Khaberni - With the start of the new year, many people set weight loss as one of their goals, but experts warn that the popular advice “eat less and move more” oversimplifies the matter and is often ineffective.
Researchers from the University of Copenhagen point out that there are deep biological mechanisms that make losing weight and maintaining it more complicated than just willpower.
Professor Christopher Clemens from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research explains that exercise is beneficial for almost all health conditions, but it does not reliably lead to long-term fat loss.
His colleague Valdemar Berntsen Ingemann Johansen adds that genetics play a major role in determining body size, and that these biological factors often override individual efforts to control their weight.
Obesity Memory
Traditional weight loss methods focus on creating a calorie deficit, that is, burning more energy than is consumed. Although this works in controlled environments, experts say the body actually resists weight loss. Hunger hormones rise, appetite increases, energy consumption decreases, all driven by what Clemens calls “obesity memory”.
Studies show that after significant weight loss, most people naturally return to their previous weight due to this physiological mechanism.
Obesity is now classified as a chronic and recurrent relapsing disease. From an evolutionary perspective, stored fat helped our ancestors survive in times of food scarcity, which explains the body's strength in conserving energy. In today's environment, where high-calorie foods are readily available, these mechanisms become harmful to health.
While proper nutrition and exercise remain important for overall health, experts emphasize the need for a multifaceted approach to support sustainable weight loss.
This includes adopting healthy habits, a balanced diet, sufficient sleep, regular activity along with environmental, social, and pharmaceutical interventions. Weight loss medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro can help, but their effects often do not last after treatment cessation.
Clemens stresses the importance of early intervention, especially during childhood, to establish lifelong healthy habits. Ultimately, he and Johansen hope that future research on “obesity memory” will help develop interventions to reset the body's weight regulation mechanisms, paving the way for long-term and effective individual weight loss.
