Dear Cindy,

I want to begin a sustained weight loss program. But I find it more motivating if I could see results quickly. Hence I’m wondering how to jump start diet to get rapid weight loss. I am targeting 5-10 pounds per week for the first few weeks. Then I will follow a sensible plan.

Answer:

Dear Alice,

Your wish to jump start a diet is pretty common. It is very true that seeing a quick result will motivate us to get through the diet battle ahead. I will tell you how to jump start a diet - but in the right ways.

First, a rapid weight loss during the first few weeks doesn’t mean much, since it is illusory, NOT a real result. Here’s the scientific explanation: when we cut food intake, our body gets needed energy by releasing its stores of glycogen. Glycogen holds onto water, so when glycogen is burned for energy, it also releases the water - about 4g of water for every 1g of glycogen - resulting in large weight loss that’s mostly water.

Second, during dieting our energy and motivation always go up and down. This is one of the top reasons why many people failed at losing weight. They started very enthusiastically, lost some weight, but later not able to sustain it, felt less motivated, and gained back the lost weight and maybe some more. If we want to lose weight and keep it off, we need to know how to use this energy and motivation fluctuation for our advantage. When we start dieting, naturally we are excited and full of energy. Use this to jump start diet by doing “breakthrough” actions, such as collecting diet recipes, learning about diet strategies, signing up for gym membership, etc. This will give you a head start - a real one. Then, when our enthusiasm drops later - trust me, it will - we just need to “maintain” these. To understand it better, read this article: 5 Smart Strategies to Start Winning Diet Battles.

Wish you a great jump start success!

Turns out they are not so different from us!! They won at diet battle not because they are lucky or special in any way. They also struggled and worked hard. A majority (75%) weighed themselves regularly at least once a week. And 50% reported they still count calories, dietary fat grams, or both, to keep it off¹ .

What does this tell us? It means that continuous self-monitoring and constant vigilance is an important ongoing strategy for succeeding in losing weight and keeping it off.

It just like in a battle: you need to stay alert because the enemy might attack at any time. Likewise, in a “diet battle”, we don’t know when the “enemy” is going to attack. By staying constantly alert, we’d be able to “defend” ourselves better or even “strike” back.

• “Defend from the attack” means being continually conscious of the quantity and type of food that we consume as well as the level of activity necessary to stay at reduced weights.
• “Strike back” means frequent weight and/or shape monitoring and responding quickly to counteract any detected weight gain by reducing their food intake and making an effort to increase their activity level.

To do so, you need to believe that the benefits of successful weight maintenance outweigh the substantial effort involved. To help, I’ll give you one good reason: I’m sure you want to stay healthy for yourself or your loved ones. Experts agree that losing and maintaining 5%-10% weight loss can produce significant health improvement in symptoms of weight-related conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, even if you remain overweight. In the other hand, losing and regaining weight (termed as Yo-Yo dieting) is associated with increased risk for heart disease and decreased immunity.

Think of losing weight and maintaining it as inseparable pair. You can’t choose one without the other. You have worked so hard in losing it, so don’t “ruin” it now. Stay alert and vigilant and be successful weight maintainers like those 5000 role models. Sure you can do it!

This is the last article in the 5 Proven Ways to Keep It Off Series. If you missed the others, check them here:

1. Warning: if you think of it as one night stand, you’ll fail.
2. Top weight loss secret.
3. Double your chance for keeping it off.
4. Little known reasons why people fail to keep it off.
5. You must stay alert in a diet battle.

1. Klem ML. et al. A Descriptive Study of Individuals Successful at Long-Term Maintenance of Substantial Weight Loss. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1997;66: 239-246.

It does!! Here’s the fact from scientific research¹ : Maintainers (people who were succeeded at losing weight and keeping it off) and Regainers (those who lost weight but failed to keep it off) both have problems that are troubling or stressful, but they solve them in different ways.

