Why is Dieting so HARD?

A number of aspects of weight-loss, including appetite and fat-storage, are governed by hormones and those hormones are not subject to "willpower". Further, it has been shown that even after nearly two years of calorie restriction, the hormones constantly screaming at you to eat something are just as loud - it doesn't get any easier. Trying to fight against such strong natural drives by mind-over-matter isn't a viable long-term strategy, but it's even harder than that for another understandable medical reason:

​A 1919 US medical book entitled A Biometric Study of Basal Metabolism in Man showed that calorie restriction inevitably leads to a comparable metabolic slowdown: the body is responding to the reduced food intake by reducing how many calories it uses. (This is a bodily strategy for keeping you alive during a food shortage. The trouble is that your body has no means of knowing that the food shortage is deliberate!) Even if weight loss is initially successful, calorie restriction will become less and less effective until weight loss grinds to a halt. Then calorie restriction is essential just to avoid weight gain. Many people who have tried such dieting can relate to that experience!

​Studies have borne out the effects of such difficulties. One showed that the long-term success rate of "Eat Less, Move More" (losing 20 pounds and keeping it off for two years) for people with obesity is 2%. (Other similar studies for generally overweight people fare no better.) If you are simply in the 98% or so for whom calorie-restriction isn't a viable long-term weight loss strategy, that really isn't your fault! Rather, oversimplifying weight loss to "Eat Less, Move More" is where the fault lies.

​From what we have seen, it should be noted that e.g. “A Calorie is a Calorie” is an oversimplification which proves to be inaccurate (and unhelpful) since the body can react differently at different times to the same Calorie!

​Sadly, however, many healthcare professionals are adamant that "Eat Less, Move More" is correct and that those for whom it doesn't work are either somehow weak or obstinate. Such professionals aren't deliberately being mean to patients – they are merely following their flawed training, but it does seem rather unfair on the poor patient!

​Conclusion: Hormones govern aspects of weight-loss and they are not subject to willpower. Also, the body is complex and reacts to calorie-restriction, making "Eat Less, Move More" a poor long-term weight-loss strategy.