Traci Mann researches eating habits, body image and behavior change at the Mann Lab at the University of Minnesota. A professor of psychology, she is also the author of "Secrets From the Eating Lab: The Science of Weight Loss, The Myth of Willpower, and Why You Should Never Diet Again." By this time each year, many of us are already failing on our resolutions to lose weight. We talked with Mann about weight set points, eating your veggies and dealing with temptation.
Q: Why don't diets work? Is permanent weight loss impossible for most people, or are we just missing some part of the solution?
A: Permanent weight loss is possible, but very unlikely. For most people, if they lose a lot of weight, they will see it come back in the next two to three years. Your body has a "set weight," a range that your body thinks your weight should fall into. Once you lose a lot of weight, your body makes changes that make it easier for you to return to your set weight, so to maintain weight loss for a long time means you have to fight against these changes.
Q: Can't we just change our set point?
A: Our bodies are too well made and smart for us to beat biology. What makes that really optimally unfair is that you can raise your set weight, but there's no evidence that it's possible to reduce your set weight, even though there are diets out there that claim to do so.
Q: How do you find out what your set range is?
A: There's no formula or scientific method to it. Try to think about your weight history, and see what your weight keeps coming back to. That's probably about where your body wants you to be. See what your weight is when you're living in moderation: You're not training for a marathon, but you're not sedentary; you're not on an extreme diet, but you're not pigging out constantly. Your weight when you're living an average lifestyle, that's probably about where your body wants you to be.
Q: What's a healthy alternative if dieting is off the table?