Why is losing weight so difficult?
Whilst classic crash course treatments to lose excess weight based on the days fashionable food fad (be it grapefruit, cabbage or grated fan belt!), or associated with using appetite reducing drugs, can be effective in the short term they are not without side effects. It is normal to experience negative factors such as intense hunger, craving for a particular (often sweet) food, anxiety, irritability, negative mood changes etc all psychological effects of restrictive diets that make it impossibly difficult to keep to. As a result, the patient soon becomes disillusioned, betrays the weight loss programme and instead of losing weight often puts on weight to compensate for such unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. This in due course leads to the need to lose weight again and so the whole process continues the weight cycling syndrome known as the yo-yo effect. These weight fluctuations can create a greater risk of mortality and heart disease than for obese individuals with stable body weights.
