Abstract
Individuals carrying excess weight face a heightened risk of various physical and mental health challenges. Interventions focused on weight loss offer a path to improved health, with a modest reduction of five to ten percent of body weight often regarded as clinically significant for enhancing health outcomes. However, the benefits of achieving even low-level weight loss (less than 5% of body weight) are becoming increasingly understood. A systematic review of relevant literature synthesized evidence assessing the potential health benefits of losing less than five percent of body weight. Searches across seven academic databases included studies in any language, from any country, without time constraints. Any intervention studies that assessed the impact of less than five percent weight loss on any measured physical or mental health markers or indices were considered. Seventy studies from 68 articles were included, with study participants ranging from 14 to 10,742. Overall, 60% of studies reported improvements, 37% found no change or mixed results, and 3% observed a worsening of health markers or indices. Based on the available data, 87% of participants (n = 15,839) in the studies reported improvements in health markers or indices as a result of low-level weight loss.
The importance of commitment and patience in weight loss is now being recognized. Losing weight and keeping it off requires a significant lifestyle change. The trick is to focus on how much better we will feel if we make the change, and that the result of our efforts will be a better and healthier life.
Introduction
Compared to individuals with a healthy weight, those with excess weight are at an increased risk for many diseases and chronic health conditions, including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer, anxiety, and depression. These comorbidities can lead to reduced mobility, chronic pain, and a diminished quality of life. Obesity is associated with psychosocial difficulties, including lower self-esteem, heightened stress levels, eating disorders, and increased vulnerability to mental health disorders. People living with excess weight often face stigma and discrimination, which can result in self-stigmatization, isolation, and self-devaluation. Obesity is also associated with substantial social and economic consequences.
Interventions targeting weight loss can improve health and prevent obesity-related co-morbidities. Weight loss among individuals with excess weight can have beneficial effects on cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnoea, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, and dyslipidaemia. Guidelines recommend achieving modest weight loss, ranging from five to ten percent, to yield clinically meaningful improvements in health outcomes. As a result, weight loss of more than five percent is often cited as a key threshold for achieving clinically significant impacts and is commonly used as a target or benchmark in weight management services. While the five percent threshold provides a practical goal for weight management interventions, many participants engaging in a 12-week lifestyle intervention will not achieve this threshold. The implications of achieving a body weight reduction of less than five percent are poorly understood. Currently, interventions resulting in less than five percent weight loss are often deemed ineffective; however, they may still offer benefits in improving health outcomes, particularly for individuals living with obesity. Exploring the potential health impacts of less than five percent weight loss could be useful in informing policy and practice.
The Overlooked Virtue: Patience in Weight Management
Losing weight permanently also requires mastering a new skill. The skill includes making appropriate food choices, maintaining a fitness routine, dealing with stress without overeating, and acceptance of a new body shape and lifestyle. These should accompany the basic aspect of the diet: weight loss. But when the focus is only on weight loss and not on acquiring the skills to maintain it, it is understandable why patience is lost. The dieter should be told that he or she has to acquire the new skill of maintaining a normal weight in order for weight not to be regained. The dieter should be told that such a skill will take practice and patience and considerable time to achieve.
Read also: Weight Loss Guide Andalusia, AL
The Science of Weight Loss and the Reality of Plateaus
Even people who seem to quickly lose extra weight are likely to gain it back over the next year, according to Kevin Hall, a National Institutes of Health scientist. Hall’s research highlights that our bodies will fight to keep that fat in place, especially the older we get. It is understandable why my research advisor ran out of patience and persistence and stopped losing weight. His diet plan could not be transferred to real life since he was consuming only small amounts of lean protein daily. He was not able to learn the skill of eating appropriate foods in appropriate amounts while he was losing weight. He could not see himself becoming, slowly of course, able to negotiate with himself over food choices and time spent exercising because this "self-talk" was not part of his program. His goal was only to see the numbers go down on the scale.
The Impact of Modest Weight Loss: Less Than 5% Can Still Be Meaningful
A total of 201 unique health markers and indices were reported across the 70 included studies. A total of 11 health categories classified health measures, including health markers and indices. These categories were reported a total of 137 times across the 70 studies: metabolic markers (n = 42), cardiovascular markers (n = 32), anthropometric measures (n = 19), quality of life indices (n = 10), inflammatory biomarkers (n = 10), renal and hepatic markers (n = 9), psychosocial and behavioural measures (n = 8), pulmonary function, total mortality, ovulatory function, and muscle strength.
While statistically significant improvements were highlighted, non-significant improvements were classified as improvements. Low levels of weight loss, such as a 0-2% reduction in body weight, can lead to small improvements in health outcomes that may not reach statistical significance, particularly in small studies.
Practical Strategies for Cultivating Patience in Your Weight Loss Journey
- Focus on the Process, Not Just the Outcome:
- Shift your attention from the number on the scale to the daily choices that contribute to your overall health.
- Celebrate small victories, such as choosing a healthy snack or completing a workout, regardless of immediate weight loss results.
- Set Realistic and Achievable Goals:
- Instead of aiming for drastic weight loss in a short period, set smaller, more manageable goals that you can consistently achieve.
- Focus on improving specific health markers, such as lowering blood pressure or increasing energy levels, rather than solely on weight.
- Embrace a Growth Mindset:
- View setbacks and plateaus as opportunities for learning and growth, rather than as failures.
- Recognize that weight loss is a journey with ups and downs, and that progress may not always be linear.
- Build a Supportive Environment:
- Surround yourself with people who encourage and support your healthy habits.
- Consider joining a weight loss group or working with a registered dietitian or personal trainer for guidance and accountability.
- Practice Self-Compassion:
- Treat yourself with kindness and understanding, especially during challenging times.
- Avoid self-criticism and focus on learning from your mistakes.
- Mindful Eating: Eating more slowly helps, as does drinking a glass of water 20 minutes before your meal.
- Keep a journal: Keep a journal of your weight and what you eat, as well as what is happening in your life. This will help you keep track of not only what foods and how much you are eating, but also what triggers overeating.
- Avoid sugary drinks: Avoid all sugary drinks including sweet tea and sodas. Medical research has found these empty calories go straight to belly fat.
- Weigh yourself regularly: Weigh yourself at least once or twice a week but don’t obsess about it. Apps like Weight Tracker and Apple’s Progress will chart your successes and help identify those times when you tend to regain.
- Limit screen time: Limit TV watching and non-work screen time to less than 10 hours a week. Use the time you save to take on a physical activity like walking or a class at the gym.
The Detrimental Effects of Impatience: Why Quick Fixes Don't Work
Advertising of weight management through ‘X week challenges’ from commercial gyms implied ‘expertise’. As one participant highlighted this presumed ‘expertise’ ended up being generalised nutritional advice and she got “really nothing out of it".
Addressing the Challenges of Weight Management in Primary Care
Visiting their general practice for dietary advice was not actioned by all participants. “Going to the GP would be like a last resort” And sometimes actively avoided: “I don’t think I’ve ever gone to a GP solely for weight management advice- but I don’t think I would, because I don’t think it would benefit me. My perspective of it is I feel like all they would say is ‘eat better and go to the gym’ And that’s what I’ve been currently trying to do”. Experiences with weight management options through a GP varied. Medication was “extremely expensive”, made one participant “violently ill” and others had heard “traumatizing things about the side effects” of particular medication. GPs were approached for bariatric surgery as one participant described, “I had to be GP referred to go privately”.
Read also: Beef jerky: A high-protein option for shedding pounds?
Read also: Inspiring Health Transformation