Why you gain weight back

It’s February, and the country has been through many holidays and trademark celebrations already: New Year, Sinulog, Ati-Atihan, the Pope’s visit, Valentine’s Day. This week, it’s Chinese New Year. There are still about a dozen or so three-day weekends throughout the rest of 2015, as well as the usual provincial fiestas. So how many of us have managed to stay true to our New Year’s resolutions about losing or keeping our weight? Don’t worry if you haven’t. You are fighting a force that you don’t see, and is stronger than you think: your own brain.

“What most people don’t realize is that hunger and energy use are controlled by the brain, mostly without your awareness,” says neuroscientist Sandra Aamodt, who spent three decades dieting from the time she was 13. “Your brain also has its own sense of what you should weight, no matter what you consciously believe.”

Aamodt explains the concept of a “set point”, or the range that your brain believes you should physically weigh. This is an offshoot of survival instincts developed over the millennia, when man was still hunting or foraging for food, and would go long stretches without it. Aamodt explains that it is harder to actually stay out of your set point range than to stay in it. There is an ongoing dialogue (or battle) within the hypothalamus, the part in the brain which controls your weight. There are dozens of chemical signals which regularly tell you to lose weight or gain it, and this is where some of the confusion lies.

In layman’s terms, here is the dilemma: when you diet, your brain thinks you’re starving. You automatically get hungrier, and your muscles use less energy. Some evidence suggests that, if you don’t eat at a regular time, your body absorbs more fat, not sure of when it will get sustenance again. This is regardless of whether you were fat or thin to begin with. In the US, roughly 80 percent of girls have tried dieting by the time they’re 10 years old. Science has demonstrated that dieting may actually do more harm than good in the long term. Most of them gain the weight back after a few years. A general statistic shows that 40 percent of dieters even gain more weight after unsuccessfully dieting. That is an intimidating and frustrating number for most of us. But it is primarily because, even after seven years of having been leaner, your brain is still urging you to gain the lost weight back.

Your brain is designed to regulate hunger, activity and metabolism on its own, like a thermostat, Aamodt adds, even if you were to try to change the temperature in a room, the thermostat would compensate to bring it back to the previously set level. This was something man’s body learned to do in response to long periods of famine, which does not happen in urban areas today. That hardwiring is what you are up against when you try to diet. This is not to say that it cannot be done, but more to reveal that the hidden challenger to your weight loss and maintenance will always be there. Scientists suggest one easier method to cope would be to change your eating environment. Don’t put yourself in a situation where you are constantly exposed to easily available fast food or convenience store food. The constant presence would make it difficult to maintain your preferred weight, more so when you have something battling your intentions from within.

Research also shows a correlation between healthier weight and four habits: eating fruits and vegetables, moderate exercise at least three times a week, not smoking, and drinking in moderation. Just adding one of these habits to your lifestyle automatically helps bring down your weight if you are overweight. Two of them will make an impact if you are obese. But here is the more noteworthy fact: for those who practice all four, weight has no bearing on their health. In other words, we may be ascribing more value to weight than it should have, to our detriment. But there is a caveat to this. If you stay at a higher weight for a long time, your brain may reset your set point to this higher weight, sadly, the set point rarely ever goes down.

Psychologists classify people into two groups when it comes to diet: intuitive eaters and controlled eaters. Intuitive eaters are those who simply eat when they are hungry, and eat “mindfully”. Controlled eaters are those who diet and count calories. It may surprise you to learn that intuitive eaters are less likely to be overweight, even though they spend less time thinking about food. 

“Controlled eaters are more vulnerable to being influenced by advertising, super-sizing and the all-you-can-eat buffet,” Aamodt adds. “And a small indulgence like a scoop of ice cream, is more likely to lead to a food binge in controlled eaters. Studies have shown that girls who started dieting in their teenage years are three times more likely to become overweight five years later, even if they started at a normal weight.”

What is clear is that all the factors that predict weight gain also predict eating disorders. If you start getting conscious about your weight, you would have a greater tendency to develop problems with regards to dieting. Being teased by family members about one’s weight was cited as a particularly damaging factor.

In light of this seemingly bleak scenario, what do scientists and researchers prescribe? Mindful eating. Eat when you’re hungry. Stop when you’re full. Period. 

In 2002, this writer weighed an unhealthy 225 pounds. In a span of a few months, I weighed 180, a loss of 45 pounds, primarily without exercise, without realizing that mindful eating was what I was doing. If you eliminate a large part of your liquid diet (sodas, creamy coffee drinks, energy drinks and artificial juices), you greatly cut down on your intake. So take green tea or something similar during that long meeting in a coffee shop. And ask yourself as a matter of habit: what am I eating? Am I hungry, or anxious? Filipinos in particular have an unconscious need to be doing something with their hands while sitting. The easiest thing to do is pick at a bowl of peanuts or candy. This will eventually pile up, then you feel bad. When you diet, often you feel you’re depriving yourself, which is what actually leads to binge eating.

Take it easy on yourself. Take care of your health, and you will be at the best possible weight for you. And unloading all of that stress will make you healthier, anyway.