Healthy Weight Loss — Without Dietingbody, building our muscle mass tends to increase our energy needs.
When added together, these two weight gain factors—being human
and maintaining a delicate energy balance—help explain why
weight gain comes so easily to many individuals. Even with some
physical activity, many individuals have very little room to work
within their allotted calorie intake. This delicate balance is easily
upset because all of us are human, get overwhelmed at times, and
make very human mistakes.
From a research perspective, the difficulty of weight loss for many
individuals is explained by the same two factors that account for
ease of weight gain: (1) the fact that we’re human and (2) energy
balance. Let’s go back to the example already discussed of a person
whose energy balance allows consumption of only 1,500 calories
per day. If that person wants to lose weight, he or she will need to
burn up more than 1,500 calories on a daily basis or consume 100
fewer calories each day. (Here we have the weight gain situation in
reverse. Instead of gaining 10 pounds per year while consuming 100
extra calories each day, a person is losing 10 pounds per year while
consuming 100 fewer calories each day or burning up 100 more
calories.)
By burning up 100 extra calories each day, this person could expect
to see about 10 pounds of weight loss per year. Ten pounds per year
is less than one pound per month. Now imagine following a weight
loss diet for 30 days and then stepping on the scale only to find a
weight loss of only one pound! And think how particularly trouble-
some this result would be if you did not like the weight loss diet
you were following, or if you felt like your weight loss diet was
preventing you from living your everyday life. This is yet another
reason why it’s important not to think short-term, as we do when
we are on a diet. But to undertake a way of eating for our lifetime
that is healthful and enjoyable and that can lead to long-term and
lasting weight loss.