1. Face the problem VS run away from it.

When asked “How are you dealing with the most stressful or troubling aspect of your life right now?”, almost all of Maintainers (95%) said that they confront the problem and use problem solving approach. This is compared with only 10% for Regainers.

2. Focus on problem VS emotion.

Regainers (70%) were more likely to use emotion-focused or escape-avoidance ways of coping - such as eating, smoking, drinking, taking tranquilizer, sleeping more, or wishing the problem would go away - than were Maintainers (33%).

3. Ask and get help VS rely on self.

In response to problem situations, more Maintainers (70%) talked out feelings and sought support or help in dealing with their problems from family, friends, and professionals than did Regainers (38%).

Another research reported similar findings of how Regainers overate when facing stressful situation, whereas Maintainers did not² .

“Food is like a sedative to me… When I feel any little bit of sadness or anger, I eat. It’s almost like being fed as a baby. I will eat and eat until I can’t move and then I go and lie down and I sleep. And it’s almost like, ‘Here baby, come to mother…’ ” (A Regainer)

“Eating stops the process of my brain going. It offers relief from thoughts that might actually be quite uncomfortable”. (A Regainer)

“I’ve learnt to look for other things that give me the same feeling that eating might. Because that, for me, seemed to be the only way forward.” (A Maintainer)

So, now that we know these, what we can do about it? Surely it helps to improve our personal problem solving skills. These are the steps that you need to follow when solving problems:

• Define what the problem is. Usually it involves a “gap” between what it IS and what is desired.
• Think of the alternatives that you have. Consider positive and negative aspects of each alternative. During this process, talk to your spouse, family, or friend, ask professional help, or go to online support forum - find as much social support as you possibly can. Write everything down in a journal if that helps you think clearer.
• “Sleep over it” or distract yourself with other thing temporarily to let the subconscious part of your mind to help.
• Next, take a deep breath, pray, and then choose one alternative and JUST DO IT.
• Evaluate the result and for better or worse, learn from it.

Whatever it is that you do, observe yourself and be aware if you run to food to help make you feel better (comfort eating) or to distract yourself from unpleasant thoughts (avoidance eating). Look for non-food alternatives to sooth (take a hot shower or get a massage or talk to someone) or distract yourself (exercise or do extra work or watch a movie). And don’t forget to go back to face your problem and solve it. Best of luck! My thoughts are with you.

Equip yourself with more strategies to keep it off:

1. Warning: if you think of it as one night stand, you’ll fail.
2. Top weight loss secret.
3. Double your chance for keeping it off.
4. Little known reasons why people fail to keep it off.
5. You must stay alert in a diet battle.

1. Kayman S. et al. Maintenance and Relapse after Weight Loss in Women: Behavioral Aspects. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1990;52: 800-807.
2. Bryne S. et al. Weight Maintenance and Relapse in Obesity: a Qualitative Study. International Journal of Obesity 2003;27: 955-962.

• In a 10-year research of more than 5000 people¹ , it was found that if you have no regular weekly activity, you have an odds ratio of 2.6-2.7 for body mass gain in comparison with those who are engaged in vigorous activity twice or more a week.
• Another 10-year study amongst more than 9000 people² reported the same thing. The estimated relative risk of major weight gain (> 13 kg) for those in the low activity level compared to those in the high activity level was 3.1-3.8.

Are you convinced already? Or do you want more proof?

Well, I’ll give you another 5000 proofs.

It’s the number of people recorded in the US National Weight Control Registry as had successfully lost more than 30 pounds and kept that weight off for a year - in fact many had maintained it for 5 years or more.

As much as 89% of these people said that they used both dieting and exercise to win the weight loss battle and hold on to the winning trophy.

In fact, when they were asked how this successful effort compared to their previous failed weight loss attempts, 81.3% said that they used exercise more.

Therefore, the experts agree that upon losing weight, you need to exercise or doing some form of physical activities to keep the weight off. The same goes for preventing weight gain in the first place.

