Some return to an even heavier weight. This cycle can lead to feelings of shame and failure. But what if your own body is bringing you back to your old weight? And that there are a variety of systems in our body that interact to determine your body weight.

The idea of a set point is not proven beyond doubt, but it is supported in many observational studies. The way your set point weight is established involves many factors and is highly individual. Experts believe your environment, genetics and preferences all play a part.

If you go on a diet, your body might use the following systems to try to return to your previous weight:. Physical systems: If you suddenly cut down the calories you eat, your metabolism might slow down. This means your body uses less energy to do the same functions.

The result is the food you do eat does not burn as quickly. Your body also may try to push you back to the same weight by making certain changes in some hormone levels that affect your appetite and metabolism.

And it may adjust the way you absorb and use nutrients. Mental systems: Your brain gets used to the pleasurable feelings that certain foods give you. When you reduce or eliminate those foods, your body will crave new foods or drinks to fill the gaps left by your diet.

All this might leave you feeling that weight loss is impossible, but Harrison says there are ways to change your set point permanently. Time: If you make changes over time and lose weight gradually, your body systems can adapt to the new circumstances.

Your body will slowly understand that your new lower weight is permanent and try to keep you there instead. Fad diets rarely give your body this chance to adapt. Instead, they result in a yo-yo effect where you swing from losing weight to gaining weight and back again.

Support : Awareness is key when you are trying to make a change. If you notice your body trying to return you to your old weight, you may be able to take action to stop it. A dietitian also can help you by offering support and guidance.

If you can become aware of when you are acting on cravings and understand the reasons, it can be easier to stop. The takeaway message is that weight loss is different for every body. As you lose weight, your body may compensate in ways that are different from other people.

Most people will have fluctuations of several pounds around an average weight. The real world has its share of success stories too, many of which are collected by the National Weight Control Registry.

Established in , the registry is a gathering place for successful losers. To qualify for enrollment, a loser needs to have lost more than 30 pounds and kept that weight off for over a year. Today there are more than 10, registrants who on average have lost 66 pounds and kept it off for five and a half years.

Registrants have lost weight every which way. Some have lost rapidly, while for others it took years. Some lost weight with low-fat diets, others low-carb. Some used diet books for guidance, others self-directed, and others still went to weight loss programs for help.

Looking to their success stories, published both online and as highlighted by Anne Fletcher in her book exploring the registrants, Thin for Life , the one common theme is that while maintaining their losses requires ongoing effort, that effort isn't perceived by these weight loss masters as a hardship but rather as just living with new lifestyles, and lifestyles that they enjoy.

This is something I've witnessed regularly in my own practice. Looking to my experiences working with thousands of patients over the course of the past dozen years, it's clear that liking the life you're living while you're losing weight is the key to keeping it off.

Liking the life you're living while you're losing looks different to each individual. There is no one "best" diet. While different diet gurus and their acolytes will try to tell you that their diet is the best and only diet, there is definitely no clear winner in the medical literature.

Moreover, even if there were a clear winner on paper, if the key to your success is actually liking the life and diet you're living with while you're losing, one person's best diet, if not enjoyed, would be another person's worst. A new Biggest Loser study shows why it's so hard to lose weight and keep it off.

So what does that goal post look like? The term I coined to describe it is "best weight," where your best weight is whatever weight you reach when you're living the healthiest life that you actually enjoy.

If your efforts can be summarized as cyclical, episodic, concentrated bouts of suffering, during which your aim isn't the healthiest life that you can enjoy but rather the healthiest life that you can tolerate, well, go figure you're not likely to keep it off.

If you want to succeed with long-term weight loss, it's crucial that you embrace both reality and imperfection. Remember, too, that your best efforts will vary. Your best when facing a challenging time in life will be different from your best when everything is hunky-dory, just as your best on your birthday, or on a vacation, or at a holiday meal will require indulgence.

