Why Dieting Makes You Hungry
Posted on Tue, Jan 24, 2012
Ever wonder why you always see so much hungrier when you're trying to lose weight? It's a common struggle many people deal with, so if you have felt this way rest assured that you are not alone.
It may seem like it's all in your head, in some ways it can even seem counter-intuitive. If I am working to make my body healthier, why is my body trying to get me to eat more? Doesn't it know that I need to eat 1,000 less calories per day? Doesn't it know how high my blood pressure is? My body should be thanking me. Many people will even go so far as to blame themselves, "I just don't have the willpower to lose weight." I've heard this from countless clients, and each time I try to assure them, this is a normal reaction.
Think about it, for many of us who are struggling to lose weight, it is weight that we have kept on our bodies for years, if not decades. Our bodies have gotten used to us carrying that extra weight. In fact, our bodies thinks it's normal to have that weight. So when we begin depriving ourselves of the calories needed to sustain that weight, our bodies' first reaction is to think that there is something wrong. So it does what it always does when it thinks it's in danger, it tries to protect us by releasing hormones to make us correct the balance.
An Australian weight-loss specialist by the name of Dr. Joseph Proietto suspected that there was something biological that was being triggered to make his patients feel hungrier. So he recruited 50 obese men and women. The men weighed an average of 233 pounds; the women weighed about 200 pounds. He then put these patients on a special low-calorie diet, which allowed them only 500 to 550 calories a day for eight weeks. After ten weeks, the dieters had lost an average of 30 pounds.
"Great results!" you'd say. "I'd love to lose 30 pounds in 10 weeks!" Maybe, but the real test for Dr. Prioetto's subjects wasn't losing the weight, it was keeping it off. After the 10 weeks, the 34 patients who had completed the study (note that over 20% of the patients weren't able to even finish the dieting portion) were asked to stop dieting and focus on maintaining their new lower weight. Nutritionists counseled them in person and by phone, promoting regular exercise and urging them to eat more vegetables and less fat. But despite the effort, all the patients slowly began to put on weight. After a year, the patients already had regained an average of 11 of the pounds they struggled so hard to lose. They also reported feeling far more hungry and preoccupied with food than before they lost the weight.
Why was it so hard to keep the weight off? Why were the patients feeling so much hungrier? Why were they constantly thinking about food? Sound familiar? Well, it turns out that Dr. Prioetto and his team detected something new in the body by studying the hormone levels of their patients. Here is what they found:
"A full year after significant weight loss, these men and women remained in what could be described as a biologically altered state. Their bodies were acting as if they were starving and were working overtime to regain the pounds they lost. For instance, a gastric hormone called ghrelin, often dubbed the “hunger hormone,” was about 20 percent higher than at the start of the study. Another hormone associated with suppressing hunger, peptide YY, was also abnormally low. Levels of leptin, a hormone that suppresses hunger and increases metabolism, also remained lower than expected." (http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1105816)
The extreme weight-loss had thrown their bodies into a hormonal tailspin, trying to desperately get them to regain the weight they thought they needed. It wasn't simply that these patients lacked willpower, their bodies were actually working overtime to get them to gain wait again!
Although Dr. Proietto study was not conclusive (the study was small and the findings need to be replicated) it has nonetheless caused a stir in the weight-loss community. It's further proof that dieting and exercise are simply not enough to help patients lose weight. Prescription medication that suppresses these hormones and can help the body adjust to it normal state, as well as counseling that helps patients accept the limits of their willpower, can help ensure that the weight patients lose stays off. In addition, people need to understand the genetic and biological challenges of keeping weight off, so that they can set realistic expectations for themselves. Short-term, drastic weight-loss solutions can often carry long-term challenges that aren't given enough credit. Anyone can tell you that it is twice as discouraging to regain weight that has been already been lost.
Therefore, when taking the plunge to finally lose weight, make sure you are working with a support team that utilizes all avenues of available treatment. The methods of The Petteruti Center for Life Extension employ not only diet and exercise, but also counseling as well as a strong supervision of the hormonal changes that our patients undergo. This, above all else, may be the most important key to keep off the weight you've worked so hard to lose.
-Dr. Stephen Petteruti
The Petteruti Center for Life Extension is located in Warwick, Rhode Island. Dr. Stephen Petteruti is the Medical Director who is board certified in Family Practice and Bariatric (medical weight loss) Medicine as well as completing a fellowship in Anti-Aging. To lean how we can help you achieve your healthy weight, call us at 401-921-5934.