So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead. Start exercising. Be physically active.

Increase your chance for keeping it off further by learning more tips and tricks:

1. Warning: if you think of it as one night stand, you’ll fail.
2. Top weight loss secret.
3. Double your chance for keeping it off.
4. Little known reasons why people fail to keep it off.
5. You must stay alert in a diet battle.

1. Haapanen N. et al. Association between leisure time physical activity and 10-year body mass change among working-aged men and women International Journal of Obesity 1997;21: 288-296.
2. Williamson DF. et al. Recreational physical activity and ten-year weight change in a US national cohort. International Journal Obesity Relat Metabolic Disorder 1993;17: 279-86.

Well, aren’t you lucky? There IS such an ‘island’. No, no kidding. It does exist. It is called the US National Weight Control Registry. To be in the registry, you must have lost at least 30 pounds and maintain it for a minimum of one year. There are currently more than 5000 people in it. So, here’s the million dollar question: what is their secret? Let’s check it out.

• Half of them (45%) had lost weight on their own and half others (55%) joined a formal program or professional assistance¹ .
• Some of them (44%) counted calories, some counted fat grams (25%).
• Some (20%) used liquid formula, whilst some others (23%) followed exchange diet.
• A large proportion (88%) limited intake of certain types of foods, yet some (44%) ate all foods but limited quantity, and there is a minority (6%) who ate only one or two types of foods.
• A majority (89%) changed both their food intake and physical activity, whereas few of them modified only their food intake (10%) or physical activity (1%).

There. Can you spot the secret? What do these people have in common? The answer is: none. They all use different methods, strategies, programs, or products. So, the secret is that there is no secret. Now, don’t stop reading just yet. Please stay with me just another few seconds.

These findings are consistent with other research² . To understand it better, let’s put it in a graph.

The white bar shows what the Maintaners did, while the black bar depicts the Regainers (those who lost weight, but gained it back). So let’s see what the differences are.

It seems that the Regainers used many different methods. They tried diet A. When it didn’t work, they switched to diet B. Then after it also failed, they moved to diet C. And so on they went until 121 different diets. I’ll repeat it one more time: Regainers had tried 121 different methods. Shocking, isn’t it? Maintainers, on the other hand, had ‘only’ used 28 diets. It’s still a lot, but much less than Regainers’.

Notice also that most of the Maintainers developed personal-eating plan.

So the secret really is that there is no secret. Any diet will work. But only IF you follow it through! Don’t just move from one method to another - maybe searching for the best diet, the top weight loss secret. Instead, pick one that you can follow through, the one that you can stick to and sustain in the long term.

Use personally developed strategies. Maintainers devised personal weight-loss plans to fit their lives. Understand that what works for other people maybe different from what works for you. Modify your eating plan and physical activity in the ways that suit you, which you can maintain for a long term. There. The top weight loss secret is out. The secret is that there is no secret.

Check out the other secrets to keep weight off:

1. Warning: if you think of it as one night stand, you’ll fail.
2. Top weight loss secret.
3. Double your chance for keeping it off.
4. Little known reasons why people fail to keep it off.
5. You must stay alert in a diet battle.

1. Klem ML. et al. A Descriptive Study of Individuals Successful at Long-Term Maintenance of Substantial Weight Loss. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1997;66: 239-246.
2. Kayman S. et al. Maintenance and Relapse after Weight Loss in Women: Behavioral Aspects. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1990;52: 800-807.

When you are trying to lose weight, do you pick “special” diet foods, the ones that you wouldn’t normally eat? Do you eat different foods from your family? Do you think that you should “suffer” temporarily by forgoing foods that you really like?

