People who fail to maintain weight loss tend to be hard on themselves thinking they lack willpower or have a character flaw. Little do they know they are at a stark disadvantage against their own physiology.

Most diets follow a usual script. For the first 4-6 months the pounds melt away which the dieter finds highly motivating, but then something changes. The weight loss slows, and perhaps stops all together, and the dieter finds it increasingly difficult to stay motivated. This is often the time insurance cuts off coverage of weight loss medication prescriptions. The post Ozempic phenomenon – the data shows that most people are having a rebound weight gain shortly after discontinuing these drugs.(9) It turns out there are powerful physiologic mechanisms that kick in after one loses weight. Scientists call this ‘metabolic adaptation’. There is some variation, but at around a 10% loss in body weight, the body interprets this as a starvation threat, and to protect itself it sets to regain those lost pounds. Hormones that maintain metabolism and satiation plummet, while hunger hormones surge.(5,6,7) The harder the dieter resists this response, the harder the body will push back with progressively lower metabolism and higher hunger. Research shows this metabolic adaptation will persist for at least 6 years!(8) Eventually 97% will lose this tug-of-war with their body and regain the lost weight blaming themselves for a perceived lack of will or discipline.(1)