I am fat because...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you are fat, your body instinctively fights to keep you fat. That is why cutting calories, eating clean, and exercise are so important. It is like fighting an uphill battle, and most of us give up because we are hungry, we don't lose weight fast enough, and we crave the sugary and fatty foods. It is really hard! If you can perservere, you will lose weight, and eventually reset your body. It takes a lot of hard work and effort. I feel for op, but she makes a lot of excuses, and is not ready for the type of battle that she will need to fight.

I agree with everything but the bolded: Based on this TED talk - your body's set point only increases as you gain weight - but doesn't ever move back down. Basically, if you started out at 150 lbs and went up to 170 for a while - your body decides 170 is the new normal. If you lose those 20 lbs, maintaining 150 will be harder for you than for someone who stayed at 150 (i.e. you will have to eat less to maintain). Research has shown that you can expect to maintain a 10% weight loss, but more than that is unrealistic. You will have to fight to maintain 150.

I find this incredibly disheartening. I've lost weight several times in my life - but without complete focus my weight creeps up to the exact same spot over time (eating moderately!). It seems better to focus on not gaining more weight rather than losing (past the 10% loss mark).

TED talk referenced: http://www.ted.com/talks/sandra_aamodt_why_dieting_doesn_t_usually_work.html

I did not read the TED article, but I went from 140 pounds to 115 pounds over a 6 month period of time. During that time I was exercising and eating clean...no junk for me. I have kept the weight off for 3 years, and my body does not want to be back to 140. Even if I go to an all you can eat buffet, I can only eat so much. My body lets me know when to stop. I would have to physically binge on very high calorie and fat food go a long period of time to budge my weight. I am always in a 5 pound range of my 115 pounds, so I do feel like my body has reset its ideal weight.

I am not an obesity researcher, but I imagine that your body at 140 did not experience some of the metabolic changes that someone at 300 might have experienced. This is why PPs keep saying that what worked for one person might not work for another. Great work for you, though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I did not read the TED article, but I went from 140 pounds to 115 pounds over a 6 month period of time. During that time I was exercising and eating clean...no junk for me. I have kept the weight off for 3 years, and my body does not want to be back to 140. Even if I go to an all you can eat buffet, I can only eat so much. My body lets me know when to stop. I would have to physically binge on very high calorie and fat food go a long period of time to budge my weight. I am always in a 5 pound range of my 115 pounds, so I do feel like my body has reset its ideal weight.

I am not an obesity researcher, but I imagine that your body at 140 did not experience some of the metabolic changes that someone at 300 might have experienced. This is why PPs keep saying that what worked for one person might not work for another. Great work for you, though!

If you watch the video, you will see why this is working for you. You are eating intuitively. You retaught yourself how to do that. It means you will be more likely to maintain your current weight because you are listening to your body's signals. But it doesn't mean that your set point lowered. You still have to eat less to maintain that weight than someone who never increased to 140 in the first place.

[Anonymous]

cause of my sugar addiction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you are fat, your body instinctively fights to keep you fat. That is why cutting calories, eating clean, and exercise are so important. It is like fighting an uphill battle, and most of us give up because we are hungry, we don't lose weight fast enough, and we crave the sugary and fatty foods. It is really hard! If you can perservere, you will lose weight, and eventually reset your body. It takes a lot of hard work and effort. I feel for op, but she makes a lot of excuses, and is not ready for the type of battle that she will need to fight.

I agree with everything but the bolded: Based on this TED talk - your body's set point only increases as you gain weight - but doesn't ever move back down. Basically, if you started out at 150 lbs and went up to 170 for a while - your body decides 170 is the new normal. If you lose those 20 lbs, maintaining 150 will be harder for you than for someone who stayed at 150 (i.e. you will have to eat less to maintain). Research has shown that you can expect to maintain a 10% weight loss, but more than that is unrealistic. You will have to fight to maintain 150.

I find this incredibly disheartening. I've lost weight several times in my life - but without complete focus my weight creeps up to the exact same spot over time (eating moderately!). It seems better to focus on not gaining more weight rather than losing (past the 10% loss mark).

