Can’t Lose Weight No Matter What? Read This Now

Sometimes losing weight can seem impossible.

You may be watching your calories and carbs, eating enough protein, exercising regularly and doing all of the other things known to support weight loss, yet the scale won’t budge.

This problem is actually fairly common and can be extremely frustrating.

Read on to learn why achieving your weight loss goal can be so difficult — and whether it’s a good idea to keep trying.

This article specifically addresses women, but most of the principles here apply to everyone.

Weight Loss Is a Billion-Dollar Industry

Losing weight is big business on a global scale.

It’s estimated that weight loss programs and products generate more than $150 billion in annual profits in the US and Europe alone (1).

Programs that require you to purchase special food, supplements and other products tend to be the costliest.

Though “fat burners” and other diet pills are popular, they often aren’t regulated and may be downright dangerous (2, 3).

Unfortunately, even those who aren’t very overweight appear willing to risk the potentially harmful consequences of taking diet pills.

A study including more than 16,000 adults found that about one-third of those who took weight loss pills weren’t obese before they started taking the pills (3).

Clearly, many people spend a great deal of effort and money trying to lose weight.

And even if you don’t join a weight loss program or buy diet pills or products, you may end up devoting much of your free time and energy to the pursuit of being thin.

Summary:

The weight loss industry generates billions of dollars a year by capitalizing on many people’s desire to be thin at any cost.

Why Many Women Can’t Reach Their Goal Weight

Many women spend a significant amount of money, time and effort on trying to lose weight.

Nevertheless, some seem to make little progress.

Several factors influence your ability to lose weight.

Health Conditions

Certain diseases or disorders can make weight loss extremely difficult, including:

• Lipedema: Believed to affect nearly one in nine women worldwide, this condition causes a woman’s hips and legs to accumulate excess fat that is extremely difficult to lose. It often also causes easy bruising and pain (4).
• Hypothyroidism: Low levels of thyroid hormone lead to a slowdown in metabolism that can impede weight loss efforts (5).
• Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS): This condition is characterized by insulin resistance and hormonally driven fat accumulation in the abdomen. It’s believed to affect up to 21% of reproductive-aged women (6).

Dieting and Weight Loss History

If you’ve lost and regained weight several times in the past, or yo-yo dieted, you’ve likely found it more challenging to lose weight with each subsequent attempt.

In fact, a woman with a long history of yo-yo dieting will tend to have greater difficulty losing weight than one whose weight has remained relatively constant.

Research has shown that this is mainly due to changes in fat storage that occur after periods of calorie deprivation.

Essentially, your body stores more fat when you begin eating more after a period of deprivation, so that it has a reserve available if calorie intake decreases again (7).

In addition, a recent animal study suggests that yo-yo dieting may cause an immune response in fat tissue that makes fat loss more difficult (8).

Gut bacteria may play a role too. Repeated cycles of losing and regaining weight seem to promote changes in gut bacteria that lead to increased weight gain over the long term (9).

Age

Aging presents many challenges for women, including making it harder than ever to lose weight.

Moreover, women who have never been heavy in the past may struggle to maintain their usual weight as they get older, even if they eat a healthy diet.

Most women gain about 5–15 pounds (2.3–6.8 kg) during the aging process due to a reduction in muscle mass and physical activity, which result in a slower metabolism.

Additionally, weight gain during menopause is extremely common due to the many hormonal changes that occur. Trying to lose weight during and after menopause can be incredibly difficult (10).

Gestational Influences

Unfortunately, your tendency to carry excess weight may be partly due to factors you have no control over.

One of these is genetics, but other, lesser-known factors include the conditions you were exposed to in the womb.

These include your mother’s diet and the amount of weight she gained during pregnancy.

Research has shown that women who gain excessive weight during pregnancy are more likely to give birth to large babies who become overweight or obese during childhood or as adults (11, 12).

What’s more, a pregnant woman’s dietary choices may affect whether her child develops a weight problem in the future.

A recent animal study found that rats that were fed a “Western” diet while pregnant gave birth to babies that had slower metabolisms and that became obese at several points during their lifetimes (13).

Summary:

Many factors can affect your ability to lose weight, including certain health conditions, your dieting and weight loss history, age-related changes and your mother’s diet and weight changes during pregnancy.

“Ideal” Body Sizes Throughout History

Although your diet and exercise habits play a role in determining your weight, your basic shape and size are largely determined by your genes.

In fact, research suggests that both how much you weigh and where you tend to store fat are strongly influenced by your unique genetic pattern (14).

Taking steps to reduce belly fat is a healthy and worthwhile goal. On the other hand, if you try to force your body to conform to whatever size is currently in vogue, you’re working against nature, and your efforts may ultimately lead to frustration.

Throughout history, different body types and sizes have been considered “ideal.”

As recently as 100 years ago, being somewhat plump was a desirable, feminine trait in women. Thin women even tried to gain weight to become more appealing.

However, it is just as difficult for a naturally thin person to put on weight as it is for a naturally larger person to lose it.

During the Renaissance, Dutch artist Peter Paul Rubens became well known for his nude paintings of full-figured women, whom he believed were the epitome of beauty.

To this day, the term “Rubenesque” is used to describe a beautiful, full-figured person.

In the 1800s, the French Impressionists, including Monet, Renoir and Cézann, painted women of the day who were considered beautiful.

Looking at these paintings, you can easily see that many of the women were much larger than today’s runway models.

There’s no denying that the “ideal” female body has changed considerably over the past 60 years, becoming slim and toned as opposed to rounded and soft.

However, women of the past weren’t bombarded with often unattainable images on the Internet and TV.

Today’s women are also faced with an overwhelming number of ads for programs and products that promise to help them achieve today’s “ideal” body.

Summary:

During many periods in history, larger women were considered feminine and attractive. However, the modern “ideal” body is smaller, thin and toned, which may not be attainable for everyone.

Different Cultural Views of Weight

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Although people across the US and most of Europe consider a slim body to be attractive, people in various parts of the world prefer a larger, more rounded shape.

In many cultures, carrying some extra weight is associated with fertility, kindness, happiness, vitality and social harmony.

Interestingly, the wealthiest countries tend to value thinness, whereas the opposite is true in less wealthy countries (15).

For instance, researchers who studied data from several non-Western societies reported that 81% preferred plump or moderately fat women, while 90% preferred women with large hips and legs (16).

However, even among developed countries, what is considered the “perfect” body seems to vary greatly based on personal and regional preferences.

When 18 graphic designers from around the world were asked to modify a plus-size model’s body into the “ideal” body, the range of results was somewhat surprising.

The modified versions had body mass indexes (BMIs) ranging from only 17 in China to 25.5 in Spain, which is consistent with weights between 102–153 pounds (about 46–69 kg) for a woman who is 5’5″ (165 cm) tall.

With the exception of the BMI of 17, which is considered underweight, this shows that a wide range of body sizes and shapes are viewed as attractive and desirable, regardless of how closely they resemble what is often considered “ideal.”

Summary:

The “ideal” body varies greatly from country to country and is often influenced by a society’s wealth and the diversity of its residents.

If You Truly Need to Lose Weight

If your size is affecting your health, continuing to pursue weight loss makes sense.

Obesity, especially morbid obesity, may increase the risk of disease and lower life expectancy. Even further, it can make day-to-day living difficult due to decreased mobility, low energy levels and social stigma.

Research shows some of the best ways to boost weight loss include eating protein at breakfast and avoiding processed carbs, along with other strategies in this article.

Here are a few additional practices that may help you take some weight off:

• Support groups: Joining one can provide encouragement, accountability and motivation. In addition to general weight loss groups offline, online and on Facebook, you can find online communities for lipedema and PCOS.
• Recognize progress, even if slow: Realize that you will likely lose weight slowly and experience some weight loss plateaus. Losing even a couple of pounds a month is still an impressive accomplishment.
• Be realistic when setting a goal weight: Don’t strive to reach your “ideal” weight. Losing as little as 5% of your body weight has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity, and further loss can lead to additional benefits (17).
• Celebrate non-scale victories: Focusing on improvements in mobility, energy, lab values and other beneficial health changes is important, especially when weight loss seems maddeningly slow.

