Here at DietHobby, I share my own experiences and opinions as I work to maintain a very large weight-loss. I am now in the 7th year of maintaining at normal weight after spending much of my lifetime in morbid obesity.  Those who are interested can see more details in the ABOUT ME section under RESOURCES.  Recently I posted detailed records of my average food intake together with a summary of my weights during those periods. See Records: My Past 8 years. 

One of the things I've personally discovered from my own experience is that weight maintenance is very difficult, and it takes an enormous amount of ongoing, consistent effort.   When I first reached my goal weight, I had some vague idea from things I'd read, that the first 5 years of maintenance were the most difficult, and if and when I could achieve that point, it would become much easier. 

In my own case, I have discovered this not to be true.  Even though the first couple of maintenance years were difficult, the subsequent years became MORE difficult.  Maintenance did not become easier after 5 years, and I can honestly say that here in my 7th year, maintenance is more difficult than it has ever been. 

My detailed records confirm my subjective experience that .... not only do I need to eat fewer calories than the BMR or RMR charts indicate to maintain the same weight, ..... but, when I raise my daily average calorie intake ... even slightly for a brief time, or for a lengthy time period... I gain weight.  However, for the time period of the past 3 to 5 years, I've discovered that decreasing that average calorie intake to the same extent, does not cause a corresponding weight-loss. 

As an example.... if we use conventional wisdom, and assume that an excess or deficit of 3500 calories = a 1 lb fat loss....my detailed daily food-intake and weight records indicate that during the past 3 to 5 years,  if I eat an excess of 3500 calories I will definitely gain 1 lb fat, however, when I eat a deficit of 3500 calories I will NOT lose 1 fat lb.  In actuality, the 3500 calorie calculation appears to no longer be applicable to my body.  Water weight aside, and referring to fat weight only, it appears that it takes far less excess calories for me to gain 1 fat lb, and that it takes a far greater calorie deficit for me to lose 1 fat lb.  During the past 5 years, I've run many personal experiments testing this particular issue (even using different micronutrients), and each time, my results have confirmed this to be true for my own individual body.
Not only is this a frustrating condition, it is one that almost no medical professional addresses.   Probably, this is reasonable, because there is no actual scientific research on formerly obese people who have lost large amounts of weight, and have maintained it for long time periods.  I personally, am a member of the National Weight Loss Registry, and I have discovered how little data exists about this matter.

There's not much information available on this issue, so I was pleased to discover the following article by Dr. Arya Sharma, M.D.

Why Diet and Exercise is Not a Treatment for Obesity

If going on a diet or starting an exercise program resulted in persistent weight loss, we would not have an obesity epidemic.

Unfortunately, as anyone who has tried this knows, maintaining a significant degree of weight loss requires daily dedication, motivation and a limitless supply of will power - nothing short of developing a compulsive obsession.

As readers will recall, the biology of the post-weight loss state is nothing like the biology of someone who has never lost weight. There are countless ways in which the psychoneurobiology, energy physiology and metabolism in anyone who has lost weight are remarkably different from someone ‘naturally’ of that weight.

Simply stated, someone who was 150 lbs and has lost 20 lbs cannot hope to maintain that weight loss by simply eating the same amount of food or doing the same amount of exercise as someone who is ‘naturally’ a 130 lbs.

The 150 lbs person who has lost 20 lbs, to maintain their new 130 lbs, has to actually now live like someone who is ‘naturally’ a 110 lbs; just eating like someone who is 130 lbs but has never lost weight, will simply result in rapid weight regain.

This is why just cutting out a few ‘extra’ calories or walking a few ‘extra’ steps is not an effective or sustainable strategy for maintaining weight loss - for any clinically meaningful weight loss (when indicated) - we are looking at cutting hundreds of calories from the diet and adding hours of serious exercise per week - forever!