TED talk referenced: http://www.ted.com/talks/sandra_aamodt_why_dieting_doesn_t_usually_work.html

3 years ago I went from 185 to 145. This is a 20% loss. I also get my RMR tested and it has indeed gone up. I don't see HOW my RMR could not have gone up. I exercise regularly and have more muscle mass than ever. After a long run, I can literally feel my body burning fuel to recover. When I'm training up for a race, I can eat a huge bowl of pasta and still be famished an hour later. When I did that at 165, 175, and 185 and was sedentary my weight climbed and a pretty fast clip.

Exercise for me has been transformative on the inside and out. I don't think people stick to a plan long enough to see significant results. The journey is never over. If my body does not move and my fuel intake goes up, then OF COURSE I will gain weight again. Bodies are meant to move, and people don't need to fool themselves, Americans simply do not move enough. Exercise 30 minuets a day is a crock of shit. If you are generally sedentary (and "chasing kids" is not significant) and do not exercise a good amount, your body will get larger.

I'm not suggesting anything different. The point is that you have to work harder/eat less than someone who never left 145 in the first place. It takes more constant effort, which is what you are describing. You can increase your metabolic rate all you want, but you won't lower your "set point" of 185.

Not necessarily. I eat 2000kal a day (approx) and don't have to watch it. My weight problem was simply me being gluttonous. I highly doubt that many women aged 40 with a set point of 145 can embark on an agressive calorie consumption to the tune of 3000kal a day and get little to no exercise can stay 145 no matter what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you are fat, your body instinctively fights to keep you fat. That is why cutting calories, eating clean, and exercise are so important. It is like fighting an uphill battle, and most of us give up because we are hungry, we don't lose weight fast enough, and we crave the sugary and fatty foods. It is really hard! If you can perservere, you will lose weight, and eventually reset your body. It takes a lot of hard work and effort. I feel for op, but she makes a lot of excuses, and is not ready for the type of battle that she will need to fight.

I agree with everything but the bolded: Based on this TED talk - your body's set point only increases as you gain weight - but doesn't ever move back down. Basically, if you started out at 150 lbs and went up to 170 for a while - your body decides 170 is the new normal. If you lose those 20 lbs, maintaining 150 will be harder for you than for someone who stayed at 150 (i.e. you will have to eat less to maintain). Research has shown that you can expect to maintain a 10% weight loss, but more than that is unrealistic. You will have to fight to maintain 150.

I find this incredibly disheartening. I've lost weight several times in my life - but without complete focus my weight creeps up to the exact same spot over time (eating moderately!). It seems better to focus on not gaining more weight rather than losing (past the 10% loss mark).

TED talk referenced: http://www.ted.com/talks/sandra_aamodt_why_dieting_doesn_t_usually_work.html

3 years ago I went from 185 to 145. This is a 20% loss. I also get my RMR tested and it has indeed gone up. I don't see HOW my RMR could not have gone up. I exercise regularly and have more muscle mass than ever. After a long run, I can literally feel my body burning fuel to recover. When I'm training up for a race, I can eat a huge bowl of pasta and still be famished an hour later. When I did that at 165, 175, and 185 and was sedentary my weight climbed and a pretty fast clip.

Exercise for me has been transformative on the inside and out. I don't think people stick to a plan long enough to see significant results. The journey is never over. If my body does not move and my fuel intake goes up, then OF COURSE I will gain weight again. Bodies are meant to move, and people don't need to fool themselves, Americans simply do not move enough. Exercise 30 minuets a day is a crock of shit. If you are generally sedentary (and "chasing kids" is not significant) and do not exercise a good amount, your body will get larger.

Are you saying that 30 minutes a day of strenuous exercise isn't relevant/can't be transformative?

Relevant-yes. Transformative inside and out of the rest of your day is sedentary? No way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not necessarily. I eat 2000kal a day (approx) and don't have to watch it. My weight problem was simply me being gluttonous. I highly doubt that many women aged 40 with a set point of 145 can embark on an agressive calorie consumption to the tune of 3000kal a day and get little to no exercise can stay 145 no matter what.

Of course not! That's not what I'm saying. Person A maintains 145 lbs by eating 1800 calories a day, having never gained weight. Person B starts off at 145 but ends up slowly gaining to 185 over time, let's say by eating 1900 calories a day. Person B loses that weight back down to 145 and discovers to maintain 145 she can only eat 1600 calories a day. If she tries to maintain 145 on 1800 calories like Person A, she will find herself back at 185.

