Overview

For decades, weight loss has been framed as a simple equation: eat less, move more. When that equation stops working, the explanation is often reduced to willpower, discipline, or a supposedly ""broken"" metabolism. Metabolic Adaptation: The Biology of Chronic Dieting and Weight Regain offers a different perspective. Drawing on fifteen years of clinical experience and established metabolic research, Lead Critical Care Dietitian Chikaodili Frances Ozojie examines what actually happens in the body during prolonged energy restriction. Rather than treating stalled weight loss as a personal failure, the book explores it as a predictable biological response. When energy availability falls and stress signals rise, the body does what it evolved to do: conserve resources, protect essential systems, and defend against perceived scarcity. Using clear explanations and parallels drawn from critical care physiology, the book explores mechanisms such as adaptive thermogenesis, changes in non-exercise activity, shifts in appetite signalling, and the often misunderstood early changes in body weight driven by glycogen and fluid balance. It also examines why recovery from prolonged restriction is frequently slower and more complex than expected. The aim of this book is not to provide another dieting method. Instead, it offers a framework for understanding the biological pressures that shape weight regulation and the lived experience of chronic dieting. Written for clinicians, researchers, coaches, and readers interested in the physiology of metabolism, Metabolic Adaptation invites a reconsideration of a familiar narrative. When the body resists prolonged restriction, it may not be malfunctioning. It may be responding exactly as it was designed to.

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9781919546124

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Reviews

""Metabolic Adaptation offers a clear and clinically grounded explanation for why chronic dieting so often fails. By reframing weight regain as a predictable biological response rather than a failure of willpower, this book provides a useful framework for both clinicians and readers seeking to understand their own physiology."" - Dr. James Moon, Consultant in Anaesthetics, Critical Care ""Chika draws on both metabolic science and clinical experience to explain how the body adapts to prolonged energy restriction. The result is a thoughtful examination of appetite regulation, energy expenditure, and the often misunderstood biology of weight regain."" - Sara Crockett, Registered Dietitian, Eating Disorder Specialist ""This book replaces moral narratives about dieting with physiological ones. For clinicians working with patients frustrated by weight plateaus or repeated regain, the framework presented here will feel both familiar and clarifying."" - Reina Martin, Clinical Nutritionist ""Rather than promising another solution to weight loss, Metabolic Adaptation focuses on understanding the body's response to scarcity. It is an explanation of biology first, and that perspective is refreshing."" - Chloe McCleod, Occupational Therapist

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