Although incorporating these strategies into your life can’t guarantee that you will lose weight, they can help improve your chances.

Summary:

If being obese is affecting your health, mobility and quality of life, taking steps to lose weight is a good idea. Joining a support group, setting realistic goals and celebrating your progress may be helpful.

Shift Focus to Optimal Health — Not Weight Loss

For many women, weight loss goals have less to do with health than wanting to look better.

Perhaps you have already lost some weight, but haven’t been able to lose “those last 10–20 pounds.”

Or maybe you have always been a bit larger than average, but have been trying to slim down to a smaller dress size.

You’re not alone if you feel that you have tried every diet and weight loss recommendation, yet still haven’t been able to achieve results, despite your best efforts.

If that’s the case, it may be best to shift your focus to being as healthy, strong and vibrant as you can be.

• Focus on fitness: When it comes to health, studies have shown that being fit is more important than being thin. What’s more, working out regularly can provide many other benefits (18).
• Develop a better relationship with food: Rather than dieting, work on choosing nourishing foods, paying attention to hunger and fullness cues and learning to eat intuitively (19, 20).
• Consider the results of your previous dieting attempts: Remember that losing and regaining weight often leads to increased fat storage and weight gain over time (1, 7, 21).

Aside from reducing stress and frustration, shifting your focus to make optimal health your primary goal might even potentially lead to natural weight loss over time.

Summary:

If you want to lose weight to look better, but haven’t had success despite doing all of the “right” things, it may be best to shift your focus. Instead of trying to achieve a certain weight, aim to be as healthy as possible.

Learn to Love and Accept Your Body

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Developing an appreciation for your body can be beneficial for your health, happiness and outlook on life.

Research suggests that repeated weight loss attempts may not only lead to weight gain, but they may also cause mood changes and increase the risk of developing unhealthy behaviors like binge eating (22).

On the other hand, there’s evidence that being happy with your weight may result in healthier behaviors and better overall health, regardless of your size (23).

Here are some tips for learning how to love and accept your body:

• Stop letting numbers define you: Instead of fixating on your weight, measurements or clothing size, think about how you feel, who you are and your purpose in life.
• Avoid comparing yourself to others: Never compare your own body to someone else’s. You are unique and have many great qualities. Focus on being the best you can be.
• Exercise to feel and perform better: Rather than working out frantically trying to burn calories, engage in physical activity because of the way it makes you feel. You deserve to feel your best now and in the years to come.

Realize that it may take some time to learn to appreciate your body after years of trying to change it. That’s understandable. Just take it one day at a time and do your best to focus on the positive.

Summary:

Rather than continuing to prioritize losing weight, learn to love and accept your body so you can stay healthy and highly functional throughout your lifetime.

The Bottom Line

In a modern-day society that values being thin, the inability to lose weight can be a source of frustration for many women.

And it’s true that losing excess weight is important when it jeopardizes your health and well-being.

But trying to achieve an unrealistic size can do more harm than good.

Learn to love and accept your body, exercise and adopt lifestyle behaviors to keep yourself as healthy as possible and avoid comparing yourself.

Doing so may greatly improve your overall health, self-esteem and quality of life.

Obesity research confirms long-term weight loss almost impossible

There’s a disturbing truth that is emerging from the science of obesity. After years of study, it’s becoming apparent that it’s nearly impossible to permanently lose weight.

As incredible as it sounds, that’s what the evidence is showing. For psychologist Traci Mann, who has spent 20 years running an eating lab at the University of Minnesota, the evidence is clear. “It couldn’t be easier to see,” she says. “Long-term weight loss happens to only the smallest minority of people.”

We all think we know someone in that rare group. They become the legends — the friend of a friend, the brother-in-law, the neighbour — the ones who really did it.

But if we check back after five or 10 years, there’s a good chance they will have put the weight back on. Only about five per cent of people who try to lose weight ultimately succeed, according to the research. Those people are the outliers, but we cling to their stories as proof that losing weight is possible.

“Those kinds of stories really keep the myth alive,” says University of Alberta professor Tim Caulfield, who researches and writes about health misconceptions. “You have this confirmation bias going on where people point to these very specific examples as if it’s proof. But in fact those are really exceptions.”

