What nobody tells you about losing weight
Replies
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That it actually is possible to breathe and tie your shoes at the same time34
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That every Single week (If even that long) you have to work harder to burn the same amount of calories.
That your cat takes longer to find a comfy position laying on you lol
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Doing things you don't want to do all in the name of weight loss is the recipe for eating it all back.
Eat the foods you like and find exercise you can enjoy for the rest of your life.20 -
Diatonic12 wrote: »Doing things you don't want to do all in the name of weight loss is the recipe for eating it all back.
Eat the foods you like and find exercise you can enjoy for the rest of your life.
So completely true! As I said to a MFP friend who was asking for advice, "If the "healthy habit" you are trying to adopt feels like punishment, then either it's not the right time in your life to adopt that habit or that just isn't the right habit for you. "
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Losing weight is as much mental as it is physical.
Very easy to start having negative thoughts if you have a bad weigh in or you are stuck on a plateau.
I've seem someone describe weight loss as simple, but not easy. The idea is simple, consume less calories than your body uses each day and over time you will lose weight. It's simple math. But the act and process of simply consuming less calories than your body uses each day is not easy! Navigating daily life, inconsistent routines, family matters, schedules, birthdays, jobs, anniversaries, picnics, etc. The act of implementing sustainable, life-long changes is not easy.16 -
Losing my boobs is the biggest disappointment.
The pride I feel knowing that I am still striving to lose...even when I temporarily gain back 5-7 pounds. I have lost 28 pounds of the original 70.
The best part is having doctors compliment me on my natural weight loss.21 -
Before I got really serious about this I had never fully grasped that I could eat things like french toast or chocolate or ice cream, and still fit it into a 12-1400 calorie a day intake with decent, and not feel deprived. I would have thought it was wizardry.16
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No one told me that my anxiety will get better and I can actually start to function like a normal person.34
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You can drop the weight but not the inches at the same time
People will have different opinions on your weight...since giving birth in March,I have lost weight.only started eating healthy and monitoring my weight beginning of August and currently i'm at 75.2kg..after birth I was at 91kg so i've lost quite a lot.My helper has commented on my visible weight loss and then just last week a colleague told me that i'm gaining weight...I couldn't even respond,I was confused such that i actually went to the loo and checked myself out in the mirror.It was a bit demotivating I must say
Jealousy. You are doing great. There are people out there who look to knock others down. Absolutely ignore it. You do not have to defend yourself. Your OBJECTIVE data says otherwise, and that is the truth. Not someone else's subjective opinion.😊11 -
That every Single week (If even that long) you have to work harder to burn the same amount of calories.
That your cat takes longer to find a comfy position laying on you lol
idk if this helps but as your weight drops, your calories have to as well. If you're 150lbs and lose 15lbs, you weigh 10% less and your calories need to drop 10% accordingly. Assuming your activity is the same and you haven't gained muscle.3 -
IronIsMyTherapy wrote: »That every Single week (If even that long) you have to work harder to burn the same amount of calories.
That your cat takes longer to find a comfy position laying on you lol
idk if this helps but as your weight drops, your calories have to as well. If you're 150lbs and lose 15lbs, you weigh 10% less and your calories need to drop 10% accordingly. Assuming your activity is the same and you haven't gained muscle.
Not sure if that was actually meant for me. I was stating that you have to exercise harder because your body gets used to the exercise level and you burn less calories.6 -
You really can lose weight to the point of being able to comfortably cross your legs again, and that’s still with 20lbs to go! Upper thighs are crossed above the knee and they’re staying put
It feels as incredible as I imagined it would.27 -
What nobody tells you is that you will find an app like MFP and wonder how in the world you managed without it (and your digital scale). The app is so useful and makes counting calories and nutrition SO much easier.
