

Why Diets Dont Actually Work - moomin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/04/why-diets-dont-actually-work-according-to-a-researcher-who-has-studied-them-for-decades/

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majkinetor
While she has many good points her final words are nonsensical (do nothing,
just let it stabilize on a 'predefined' setpoint).

It is well known that various agents influence appetite: THC, stress, hormonal
disturbances, exercise, drugs, (green) coffee etc.

So what appears to be your predefined setpoint might actually be a combination
of other unfortunate factors which in most cases CAN be fixed by adopting
certain lifestyle and taking certain drugs/supplements. This is ofc. hard as
it requires a lot of self experimentation to pinpoint most likely agent
involved.

As analogy, if you find yourself gluten intolerant, you will probably tend to
avoid the thing rather then thinking that you should simply ignore it as that
is your nature.

There is no evolutionary benefit in being obese (there is some merit in being
slightly overweight with aged individuals) - you predispose yourself to myriad
of problems (diabetes, CHD, low vitamin D content, bone stress etc.), you
limit your agility (which was not good idea back in time) and so on. So there
is NOTHING natural in this.

Plus, you actually don't have to starve - ketogenic diet mimics starvation
effects without the actual starvation. I lost 25 kg before 5 years using it
and gained 7 afterwards because of my later life choices (extremely sedentary
lifestyle and adoption of higher level of carbs). What I learned is that carbs
obviously don't agree with me and that my mass starts to rise very fast as
soon as I adopt more of them without exercising (which would redirect those
carbs to muscles, not fat, if done in proper time frame).

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Rainymood
> If one had, shouldn't it have survived the test of time?

Yes ... eat less than your body burns.

>why dieting over the long term is actually impossible

Oh so I lost 10 kg over the last couple of years on accident? How fortunate!
Guess my 'healthy' eating habits are just nonsense after all!

>nobody has willpower

This is bullshit. Everybody has willpower, maybe a finite amount of it but
it's there.

Losing weight is 'simple', not easy. Eat less than your body burns. That's it.
However, there are some caveats. This technique requires you to accurately
'guesstimate' how much your body burns but also your caloric food intake.
Losing weight also doesn't necessarily mean 'looking better'.

The most important thing though are habits. Habits are powerful.

~~~
dagw
It feels like the article is splitting hairs on "dieting" vs "eating habits".
Dieting, as in a set of very strict arbitrary rules, is hard to do over a long
time period. "Eating habits", as in a general yet flexible set of guiding
principles, is a lot easier to keep with over a long period of times.

I've certainly changed my eating habits to be a lot healthier over the past
5-10 years (mainly more fresh fish and vegetables, less soda and fast food)
compared to the 5-10 preceding years, but I wouldn't say I've been on a "diet"
over the past years. I still occasionally eat all kinds of unhealthy stuff,
but just not anywhere near as often as I used to.

