in about the same size square (2x2).

For a long time I’ve been working to eat very small food portions, and now I’m experimenting to see if I can tolerate eating meals that are only as large as the palm of my hand. 

This morning I found that two Splenda packages exactly fit the palm of my hand.  So I took some photos of the packages, my hand, my plate and my breakfast. 

Below is a photo of that process.

I learned that a portion of food the size of the palm of my hand
is even smaller than I previously believed.




Here's how a meal the size of my palm should look on my different size plates.

I've posted a great many of my actual meals here at DietHobby under the Heading at the top of the page, RESOURCES, Photo Gallery.  Those of you who are interested in Portion Control might want to take a look at the photos posted under various meal categories there.

Dr. Duc Vuong, the Support Surgeon

Five points made by Dr. V, a bariatric surgeon,
in his recent Facebook video: "How Much to Eat?"
(Recommending the amount of food-intake after gastric bypass surgery)

1. Palm of Your Hand - a complete meal should be about the size of the palm of your hand.
   
   
2. You Plate Your Own Food - Use a Very Small Plate - a small Teacup saucer size Plate
   
   
3. 2x2x1 - The circumference of this food volume is the length of 4 fingers across the palm of your hand, and the height of the food volume is 1 finger. 
   
   
4. Salad = the size of your whole hand. A leafy green salad is an exception to the 2x2x1 rule because it is a raw vegetable with very little density.
   
   
5. Don’t Trust Your Brain!   Your brain wants you to eat more. Before eating, portion out an amount of food that is ONLY the size of the palm of your hand. Unless you do this, despite what your brain tells you, the amount of food that you will wind up eating will be more than the size of the palm of your hand. 
   

Note: Originally posted in May 2017 - Bumped up for new viewers.