Weight Loss versus Weight Management

Long term weight management beats short term weight loss everytime. Here’s why.

We are getting fatter, more quickly than ever before

In 1977, 10.1% of New Zealand adults classified as obese. By 2003 this had more than doubled to become 21%. The recent New Zealand Health Survey (2020/21) indicated that 34.3% of New Zealand adults now classify as obese. It has been projected that by the mid-2030s the average kiwi adult will suffer from obesity and obesity-related illness.

Alarmingly, around 1 in 8 (12.7%) New Zealand children now classify as obese and socioeconomic deprivation has an effect; adults living in the most socioeconomically deprived areas of New Zealand are 1.6 times more likely to be obese as adults living in the least deprived areas. Children living in most deprived areas are 2.5 times as likely to be obese as their peers from the least deprived areas.

Obesity isn’t just a New Zealand problem; according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), global obesity rates have tripled since 1975 with 1.9 billion adults now estimated to be overweight and 650 million estimated to be obese. Obesity is recognised as a global epidemic, although it receives far less attention than that other epidemic that has dominated our airwaves over the past few years.

Unsurprisingly, as the prevalence of obesity has increased, the weight loss industry has boomed. The global market for weight loss products and services (diets, supplements, meal replacements, pills, fitness services) was estimated to be worth $254.9 billion (US) in 2021; and is projected to become a $377.3 billion (US) market by 2026.

Do you see the paradox here; the prevalence of obesity has been increasing and is projected to keep increasing, while an industry oriented on reducing obesity has also been increasing and is projected to keep increasing.


Something’s not working…

Obesity Rate by Birth Cohort NZ

Big data, big commerce, big failures and blame

Using big data in the form of meta-analyses (where data from many studies is pooled and analysed as a large dataset), shows us that using the products and services of the weight loss industry are not associated with the achievement of sustainable weight loss. If we listened to those who have struggled to lose weight using such approaches, we might have identified the problem earlier. Instead, we’ve blamed people for not trying hard enough, which unfortunately we continue to do. We might have learnt that people find these approaches unrealistic, unsustainable, unpleasant, not suited to actual lifestyles, and focused exclusively on food rather than behaviour.

The weight loss industry has become obsessed with driving people to lose as much weight as possible as quickly as possible. Bodyweight is viewed as the simple product of the energy balance equation where the goal of the latest diet, diet pill, or supplement is to plunge the equation into the negative, regardless of the long-term consequences. In the short term, weight loss can be impressive (a.k.a The Biggest Loser) but because the changes required to achieve the weight loss are unsustainable (and in some cases dangerous), weight regain is rapid and inevitable.

The inevitability of weight regain arises because the industry fails to address (or even attempt to address) a principle factor that explains the epidemic of obesity – our modern environment. Over the past 40-odd years this environment has become ‘obesogenic’; increasingly sedentary and briming with ultra-processed foods loaded with extra sugar, salt, and fat, scientifically engineered to be habit forming, or to put it bluntly, ‘addictive’. Nestle, Kraft, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, McDonalds and Yum Brands (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell) have become prominent on lists of the world’s 500 largest corporations. Their financial clout drives further expansion and marketing budgets that healthier foods and public health campaigns have no chance of competing against. The messaging battle regarding ‘what to eat’ was won decades ago – and not by the good guys. Lobbyists ensure that no meaningful regulations are passed to restrict the availability, accessibility, and affordability of their ultra-processed, addictive products.

Losing the battle around us

Fruit and vegetables have been found to make up less than 1% of food products promoted in high profile locations of grocery stores. Taco Bell is now well underway with its plans to open over 60 new stores across NZ and Australia by 2024, to add to the proliferation of fast-food outlets that already exist. Quite frankly, our environment is an obstacle course where the pathway to healthy behaviour is hidden, and people are left to navigate the obstacle course on their own.

When every diet finishes, when every supplement or prescription runs out, this is the environment that lies in wait, 24/7, to take over and run the show again.

The weight loss industry has become synonymous with short-term solutions that fail to address the pervasive influence of the environment we live in. A fundamental shift is needed in the way we understand the issue of obesity, and the way we help those who struggle with their weight. We need to care more about weight management than weight loss.

You manage what you monitor

By its very definition, management implies a process that is on-going and comprehensive, the opposite of short-term and simplistic. Obesity is not the product of a simple energy imbalance; thus, it cannot be addressed via approaches that view it this way. Obesity is the product of a range of biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors that effects the behaviour of every one of us differently.

We kiwis like to think of ourselves in positive terms; we celebrate our ‘no8 wire’ mentality that enables us to adapt and improvise to solve problems. Turning the tide on obesity and helping people to manage their weight is certainly a problem in urgent need of a solution. It’s clear that the ‘solutions’ on offer from the weight loss industry are not fit for the purpose of helping people to achieve any form of sustainable weight loss success. The solution is to move away from the broken weight loss model and embrace a model of weight management.

The coach approach

Weight management coaches develop a comprehensive understanding of the biological, psychological, societal, and environmental factors that effect the weight of every one of us. They develop an understanding of how to help people address these factors from a behavioural framework, rather than focusing solely of food (just eat more of this and less of that and all will be fine).

Rather than dictate simplistic, generic solutions, weight management coaches engage clients in the process of change. And importantly, coaches support clients through the process of behaviour change and only reduce their support once the client is equipped with the skills and confidence to drive change on their own. Weight management coaches makes sure that their clients are enabled to navigate the environmental obstacle course they live in.

Real solutions to the global obesity epidemic involve embracing a weight management approach that is far more management focused than continuing to support a fundamentally flawed weight loss approach involving short term punishment and long-term failure.