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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.