Patience and Weight Loss

Why changing your lifestyle is a key factor to sustained weight loss.

Sticking to your weight-loss resolution for a full year has proven to be worth the sacrifice, according to a new study out of Denmark.

The University of Copenhagen’s Faculty of Health and Sciences found that by making some changes in lifestyle and maintaining a disciplined diet over the course of 52 weeks, participants in the study developed a chemical shift in their bodies.

Specifically, the hormone that inhibits hunger was found to increase when the body gets used to the routine of a weight-loss maintenance program. This fact is why so many people struggle to continue with a calorie-reduced eating plan... Our body actually tells us to eat more! However, what this study brings to light is encouraging for those making a lifestyle change over a year or more.

In the study, participants experienced an average weight loss of around 13 percent of their total body weight after the first eight weeks of the trial. The first two months involved being on a strict, low-calorie diet to see the initial weight loss with the remainder of the trial designed in maintaining any weight loss. University of Copenhagen associate professor Signe Sorensen Torekov says that after persisting with the weight-loss management routine for 12 months, the results have shown it’s actually easier to maintain any experienced weight loss. “The body will eventually ‘accept’ this new weight and thus not fight against it, as is otherwise normally the case when you are in a calorie-deficit state,” said Sorensen Torekov. Participants of the study were able to use meal replacement options up to twice a day during their 52-week trial and met regularly with a clinical dietitian who instructed them on making lifestyle changes.

Read the full study abstract.