The truth is there will come a point where you can't happily live any better — where you can't happily eat less and you can't happily exercise more — and your weight, living with that life, is your best weight. In every other area of our lives we readily accept our best efforts as great, and we need to do that with weight and healthful living too.

Yoni Freedhoff, MD, is an assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa, where he's the founder and medical director of the Bariatric Medical Institute, dedicated to nonsurgical weight management since Freedhoff sounds off daily on his award-winning blog, Weighty Matters , and you can follow him on Twitter.

Freedhoff's latest book, The Diet Fix: Why Diets Fail and How to Make Yours Work , is a No. Will you help keep Vox free for all? Support our mission and help keep Vox free for all by making a financial contribution to Vox today.

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They should be practiced one by one until they become an automatic habit, then you can move on to the next. I help my clients build these healthy habits until they become automatic, intuitive, and easy!

Want to learn more about how you can celebrate your wins and stay motivated? Many research studies discuss how weight loss success in the long term is grim. However, there are not many studies conducted in the long term to date.

One of the most significant long-term observational weight loss studies is the National Weight Control Registry Study. In this study, over 10, participants are observed over 5 years. They tracked habits, trends, and factors that led to the most success. There were several common habits that the most successful participants had:.

For some, weighing yourself weekly can trigger unhealthy food obsessions and eating behaviors. There is no guarantee on what will work the best for you until you work towards this process yourself. A Registered Dietitian can motivate you and guide you along the right path.

Permanent weight loss is possible, but the key is in adjusting and remaining aware of your habits throughout the entire process. It takes time and practice to see what works best for you, what weight feels good and sustainable for you, and how to maintain that weight for more than a year or two.

And even if you did gain a little weight back, you have still come a long way and are farther than you were before. If you need guidance and support to keep the weight off, contact me to learn about my nutrition program and see if it is a good fit for you.

What do you think about the concept of permanent weight loss? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments! Thank you so much for this article. I have lost lbs through caloric deficit and exercise and made a mistake of researching whether permanent weight loss is possible.

The endless piles of depressing, defeatist articles claiming it is impossible got me down for a while so this is a breath of fresh air to read. Hi Zach, congratulations to you on such an amazing weight loss success! I know there are so many defeating articles out there around this topic, and unfortunately there is a lot of bias and greed out there in terms of why this supposed lack of ability to lose weight permanently so heavily promoted.

It truly it is possible to achieve permanent weight loss. Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Hi and welcome!

Permanent Weight Loss — Is it Possible? Facebook Twitter LinkedIn. Melissa Mitri, MS, RD. Zach on October 30, at pm. Melissa Mitri, MS, RD on October 31, at pm. Submit a Comment Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.

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Cookie settings ACCEPT. Manage consent. When you reduce or eliminate those foods, your body will crave new foods or drinks to fill the gaps left by your diet.

All this might leave you feeling that weight loss is impossible, but Harrison says there are ways to change your set point permanently. Time: If you make changes over time and lose weight gradually, your body systems can adapt to the new circumstances.

Your body will slowly understand that your new lower weight is permanent and try to keep you there instead. Fad diets rarely give your body this chance to adapt.

Instead, they result in a yo-yo effect where you swing from losing weight to gaining weight and back again. Support : Awareness is key when you are trying to make a change.

If you notice your body trying to return you to your old weight, you may be able to take action to stop it. A dietitian also can help you by offering support and guidance. If you can become aware of when you are acting on cravings and understand the reasons, it can be easier to stop.

The takeaway message is that weight loss is different for every body. As you lose weight, your body may compensate in ways that are different from other people.

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Previous Article. Next Article. June : Does your body have a set point weight and can you change it? So is the set point theory valid? And if it is, is it possible to lose weight long term?

How does the set point work? To some extent, the set point is simply what weight your body has gotten used to. Can I change my set point? The set point can be changed with two essential ingredients: time and support.

That means you might have to make changes that are different from someone else. Related Posts.