Our biology taunts us, by making short-term weight loss fairly easy. But the weight creeps back, usually after about a year, and it keeps coming back until the original weight is regained or worse.

This has been tested in randomized controlled trials where people have been separated into groups and given intense exercise and nutrition counselling.

Even in those highly controlled experimental settings, the results show only minor sustained weight loss.

When Traci Mann analyzed all of the randomized control trials on long-term weight loss, she discovered that after two years the average amount lost was only one kilogram, or about two pounds, from the original weight.

Tiptoeing around the truth

So if most scientists know that we can’t eat ourselves thin, that the lost weight will ultimately bounce back, why don’t they say so?

Tim Caulfield says his fellow obesity academics tend to tiptoe around the truth. “You go to these meetings and you talk to researchers, you get a sense there is almost a political correctness around it, that we don’t want this message to get out there,” he said.

Last fall, the Dubai government launched a 30-day weight loss challenge called “Your Weight in Gold” to encourage dieters and combat growing obesity in the Gulf Arab emirate. It should probably save its money if the current science is right. (Reuters)

“You’ll be in a room with very knowledgeable individuals, and everyone in the room will know what the data says and still the message doesn’t seem to get out.”

In part, that’s because it’s such a harsh message. “You have to be careful about the stigmatizing nature of that kind of image,” Caulfield says. “That’s one of the reasons why this myth of weight loss lives on.”

Health experts are also afraid people will abandon all efforts to exercise and eat a nutritious diet — behaviour that is important for health and longevity — even if it doesn’t result in much weight loss.

Traci Mann says the emphasis should be on measuring health, not weight. “You should still eat right, you should still exercise, doing healthy stuff is still healthy,” she said. “It just doesn’t make you thin.”

We are biological machines

But eating right to improve health alone isn’t a strong motivator. The research shows that most people are willing to exercise and limit caloric intake if it means they will look better. But if they find out their weight probably won’t change much, they tend to lose motivation.

Healthy stuff is still healthy, it just doesn’t make you thin– Traci Mann, University of Minnesota

That raises another troubling question. If diets don’t result in weight loss, what does? At this point the grim answer seems to be that there is no known cure for obesity, except perhaps surgically shrinking the stomach. 

Research suggests bariatric surgery can induce weight loss in the extremely obese, improving health and quality of life at the same time. But most people will still be obese after the surgery. Plus, there are risky side effects, and many will end up gaining some of that weight back.

If you listen closely you will notice that obesity specialists are quietly adjusting the message through a subtle change in language.

These days they’re talking about weight maintenance or “weight management” rather than “weight loss.”

Michelle Obama has been on an eat better campaign ever since her husband was elected to the White House. An estimated 2.1 billion people on the planet are now considered overweight or obese. (Reuters)

It’s a shift in emphasis that reflects the emerging reality. Just last week the headlines announced the world is fatter than it has ever been, with 2.1 billion people now overweight or obese, based on an analysis published in the online issue of the British medical journal The Lancet.

Researchers are divided about why weight gain seems to be irreversible, probably a combination of biological and social forces. “The fundamental reason,” Caulfield says, “is that we are very efficient biological machines. We evolved not to lose weight. We evolved to keep on as much weight as we possibly can.”

Lost in all of the noise about dieting and obesity is the difficult concept of prevention, of not putting weight on in the first place.

The Lancet study warned that more than one in five kids in developed countries are now overweight or obese. Statistics Canada says close to a third of Canadian kids under 17 are overweight or obese. And in a world flooded with food, with enormous economic interest in keeping people eating that food, what is required to turn this ship around is daunting.

“An appropriate rebalancing of the primal needs of humans with food availability is essential,” University of Oxford epidemiologist Klim McPherson wrote in a Lancet commentary following last week’s study. But to do that, he suggested, “would entail curtailing many aspects of production and marketing for food industries.”

Perhaps, though, the emerging scientific reality should also be made clear, so we can navigate this obesogenic world armed with the stark truth — that we are held hostage to our biology, which is adapted to gain weight, an old evolutionary advantage that has become a dangerous metabolic liability.