If you are training like an Olympic athlete, of course you can eat more because you are burning it up! But that doesn't change the fact that once your set point increased, it never goes back down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not necessarily. I eat 2000kal a day (approx) and don't have to watch it. My weight problem was simply me being gluttonous. I highly doubt that many women aged 40 with a set point of 145 can embark on an agressive calorie consumption to the tune of 3000kal a day and get little to no exercise can stay 145 no matter what.

Of course not! That's not what I'm saying. Person A maintains 145 lbs by eating 1800 calories a day, having never gained weight. Person B starts off at 145 but ends up slowly gaining to 185 over time, let's say by eating 1900 calories a day. Person B loses that weight back down to 145 and discovers to maintain 145 she can only eat 1600 calories a day. If she tries to maintain 145 on 1800 calories like Person A, she will find herself back at 185.

If you are training like an Olympic athlete, of course you can eat more because you are burning it up! But that doesn't change the fact that once your set point increased, it never goes back down.

Or you are person C who just ate too damn much and crept up to 185. Its not hard to maintain now. Ive just learned that its not OK to eat two dinners, chips as a daily snack, and pasteries for breakfast.

A typical day would be:

-chocolate croissant
-Burger for lunch (sometimes drive through sometimes Red Robin
-pringles
-fetuccini with alfredo chicken and broccoli
-dessert before bed.

My "set point" was not 185. The only thing set was my horribe eating and lack of exercise and OF course I did not exercise. Who could on that diet? Yuck!

[Anonymous]

I eat way too much! Do not exercise. Stress a lot.
FYI I am 5"2 and 135lbs so I need to lose a good 20 to 30lbs. I'm waiting for a wake up call...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not necessarily. I eat 2000kal a day (approx) and don't have to watch it. My weight problem was simply me being gluttonous. I highly doubt that many women aged 40 with a set point of 145 can embark on an agressive calorie consumption to the tune of 3000kal a day and get little to no exercise can stay 145 no matter what.

Of course not! That's not what I'm saying. Person A maintains 145 lbs by eating 1800 calories a day, having never gained weight. Person B starts off at 145 but ends up slowly gaining to 185 over time, let's say by eating 1900 calories a day. Person B loses that weight back down to 145 and discovers to maintain 145 she can only eat 1600 calories a day. If she tries to maintain 145 on 1800 calories like Person A, she will find herself back at 185.

If you are training like an Olympic athlete, of course you can eat more because you are burning it up! But that doesn't change the fact that once your set point increased, it never goes back down.

Lack of exercise and commitment.

[Anonymous]

Because I started eating grains and stuff again, abandoning the Primal diet that I know works to keep me full and at a healthy weight. So I picked up some 25 lbs, of which I've lost 5.5, without doing anything but eating the way I know I should.

[Anonymous]

I an 43, smaller than I was I HS, and I have a 2 yo. 120lbs 5'6"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I an 43, smaller than I was I HS, and I have a 2 yo. 120lbs 5'6"

What do you eat? Do you exercise a lot? Thanks for sharing.

[Anonymous]

I actually am insulin resistant,...and I'm from a family of type 2 diabetics. My Dr recommended the South Beach Diet and it's amazing. Well balanced and healthy but I can lose weight easily and feel great. 20 lbs down in four months.

I'm not using the diagnosis as an excuse as some PP have said, but it did give me insight as to how my body handled carbs.

WW left me seriously "hangry" with massive cravings..but SB has not. It's amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you are fat, your body instinctively fights to keep you fat. That is why cutting calories, eating clean, and exercise are so important. It is like fighting an uphill battle, and most of us give up because we are hungry, we don't lose weight fast enough, and we crave the sugary and fatty foods. It is really hard! If you can perservere, you will lose weight, and eventually reset your body. It takes a lot of hard work and effort. I feel for op, but she makes a lot of excuses, and is not ready for the type of battle that she will need to fight.

Eating clean is not enough. You have to be cautious with portions, mostly with the good fats like avocados/almonds/nuts/olive oil...

[Anonymous]

This is me, too. Boredom, mostly, more than stress or comfort. Since having a baby, I feel like I have SO little free time/time for any hobbies/any enjoyment at all/sleep, that the only thing i can get enjoyment from is eating. It sounds pathetic, but it is true. I find myself eating all sorts of crap that i never used to, before having a baby, just for something 'fun' to do. I know I need to stop soon, or I'm going to turn into a whale.

Be really, really careful with this. I did exactly this and I am, in fact, now a whale.