When you are getting close to your weight loss goal, you will often hit a plateau and won't be able to lose the last few pounds.

The reason why this is the case reveals a lot about the dynamic relationship between body weight and appetite.

When dieting to lose weight, there are two primary reasons why weight loss slows down over time:

• Calorie expenditure decreases with weight loss because fewer calories are needed to maintain and move a lighter body.
• Weight loss increases the appetite

We get hungry when our stomach tells our brain that it's nearly empty. But signals from our stomach can leave us vulnerable to overeating.

Fullness is determined partly by the fat, carbohydrate, and protein content of the meal, and partly by the overall amount. If a meal contains more ...

We can consume more foods with a higher energy density, like pizza, chocolate, and chips, than the same amount of food with a lower energy density, such as apples.

We're prone to overeat high-calorie foods because they're ...

It is hard to resist our desire to eat higher energy-dense foods, making dieting lapses inevitable. Motivation to maintain the diet may dwindle and can add to the perception that the last five pounds are harder to lose.

Our weight will settle around a point that is a balance between th...