“NYT health writer Tara Parker-Pope, who admits she struggles with weight herself, traveled around the country visiting research labs trying to learn why she and so many others have been able to shed flab only to put it back on time and time again. What she learned was discouraging: Our bodies change when we lose weight. Hormones that are supposed to promote satiety become scant. Hormones that stoke hunger flare hotter.

So someone who loses weight to get down to 145 pounds, say, doesn’t have the same metabolism or hormonal make-up as someone who has been 145 pounds all their adult life. Very depressing.”

“And that’s probably the lesson we all need to learn. We can’t think of our new weight loss program as something to be suffered through for the next several months as we wait impatiently to go back to our old hedonistic ways. We have to realize that this new diet and exercise regimen is a change for life.

Sure, we’ll be able to eat a few more calories and exercise a little less once we achieve our ideal weight. But we’ll never be able to go back to the lifestyle that got us fat in the first place.”