The Science Behind the Weight Loss Cycle

One of the tenacious problems with weight loss is that people don’t lose all the weight they want to lose and then don’t keep it off. In trying to find out why that happens, I narrowed it to two studies that pointed the way to a solution.

The first was a study that attempted to develop an app for people to provide help exactly when they needed it. In reviewing studies to create the app, they used data from four studies on weight loss and weight gain. While they couldn’t identify the precise point for every individual, they could identify a time frame in general where people start to hit a plateau: about week 11 of any diet. That’s the point where people begin to stop paying attention to their meal plan as closely as they did when they began, and their weight gets stuck.

Another study used was the Minnesota Starvation Experiment from World War II in which lead investigator Ancel Keys severely limited calories for a group of conscientious objectors who volunteered to be starved; much of what we know about calorie restriction and helping famine victims comes from that study. It’s the only study ever in which every subject lost weight in a linear fashion. How? Researchers adjusted the subjects’ calories the following week to keep weight loss on track.

Using those two studies, I developed the Weight Loss Cycle, a way to responsibly get to your ultimate weight loss goal and then maintain it, and as far as I know, this approach is unique. What makes the Weight Loss Cycle different is that it’s not a diet with good foods and bad foods, no meal plans or recipes. You can use whatever eating plan you want; the Weight Loss Cycle shows you how to use it to achieve your goals and stay there.

If you’ve hit plateaus in the past or gained back the weight you’ve lost, the Weight Loss Cycle in the Optimal Performance program could be your key to success.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

References:

1. Am J Clin Nutr 2014;100:787–95.

2. Keys A. The biology of human starvation. University of Minnesota Press, 1950.