Research showed that most “Regainers” - i.e. people who lost weight but failed to keep it off - do these¹ . Regainers treat losing weight more like a one night stand: a short and temporary relationship. And they fail to sustain it. Instead, they regain the weight that they have lost - and probably some more. How? There are 3 possible ways how this happens:

• There is a negative life event or lifestyle change that made it impossible for them to prepare special foods anymore or spend time exercising.
• Some go back to old ways without even realizing it.
• They feel so deprived, they can’t take it anymore and stop dieting at their own will.

What about those who succeeded in losing weight and keeping it off - the successful “Maintainers”? Do they lose weight differently?

You bet. Maintainers try to establish new eating patterns and would not stop until it happens. In fact, the new eating pattern becomes a habit and stays with them permanently. Maintainers said that ultimately they do not want to eat as much and that such foods as candy and donuts are no longer appealing because they are too sweet or fatty. They are able to ‘de-emphasize’ food in their life² .

Indeed, Maintainers are losing weight like people getting married. They don’t think of it as temporarily. They look at the relationship as for a longer term, or even forever.

Well, I’m sure that actually this is nothing new for you. You must have heard it before, perhaps many times already. “You need to change your life style permanently, make it your new habit,” dieting experts said. If you still haven’t done it, I think there could be 2 reasons why.

First, you don’t believe that it works. You think that unless you drastically change your eating pattern, you will not lose much. And if you do change it drastically, you can’t keep on doing it for too long. By now, I hope that I have converted you. There are many studies done by nutritionist, psychologist, behavioral therapist, etc, that prove what I say here.

Second, you don’t know how. Well, I’ll show you how. Basically, you know that you need to cut the amount of food that you eat, as well as fat and sugar. What you need to do is think of how to do so in ways that you can stick to forever. With those Maintainers, there is no “one size fits all” strategy. Each of them picks a different “personal” strategy that suits their own situation - something that perhaps they even enjoy doing. Here are a few examples to get you started:

• Change dinner plates into smaller size.
• Learn to cook low fat meals.
• Join a dance class.
• Buy and stock only low calorie snacks for the whole family.

And this is the most important thing: nobody knows yourself better than you. When picking a particular strategy, think carefully whether it is something that you can hold on for a long time. Be creative and look for ways to make it sustainable, even enjoyable. Sure you can do it!

Read the other articles in this 5 Proven Ways to Keep It Off Series here:

1. Warning: if you think of it as one night stand, you’ll fail.
2. Top weight loss secret.
3. Double your chance for keeping it off.
4. Little known reasons why people fail to keep it off.
5. You must stay alert in a diet battle.

1. Bryne S. et al. Weight Maintenance and Relapse in Obesity: a Qualitative Study. International Journal of Obesity 2003;27: 955-962.
2. Kayman S. et al. Maintenance and Relapse after Weight Loss in Women: Behavioral Aspects. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1990;52: 800-807.

Do you have them in yourself?

When you are about to start anything - project, job, or hobby -, you are enthusiastic and committed to do the best. That’s the ‘good you’.

Then you slack off and fall into temptation. Oh oh… the ‘bad you’ have just taken over.

What should we do, then? Can we make the ‘bad us’ disappear? Or keep the ‘good us‘ stay for longer?

Well, in an earlier article, 5 Smart Strategies to Start Winning Diet Battles, we talked about how our energy and motivation are constantly going up and down, and how to use the situation to our advantage.

As pictured above, every time we feel that our drive and energy is high, do something breakthrough that will bring big progress in our dieting. Whereas when we are in ‘low’ moments, carry out smaller incremental actions.

Similarly, when the ‘good us‘ is present, take some breakthrough steps that will prevent the ‘bad us‘ from doing too much ‘damage’ later. The following are some examples of what ‘good you’ may want to do:

• Sign up and pay upfront for 2 years gym membership. So when the ‘bad you’ want to slack off exercising, at least she/he needs to think twice because of the potential of losing so much money. Or do other things that will basically increase the ‘punishment‘ for not sticking to the weight loss plan.
• Buy that dream outfit. Put it in the wardrobe where the ‘bad you’ will see it very often and remind him/her of the ‘reward‘ that is available upon succeeding.
• Do things that will either ‘force’ or ‘make it easier’ for the ‘bad you’ to stick to the diet. Throw away those fizzy drinks. Buy smoothies as a replacement for milk shakes. The 5 Smart Strategies to Start Winning Diet Battles article has some more examples to help get you started.