Why I can’t lose weight despite my best efforts

February 28, 2021

Health

Eight reasons why weight loss can stop, and ways to spur the process.

Iya Zorina

Author of Lifehacker, athlete, Candidate Master of Sports

You went on a diet, excluded starchy foods and sweets and got used to regular workouts. At first, the weight decreased, but then a plateau came: the figure on the scales froze or even slightly increased. Below we will analyze why weight loss can stop and what to do to still achieve the perfect figure.

1. You misjudge your progress

Burning body fat is a long process. If you’ve been on a diet for less than two weeks, it’s too early to talk about any progress.

Svetlana Nezvanova

Nutritionist, gastroenterologist, therapist. Member of the international council of doctors in the field of keto diet, LCHF diet and GAPS protocol.

Weight loss comes in waves, and this process is individual. For some people, weight does not change in the first two weeks and only then begins to decrease along with volumes.

Moreover, scales do not always show real progress in losing weight. Body weight can be affected by muscle gain or water retention, such as during menstruation. As a result, fat deposits will melt, but the scales will not show this.

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• 20 tips that will help you get prettier in 10 days

What to do about it

Don’t expect quick results. Stick to your meal plan for 2-4 weeks before thinking about evaluating progress.

As for tracking results, Svetlana Nezvanova says that doctors determine weight loss by the percentage of fat, muscle mass and other body tissues. Without special equipment, you can evaluate progress in terms of body volume: measure the girth of the chest, waist and hips at the beginning of the diet and after 2-4 weeks of following it.

Svetlana Nezvanova

If you do not have breakdowns and overeating, you know exactly how much protein, fat and carbohydrates you consume and do not go beyond the recommended norms, but weight and volume do not change, you can talk about a plateau. The body gets used to the new diet and adjusts, doing everything not to give extra pounds.

2. Are you eating too little or too much protein? Dietary protein increases the feeling of satiety and reduces cravings for sweets, speeds up metabolism – increases energy expenditure at rest.

Svetlana Nezvanova

Since all hormones and enzymes are essentially proteins, if this macronutrient is deficient in the diet, certain metabolic reactions simply do not occur. As a result, metabolic processes slow down.

By increasing the amount of protein in your diet, you will get some benefits, but the main thing is not to overdo it. An excess of this macronutrient can negatively affect weight loss and overall health.

Svetlana Nezvanova

Daily intake of more than 2.5–2.7 g of protein per 1 kg of body weight can slow down weight loss. With an excess of protein, the body does not use it, but converts it into glucose. Also, with such an amount of protein, problems with the intestines and other organs are possible.

What to do about it

Strive to build your diet so that at least 30% of your calories come from protein. If you don’t count calories, you can aim for 1.5-2.2 g of protein per 1 kg of body weight. The exception is people with kidney disease. High-protein diets increase the risk of stone formation.

3. You are less sensitive to insulin

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that helps the body maintain normal blood sugar levels. Improper nutrition with an excess of fast carbohydrates, excess weight and genetic predisposition can reduce the sensitivity of cells to insulin.

In this state, the body will produce more and more of the hormone to cope with increased blood glucose levels, which can slow down weight loss and nullify all your efforts.

What to do about it

Losing weight and eliminating fast carbohydrates in itself improves insulin sensitivity, but you can use two options to spur progress.

Try a low carbohydrate diet

Svetlana Nezvanova

If you eat cereals and fruits (carbohydrate-rich foods) at every meal, your insulin levels rise after the meal. If you already have insulin resistance or diabetes, you won’t lose weight. In this case, it is recommended to try a low-carb diet.

These diets lower insulin levels and allow you to lose fat without losing muscle mass. However, a low-carb diet has a number of contraindications, so check with your doctor first.

Do strength training

Strength training increases the expression of the APPL1 protein, which regulates glucose uptake by cells and improves the body’s ability to store it in muscles. As a result, resistance exercise increases insulin sensitivity even without weight loss. In addition, strength training, along with sufficient protein intake, helps maintain and build muscle mass, which increases the energy expenditure of the body.

You can choose one method or try both at once. Low carb diets work well with strength training.

