Is Your Workplace Weight Loss Challenge Causing More Harm than Good?

workplace-weight-loss-challenge-harm

It’s the time of year for weight loss. Social media feeds are full of diets and 30-Day Challenges. Gyms are bursting at the seams. Many organizations are running New Year’s weight loss challenges. With weekly weigh-ins and prizes for those who lose the most weight. In this article I share why despite these organizations’ good intentions, weight loss challenges have a negative impact on health, and perhaps employee morale.

Many workplace weight loss challenges are inspired by the Biggest Loser reality TV show that started in 2004 and ran for 17 years. It made for popular TV. But is it really how best to lose weight? Not according to the scientific literature.

Impact of The Biggest Loser on Metabolism

A research study followed-up with 14 Biggest Loser contestants 6 years after they participated in the show. One participant had lost weight since the show. Five stayed at a similar weight. The remainder gained a significant amount of weight (average of 90lbs). The weight regained was fat (not muscle). What’s more important than the weight regain is the long-term impact on metabolism that participants experienced. Six years after participating on the show, participants’ resting metabolic rate was 704 ± 427 kcal/day lower (that includes both people who kept the weight off and those who regained the weight). That means that their metabolism had slowed down by 700 calories per day. In other words, they need to eat 700 calories per day less than a parson of the same weight in order to maintain their current weight. 700 calories is a lot – we’re talking a whole meal. While this is a small study, it showcases what other research has found regarding the impact on metabolism from strict calorie restriction. Since the Biggest Loser TV show has had such an impact on our culture, as the inspiration for these types of workplace “wellness” programs, I want to highlight its long-term, negative impact on the participants. Why it’s not something that you want to use as inspiration.  

Most People Regain Weight

Unfortunately, The Biggest Loser participants’ experiences aren’t unique. Their experience of regaining the weight is typical for people who go on diets/ short-term programs. Research shows that only 20% of people who initially lose 10% of their body weight, maintain that weight loss 1 year later. Only 20%! And, we’re only talking about a 10% weight loss which isn’t even all that dramatic. Definitely not Biggest Loser style. For example, if you weigh 250lbs, we’re talking losing 25lbs. Now imagine that your doctor recommended that you start taking a medication. But that the medication has an 80% chance that it won’t have any impact on your health condition that you’re looking to treat. And, if you happen to be a part of the lucky 20%, it will only have a small positive impact. Oh, and don’t forget, whether you end up being in the 80% majority or the 20% minority, the medication has life-long, life-changing, negative side-effects. If I was a betting woman, I’d bet that you’d question whether there was a more effective option.

Anti-DEI

Another problem with workplace weight loss challenges is that they assume that all participants have an equal chance of winning. This just isn’t true. For decades, the scientific literature has shown that weight isn’t as simple as calories in and calories out. In contrast, to quote from Obesity Canada “obesity is a chronic disease caused by the complex interplay of genetic, metabolic, behavioural, and environmental factors”. In other words, it’s simply not fair to pit the single, 25 year old guy with no kids against the 51 year old, post-menopausal, single mother, who had her “thrifty gene” turned on because her grandmother experienced famine. To speak frankly, in our current world where there’s an acknowledgement of the lack of even playing fields for people and focus on diversity, equality, and inclusivity, I’m shocked that these weight loss challenges continue.

Ignoring DEI. Setting people up to fail. Contributing to long-term, negative physical health impacts. I don’t think that it’s a stretch that this well-meaning employee “wellness” event has a negative impact on employee morale.  

What to To Instead of Workplace Weight Loss Competitions

So, what’s the alternative? Do nothing? In short, no. I recommend taking inspiration from established best practices and clinical practice guidelines. Current clinical practice guidelines for obesity have taken the emphasis off of weight loss as the primary measure of success. The focus now is on individualized solutions and helping people adopt long-term, healthy habits. Instead of employee weight loss competitions, create wellness programming that supports healthy habit formation. And, provide one-to-one nutrition counselling to ensure that the changes that employees are making actually support their health.

 Are you responsible for workplace wellness programming at your organization? Use this link to book a consult call with me to explore whether your workplace wellness program is up-to-date with the current scientific evidence for what promotes health. Or, let your workplace wellness committee know about us.

 

Photo credit: I. Yunmai on Unsplash

Workplace Weight Loss Challenge References

Fothergill et al. Persistent metabolic adaptation 6 years after “The Biggest Loser” competition. Energy Expenditure and Weight Control. 2016.

Wing and Phelan. Long-term weight loss maintenance. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2005.

Obesity Canada. Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guidelines. Medical Nutrition Therapy Chapter. Updated 2022.

