If at first you don’t succeed, pick yourself up and try again, and again if necessary, never give up. Here at WHN (Worldhealth.net), we have long said that setbacks are not failures, rather they are an opportunity to learn from to carry on with your journey, now research has demonstrated that diet setbacks can act as learning experiences to help one achieve sustained weight loss in the future to improve overall health.
“Our results suggest repeated bouts of weight loss and regain should not be viewed as failures, but as practice,” says lead author Dr. Jennifer Kuk, a professor in York University’s School of Kinesiology and Health Science.
This study examined data from 9,348 patients at the Wharton Medical Clinic, which is a weight loss and diabetes clinic in Burlington, Canada. Participant history of weight loss was collected and weight changes were assessed over the research period. The majority of the participants reported becoming overweight before the age of 40 and had lost ten pounds or more at least once in their lifetime.
According to the researchers, results showed that each time the participants lost weight in their life the more weight they lost at the clinic, displaying learned discipline during previous attempts at weight loss through sporadic dieting. Women who became overweight earlier in life and who had dieted frequently in the past also lost much more weight at the clinic.
The researchers concluded that achieving long-term weight loss success requires multiple attempts and that relapse weight gain is a necessary part of weight management on the journey to improved health. They also suggest that using different approaches each time may help to benefit overall health in the future.
“This data is reassuring that previous failed attempts did not put patients at a disadvantage from being successful. One should continue to make attempts at weight management, and it is likely that an appropriate approach – especially with proven effective interventions such as medication or psychological intervention – will eventually be effective,” says co-author Dr. Sean Wharton, clinical adjunct professor at York University Faculty of Health, and director of the Wharton Medical Clinic. “For any lifestyle or behavioral change, individualizing the approach – that is, practicing and refining strategies that work for that individual over time – is a key concept, and long-term weight management should be no different.”
The road to weight loss may not be exactly easy, and along the way, you may experience some setbacks, remember that these are not failures, learn from the experience, adjust, and carry on with your journey to improved health and wellness. You are worth every effort and deserving of all the benefits that come with it. You CAN do it. Be well.