4. You eat too often

It is believed that fractional meals – small but frequent meals – help you lose weight faster without feeling hungry. However, an analysis of scientific data on this topic found no special benefits for weight loss and health in those who eat more than four to five times a day. And even if you carefully monitor the calorie intake of snacks and do not exceed the daily allowance, multiple meals can interfere with progress.

Svetlana Nezvanova

One of the reasons for the plateau is frequent snacking, and this is due to the release of the hormone insulin. If you chew something almost all the time, it never drops to such a level that the body begins to burn fat.

What to do about it

Eat no more than four or five times a day. You can also try intermittent fasting: it speeds up metabolism, provides good results in losing weight and has a positive effect on insulin levels.

5. You don’t get enough sleep

Svetlana Nezvanova

I have been working for over 12 years and have my own statistics from practical experience. And the most complex in terms of metabolism and the level of active cell mass are people who have sleep disorders. Programmers, residents of metropolitan areas, those who have night schedules.

Reduced sleep affects the secretion of hormones responsible for hunger and satiety: leptin and ghrelin. Just two nights of rest for 4 hours increase appetite by 23%, and also cause cravings for sweets. As a result, you feel more hungry and lean on high-calorie foods or suffer from the inability to do so.

Six nights of 4 hours of sleep increase levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that interferes with fat burning and retains water in the body. A week of 5-hour nightly rest significantly reduces insulin sensitivity.

Lack of sleep not only slows down weight loss, but also has a bad effect on its quality. So, in one study, people who slept 5 hours a day lost 55% less fat and 60% more muscle than those who rested 8.5 hours.

What to do about it

Try to sleep at least 7-8 hours a day, and go to bed in the first half of the night – no later than 2:00. According to Svetlana Nezvanova, from 10 pm until this time, the body synthesizes two important hormones: melatonin and growth hormone, which are associated with metabolism and fat burning.

If you are used to going to bed well after midnight, the level of these hormones drops, and cortisol rises, which negatively affects body composition and the rate of weight loss.

6. You have a high level of stress

Svetlana Nezvanova

A high level of stress definitely hinders weight loss. With chronic debilitating nervous tension, cortisol and insulin levels will constantly be elevated, making it difficult to burn fat. Years of stress can lead to adrenal fatigue syndrome, hormonal imbalances, and decreased metabolism.

Stress also reduces the hormone adiponectin, which is involved in the breakdown of fats, and increases levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), which can cause chronic inflammation, insulin resistance and diabetes.

In addition, the more stress you experience, the less energy you expend after eating and the worse your body oxidizes fats. If yesterday you had a strong negative experience, today you will burn about 104 kcal less than if everything was fine. This difference can result in a 5 kg increase per year.

What to do about it

If you can’t remove the source of stress, try changing how you react to events. Yoga classes, meditation, breathing techniques – all this helps to calmly respond to external stimuli. For example, in one study, an eight-week stress management program helped participants lose nearly twice as much weight as a control group.

Visualization, diaphragmatic breathing and muscle relaxation – all of these techniques not only help to lose weight, but also improve self-esteem and mood, relationships with friends and colleagues and the state of affairs at work.

7. You don’t drink enough water

There is no direct link between a lack of water in the diet and a delay in losing weight. But at the same time, an increased amount of liquid can help move the weight off the ground. Drinking 500 ml of plain water speeds up metabolism by 24-30% for the next 60 minutes; 2 liters per day increases energy expenditure by about 95 kcal.

What to do about it

Women are advised to consume at least 2.7 liters of water per day, men – 3.7 liters. In addition to revitalizing your metabolism, it will help you reduce hunger and consume fewer calories even without diet control.

8. You have a hormonal disorder

Conditions that interfere with normal hormone production can cause weight gain and prevent weight loss. These disorders include:

• Hypothyroidism is a malfunction of the thyroid gland.
• Polycystic ovary syndrome is a violation in the structure and functions of the ovaries, thyroid gland, adrenal cortex. It is characterized by an increased level of male sex hormones.
• Menopause is a decrease in estrogen production that occurs with age.

What to do about it

Contact your doctor for therapy. You can also consult with a nutritionist who will prescribe a suitable diet.

