An article published by New York Times speaks loudly to this fact. The article takes a look at some of the winners from “The Biggest Loser” , a NBC TV reality show. A TV reality show based on folks who lose the most weight. Many of the contestants on this show regained the weight back, or more.
IT IS A UPHILL BATTLE
From the National Institute of Health, Dr. Kevin Hall, an expert on metabolism explains why your bodies regain the weight you have lost.
In summary when people lose weight, the resting metabolic rate ( RMR ) is affected inversely. RMR is the amount of calories you burn at baseline or at rest. For Instance, if an individual who is 300 pounds lost 100 pounds, they will have a lower RMR and need fewer calories to maintain their new weight compared to someone who has always been 200 pounds. And often that number of calories is significant, making it hard to maintain a lean figure!
Subsequently gaining back the weight is much easier than losing it. If they happen to gain all the weight back, the RMR compensates slowly and lags! Making it even harder to shed the pounds than when they had first started their weight loss journey.
Danny Cahill, a winner of the show, was 430 pounds when he started the show, 191 pounds when the show ended and 295 pounds a few years later. However his RMR is much lower and he uses 800 calories less a day than a person his weight.
New York Times reported the weight loss and weight gains of a few contestants on the show. You can find the whole article here: " After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight" by By Gina Kolata.
All in all this means that you need a sustainable lifestyle change, an approach that looks at more than calories in and out. Clinics like Omni Medical Health 360 believe in this approach and work with patients to achieve this life long change.