You Shall Have No Other Weight Loss Gods

I often counsel patients on how to lose weight. One of the most common obstacles I encounter is the perception that lasting weight loss is so difficult that only a very small minority — fewer than 5% of overweight people — ever achieve it.

You may be pleasantly surprised to learn that many people do experience lasting success. Research on long-term weight loss maintenance suggests that around 20% of overweight individuals can achieve and sustain meaningful weight loss when they use the right approach.¹ That is a very different figure from the one most people carry around, and it changes what feels possible.

This series will walk you through the principles and strategies that make success possible. I am using the ten commandments format to make them easier to understand and to remember. Just as the Ten Commandments summarise how we ought to relate to God and to one another, the principles below attempt to summarise a successful attitude toward ourselves, our food, and our activity.

Before we start, I want to be clear about one thing. I do not mean to trivialise the Ten Commandments by borrowing their format. Beyond the question of form, many of the principles for healthy weight control I will discuss in this series can be traced back to the core principles behind those divine pronouncements.

I — You Shall Have No Other Weight Loss Gods

The main reason long-term weight loss is so elusive is, simply, the lack of a long-term approach.

For the vast majority of overweight people, excess weight is not a temporary issue. Whether because of genetic and epigenetic factors, or lifestyle, or — most often — both, their bodies accumulate weight as the years pass. It is not unusual for a middle-aged adult to weigh 50 or 100 pounds more than they did in their early twenties.

What this means, put plainly, is that no temporary solution will work for a permanent problem. You need a long-lasting strategy, built on the understanding that the changes you are going to make are for a lifetime — not for a few weeks or months. You need to give up the idea that if you follow this diet, or take that supplement or diet pill, you will lose weight and be able to return to your previous way of living while expecting the weight to stay away.

This is important enough that I gave it first-commandment status. Just as God asked ancient Israel to give him credit for their liberation from slavery in Egypt and to recognise him as the only true God, it matters to begin your weight loss journey by acknowledging that there is only one way to do it right — and that it involves a loyal, lifelong commitment to a way of eating and moving that both reduces excess weight and promotes health overall.

For now, consider how liberating it is to know that, despite what a large segment of the weight loss industry would have you believe, there really is only one right way to achieve lasting control over excess weight. There should be no confusion here. This is not a mountain whose summit can be reached by many different routes.

It is a lifelong journey that begins by giving up the worship of weight loss gurus and idols — a way of living that channels your energy, time and resources into finding a balanced approach to food, exercise, stress, sleep, and the rest of your life.