Research
Hormonal
Biological adaptive mechanisms resist weight loss, making long-term maintenance of weight loss difficult without continuous intervention.
Expect your body to fight back after weight loss. This is a biological adaptation, not a personal failure. You will likely need to maintain a slightly higher activity level or lower intake than before to keep the weight off.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Biologically there are also adaptive biological mechanisms which limit weight gain and thereby in part account for the continuing epidemic despite the widespread desire to slim.
Why this rating
Based on experimental evidence cited in the review.
Source
The epidemiology of obesity: the size of the problem
W. P. T. James · Journal of Internal Medicine · 2008
DOI 10.1111/j.1365-2796.2008.01922.x
narrative_reviewCited 791×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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