**This is an update on a previous post. First time around, I didn’t know how to link to an infographic image. I also share a summary of comments.**
I created an infographic on weight cycling, or yo yo dieting, that I think this group might be interested in. It’s about the millions of people who lose weight each year but can’t keep it off and regain all or more of their weight. Part of the reason I created it was to show 1) you’re not alone, and 2) people do become weight loss sustainers (20%). Those people who become sustainers do things differently than those who weight cycle, which means you might become successful if you tweak your approach.
Here are the numbers from the infographic:
A Hidden Epidemic: Weight Cycling by the Numbers
All Adults in the U.S. – 250 million
7 in 10 are overweight or obese – 175 million
1 in 2 are trying to lose weight – 88 million
4 in 5 will regain the weight – 70 million (that’s 30% of all U.S. adults)
70 million U.S. adults losing weight now will regain it
There were some incredibly insightful comments to that post, I thought I’d share them here. I’ve come to many of the same conclusions based on my own weight loss experience. But I would love to get your reactions to see if they ring true:
1. In the original post, I asked if weight cycling was common on r/loseit despite the frequent positive posts.
More than one comment argued that despite the stories of weight loss, many (even the vast majority of) people do regain their weight on r/loseit, often years after initially losing it. No one really disagreed with this.
At the same time, it seems a couple responders have managed to become sustainers themselves!
2. One commenter asked for a definition of weight cycling. This was my reply:
“Weight cycling is the regaining of intentionally lost weight. I think there are different definitions, based as you suggest on amount of weight loss and duration before regain. For the sake of argument, let’s say the weight loss has to be significant – at least 5-10% of your total body weight. For me, I don’t think duration can be easily categorized. Someone can gain weight back in 1 month or 10 years, and I think I’d still call it a weight cycle.”
3. The same commenter asked if there was a threshold were success rates go up. I said:
“Yes and no. It’s a curve. Sustained weight loss is generally defined by researchers as intentionally losing at least 10% of your body weight, and keeping it off for over 1 year. That’s more research convention than anything else, because clearly people still regain weight after keeping it off for a year. Making that bar higher would make that 20% success rate even lower. That said, keeping your weight off for at least 2 years cuts your odds of gaining at least 5lbs back in half (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16002825). The 2-year mark has been occasionally used in other papers.”
4. I also asked if weight cycling (and its mirror image “sustaining weight loss”) seems to be an afterthought of the weight loss approach most people take. And if that could contribute to weight cycling itself.
One person responded that it’s not necessarily an afterthought, but several others argued that no, people don’t think about sustainability while their trying to lose weight. Here’s are some responses paraphrased:
People think about temporarily adhering to a diet, but not how to keep living it in the real world.
At some point people can’t take the deprivation from diets anymore and regain their weight.
Most people on r/loseit don’t achieve long term success using a severe caloric deficit.
5. So what do sustainers do? Here are some comments:
A couple people said they don’t diet and instead made lifestyle changes. (I’d love to know what this means to people)
One commenter shared incredible personal insight. Sustained weight loss isn’t achieved with just a diet. It’s achieved by addressing your personal cause of obesity – (e.g. stress/anxiety/depression, dietary preferences, binge-eating, etc.) – with the right eating strategies for that cause. When this person found those matching strategies, she lost weight and kept it off without binging.
6. Final thought
At the end of the day, based on the population numbers on weight cycling in the infographic, and the experience of people on r/loseit, it seems weight cycling deserves some focus – at least as much as which diet to choose, or how to cut more calories. What do you think? Any reactions to the comment above?
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