Will you keep off the weight you lost?

In just about every study you see, they all say that most people gain back all the weight they have lost and add a few pounds. MSNBC and Women's Health article is saying the same thing. So, why go on a diet at all?

Well, what I have discovered not only from watching the Biggest Loser, reading the article from Women's Health, and from reading "Women, Food, and God" is that it is not about the weight, but about the food addiction. Like many people in my family, I use comfort food so that I don't have to deal with emotions. If the food doesn't work, then I fill my schedule, buy books, buy the newest gadget or all the above.

"A study of 200 overweight and obese people, published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, supports the importance of a behavior-change approach. Along with other weight-loss techniques, one group received an additional hour of therapy, in which they learned to change their behavior; the other group did an extra hour of low-intensity exercise. After a year, those in the therapy group had maintained their weight loss, while the other group's members hadn't."

Yo-Yo dieting takes a tole on your body and immune system as well.

"But perhaps most startling is the dangerous and lasting effect weight cycling has on the immune system. According to the first study of the long-term impacts of yo-yo dieting, women who repeatedly lost and gained weight had lower immune function, particularly lower counts of natural killer cells. "These cells are important for fending off infections and are also vital in fighting the early stages of cancer," says Cornelia Ulrich, M.D., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Low killer-cell activity is associated with higher rates of cancer. In her study of more than a hundred overweight but otherwise healthy women, those who had yo-yoed most frequently — five times or more — decreased their natural killer-cell activity by a third."

In order to keep your health and your sanity, you need to deal with the emotional issues as well as the physical to keep the pounds off.