Hassapidou et al. European Association for the Study of Obesity Position Statement on Medical Nutrition Therapy for the Management of Overweight and Obesity in Adults Developed in Collaboration with the European Federation of the Associations of Dietitians.Obesity Facts.2022.

Women Leaders are Burning Out. Nutrition Can Help.

Women leaders are leaving their organizations in the highest rates in years. Why? Because they’re burnt out. The good news is that nutrition can help prevent this outcome.

Why are women leaders burning out? They take on unrecognized work to support their team members’ well-being. On top of that, women at all levels are far more likely than men to be responsible for most, or all, of their family’s housework and caregiving. Not surprisingly, they burn out.

That’s one of the findings from the 2022 Women in the Workplace study by McKinsey and Company – the largest study to date of women in corporate America. And while, yes, that’s a US study, it’s reasonable to assume that the situation is similar here in Canada.

3 Years of High Stress

Does it feel familiar? If I was a betting woman, I’d bet that you answered “yes”.

It’s certainly what we’ve seen when working with our clients. And, the dial on this extra stress has been cranked up since the pandemic started in March 2020. That’s almost 3 years of sky-high stress!

Sky-high expectations, both on the work-front and on the home-front. It’s no wonder that we’ve been seeing clients turn to stress eating as a relief valve. Digestive symptoms have worsened. Exercise has fallen so far down the mile-long to-do list that it almost never happens. Cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, and blood pressure are rising.

Nutrition Can Help

It’s obvious that change is needed. And yes, nutrition can be a part of the solution. Restrictive diets and 30-day challenges offer seductive, short-term, quick fixes. And while it’s human to be drawn into doing them, the wiser part of us knows that a more practical, long-term solution is the smart answer.  

The answer, in our team’s experience, is to create practical, small changes that you can maintain. While not as sexy as the “before” and “after” photos of those diets and challenges, they create real change. Change in energy levels, change in digestive symptoms, change in focus, change in blood test results, and help in backing away from burn out. Which, in my opinion, is much sexier than another time around what I call the diet-guilt cycle. 

And research supports this too. Studies show positive health outcomes from small, sustained eating changes that result in 5-10% weight loss (even no change in weight). So much so that the newly released (December 15, 2022) position statement on the management of overweight and obesity by the European Association for the Study of Obesity states that nutrition interventions should be personalized, incorporate long-term habits, and created with help from dietitians.  

Further, through our experience with busy, working women, we know that your commitments aren’t stopping any time soon. We need to create practical ways to put your needs back on the table. Not expect you to drop everything in order to put intensive time into dramatic diet changes. Because that’s another problem with diets and short-term challenges. They only consider your needs, as if you only have your needs to consider. Ha, that’s laughable! More likely, as the US workforce study shows, you’re the glue that’s keeping your family together and your work team functioning, never mind your volunteer committees, etc.

So, what are some of the practical solutions that we create for people? I’ll share a couple of them here. Maybe they’ll be a fit for you too.

  • Pack Your Lunch When Working From Home: Do you work from home and find that you either skip lunch, or you end up grazing all day? I’ve found that 3 steps of 1) thinking of what to eat, 2) making it, and 3) eating it, can get in the way of eating a healthy lunch. A strategy that’s been successful for a number of clients has been to pack a lunch for yourself when you’re packing your kids’ lunches. That way, the steps of 1) thinking about and 2) making lunch have been moved away from lunchtime. Now all you need to do is take your packed lunch out of the fridge and eat it. While it seems silly, this can remove enough barriers that you actually eat the healthy lunch that you want to eat.

  • Have Compromise Meals: Often I see clients who want to eat healthy dinners, but feel that with their picky kiddos, they’re left with only 2 solutions: 1) either eat kid food; or 2) make 2 meals every night. Sound familiar? The answer is in the middle ground. To quote my past mentor Ellyn Satter, when it comes to making family meals “consider, don’t cater, to kids”. What does this look like? Make the dishes that you want to eat. And, include some components of the meal that your kids will eat. For example, make that lentil-vegetable stew that you love and serve it with rice and cut-up fruit or raw veggies on the side. Sure, the kids may only eat rice and fruit/ raw veggies for dinner. Simply serve your kids protein foods at other meals or snacks in the day so that their nutrition needs are met. And, you get to eat your stew that you both enjoy and that meets your nutrition needs.  

 

Looking for more individualized support? Use this link to book a (free) information call and I’ll match you with the best-fit dietitian on our team.

Also, I’ve been working behind-the-scenes to create a new service package for organizations to support team leaders/managers’ productivity. Tell your HR manager and have them use this link to book a phone call with me. Then I can what’s going on in your organization and they can hear about the service. That way they will have everything they need to make the right decision for your organization

 

References

https://www.karger.com/Article/Pdf/528083

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash