Tips for Successful “Dieting”
Hard truths… The rate of obesity and metabolic illnesses such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other chronic metabolic diseases is at an all-time high in the USA. Another truth is that dieting is hard. Weight loss is hard and weight loss maintenance is even harder.
Weight loss diets, health plans, supplements, exercise regimes, pills, and surgeries are as abundant as the obesity epidemic only making it harder to lose weight and keep it off. Which plan should you do?
This article dives into a few predictors of success when it comes to achieving your weight and health goal in hopes to make your efforts effective and worth it!
Early Success is the best predictor of success.
I always said that the best predictor of success was adherence, which in my defense is true. BUT, Dr. Holly Wyatt, accomplished weight loss doc and researcher changed my mind. It is actually early success that predicts long term success when sticking to a diet. The important piece is to define success early in a diet program - is it no cheats in the first week(s), loss of 2 lbs, increase energy, achieving 10,000 steps per day, you decide. Making these short term achievable, measurable goals will help you stick to whatever plan you are following.
As an aside - for most of us, the actual diet you choose (as long as it’s not the Standard American Diet of highly processed, energy dense foods), you will see results if you stick with it. While some diets might suit certain people better, low carb, Mediterranean, DASH, Keto, low calorie, etc,. will work in reducing body weight. For the athletes, avid exercisers, mostly healthy eaters, wanting to shed the last few pounds of fat, it might be more complex and working with a nutritionist can help.
Adherence is the (next) best predictor of success
See quote by Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock :)
Adherence is crucial to success of a diet. Let’s say you eat 3 meals a day for 7 days in a week, that is 21 meals. If you eat according to your diet for 11 of those meals but for the other 10 you skip eating, cheat, graze, or “drink your calories” in adult beverages, then your 51% effort is for nothing. I always say that it takes 2-4 weeks to feel better, 4-8 weeks to see a real change (more than 2-3 lbs) on the scale, and 8-12 weeks to see significant change in weight or body composition.
Why so long? It take some time for your body to adapt to changes. The amount of time it takes depends on your previous dietary intake, body composition and size, fitness status, activity level, and composition of the diet you choose to take on to name a few. In fact, most diet studies in the nutrition research world are at least 8-12 weeks because that is how long it takes to see measurable, statistically significant change in weight, body composition, or other health parameters that might be measured (such as markers of inflammation, HbA1c, insulin sensitivity/resistance, etc.).
Furthermore, when determining if a diet is effective, researchers always mathematically “adjust’ for adherence because this has a significant impact on any results coming from the study. Participants who drop out are taken into consideration (dieting is hard!) and there is a measures of adherence such as weekly weigh-ins, use of an app to record food intake or photographing your plate before and after a meal, details food logs, and blood and urine tests to determine adherence.
When you adhere to a diet 90-100% (some of us are all in, and some of us need that 1-2 cheats - choose who you are), progress should be seen within the first 4 weeks. The great thing about adherence is that you know what you are putting in your body. If it’s not working, time to tweak. Maybe you are eating too much (or too little), maybe you need to increase protein and decrease carbs, or add in 30 minutes of exercise per day. As your body and metabolism changes, you should make tweaks. I think the goal of any diet is to be able to eat as many calories as possible while achieving your goals.
Once you achieve your body weight/composition/health goal through dieting, it is time for maintenance mode. For the majority of weight losers, this is harder than the actual weight loss. Why? There is an energy gap that needs to be met. When you lose weight, your body requires less energy (calories) to sustain metabolism and daily activity. Also, at a smaller size, the energy it takes for movement is less. For example, at your overweight state, you may have burned 100 Calories when jogging a mile while at your new weight, you only burn 90 Calories. So, do you exercise more or eat less? The short answer is likely a combination of both but we don’t have an exact answer and it differs for based on the individual. A combination of resistance and endurance exercise definitely aids in weight loss maintenance, plus you get all the beneficial metabolic and physical adaptations of exercise training (an article a different time). Healthy food choices most of the time is also key to maintaining weight loss. Maybe you reduce adherence from 90-100% to 80-90%. Enjoy your life! Have dessert, drink a beer, chow on a burger, fries, and milkshake, but eat healthy for your next 4-5+ meals and stay on top of your exercise.
Diet that fits your lifestyle
Time to assess your day-to-day life. What is your typical schedule? When do/can you eat? Do you have a family to consider? Are you an early riser or would you rather skip breakfast? Do you eat all the bad foods at night? Maybe use time-restricted feeding to give yourself a window to eat. If you LOVE carbs and like to exercise, the keto diet might not be the best diet for you. Find a diet with recipes and foods that you like to eat. I suggest finding a diet that fits your lifestyle, your likes, and is more or less easy to adhere to long enough to see change (8-12 weeks).
Be cautious of going to extremes, especially on your own. Extremes are never sustainable, however can be very effective in extreme obesity or if you are preparing for a body building show. Obviously these are opposite ends of the body composition spectrum. Neither are “healthy” per se but in obesity, achieving a healthy weight via extreme dieting to reduce stress on the heart, improve insulin sensitivity, and reduce inflammation among other things, may be life saving. Once a healthy weight is achieve, the patient is transitioned to a more normal weight maintenance diet and exercise program. On the other hand, leaning out to extremes is not sustainable either. After a show, a body builder must use a reverse dieting method to transition back to normal, sustainable eating
I have a great example of a client finding a diet that fit her lifestyle. Her husband is diabetic and follows a lower carb diet. They are both retired and eat dinner together. After speaking about her routine, activity level, and likes/dislikes it was clear that a low carb diet was the way to go. She enjoyed eating vegetables, animal proteins, nuts, olive oil, avocado, and eggs. She did not have a strong sweet tooth but had a weakness for potatoes and breads. She initially cut those out of her diet but worked them in around exercise. After 2 weeks she was down 5 pounds and couldn’t believe how effortless it was. It slid right into her lifestyle. Over time, she lost 20 lbs and has kept it off.
Holidays are always a tough time to navigate. This client relaxed the low carb eating at dinner but kept her spinach, egg, and bacon breakfast and daily walking and maintained her weight loss through the Holidays!
Prioritize protein
Protein is made of amino acids, which frequently turn over on a daily basis. While protein can go through gluconeogenesis to be used as a fuel source, that is not ideal. I recommend establishing a consistent daily protein intake and not wavering. The RDA for protein is 0.8g per kg body weight. This is the lowest you should eat to maintain health and lean mass. Studies show eating 1-2g/kg body weight can help maintain muscle through weight loss and increase muscle mass with weight training. The higher end of protein intake best for athletes and highly active individuals.
Protein is satiating, so if you are trying to lose fat, eating a little more protein will keep hunger at bay. If you don’t like to eat protein or follow a meatless diet, then figure out how to meet the RDA then add a protein shake to your day.
Last tip when it comes to protein, eat it first. When it is time to eat, eat protein first. There is some evidence that eating carbs first spurs carb cravings and overeating due to the hormone cascade that accompanies food intake and the action for the gut microbiome (also a topic for another day!). Protein first may prevent those cravings while also allow true feelings of satiation as you finish eating your meal.
In summary, stick to your plan for at least 8 weeks. Make some achievable goals to meet early on. When you do, celebrate yourself and let it fuel your forward momentum. Choose a diet that fits you! Lastly, eat enough protein and eat it first.
Need more help? Reach out for a plan or order some meals from us to see how easy healthy eating can be!