Hormonal
Physiological adaptations to weight loss, including hormonal shifts and reduced energy expenditure, actively favor weight regain, making long-term maintenance difficult without medical intervention.
If you have lost weight, expect your body to fight to regain it through increased hunger and slower metabolism. This is a biological adaptation, not a failure of will. To maintain loss, you likely need to address this physiology directly, potentially through medical interventions or surgery, as behavioral strategies alone are often insufficient against these strong biological drives.
Unfortunately, physiological adaptations to weight loss favour weight regain. These changes include perturbations in the levels of circulating appetite-related hormones and energy homoeostasis, in addition to alterations in nutrient metabolism and subjective appetite.
Why this rating
Based on a comprehensive review of 106 articles, including clinical studies and computational models.
Source
Physiological adaptations to weight loss and factors favouring weight regain
Frank L. Greenway · International Journal of Obesity · 2015
DOI 10.1038/ijo.2015.59
More from this paper
- Diet-induced weight loss causes persistent perturbations in circulating appetite hormones (increased ghrelin, decreased leptin/PYY/GLP-1) that favor weight regain and persist for at least one year.Good
- Weight loss leads to a disproportionate decrease in Resting Energy Expenditure (REE) compared to the loss of body mass, creating a metabolic adaptation that favors weight regain.Good
- Gastric bypass surgery alters gut hormone levels (low ghrelin, high GLP-1/PYY) in a way that attenuates appetite, contributing to its efficacy as a treatment for obesity.Good
Related findings · Hormonal
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This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →