I Cheer For (but also Fear For) Someone Who Lost a Lot of Weight in 2018

First, some catch-up info: For some reason, several of my recent posts did not get sent out by MailChimp, my e-mail service. So you probably missed out on my review of Michelle Obama’s memoir, my fascinating story about my own weight history, and two posts (parts one and two) in which I take issue with an article in the New York Times. So take a look if you’re interested.

Now for today’s post:

I follow someone named Tom Nichols on Twitter, mainly for his political opinions, but last night as I was doing a quick scroll-through before bedtime I saw this article in his feed:

“I am proof that you CAN reach your New Year’s weight loss resolution — here’s how I did it.”

The author of the article, Harry J. Kazianis, is a Fox News contributor and a director at the Center for the National Interest, so kind of a heavy hitter in Washington DC. And he’s written quite an inspiring story, for which I certainly give a warm and enthusiastic two cheers. But not three. Why not? Because he’s committing the same errors that have caused so many others to regain the weight they’ve lost and more, thus putting themselves in a worse position than originally. Let me first list some of his good moves:

1. He consulted with a doctor about his various weight-related health problems.

2. He recognized that his excess weight was keeping him from doing things that meant a great deal to him, especially being able to participate in a kidney-donation program that would help his wife.

3. He’s keeping to a three-meals-a-day eating plan.

So why am I criticizing him? Hey, I’m rooting for him all the way. But here are the red flags I see in the way he lost his 80 pounds:

1. He lost the weight too fast. Even giving him the most generous time span of May-December, he lost about ten pounds a month and probably more, since he says he went to the doctor in “early May” and doesn’t spell out exactly when he started on his new eating plan. He does say that he lost ten pounds in the first two weeks, but that initial weight-loss surge at the beginning of a restrictive diet (especially if it’s carb restrictive) is almost all water weight. (There are complex physiological reasons for that which I won’t detail.) His overall weight-loss rate of ten pounds a month is over two pounds a week, which is the absolute limit given by any weight-loss experts. The problem with losing weight too quickly, even at the two-pound rate, is that your body fights back by lowering your metabolism and strengthening your food cravings. You have to walk a tightrope in any significant weight loss so that your body doesn’t realize what you’re up to, cutting calories enough so that you do indeed see a weight reduction but not so much that you put yourself at risk of weight rebound. Probably a pound a week is about right; I’ve been trying to remember how fast I lost 13-15 pounds over a decade ago and think it took me about three months, which fits roughly into that rate.

2. He swung from food-as-emotional-crutch to food-as-only-fuel, saying that “The foundation of my weight loss was accepting a basic concept: food is not for pleasure or to escape your problems–it’s fuel. Nothing more.” Folks, that simply isn’t true. Food isn’t just fuel, although it is indeed that. Remember what my emphasis is in my own material on eating well, that food has two legitimate roles, fuel and community/celebration/connection. Indeed, I could say “fuel and fun.” Healthy fun, productive fun, fun with other people. He’s correct in saying that food won’t help you escape your problems, but he’s tipped over into an almost “food as the enemy” mindset.

3. He’s set himself up for failure with a rigid diet:

For breakfast I have a coffee (fat-free creamer and no-calorie sweetener) with a breakfast bar. Lunch is usually a salad (low-calorie dressing and not in excess) or small sandwich with no mayo and I only eat about three-fourths of the bread (wheat bread, and making sure I avoid high-carb wraps). Dinner usually consists of 6-8 ounces of meat, mixed vegetables or greens, and either some rice or potato and sometimes a small side salad.

The above routine is going to get very, very old. A “breakfast bar” every morning? Nonfat creamer and artificial sweetener? Yuck and double yuck. He says he doesn’t count calories and so I don’t know what his estimate is for his normal intake each day, but the above-listed eating plan sounds way too restrictive to me. And there are no eggs! At some point I’m afraid he’s going to fall off the wagon, and since he hasn’t really transitioned into eating well, for pleasure and for fuel, he’ll be staring at a weight regain. He does say that:

I don’t count calories, but I do look at the calorie counts on menus, helping me eat in a common-sense sort of way — an awareness I never had before. When I begin to feel the smallest inkling of being full, I know it’s time to stop. A small dessert is OK, maybe a bite-size cookie or a cup of hot chocolate — but never in excess and never more than a few bites and only occasionally.

So there’s some common sense at work here. I hope he can move himself into maintenance mode and hold on to the progress he’s made. I also hope that he’s added physical activity to his life—he doesn’t mention doing that. While exercise in and of itself is not a weight-loss tool, it’s vital for general health and is also a weight-maintenance tool. It revs up your metabolism and so helps keep weight rebound at bay.

I’d reference once again the sub-title of Mireille Giuliano’s classic book French Women Don’t Get Fat:

“The secret of eating for pleasure.” Mindfulness, choosiness, enjoyment: all elements of great eating, and a great set of concepts for the new year!

(Link to FWDGF is an Amazon Associates link; if you click through and purchase the book, or indeed any other item on Amazon while on the site, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.)