Why Dieting Often Does More Harm Than Good

[Adina P]

Even if you lose weight and keep it off for SEVEN years, your brain is STILL going to be trying to make you regain it. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/sandra_aamodt_why_dieting_doesn_t_usually_...

[Adina P]

Lucy & AnnaBella's Mom: What do you mean by "I don't like to cook healthy?"

[Leslie and Halas]

I have a friend that's tried WW, with some success.  This particular person focuses very much on the points, but isn't very mindful of where she's getting her points, and often complains about being hungry.  "I can have this ice cream bar, because it's only so many points."  Yes, but your're going to be hungry again in 30 minutes, and we'll have to listen to you complain the rest of the day.  Spending those points on a chicken breast or something else with some protein would be a lot more satiating.  But that's not the fault of WW.  You get out of it what you put in.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is one of my issues with WW. I do not feel that do a good job of educating people about actual nutrition or making better nutritional choices. I know two people who each lost 100 lbs on WW, in fact one of them lost 100 twice on WW, and they both put it all back on again. Neither one of them had experienced any real changes in they way that they thought about eating and food, and IMO, changing certain mindsets is necessary for making any kind of lasting changes in any area of life.

But that doesn't mean that the program can't work for some people.

[Leslie and Halas]

Even if they taught it, people would still have to listen.  A lot of people would appreciate it, and make some changes, but a lot of people would pick and choose what they want to take from that information.

That reminds me of an article that came out earlier in 2013.  It was titled something like, "Is Exercise Making You Gain Weight?"  I know people who would read just the headline, and use that as their new excuse for not exercising.  And I don't even know if the article talked about muscle gain, which was my first thought when I read the headline.  It seemed like it suggested that exercise will make you hungry, so you'll eat more, thereby negating all of the work you just did in the gym.  What a crock that article was.  It made me so mad.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The whole issue of "weight" is another huge problem with all of this, too. The number on the scale means absolutely nothing. You can take 10 people who are all the same height and weight, and among them you will have all different sizes and shapes. You can even have two epople of the same height and weight, one of whom is wonderfully fit and one of whom is obese. It's all in the body composition, ie. fat to lean tissue ratios.

Yeah, exercise made me gain weight. It also dropped my body fat percentage to 10% and my pants size to 0. If people would stop looking at the scale and start looking at the way they feel and the way their clothes fit, they would be a lot happier.

I used to caution my clients not to weight themselves more than once a week, and preferably not at all. But this is very hard for some people. I used to ask, "if you could have your idea of a "perfect" body forever, I mean exactly, but every time you got on a scale it would read 300 lbs, would that matter to you?"

You would be surprised how many people said yes. At least, I was. People get too hung up on the numbers.  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's another good question. Someone lost 10 pounds. I want to know, 10 pounds of what? If it was 10 lbs of excess (physiologically unnecessary) body fat, good for them. If it was 10 pounds of lean mass, that's a disaster for their metabolism.  

And that's one way that 'dieting" can do more harm than good. 

[Leslie and Halas]

I have issues with BMI, too.  A muscular person will very often have a BMI number that puts them on the obese end of the chart.  There are just a lot of things related to this issue that aren't absolute, but so many people take a lot of things as absolute.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

I completely agree with what Karen said in her last post. It has nothing to do with the # on the scale. For me it is all about feeling strong and healthy. The inches and the way my clothes fit are next. The number on the scale doesn't even 'weigh' into it for me. :-)

[Adina P]

I have that same issue with most diet plans. I also think that focusing on weight and weighing in regularly short circuits' people's ability to stay focused on what matters.  As long as it is about eating a set amount/calories/points (regardless of hunger cues) to reach a set weight goal it prevents most people from learning what they need to learn for long term healthy eating habits. It's like you are working for two different bosses in the same company.  One boss wants you to focus on this aspect of your job and the other boss wants you to focus on another aspect, and rarely do the two crossover and often get in the way of the other.

I agree about BMI too. And that happens SO much with people who exercise and see that their weight is not dropping.  But really if exercise is making you hungrier and you eat a bit more and your weight is steady...is that really 'negating' the work at the gym? No.  Those muscles are still growing, that heart and lungs and circulation is still getting stronger and healthier.  Physical fitness is still a better indicator of health than weight.  Of course someone who is 400 lbs is probably not as fit as someone in the 180 range...and they won't be able to do the same things because of the work of moving their body and very likely inactivity. BUT -- even that person can benefit from working on fitness, slowly, gradually and putting some structure into their eating.  It would be a long road, but it scares me when I see shows like Biggest Loser parading people up there, shaming them about their weight, and then making them work for hours and hours in ways nobody can maintain at home. 
Karen!  10% body fat!  Crazy woman ;-)  I stopped menstruating when I hit about 15% in college when I worked out most diligently (as a freshman I started off with 21-24% body fat before I knew ANYTHING about this stuff.  I was rather surprised because I was skinny).  And then quit trying to get leaner because I did not want to go there.  I'm amazed that some bodies can support that much leanness.  The men's dean at one point, in college, was reported to have 3% body fat.  He was not a big bodybuilder though...he was active, but mostly it was just the way he was naturally.
You can see, though, how media and that faceless 'culture' perpetuate the idea that weight is what matters most.  People would rather be thin and not that healthy than a little chunky and healthy from good food and exercise. 

[Leslie and Halas]

There's a girl at my gym that's made huge gains in strength and muscle mass over the past year.  For a period of time, she was really disappointed, because her weight hadn't dropped.  Now she feels differently, and encourages others who complain about not losing weight.  This girl is way more muscular than she used to be.  I think her net weight loss over the last year is about 10 lbs, but she's down 3 or 4 pants sizes!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Adina, the minumum  amount of body fat required to support normal hormonal function is way higher in women than in men. 10-12% for women, and 3-5% for men. So that dean was right at rock bottom, but still okay. 

I'm an outlier with body composition, too, and always have been, way before I ever started bodybuilding or exercising at all. (I must have a low "set point" , lol) I've just always had an unusually low fat percentage. My baseline bodyfat percentage right before I started lifting weights or doing any exercise was only 18%. It may be relevant that I have no hips at all and don't store fat in my lower body like most women. I am an apple, not a pear. 

I maintained full hormonal function at 10%, got my periods like clockwork, etc. But when I considered doing competitive bodybuilding (not lifting, which is a different thing), I was told that I would need to get my bodyfat down to 5 or 6%, and that I would not do. I am really not that crazy, lol.

[Adina P]

Kaaaaren...have a little faith. I know men can have that low body fat, etc.  I know the dean was just fine--he was just a highly unusual specimen.  But it is a tricky thing (I've got anorexia on the brain as I'm doing some continuing ed on E.D.s so I'm always worried about girls who think it's a good idea) :-)  Glad to know you didn't risk your health for competition.  I remember watching a campaign video of a guy's high school student body election and in it he was doing something silly that incidentally showed off his muscles.  I commented on it and my friend said he did NOT work out.  I'm amazed at how some people are just soo naturally muscular they get toned combing their hair.  I've generally been more like a 'fat' skinny person.  Very thin but not physically ambitious, not muscular, not athletic at all.  If it weren't for a college boy, I may have never gotten into strength training ;-)