Welcome to Straight Talk on Health. I’m your host Dr. Chet Zelasko. Straight Talk on Health is a joint production with WGVU in Grand Rapids MI. I examine the practical application of health information. Nutrition. Exercise. Diet. Supplementation. I look at the science behind them, and let you know whether it’s something to consider or not. You can check out other things that I do on my website Drchet.com and sign up for my free emails.
I’ve already given my reasons support my opinion that obesity is a man-made disease in a prior podcast. I’m adding this idea to that opinion: reducing body weight and maintaining the weight loss can occur with man-made solutions. Actually, it’s utilizing one mechanism we often overlook that the body uses all the time: adaptation.
Let’s begin with something serious that involves a broken bone or recovery from a joint replacement, which is essentially the same thing. After the bones are aligned, the first phase of the recovery is reducing the inflammation and pain to restore joint mobility. That involves multiple systems of the body working together; hormones are certainly involved as well as the muscular, skeletal, cardiovascular, and other systems as well.
The repair process swings into action to heal the bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and other tissues involved. Bones take time to heal because all bones start as cartilage, which is then calcified; that takes six weeks or longer. At the same time, the muscular system has to repair muscles that might have been damaged in the process or are being asked to do other tasks than before.
I can’t think of a better example of positive adaptation than exercise. Whether it’s a sport skill, increasing strength, or improving cardiovascular fitness, exercise uses the adaptation principles; the difference is that it’s an intentional act instead of a response to a physical challenge. As an example, let’s use walking or running to improve the fitness of your heart and cardiovascular system as well as every other system involved—which is just about every other system we have.
Let’s begin with how your cardiovascular system would respond to beginning a walking or jogging program. The first walk with a purpose—faster than window shopping and not so fast that you’re stopping to catch your breath every minute—every system in your body is going, “What the heck is going on here?” Your heart may not be used to speeding up like that. The blood isn’t used to traveling that fast. The 5,000 genes that are typically activated when you start to exercise are awake and alert. Your muscles, ligaments, tendons, and stress hormones are challenged, along with the nervous system that controls how the muscles respond to new movement. It’s a mess, but you manage to get through it.
Depending on how hard you pushed yourself, you may feel it. Maybe fatigue a few hours later or sore muscles. That’s why you begin slowly. Save the fastest you’ve ever walked or ran for another time, and get through this first walk.
But by the third walk, your body will start to adapt; your heart rate might not get as high. By the 10th walk, you most likely will be able to maintain a faster pace, but your heart rate may not be as high as the first walk you took at a slower pace. You’re adapting—in fact every system in your body is adapting to the new stress. It will take less effort to do the same work.
You’re not ready for a marathon or maybe even a 5K yet, but exercise is a positive utilization of the adapting ability of your body. You just have to approach it in a systematic way to improve your cardiovascular health.
I could continue, but my point is that the repair process is an adaptation process and takes time, often months and maybe even longer to restore full function. Can we use this process of adaptation in a positive way? Let’s turn to the challenge of weight loss and weight maintenance.
No matter how we choose to lose weight, we need to eat better, eat less, and move more. Those three actions have to be included to lose and maintain weight loss. It’s also true that no matter how you do it, it’s going to take time—no one went to bed at 150 pounds and woke up at 300 pounds. The reverse is also true; to lose 30, 50, or the 150 pounds, it’s going to take time to lose the weight.
Whether through a specific diet or using the current medications such as GLP-1 RA, people can lose weight. What they aren’t good at is keeping it off, from the early studies 75 years ago or the ongoing ones right now. I believe the problem is that many people believe that when they lose the weight they want to lose, they’re done. Nope, that’s not true—that’s when permanent weight loss really begins: the adaptation phase. The issues are simple yet complicated to execute.
While you’re losing weight, I’ve always taught people to adopt a diet you can maintain for the rest of your life, because that’s how you’re going to have to eat for the rest of your life to maintain your weight loss. During the process, you have an opportunity: it’s going to take time to lose the weight, so you can experiment with any type of diet or eating plan along the way. The same holds true for your fitness plan, because using those calories does help.
If you use GLP-1 RA, the same approach still holds true. Your body is being induced to release a hormone that slows down stomach emptying, thereby eventually letting you know you’re full. Ignore it, and that leads to vomiting, bloating, and diarrhea. The actual GLP-1 hormone our bodies produce works more subtly, and our task is to get to the point that we listen to the inner signals again.
Based on the very limited research so far, here is the best way to do that, followed by my best estimate of the time it takes to get to actual maintenance. The first step is learning the Mediterranean diet or a version based on your ethnic background and shifting your diet to that while controlling the amounts you eat. Because the focus is on higher fiber foods such as beans, grains, and vegetables, it’s easy to eat less because you’ll feel fuller sooner.
Second, research shows that fiber can be critical in promoting satiety. As you transition to a new diet, you can use fiber supplements to try to get to 30 grams or more of fiber every day. Because you may be battling the loss of muscle at the same time, maintain or increase your protein intake; there are plenty of great plant-based sources of protein.
Finally, try to reduce ultra-processed foods to a minimum. They are deconstructed and reconstituted to provide simple carbohydrates, excess fats from oils, and preservatives and shelf-life extenders that are not necessary for any body functions. That’s it for now.
To be blunt, there’s no research to suggest how long you have to pay attention before your body completes adaptation to your new weight. Think about it—every system has to adapt, from the digestive system processing food, the microbiome adjusting to new foods, the endocrine system producing the correct hormones, and on and on and on. That’s going to take time.
I haven’t found research that gives a precise timeline, but I can give you my observation from interviews with people who have lost significant amounts of weight and maintained it: 18 to 24 months is typical. At that point, their bodies seem to have adapted to natural cues again. That’s when the effort may get easier.
I’m hesitant to rely on medications for doing something we can do ourselves. We have to train our brains to seek the best foods and leave the rest. It doesn’t mean we have to eat twigs and berries; it just means we have to pay attention. On the other hand, weight loss is so important to your health, I’d rather see you lose the weight by any means necessary—but still put the emphasis on healthy eating and exercise.
Medications or foods? Your body. Your choice. Isn’t about time you made the decision for your body? That’s all the time I have for this episode. If you like this podcast, please hit the share button and tell your friends and colleagues about it. Until next time, this is Dr. Chet Zelasko saying health is a choice. Choose wisely today and every day.
Reference:
1. Adv Nutri. May 2026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2026.100647
2. Nutr. 2026 Apr;156(4):101436.doi: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2026.101436.