A comprehensive and fascinating overview of the fundamental changes that occur with weight loss to ultimately make sustaining this new weight an ongoing challenge, is discussed by Paul Maclean and colleagues from the University of Denver Colorado, in a paper just published in the American Journal of Physiology.

The authors provide a detailed synthesis of data from a wide range of weight loss studies that include studies in clinically overweight and obese adults, in diet-induced, polygenic animal models of obesity, and with dietary (non-surgical) interventions involving an energy restricted low fat diet.

The consistent finding from all such studies is that all individuals or animals in a post-weight-loss state face considerable ‘homeostatic pressure’ that aims to drive their weight back to initial levels.

The paper extensively discusses how changes in biological signals of fat stores (e.g. leptin) elicit profound metabolic and behavioral adaptations.

The key findings of increased hunger and appetite, reduced satiety and substantially increased ‘fuel efficiency’ have very real underlying biological drivers - drivers powerful enough to ultimately wear down even the most persistent dieter.

As the authors point out - persistent dieting is so difficult because it requires maintaining a remarkably large ‘energy gap’:

“Because both sides of the energy balance equation are affected after weight loss, the biological pressure to gain weight is a consequence of both increased appetite and suppressed energy expenditure.

During weight maintenance after weight loss, this energy gap reflects the magnitude of the daily burden that thwarts cognitive efforts to maintain the reduced weight.

Regardless of which side of the energy balance equation is most affected, the energy gap imparts a substantial pressure to eat in excess of the energy requirements.

The magnitude of the energy gap is greatest at the nadir weight after weight loss. Likewise, this energy gap does not dissipate with time in weight maintenance. Rather, studies in DIO (diet induced obesity) models indicate that the magnitude of the energy gap gradually increases the longer they maintain their reduced weight with an energy restricted diet .

The implications from these observations are that the biological pressures may strengthen with time and the amount of lost weight, gradually increasing their perceived influence.”

The paper also extensively discusses some of the lesser known metabolic adaptations to weight loss including profound changes in gut biology that enhance caloric extraction from food as well as alterations in liver function, skeletal muscle and fat tissue that promote weight regain.

While all of this may seem hopeless to readers, the authors actually end on the rather positive note that:

“… only by acknowledging that these homeostatic pressures emerge, we can proactively develop and implement regain prevention strategies to counter their influence. To ensure success, the regain prevention strategies will likely need to be just as comprehensive, persistent, and redundant, as the biological adaptations they are attempting to counter.”

Obviously, it is also important to note, that no ‘weight-loss strategy” actually addresses the many complex reasons why people may gain weight in the first place.

Whoever said that treating obesity was simply a matter of ‘eating less and moving more’ (ELMM) probably also believes that they can live forever by simply breathing less.

AMS
Burlington, Ontario
Maclean PS, Bergouignan A, Cornier MA, & Jackman MR (2011). Biology’s Response to Dieting: the Impetus for Weight Regain. American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology PMID: 21677272

Dr. Sharma’s Obesity Notes
Dr Arya Sharma, M.D.  -   www.drsharma.ca

 I, personally, have proven that it is possible to achieve a large weight-loss and to maintain the majority of that loss for at least  7 years.  However,  it is true that ... for me... this has required  "daily dedication, motivation and a limitless supply of will power - nothing short of developing a compulsive obsession".  I've also found it true that in order to achieve the maintenance of normal weight, my "regain prevention strategies" have had to be very "comprehensive, persistent, and redundant".

I have found weight-loss to be difficult, and maintenance of that weight-loss to be even more difficult.  Nevertheless, for me personally, I find this to be worthwhile, and I intend to continue on with my maintenance efforts.  And, I'm going to do my best to make my continued and consistent efforts as enjoyable as possible.

Losing weight needs time, patience, and consistency in eating less food than one's body uses. Maintaining weight-loss also requires time, patience, and consistency in eating ONLY the amount of food that one's body uses. The sad fact is that most people give up before they've even barely begun. There are always lots of people starting and giving up diets, and many more coming up behind them to do the same thing.