This article is the last in the How to Stick to a Diet Series. If you missed the previous articles, check them out here:

1. If you don’t read this now, you’ll hate yourself later.
2. Here’s how plan A help you stick to a diet.
3. Here’s how plan B help you stick to a diet.
4. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s dieting tips.

1. Professor Dan Ariely mentioned it in Predictably Irrational

But to stick to a diet, we need as much help as we can get. That’s why we also have plan B. With plan B, we will increase the size of ‘PUNISHMENT’ that we’ll get at LATER time if we fall into temptation now. Here are 5 ways to do it:

1. Imagine the Worst.

In the article How Successful-Weight-Losers Start Dieting we talked about the ‘aha’ moment that triggers people to start dieting. During the ‘aha’ moment we feel shock, sadness, anger, or embarrassment that are so strong that “we just feel we can’t go on like this any longer”.

If you do have that experience, relive those feelings. Play the scene in your mind. Remember how awful it felt.

2. Make the Punishment Look Real.

Is there any outfit that you hate, yet must wear because of your weight? Maybe it’s a pair of baggy pants that you must bear because you couldn’t fit into any jeans? Then, put it in the front or middle position in your wardrobe so that you have to look at it every time you open the wardrobe.

Perhaps you dislike the way you look in a particular picture. Or maybe you’re afraid that your health suffers because of your weight. Put that picture or your latest medical check up report at a place where you will see it everyday.

3. Make the Punishment Bigger.

Make a monetary bet with your friends or family. Promise to pay them or donate to a charity if you fail to stick to your diet.

Sign up for 2-3 years membership at your local gym and pay them upfront. So that if you don’t use the facilities or want to stop exercising altogether, you will lose big amount of money.

4. Bring Forward the Punishment.

If you fail to stick to your diet, rather than wait for the ‘ultimate punishment’ - that is not losing weight later - ‘punish’ yourself now.

So we are changing the options from:

• Should I eat the chocolate cake now and get the punishment of not losing weight later, or not eat it.

… to these:

• Should I eat the chocolate cake now and have to mow the lawn now and also get the punishment of not losing weight later, or not eat it.

‘Punish’ yourself to do things that you dislike yet you must do. It could be some form of physical activity, so at least you’ll get to burn some of the calories that you have overeaten.

5. Incur Self-Shame.

Make an appointment to share your weight loss progress with your family or friends. That way, if you are slacking or falling into temptation, you will feel ashamed when you are telling them.

Or find a diet buddy. Promise to go to the gym with your spouse or friend. If you break your commitment, you will not just hurt your own weight loss plan, but you will also feel guilty for disappointing your partner.

The other articles in this How to Stick to a Diet Series are listed here:

1. If you don’t read this now, you’ll hate yourself later.
2. Here’s how plan A help you stick to a diet.
3. Here’s how plan B help you stick to a diet.
4. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s dieting tips.

Plan A involves increasing the size of ‘REWARD’ that we’ll get at LATER time, so it is greater than the benefit of now. Here are 7 ways to do it:

1. Use Your Rational.

The article How Successful-Weight-Losers Start Dieting asked you to list down all the reasons why you want to lose weight and how losing weight will help you. If you haven’t done so, do it now. Make the list as complete and detailed as you possibly can.

Now, here’s the deal: whenever you are facing temptation, read the list. If after finish reading it, you still want it, you can have it.

