Recently, researchers have discovered that the overall success rate is pretty much equivalent among the most popular weight loss programs. In the investigation of weight loss programs something else was discovered too. The success of a weight loss program for a given individual had almost nothing to do with the specific methods of the program itself. The key determining factor was how closely the person stuck to the program!
With this in mind, I wish to present what in my experience are the top 3 reasons why people fail to lose weight and/or fail to keep the weight off long term, and ways to overcome them.
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.
The second big reason why people fail to lose weight is that they don’t hold themselves accountable for what they are doing. In my experience, people trying to lose weight can often become self-delusional as to how well they are following their programs. In my practice, I often hear people say that they’ve followed the program I’ve recommended for them “to the letter”, but it isn’t working. When I review their food journals or ask them about what they’ve been eating, it quickly becomes apparent that they have most definitely not been following my recommendations.
I typically tell people to cut refined carbohydrates out of their diets completely because insulin release in response to consuming carbs is the strongest fat burning inhibitor that there is. In most cases, people who complain that that they are following my recommendations exactly will almost always have foods like toast, cereal, pasta, and even cookies listed on their diet journals. When I ask them about these foods, they’ll usually say something about that just being a one-time exception – yet they have a “one-time” exception on every meal! Keeping and regularly reviewing a diet journal is an excellent way to 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 on track. Hopefully the realization of how many times you are cheating will start 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!”.
The number one key to losing weight and keeping it off is to figure out a highly emotional reason you want to lose weight. If you can’t find that, my advice is to forget about trying to lose weight until you do. No matter how easy a weight loss program’s advertising hype makes it sound, 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 nearly all reasonable weight loss programs work, but they all require effort on your part to make them work.
Different people are motivated by different things. For some, maybe they are motivated to lose weight because of fear of health problems. Some are motivated because they want to be more attractive to others and losing weight will help them in their social lives. Some may be motivated by job considerations (some studies have shown that more attractive people are often more successful in business). In any event, the more emotion and purpose you can put behind your desire to lose weight, the better your chances of successfully losing weight.
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.
