Don’t do what I did – that is don’t wait for a medical emergency to maintain your healthy weight. Fear may be an effective motivator, but it is a dangerous one.
I’ve been successful at weight maintenance twice, and each time that success was partly due to medical issues. The first was after a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA), also called a mini stroke. I maintained a 25 pound weight loss for nearly six years. This was helpful because I began my last diet with a distinct advantage: a lower weight as my starting point. This most recent diet was undertaken after breast cancer (correlated with overweight and obesity) and a caution from one of my doctors. She told me to get to a BMI of 25, or at least 27, or I’d become diabetic due to a strong family history.
So being slightly proactive, I followed her advice. I will save what I did as my program for a future post, as our topic is maintenance rather than dieting. Suffice it to say that it was extremely healthy and effective but slow.
As it turns out, maintaining that healthy weight is a more likely outcome if you are working towards health rather than strictly your own interpretation of appearance. I recently came across an intriguing study published in a peer reviewed journal. In “Health and Appearance Reasons for Weight Loss as Predictors of Long-Term Weight Change,” the authors uncovered a very interesting pattern in a study of middle aged, rural women: those who dieted because they were displeased with their appearance actually gained weight over the course of the 30 month weight loss program (1). Those in the program who identified the least with this concern lost the most. Their reasons for weight loss and maintenance revolve around health and their concern for what others thought about their weight.
Authors Joseph E. Mroz, Carol H. Pullen, and Patricia A. Hageman found that these women lost and maintained that loss of about 5% of their starting weight, which is statistically significant. In fact, it was more successful than some diet pills and most diet supplements (2). For example, in an over-the-counter drug Alli (there is also a prescription version) study, only 40% of the study participants lost 5% or more of their body weight (3). A prescription pill that I tried (and gained weight using), Plenity, resulted in 60% of patients losing at least 5% of their body weight, however the study was for just 24 weeks (4). As we are all aware, the more difficult part is maintenance and very few diet pills or programs have conducted long-term studies, such as the 30 month study mentioned above.
I had a mini stroke at age 54 even though I had recently lost 25 pounds on the Atkins Diet. I was also exercising at that time and seemed to be in better health. So why would this happen? The doctors found no cause. Looking back, I was doing a number of unhealthy things, including drinking absurd amounts of diet soda, having too much caffeine, and was in a stressful situation with some caretaking of an elderly relative. I do believe that ketogenic diets and artificial sweeteners are not healthy for me personally. It’s always wise to check with your physician to decide what type of diet would be healthiest for you!
Did you start your weight loss journey with a goal of better health, or was it based upon how you look in the mirror? You can’t change your original diet reasoning; however, you can consider the reasons why you are now maintaining your weight. Would you consider shifting your focus towards health? Try not to wait for that medical emergency. Don’t do what I did – be proactive and active in your weight maintenance journey!
(1). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6299317/#__ffn_sectitle
(2). https://today.oregonstate.edu/archives/2012/mar/study-most-weight-loss-supplements-are-not-effective
(3). https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/alli/art-20047908
Maintain Weight Loss 