Whatever the reason, don’t lose heart. Improve sleep, get rid of stress, look for the right diet and training system that will become part of your lifestyle. Only in this case you will get stable weight loss and excellent health.

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• How to lose weight quickly and not harm your health: a scientific approach
• Is it true that muscles can turn into fat
• How to gain weight: instructions for those who want to gain weight and improve their health

If a person cannot lose weight, it is not because of laziness.

And stigmatization of people with obesity is harmful to their health – Meduza

Jennifer Burk / Unsplash

On March 4, 2020, an international group of specialists published a statement in the scientific publication Nature Medicine, in which they described how stigmatization affects people who are overweight and obese. At the same time, many ideas about people with such conditions turn out to be wrong. For example, that it is enough just to show willpower – and then you will be able to lose weight. There is stigma not only from relatives and friends, but also from doctors, as well as employers. In this statement, scientists comment on the main ideas about overweight and obesity from a scientific point of view and explain how to fix everything.

People have a lot of misconceptions about being overweight and obese

If you don’t know what the difference is and whether you have any of them

Being overweight is a condition in which the body mass index ) is 25–29. 9 kg/m².

Obesity is a condition in which the body mass index is 30 kg/m² or more.

“Eat less and move more” is not enough to lose weight

It is generally assumed that a person needs to eat better and be physically active to lose weight. If a person is not able to do this and lose weight, then the reason is his laziness, gluttony and inability to show willpower. However, “eat less, move more” is an overly simplistic idea of ​​how you can lose weight. An overweight or obese person’s body resists losing weight: it can increase appetite, decrease satiety, and lower the metabolic rate.

In addition, exercise is only a third of the energy expenditure, so only professional athletes will have any significant effect of training. Moreover, studies have shown that additional physical activity does not help to lose weight.

Obesity itself is also not due to laziness and weak willpower: genetic factors, lack of sleep, peculiarities of the gastrointestinal tract, psychological stress, taking certain drugs and many other factors influence the development of obesity.

Stomach reduction surgery is not a “path for the lazy”

Bariatric surgery allows obese people to eat less (due to small stomach volume). Also, nutrients begin to be absorbed worse, which, of course, has its drawbacks, therefore, after bariatric surgery, it is recommended, for example, to take vitamins separately. These operations are prescribed for people for whom obesity poses a serious threat to health, and despite all efforts, it is not possible to lose weight. Usually people going for such operations have tried many ways to change the situation.

However, there is a perception in society that operations are an easy way, and only the laziest people who cannot control themselves go along it. This is wrong. Perhaps, in many ways, therefore, much fewer people who are shown such operations undergo them.

Shame does not help people lose weight

Some public campaigns are based on shaming overweight and obese people. It is believed that due to this they will eat less and exercise more. This strategy does not work, moreover, it hurts. People are more likely to respond to such statements in reverse.

All this harms the mental and physical health of overweight and obese people

People who are stigmatized often begin to blame themselves. They are also less likely to seek medical help because they know they are likely to experience bad treatment. Doctors spend less time with such patients, they behave more arrogantly and tend to write off all the patient’s symptoms as being overweight or obese.

In school, overweight and obese children and adolescents are more likely to be teased and harassed, and more likely to be isolated. As a result, they later develop depression and anxiety. Not to mention low self-esteem. In addition, overweight and obese people are more likely to abuse certain substances, such as nicotine; they also develop eating disorders. Moreover, stigma affects this more than weight itself.

Experimental data show that stigma causes people to eat more.

There are other consequences of stigmatization

The authors of the statement found evidence that people who are overweight and obese earn less, despite the fact that they usually work more. They are less likely to be hired. Especially women. Women are generally more stigmatized in this case.

The authors also noted that less money is allocated to research on overweight and obesity than might be expected, and less research is being done on this topic.

This statement was supported by specialists from all over the world, including from Russia

The statement was made by 36 specialists, including endocrinologists, geneticists, nutritionists, general practitioners, surgeons, psychologists, molecular biologists, cardiologists and gastroenterologists. These experts were proposed by 10 medical organizations that in one way or another relate to the problems of overweight and obesity. These are, for example, the American Diabetes Association, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and the European Association for the Study of Obesity.