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The competition over our attention between the food and diet industries makes for a very confusing relationship with how we eat. It also affects how we gain and lose weight.
Updated for 2026
How many people pick up that grocery store checkout magazine with the newest fad diet on the front cover?
It isn’t just the food industry trying to catch your attention with low-fat, low-sugar, or other miracle-fix promises. Come to think of it, almost all our magazines, social media platforms, and online blogs are shouting with confidence that the way to a trim body and perfect life is through the maze of one fad diet to the next.
With today’s algorithms and digital trackers, those messages follow us through social media feeds, targeted online ads, and personalized recommendations to keep us engaged with mixed messages about food. Anywhere we turn, there’s a different solution for what we should eat, how we should look, and how quickly we should change. We are encouraged to make healthier choices, but we are also constantly exposed to convenient, highly processed foods marketed as affordable, time-saving, or even “healthy.”
The result is a constant tug-of-war between food companies promoting products and diet companies promoting the next big solution. Not to mention those supermarket checkout shelves stocked with magazines touting the latest and greatest in fad diets, and paid social media “stories” with celebrity endorsements of the diet-du jour.
How Do We Manage?
First and foremost, we have to understand how difficult it is to lose weight and maintain that weight loss. With all of the temptation around us, and our bodies being accustomed to excessively large portions and highly-salted, fatty, sugary foods and drinks, the fight against excess weight is both physical and mental.
Our bodies, over time, develop what is known as a weight “set point,” or a biological tendency to defend a certain weight range, a range in individual body weight that the brain and hormones work to maintain. Even when overweight, over time the body may begin to believe this higher weight is in equilibrium. As we maintain a higher weight, this defended weight range may increase. The more excess weight we have, the more difficult it can become to shift that range downward. Weight loss can trigger the body to defend this higher weight range by increasing hunger and reducing energy expenditure, making it more difficult to lose weight and keep it off.
Unfortunately, dieting by itself isn’t the answer for this situation. Moreover, overly restrictive diets are often difficult to maintain over the long term. There are diets that alternately eliminate all carbohydrates or all fats. Some diets require significantly limiting caloric intake. So much of what we enjoy is completely – and unnecessarily – eliminated from our diets. Inevitably, it leaves many people feeling deprived rather than helping them build lasting eating habits. The first time we fall off the wagon or eat a food we’ve labeled “off-limits,” a feeling of failure ensues, making it easier to abandon the plan instead of simply getting back on track. We binge on whatever off-limits food we were avoiding, or return to previous eating patterns, ultimately regaining all of our weight and sometimes more. Frustration and desperation lead to a vicious cycle.
So, What is the Answer?
I advocate for a stepped approach to long-term weight loss: start with the least invasive treatments and progress to additional options when medically appropriate.
Yes, it is true that many patients who try diet and exercise alone to lose significant weight ultimately struggle to achieve or maintain substantial long-term weight loss, particularly when obesity is severe. But that means that some patients are able to lose weight and successfully maintain those lifestyle changes over time. Therefore, I always recommend trying a lifestyle change first.
But how we diet is key here. Do not start on an extreme fad diet, but rather reduce your portions, eliminate the worst offenders (the sodium, saturated fat, and sugar departments), and see how much better you feel. From there, incorporate regular low-impact exercise on a daily basis and you’re on your way. By keeping a relatively normal, albeit limited caloric intake, as well as eating a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods, you reduce the risk of creating an unsustainable dieting situation.
If diet and exercise fail, there are medically supervised weight loss programs. These may or may not include FDA-approved weight loss medications that are considered relatively safe and effective, and may be appropriate for patients who are not suitable for surgical intervention or who prefer a nonsurgical approach. Of course, maintaining weight loss requires ongoing lifestyle changes regardless of the treatment used. Weight regain is possible after lifestyle programs, medication, or even bariatric surgery if healthy habits are not maintained.
Ultimately, weight loss surgery offers the most effective treatment currently available for achieving substantial, long-term weight loss in appropriately selected patients with obesity. While it should be employed only after lifestyle changes have failed, it should not be considered a last resort. It is also important to remember that weight loss surgery is not the easy way out – it takes a lot of work, but it is a great tool.
At Strive, we work with each patient to determine the most appropriate treatment based on their health history, goals, and individual needs. If you’ve struggled to lose weight through diet and exercise alone, you’re not alone – and you don’t have to figure it out by yourself. Contact our team and we’ll help you understand your options.
