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While I watched celebrity chef Paula Deen blithely place an entire stick of butter onto a heated pan, my roommate wailed for the hundredth time, “I’m getting fat!” A lull followed while she waited expectantly, I sighed in exasperation, and Paula smiled at the melting butter.

With Thanksgiving almost a week behind us, awkward moments like this must be plentiful. We are all worried about those extra pounds from double-sized servings of stuffing and mashed potatoes drowned in gravy. And we all think we have the answer: dieting.

In reality, dieting is a method that brings little success and loads of unhappiness. Repeatedly endeavoring to lose those extra 10 pounds is the most tried and untrue solution of weight-obsessed Americans, a Sisyphean struggle to which you should say, “forget it!”

Not everyone is like Jared the Subway guy. In fact, most people don’t even come close. Up to 95 percent of dieters will regain all the weight they lost within about a year – and perhaps even tack on some additional pounds.

No wonder losing weight is the habitual New Year’s resolution year after year. Come January, many of my relatives will no doubt vow to battle their bulges through dieting for maybe the 10th year in a row. And each repeated resolution is evidence of a previous failed attempt. There’s a reason why dieting is so popular: It doesn’t work.

And who knows, even Jared might balloon back up to 425 pounds, and then some.

Cycling through failed weight loss attempts comes with a cost. In a paper written by Janet Polivy and C. Peter Herman, the authors say that yo-yo dieting is not only physically harmful, but psychologically hurtful as well. “Worsened mood, difficulties concentrating, fatigue and irritability” are some listed symptoms.

Other studies have even found that distress can cause dieters to overeat. I think Fat Bastard said it best in the second Austin Powers movie: “I eat because I’m unhappy, and I’m unhappy because I eat. It’s a vicious cycle.”

Another reason it is so difficult to lose weight is simple biology. Human beings are born with a genetically determined set point – a weight your body will fight to maintain.

One theory is that if you begin to overeat, fat cells in your body will start to increase the production of leptin. This induces the burning of stored fat, a quickened metabolism and a reduction in appetite. Of course, all these things help bring you back to your set point.

On the other hand, when you begin to consume less food, leptin levels will drop. This means that while you may experience an initial decrease in weight, the eventual disappearance of leptin – your most valuable ally – causes your metabolism to slow, your appetite to grow, your fat to be efficiently stored, and ultimately, your diet to fail.

So holiday weight should be less of a thing to worry about. According to the set point theory, extra pounds should naturally melt away as we return to our normal routines.

And for those who are year-round carriers of an extra five or 10 pounds, why fight on a side that is doomed from the beginning, especially since studies have shown that being overweight does not necessarily mean being unhealthy?

There is evidence that places the blame on a different health-ailing culprit: inactivity. While there is a higher death rate for people who are overweight, we can’t be certain that it is fat and not a lack of exercise that is the cause.

Someone who is overweight, especially if it is only by a few pounds, can still be healthy, though this doesn’t mean you should stuff your face and give up a healthy lifestyle altogether. Also, it doesn’t matter how many pounds, kilograms or stones you weigh. Exercise is key to maintaining good health.

The toil of dieting is not worth it. Suffering through the misery will not provide any gains, unless we are talking about gains in weight. And think of all the yummy stuff you’d be deprived of.

For her Thanksgiving show, Paula Deen made a “turducken,” which is a chicken, stuffed inside a duck, stuffed inside a turkey. Between the meats are thick layers of stuffing. It was utter decadence. A quote from George Bernard Shaw comes to mind: “There is no love sincerer than the love of food.”

Why fight this love with rigorous dieting when it won’t even get you anywhere? Perhaps it would benefit our well-being to be a little more like Paula Deen. Forget weight, forget guilt, and forget those horrid celery sticks. It’s time to have our turkey, stuffed with duck, stuffed with chicken, and eat it too.

If you think you love food more than Tao, e-mail her at atao@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.