We are now so used to the instant gratification that comes in so many areas of our modern life, that a part of us can't help but expect it to also apply to the size of our bodies, so we become disenchanted when the first few days of a diet doesn't bring much by the way of a result on the appearance or size of our bodies. It has been such hard work, why hasn't it made any difference?

Dieting needs Time, Patience, and Consistent Effort, three things that are in short supply nowadays. Regrettably many people are just not inclined to participate in the long run, they want results, and they want them NOW. That's just not going to happen.

We can be successful at losing weight, and at maintaining weight-loss
…but only with Time, Patience, and Consistent Effort.

I recently read a helpful forum post about maintenance, which quotes a statement
frequently used by me. This post is quoted below:

"Being fat is hard.
Losing weight is hard.
Keeping off weight is hard.
Pick your hard."

If you want to keep off the weight you lost, you can never go back to exactly the way you were before. You have to keep living a changed life.

You have to figure out what you're willing to "pay" to keep off the weight. You're not going to pay in money but you're going to pay in time & in having to consider your choices. You will likely pay in some loss of spontaneity and thoughtlessness. Others will be able to eat unthinkingly and you probably never will.

That is, of course, if you like your life at a lower weight, and you are willing to make the tradeoff to stay there.
 

                              
Online Diet Websites tend to come across as experts shining a beacon of light upon The Path to an Eternally Thin and Healthy life. However, I see myself as blindly groping about looking for a path… any path… that will lead me away from the magnetic circle that is my natural tendency to overeat into obesity.

My only expertise is my own experience, and the many hundreds of books on various food plans, diets, and exercise that I've read over my lifetime. I don't know the answer for anyone else, and there are days that I feel I'm not even close to an answer for myself.

I believe that a big part of the answer is consistent hard work, endurance, and patience. This is because this is what has brought me success in every successful area of my life, and weight-loss and maintenance of that weight-loss has not been an exception to that rule.

Diet and weight-loss and maintenance of weight-loss is ongoing hard work. I suspect that one of the reasons for the 95% overall failure rate is because people simply do not comprehend the extent of that fact. All of these marketing interests lie to us, telling us that they have the ANSWER, and if we just give them a little money, and a bit of effort for a short time, we will be cured of our overeating tendencies and become naturally thin. We are gullible because we are desperate to believe their claims.

What I have discovered is:

Being fat is hard,
Losing weight is hard,
Maintaining weight loss is hard.
Choose your hard. 

 
DietHobby is a place of encouragement and support.
I need encouragement and support as I make my way through Life's path.
This is why DietHobby exists. 

I share many of my thoughts and feelings here, in writing and in videos. 
My daily eating choices, and my behavior with food … is an ongoing part of my life. 
It is a thread that weaves its way throughout my life, 
and I look at dieting as one of my ongoing hobbies
.. which is simply a part of my total Lifestyle. 

My way of thinking is connected to my way of eating. 
I am the one who chooses what I think about. 
I am the one who decides where to put my focus. 
I am the one who has the power to direct my mind toward the positive. 

DietHobby is a way to help me do that. Part of helping myself is to share my thoughts with you. 
Perhaps you will find some of these writings and videos encouraging and supportive to you
as you travel, in your own individual way, down the path that Life has put before you. 
The way that I choose to eat, doesn't have to be the way you choose to eat.  
What works for me may be different than what works for you.  

But, perhaps you will find it helpful to take in my information,  
and shift it through your mind, accepting some things, rejecting other things. 
Blending some of the things you read and hear at DietHobby together with your own valuable truths 
might be exactly what you need to move you toward your own individual Life goals.  

DietHobby already has a great deal of content.  
You can find many things here in this website. … and as I live through the days and weeks,
I continue to think,  so More will be coming.   
Look around, get it know DietHobby, see if it is something that will fit into your support structure.
Take what you like, and leave the rest.