Posted on by

Bummer – Weight Loss is Not Linear

10 Replies

Dieting is hard. Anyone who has tried to lose weight will tell you that. And it seems to be harder to shed the pounds the further into the diet you are.

Through the basic laws of thermodynamics and energy (which is what a calorie is) we know that a decrease of 3500 calories will result in a one pound weight loss. If we eat 500 calories less per day, over the course of seven days we will lose 1 lb. of body weight.

But does this hold true even after we have lost 10 pounds? Or 20?

According to research by Kevin Hall, PhD, from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), weight loss does not continue down a linear path. The reason is that our body metabolism changes as we lose weight. The body becomes more effective at utilizing the lower calorie diet and thus expends less energy the skinnier we get. These interesting findings were published in the Lancet last week.

Dr. Hall and his colleagues suggest an alternative model for forecasting weight reduction in dieters:

It predicts that for a typical overweight adult, every reduction of 10 calories per day will lead to a weight loss not of about a pound a year, but only about half a pound. The next half-pound will take about two more years to lose. Cutting 250 calories a day produces a weight loss of about 25 pounds in three years. (Exact weight loss will vary by individual, depending on age, sex, weight and other factors.) Read more from WSJ…

What are the implications for million of dieters?

Mostly this explains why it gets harder and harder to lose weight as your diet progresses, and why many people hit a frustrating plateau from which large percentages rebound to weight gain. By knowing what to expect, perhaps more dieters will be able to create more realistic expectations and emotionally prepare for the challenges of much slower weight loss progress.

And for those of us who are seeing the pounds slowly creep on year over year, this is yet another reminder that the best way to lose weight is to never put it on in the first place.

Get Fooducated: iPhone App Android App RSS Subscription or Email Subscription

Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/fooducate on facebook: facebook.com/fooducate

Get Fooducated

Download APP

Subscribe

Follow

  • http://www.facebook.com/kenleebow Ken Leebow

    Dr. Rudolph L. Leibel, via this podcast about “The Genetics of Body Weight” provides some fascinating information about weight loss. The real kicker: Once you reach your goal weight, you will need to consume fewer calories than someone who is at the same weight, but did not require weight loss.

    http://streaming.yale.edu/cmi2/opa/podcasts/health_and_medicine/leibel_genetics_020310.mp3

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=515620416 José Gabriel Sánchez

    Dieting should be a lifestyle, it shouldn’t be just x amount of pounds.

  • http://twitter.com/lauren_015 Lauren Smith

    I actually found it difficult to STOP losing weight. I had become so accustomed to the “right” size for meals and the “right” amount of calories to consume that it took half a year for me to adjust. I ended up having to go on a high-calorie diet for a while because  I had lost TOO MUCH weight. But, like Jose said, my “diet” was a lifestyle, not a diet. I think that’s what made it so difficult to adjust.

  • Critstyled

    okay…first of all…NEVER say DIE’t. They do not work. This study is as irrelevant as the word calories. NOURISHMENT IN as a lifestyle reduces cravings and insulin spikes among other things that create a healthy body. A diet is often focused upon willpower and forms of ‘deprivation’. The word SKINNY is offensive too. Whoever wrote this needs to hop on the clue bus. Diets do not work. Real food does. Happy and HEALTHY are the goal. NOT skinny. It isnt about losing pounds, it is about gaining life. 

    • Gerome

      The “clue bus”? Cute. Please spend as much time reading the article as you do crafting your “I know everything and you don’t” response.

      First “skinnier” was used to compare relative weight. It was not listed as a goal.

      And please, people understand the word “diet”. Perhaps it is your own prejudice that leads to the assumption that someone who is changing their behavior with a goal of a healthier weight is relying only on calorie restriction and depravation. But, that aside, that’s not the point of the article. The interesting thing is the evidence of the plateau effect — and I’ll agree with the author that  knowing why you’ve stopped losing weight on your diet (sorry, cold not resist) could help you reach your healthy and happy state.

      Finally… calorie… a unit of measure. It is relevant and pretty useful.

      After picking this article part, you offer the solution: “Real food does [work].” Please explain what that means. Good criticism offers more than a tar and feathering.

  • Anonymous

    never put it on in the first place?  that’s a real profound thing to say considering people who haven’t put it on don’t need to lose it.  and the article you’re writing here is about dieting… so…  

    Thanks to a combination of calorie-counting, changing my eating habits (diet = bad word because saying it predicates that it will end at some point, which it shouldn’t) cardio (hiking, running, walking) and resistance strength training I’ve been able to lose 20 pounds in the past 3 months.  

    The way I see it is, if you’re serious about losing it, you’ll find a way to lose it.  And then keeping it off becomes the next goal.  

    But to just come out and say “don’t put it on in the first place” is a real dickish thing to imply…not too many people have that kind of hindsight.

  • Missiemick

    I’ve started to think that the reason the last 10 pounds are so hard to loose is because you’ve already made those big changes in your life (cutting out soda, adding exercise . . .) and now you’ve got to tweak those little things that you were hoping to be able to live with.

  • http://shannonsdiet.com shannon

    Calories in-calories out…. it’s just not that simple.  I’m living proof.  I was in a TV commercial for the “body bugg” which is the device worn on the biggest loser measuring how many calories you burn in a day.  No matter how much I reduced my calories, I never lost a pound.  If you’re at a healthy weight, which is a different number for all of us, no matter how much you restrict, short of starving yourself to death, you won’t lose weight.  Our bodies are just too good at slowing the metabolism to compensate.

  • Jendd128

    what about people who are trying to gain weight?  is there the same issue?

  • Sahni

    I was searching for the typical fooducate section heading in this article “So what to do….”