Why do weight-loss measures fail?
The weight loss industry is estimated to be $89B in 2023 (US) and $94B in 2024 (US). For the world, it was $224B in 2021 and expected to be $405B in 2030. Why do weight-loss measures fail? Or if they work, why does the industry keep growing? And if there are new entrants in large numbers to the weight-loss game, why are the numbers not growing faster?
Why do weight-loss measures fail? Instead of posing to know the silver bullet answer (hint: there is none), I thought I will write a meta-post on this topic.
- It starts with the mind — Most of us that start out on weight-loss measures, don’t want to do it with the intention of losing weight. In most cases, we just want the appearance of having tried. I was over-weight for more than 10 years, and I always told myself I ate healthy. I always told myself my occasional eating-trips were just that — occasional. When you start a weight-loss regime, I believe you have to think about it holistically. It is what you eat/ drink/ do/ don’t eat/ don’t drink/ don’t do — but most of all, it is bringing your entire mind and committing it to the purpose. Most people get into it in a half-assed kind of way, and blame the method when it doesn’t work.
- There is no one method that works — We can try the best diet there is, or best activity regime there is — but if we believe that we can do 2 hrs of workout a day, and keep the rest of the lifestyle the same, we won’t go very far. If we went on the most restrictive diet, and did nothing else, we won’t go very far. I believe the secret to making a real change is combining the right measures in the right proportion to get the outcomes you need. If someone suggests you a magic pill, don’t bother wasting your time or money.
- There is such a thing as “all evil and no good” — Sugar (in any form) and alcohol (in any form) are entirely vestigial to the development and functioning of a human being. We can go from cradle to grave without consuming a gram of sugar or have an ounce of alcohol, and we give up nothing. Now, there are perfectly healthy people who consume both — so this is not a tirade against those foods. But we have to watch what goes into our mouths.
- It is not what we eat, but what has been done to it — Nutrition charts did something fantastic to the world of food. Without it, we won’t know what it is we are consuming. However, nutrition charts do not tell the full story. They don’t talk about how the food was prepared, they don’t talk about what has been done to the ingredients. As an example, many/ most fruits are to be eaten for their flesh (source of fiber), seeds (source of fat) and the incentive (or the delivery vehicle) for you to do so is the sugar in the fruit. But what do we do? We discard the seeds, juice up the fruit (killing all insoluble fibers), and drink it — effectively discarding most/ all good parts, and consuming all the bad parts. We can apply this theory for everything you eat when you start considering the ingredient in its natural form, and how it ended up in your plate/ bowl/ glass.
- Mental model switch — Most people who take weight-loss measures fail, because they do it as a punishment model. They work out to offset their glutton. They fast to offset their sedentary life. They are dreading their workout session, and waiting to check a box, so they can be free for another day. They look for cheat days to resign into the poor choices they made all their lives. Honestly, if you are committed all the way, why do you need cheat days? And who is it you are cheating?
Over the last year, I ‘woke up’ for the first time in my life, made significant changes to my lifestyle, with enormous impact. But no, I am not going to prescribe them. You have an obligation to find that out for yourself, if in fact you care about yourself.