2. Use Your Imagination.

Take step no. 1 further. Imagine how you will feel after you lost weight. Close your eyes and immerse yourself in the picture. How you will feel when you look at yourself in the mirror. What others will say to you. How you will answer them. What kind of outfits you will wear. How every day activities will be different now that you have lost weight.

Do this periodically or every time you are tempted to eat something you shouldn’t or delay exercising.

3. Make the Reward Look Real.

Whether it is the ability to wear that dream outfit or desire to look like somebody you admire, try to make it real.

Maybe stick a picture of that outfit or person on the mirror in your bathroom. Or even buy that clothes you desire and put it at the front or middle part of your wardrobe so you will see it every morning.

4. Make the Reward Bigger.

Increase the size of the ultimate reward and we’ll make the temptation of not sticking to a diet now look smaller by comparison and easier to fight.

Add financial reward. If there’s a contest to lose weight in your local community, workplace, or supermarket; join in. Ask your family and friends to help. Maybe they’ll promise to buy or give you something if you succeed.

5. Bring Forward the Reward.

NOW wins over LATER because later is far away. If we can move later earlier, it will increase the chance of it winning against now.

Think about an event in the near future that may help keeping you motivated to stay on diet. Maybe there’s a party coming up in a month? Reunion where you might bump into your ex?

If there’s none, you can also give yourself reward for sticking to a diet now. So instead of these options:

• Should I eat the chocolate cake now, or not eat it and reap the reward of losing weight later.

… we get these:

• Should I eat the chocolate cake now, or not eat it and get a nice massage now and also reap the reward of losing weight later.

6. Give Yourself a Pat in the Back.

This is related to point no. 5. Losing weight is a long process. Measure periodically to assess the progress that you have made to date and give yourself a pat in the back if you notice some.

Don’t just track your weight. Use size measurement. Look at yourself in the mirror. Assess how do you feel physically as you climb the stairs or do other activities. Note how differently you feel emotionally. Has your health improved? Maybe you are now better at controlling emotional eating. Or you know more about dieting and nutrition.

Note and celebrate these small milestones and mini successes.

7. Ask Others to Cheer Up for You.

Share your ‘mini successes’ to others. Doing so will make you feel proud. It will be like a ‘bonus reward’ in addition to the ultimate reward of losing weight.

Continue to read the rest of this How to Stick to a Diet Article Series here:

1. If you don’t read this now, you’ll hate yourself later.
2. Here’s how plan A help you stick to a diet.
3. Here’s how plan B help you stick to a diet.
4. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s dieting tips.

1. It got you to read the article.
2. It explained why we don’t stick to the things we say we’ll do.

Yes, all in just one sentence.

You don’t believe it, do you? Then let’s break down the sentence, shall we?

• If you don’t read this NOW…
• … You’ll hate yourself LATER.

It is about a trade-off between what we will get now and later. And which one will win? For 99% of the cases, NOW will win.

• We would rather play games now, and delay doing our assignment for later.
• We enjoy this chocolate cake now, and postpone our plan to lose weight later.
• We buy that must-have new television set now, and defer savings for retirement later.

Why we don’t stick to our commitment? Why we don’t stick to a diet?

Because NOW wins over later.

It’s simple to understand. The difficult, yet more important, part is how do we overcome this? How to stick to our commitment? How to stick to a diet?

What made you start reading this article?

In this case, LATER has won against now. You would rather read this article now, rather than regret it later. Maybe you perceive the ‘punishment’ later (regret 0f having make a mistake) is greater than the benefit that you can get now (spend time doing something more enjoyable than reading this article).

To stick to a commitment, to stick to a diet, we must either increase the ‘punishment’ or ‘reward’ at LATER time, so that it will win against the benefit of now.

This article is the first part of How to Stick to a Diet Series.

1. If you don’t read this now, you’ll hate yourself later.
2. Here’s how plan A help you stick to a diet.
3. Here’s how plan B help you stick to a diet.
4. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s dieting tips.