How To Lose
Weight And Keep It Off 12

Nearly 74% of Americans are overweight or obese. And it’s not because they can’t lose weight. Many people who go on diets achieve weight loss…but most of those people gain that hard-lost weight back.

In other words, we don’t have a weight loss problem - we have a problem keeping the weight off.

Maintaining weight loss is far from a trivial pursuit: when you diet, you experience a variety of physiological and psychological changes that predispose weight regain. Nonetheless, these changes don’t determine your weight fate; they simply demand a more sustainable weight loss approach.

Unfortunately, many dieters lose weight with the short-term in mind, prioritizing quick weight loss over lasting weight loss.

Fortunately, you don’t have to be one of them. This article will provide you with all the knowledge and strategies you need to ensure you lose weight and keep it off.

How the body resists weight loss (and maintenance)

When you’re in a calorie deficit and lose weight, your body reduces energy expenditure to prevent further weight loss, a mechanism called metabolic adaptation.

As a result, your maintenance calories decrease, such that you need to drop calories even lower to see further weight loss. Then, when you reach your ideal weight, you’ll have to consume fewer calories to maintain your weight than you did prior to weight loss. Such adaptation spans all components of your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), causing reductions in…

Resting metabolic rate (RMR)

RMR refers to energy required simply to keep you alive when at rest and encompasses 70% of TDEE. A significant portion of RMR relies on body mass (organs, muscle, and fat) - so when you lose weight, your RMR predictably decreases. However, RMR actually decreases beyond what you’d expect based on body weight due to lower levels of hormones like leptin, insulin, thyroid hormone, estrogen, and testosterone

Exercise activity thermogenesis (EAT)

Energy burned during planned exercise additionally decreases with weight loss, as you naturally need less energy to move when you weigh less. Both dieting and repeated practice also tend to reduce EAT(7, 8); and the body further compensates for increased exercise during a deficit by lowering NEAT

What’s more, metabolic adaptations even affect your appetite: lower levels of leptin (a satiety hormone) and higher levels of ghrelin (a hunger hormone) result in stronger hunger signals, making it harder to stick to your diet.