It’s a grim statistic: Most people who go on a diet and lose weight end up regaining that weight within a year.

Doesn’t sound too promising.

Why does this happen? Well, there are many reasons.
The big one is that people view a “diet” as a short-term solution and don’t really change their behaviours and focus on sustainable, permanent change.

Another reason is that our bodies have appetite- and weight-regulating hormonal mechanisms that try to maintain homeostasis (aka keep things the same) over the long haul. When we consistently take in less energy (in the form of food) than we expend through basal metabolism and activity (as in a diet or famine), our bodies respond by making us hungrier.

Our bodies don’t generally want to change. They like everything to stay the same. If we try to change things, our bodies will respond with compensation mechanisms, such as revving up our appetite hormones.

Two important hormones that shape our appetite and hunger signals are leptin and ghrelin.

Leptin

Leptin is made by adipose tissue (fat) and is secreted into the circulatory system, where it travels to the hypothalamus the central signalling system of the brain. Leptin tells the brain that we have enough fat, so we can eat less or stop eating. So if we are overweight you would think that Leptin would play a beneficial role in the body, as it is telling our body we are not needing to eat and we are satisfied. However, this is sadly not the case if you are overweight you can infact become Leptin resistant
In this case, you can have a lot of fat making a lot of leptin, but it doesn’t work. The brain isn’t listening. No drop in appetite. No increased metabolism. Your brain might even think you’re starving, because as far as it’s concerned, there’s not enough leptin. So, it makes you even hungrier.

–  It’s can become vicious cycle.
–  Eat more, gain body fat.
–  More body fat means more leptin in fat cells.
–  Too much fat means that proper leptin signalling is disrupted.
–  The brain thinks you’re starving, which makes you want to eat more.
–  You put on more weight. And feel hungrier.
–  You eat more. Gain more weight
And so on.

Leptin resistance is like insulin resistance Insulin resistance occurs when there’s lots of insulin being produced (for example, with a diet high in sugar and simple carbohydrate), but the body and brain have stopped “listening” to insulin’s effects, which is where issues such as diabetes generate from.

The important point here is that having more body fat can mess up your appetite signals and actually make you hungrier.

Ghrelin

Leptin is a hormone that is a result of a build-up of fat, so it’s a long-term regulator of body weight. Meanwhile, ghrelin is the short term Hey I’m hungry when do we eat? Regulator.

Your stomach makes ghrelin when it’s empty. Just like leptin, ghrelin goes into the blood, crosses the blood-brain barrier, and ends up at your hypothalamus, where it tells you you’re hungry

Ghrelin is high before you eat and low after you eat.

If you want to lose weight you want less ghrelin, so you don’t get hungry. If you want to gain weight then you want more ghrelin or at least you want it to stay high as you eat, so you’ll want to eat more.

Both hormones, as I mentioned, regulate appetite and hunger. When you try to lose fat, your body will probably respond by changing hormone levels so that you get hungrier.
Obviously, this presents a challenge if you are trying to lose fat and keep it off leading, perhaps, to the dreaded “yo-yo dieting” phenomenon

Many interacting hormones shape our appetite and hunger. Several factors affect these hormones and our response to them. So if you’re looking for a single solution or rely on a short-term diet as a quick fix you’ll probably be disappointed.
But there’s good news: There are many things that you can do that will lead to lasting body composition change.

1.Take fish oil. Omega 3 fatty acids are linked to decreased hunger
2. Get enough sleep, lack of sleep leads to more ghrelin and less leptin, as well as disrupted glucose and insulin.
3.Make a commitment to good nutrition,
4. participate in regular exercise.
5. And understand that when losing fat, you might be hungrier. That’s normal.