How difficult is it to maintain (1-10)
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
You don’t understand because you confuse the field of biology for the field of physics. (DP) |
Anonymous
Ok, so then please explain it to me like I'm 5. |
Anonymous
|
5. I still eat cookies, but also still watch what I eat very often. I have always thought I was chubby but as I get older, I feel thinner lol. I've always been 120-125 at 5'1. Now that I'm late 30s, I'm definitely on the thinner side, but it felt chubby in my early teens. I'm grateful that I've stayed the same size my whole life.
I had to WORK to lose that baby weight. All those women who said it fell off- nope. Mine was starved off or burned off pound by pound. And I EBF. But once I lose the weight, it's not that hard to maintain. DH basically eats 2 ice cream cones a day and hasn't gained an ounce in 20 years. He's 160, 6'2 and muscular too even though he no longer lifts. It's really not fair to watch. |
Anonymous
When you put a gallon of gas in your car, it will never learn to be more efficient or burn it in any other way than the way mechanical engineers understand it to burn applying the laws of physics. That is not how cells or metabolisms work. They do adapt, become more or less efficient over time, respond to body composition, and deploy hormones to constantly change how things are being burned or absorbed. |
Anonymous
Well yes of course. But then something must have changed dramatically in pp's life. A person carrying the momentum to lose weight via diet/exercise is not going to suddenly gain, if they're maintaining the same speed limit/regimen. Perhaps pp started a new medication or incurred a debilitating medical condition, or maybe had an injury and is overstating their continuation of diet/exercise, but her weight gain is from other intervening factors. And those reasons may be valid in putting "maintaining" at a level 10, but I think she's not sharing full information. --middle aged woman |
Anonymous
| 2, but mostly because I've accepted that my body wants to be 160 lbs. I've lost weight and gained weight, but I always come back to right around 160. If I was determined to be 150 it would be 10 to maintain. I've only gotten there when I was either extremely stressed or not eating carbs and exercising 2 hours/day. |
Anonymous
|
1.
I’m 45 so will probably change with menopause. |
Anonymous
|
3. I eat what I want during the day, but my dinners are usually low in carbs. No huge bowl of Mac and cheese, for example. I have no problems with keeping the weight this way.
I also like and try to walk everywhere ( rain or shine). I see many overweight American ladies drive cars to drop off their kids at school. They could easily walk ( they live only 7- 10 mins away) but people like the convenience of driving. |
Anonymous
PP who called you rude here. You could have phrased the question better. It happened because PP didn't actually keep the same diet as before, which she shouldn't be doing anyways. If you are cutting 500 calories to lose weight, then you need to add 500 calories back to maintain. PP was probably eating 1000 calories instead. The real reason is that people say "I just lost 20 pounds, one extra cookie won't hurt! I've earned it!" But then they do that every day. |
Anonymous
| Another obstacle is that at the lower weight the same level of activity (say running/walking a certain distance at a certain speed) burns substantially fewer calories than it did while you were on your downward trend (but still heavier). The only exceptions I can think of are stationary biking (or on flat ground) and weightlifting from a seated/prone position. |
Anonymous
|
3-6
It depends. Some days and times of year are easier than others. Right now, I am in a stretch where I am choosing not to prioritize the food choices/sizes/timing that I know supports maintaining the 40 pounds I lost in 2021. My dad died a year ago today, I have a stressful job, and kids who while delightful require a lot of work. At a time when most of my life is sadness and drudgery, I am enjoying some self-indulgent vices after hours (snacks and edibles). I had made a deal with myself that tomorrow, I am resetting that pattern and making some different choices. That puts me more in a 3 or lower space. Before, when it was just emotional eating and self medication to get through a really shitty 3 week period, it was more like a 5 or 6. I made changes, went back to baseline. |
Anonymous
This is absolutely not the way to cut calories, and then maintain. The smaller your body, the fewer calories your body needs. So if you cut 500 calories from the get-go, that needs to be your new normal. You do NOT add back those calories (unless you're burning them). Basically you get to a point where you're naturally not losing anymore, because that's your new normal. Because the calories needed to maintain weight at 200lbs is NOT the same number of calories you need to maintain at 150lbs. Also points to the value of NOT making drastic changes, and losing weight very slowly. But back to pp, so then you and I agree? It's understandable if they find it very hard to maintain, but they weren't honest in their response, either. |
Anonymous
You say you know but then you say it can’t be possible. Mind you PP didn’t say it was “sudden,” those are your words. But your body adapting to be more efficient on the same regime, and then returning to a previous set point weight? That’s not an exception to the rule. That’s the rule, i.e. what happens the majority of time when someone loses weight. |
Anonymous
You continue to confuse physics with biology. They are not the same thing. There are no rules of physics in the burning of calories and accumulation of weight. |
Anonymous
Yes, the numbers means nothing. If you wolf down 10,000 calories of food intake a day it doesn’t matter. |