The Squiggly Line Effect
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If you’ve been reading KERF for a while, you’d probably know that my approach to weight maintenance is a method of “a little loss, a little gain,” named by me as the “Squiggly Line Effect.” I believe that one of the biggest reasons why people gain back weight they have lost is because once they reach goal, they decide to eat more calories – maintenance level – and when special events or overeating occur, weight is gained. We all have occasions when we eat past fullness or just eat too many calorie dense foods, and if these occasions aren’t balanced by lighter days, we store the excess. Therefore, I believe that so long as you overeat on occasion, you have to undereat on occasion too in order to balance out the gain. (I realize this is taking the number + math to an extreme and there are likely other factors involved, but it is necessary to overanalyze in order to explain the concept, which I really follow very loosely).
Here is a visual of an ideal squiggly line of weight maintenance:
The Squiggly Line Effect probably happens naturally for a lot of people. I often want to eat less after a weekend of overeating, so I do think the body has a tendency to balance itself. But sometimes we get carried away or the special events come at us too frequently, and our bodies don’t chance to catch up. Suddenly we’ve put on a few pounds.
I was able to maintain my weight within a pound for almost a year without counting calories thanks to the Squiggly Line. Assuming I ate in a range of 1700-1900 calories per day during the mundane workweek, which combined with daily exercise would lead to a cumulative loss, and assuming I ate whatever I wanted on a Saturday night, that 1000+ calories on Saturday would balance with the -1000 I “lost” during the week and I’d come out even at the end of the week.
But this spring, special events popped up here, there and everywhere. During my weight loss I paid attention to my eating at special events to prevent a weekend gain, but once in maintenance, I was able to truly eat whatever I wanted because the gain would be countered with a loss. I slowly forgot the tricks to keep splurges to a minimum, like leaving cheese off sandwiches, turning down a second roll at dinner or sharing a dessert. While it wasn’t a big deal to eat a lot once a month, I was overeating more than once a week, and soon enough I tried on pair of last summer’s shorts and they did not fit! I had myself a few pounds of good old fashioned weight gain.
Here is a visual of all of the fun I had. Note the orange line as maintenance calories and the dips below it weeks when I didn’t have an event and lost a bit (and hypothetically, of course). But also note how high the peaks are compared to the valleys!
So the lesson learned is this: The Squiggly Line Effect only works if the overs are the same magnitude as the unders. If the events are coming one after another, I have to pay more attention to what I’m putting in my mouth in order to minimize the gain. While I’d like to say I am a pro at maintenance, clearly I need a bit more practice in balance. But overall, this is definitely a method I can use for life. Here’s to a life full of tall mountains and lush valleys!
I love your reference to the SLE…it makes total sense to me, and represents true balance in my opinion. Great article!!
I have long been a fan of your “squiggly line effect” theory. I think it really helps capture the influence “real life” has on our best efforts at health and fitness.
I also appreciate your comments on your quest to find balance between health/fitness/calorie counting/etc. and more intuitive eating/no diet mentality/putting LIFE first. I think many of us can really relate.
Thanks again for sharing!
I really like the idea of the squiggly line effect. It’s impossible to say that you’ll always maintain the same eating habits, regardless of the occassion, so compensating for splurges makes the most sense for maintenence. That personal chart you made is interesting to see! I’d like to make one for myself :O).
I still weigh myself daily so I would like to go back and track special occasions with my weekly weigh in that I record. probably also would be good to record how many days a week I’m really over my 1700 calorie goal even though when I’m eating that last snack I say to myself “this will only put me over by 100.” I’m sure that in the course of a week I am rarely under my 1700 so I shouldn’t just allow those extra calories at the end of the day.
This makes so much sense and clicks with me right away. Next time I’m overeating due to events I’ll remind myself of the squiggly line effect for the days after. Thanks Kath!
Such a great article! SLE is a great way to define the balance we achieve in a healthy diet. No deprivation, but still in moderation.
I love this… what a great article and such a good way to cover this. It’s so easy to get caught up in the numbers and aiming for X number overall but that’s silly and that’s not living life to it’s fullest. Enjoy the great moments just make sure you’re every day is more balanced!
[...] I sign off, I want to share Kath’s post on Breathe – The Squiggly Line Effect. Go read the article! I love it! For me, I definitely feel [...]
The “Squiggly Line Effect Theory” … complete with graphs and everything! Great idea!
Now I’ll be watching for the peer-reviewed scientific article in JAMA or NEJM.
[...] body wore off) is something that the popular “real food” blogger, Kath Younger, calls The Squiggly Line Effect. It’s not rocket science - it’s just a way of thinking about your weight and your [...]
[...] maintain my weight, most calorie counters say that I need about 1,850 a day. I am a big believer in Kath’s Squiggly Line Effect so I try to keep it lighter on regular days. I indulge 1-2 times a week…meaning I’ll go [...]
[...] better after this meal. But…it was worth it. Like I’ve said before, I really believe in Kath’s Squiggly Line Effect, and everything will even out. Unfortunately, in the meantime, I’ll be a little bloated and [...]