You've all probably heard more than once that losing weight is actually very simple: you just need to eat less and move more. That is, spending more calories than you consume them. This simple and, at first glance, absolutely logical technique is so well known that it is even surprising that there are still overweight people among us. Moreover, their number is constantly growing and obesity has long turned into a real epidemic. There are two options for resolving this contradiction: either something is globally wrong with humanity, or - with the method itself. A study recently published in the American Journal of Public Health is leaning towards the latter. In an interview with the BBC, study author Dr. Alison Fields of King's College London said: "Current strategies to cut calories and promote physical activity are not helping most patients lose weight and maintain weight."
Scientists analyzed the archive of electronic medical records of 279 thousand overweight men and women. Having studied the data on weight loss and weight gain by the study participants over 10 years (from 2004 to 2014), the authors of the work came to a disappointing conclusion: for men with a body mass index (BMI) in the region of 30-35, the chances of regaining their normal weight someday (BMI not more than 25) are equal to 0.47%. The chances of women to regain a good figure are higher, but not by much: 0.8%.
The annual probability of a return to normal weight was estimated at 1/210 for men and 1/124 for women. For people suffering from morbid obesity (BMI 40-45), this probability is much lower: 1/1290 and 1/677, respectively. By comparison, the modest goal of five percent weight loss over a year seems far more achievable, with one in 8 men and one in 7 obese women doing it. But for them, maintaining the result turned out to be problematic. The study showed that only 47% of those who lost weight were able to maintain a normal weight over two years, and only 22% were able to hold out for five years. All efforts of the rest were wiped out by the infamous “yo-yo effect” (ie, cyclic weight loss and weight gain) experienced by more than a third of the study participants.
Interestingly, we are talking about people who were registered in medical institutions and received regular advice from specialists in the fight against obesity. But maybe the problem lies in the fact that over the course of all these years, overweight patients received the same type of recommendations, but corresponding to the official guidelines: eat less and run more. Recommendations that we know don't work, and a study published in the AJPH confirmed this one more time.
But this does not mean that the war on obesity is lost. Obviously, it's time to start thinking about changing your strategy. Moreover, modern research shows over and over again that the most effective technique for losing excess weight is to limit the consumption of carbohydrates, and not the total number of calories. And if you want to avoid the "yo-yo effect", then the principles of healthy eating should be adopted as a lifestyle, and not as a fashionable but short-term diet.
And don't forget: the best way to combat obesity is not to drive yourself up to it. Because getting rid of obesity, as proved by British scientists, is very, very difficult.
