Answers to Common Questions about Weight and Dieting
Deborah Kauffmann, RD, LDN November 25, 2006

How much should I weigh?
When you have finished growing, and you are eating when hungry and stopping when full, your weight tends to stabilize within a small weight range called setpoint or natural weight. This weight is mostly determined by genetic factors such as bone structure, musculature, and number of fat cells you are born with. Setpoint weight for any given height can vary so greatly that none of the current height-weight standards are valid.

If I am above my natural weight, should I diet to return to it?
Dieting is not an effective means of weight loss. In fact, dieting can cause weight gain. Approximately 95% to 98% of people who lose weight by dieting regain the lost weight. About 33% to 66% of these people gain to a higher weight.

When you diet, your metabolic rate decreases since you are not meeting your body’s energy needs (not enough calories). You become intensely hungry, and as a result you will most likely overeat at some point. This is not only because you are not taking in enough food but because you are probably avoiding certain foods that are higher in fat or sugar. This causes you to crave these foods and overeat them.

Even if you return to normal eating after dieting, you are likely to gain to a higher weight, especially if you have dieted frequently. This is because the body feels it needs to prepare for the next diet or “famine” by storing more energy. To accomplish this, the body may lower metabolic rate and increase number of fat cells. In other words, the body may reset its setpoint weight to a higher weight.

Besides the above problems, dieting is a health risk that can lead to conditions such as gallstones, gallbladder damage, anemia, osteoporosis, cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death. Repeated dieting resulting in weight cycling has been shown to greatly increase the risk of hypertension and coronary heart disease.

At times, individuals may be above their natural weight. If this is true for you, it may be because you are frequently eating when not hungry or past fullness. Dieting will only make these problems worse (and dieting probably caused these problems in the first place). The solution is not to diet but to return to normal eating according to your internal cues of hunger and fullness.

Can I be healthy if my natural weight is high?
Although you may assume, along with many health professionals, that higher weights lead to decreased life expectancy and chronic medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, the evidence suggests that the health risks of being at a higher weight have been greatly exaggerated and that health is much more related to genetic and lifestyle factors. Also, several long-term studies indicate that weight loss is associated with a greater risk to health. See the handout 5 Health Care Myths by Frances Berg at www.healthyweight.net.

And you can go to Suggested Reading on this website for additional information about weight and health, the problems with dieting, and how to return to normal eating.