But, what will surprise you is how much you end up loving the community aspect. How you will be disappointed when you sit down with MFP and see that no one has posted in Latest NSV, or "Petty" reason to lose wt, or Things no one tells you about losing wt., or What mini goal is motivating, or Before and after face edition, or New foods that caught eye, etc, etc! How encouraging and eye-opening it is to get a glimpse into the struggles and victories that others on a similar path as you have. A bunch of anonymous friends who will never meet, yet play a crucial role in helping me and many others be sucessful. It's a beautiful thing and much more important than I initially thought it would be!54 -
IronIsMyTherapy wrote: »That every Single week (If even that long) you have to work harder to burn the same amount of calories.
That your cat takes longer to find a comfy position laying on you lol
idk if this helps but as your weight drops, your calories have to as well. If you're 150lbs and lose 15lbs, you weigh 10% less and your calories need to drop 10% accordingly. Assuming your activity is the same and you haven't gained muscle.
Not quite exactly.
For sure your caloric requirement does decrease as your mass does; there's less of you to move around. It's not linear, though. A 10% decrease in mass doesn't mean a 10% decrease in calorie needs. A large amount of our daily calorie needs are to fuel our brain. Our brain uses a LOT of fuel. But yes, it's a very good idea to go back to the goal setting portion of MFP as your mass decreases and then reset your calorie consumption target because, sadly if you like to eat, it will decrease.
As an example, if I tell MFP I want to maintain at 175 pounds, I get 1980 calories. If I tell MFP I want to maintain at 145 pounds, I get 1810 calories. A 22.8% reduction in my mass reduces my caloric requirements 8.6%. So yes, you do have to adjust your calorie-in goal as you get closer to your target weight goal, but it's not one for one.
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IronIsMyTherapy wrote: »That every Single week (If even that long) you have to work harder to burn the same amount of calories.
That your cat takes longer to find a comfy position laying on you lol
idk if this helps but as your weight drops, your calories have to as well. If you're 150lbs and lose 15lbs, you weigh 10% less and your calories need to drop 10% accordingly. Assuming your activity is the same and you haven't gained muscle.
Not sure if that was actually meant for me. I was stating that you have to exercise harder because your body gets used to the exercise level and you burn less calories.
Not quite exactly.
It's just that as you have less mass, it takes less energy to move yourself around. Your body doesn't "get used" to the exercise; it's just not as much work to perform the same task. A calorie is a measure of energy. If you want to move a two-pound box of pickling salt a mile, it takes less work than a 20-pound bag of ice melting salt. Same salt, just a different amount of it. So as you lose mass, if you perform the same exercise, you have to do it longer to expend the same number of calories as when you were a higher mass. That's why you need to reassess your calorie target from time to time as you lose mass.
And you know what? It's AWESOME!
After you've lost a fair bit of weight, find something heavy and carry it around. I strapped 30 pounds of SCUBA weight on me and walked around. My knees hurt right away. But I used to ALWAYS carry that much weight around ALL the time.
I will gladly walk a little farther to not carry the extra, unneeded, unwanted weight.13 -
You can drop the weight but not the inches at the same time
People will have different opinions on your weight...since giving birth in March,I have lost weight.only started eating healthy and monitoring my weight beginning of August and currently i'm at 75.2kg..after birth I was at 91kg so i've lost quite a lot.My helper has commented on my visible weight loss and then just last week a colleague told me that i'm gaining weight...I couldn't even respond,I was confused such that i actually went to the loo and checked myself out in the mirror.It was a bit demotivating I must say
Jealousy. You are doing great. There are people out there who look to knock others down. Absolutely ignore it. You do not have to defend yourself. Your OBJECTIVE data says otherwise, and that is the truth. Not someone else's subjective opinion.😊
Thank you BabyLuthi for the encouragement.I will focus on what I know and press IGNORE.All the best to u too my dear
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BahstenB10 wrote: »No one told me that my anxiety will get better and I can actually start to function like a normal person.
Awesome..I'm with u on that one.Anxiety is fading,I feel so much better each day7 -
stopthat35 wrote: »Losing my boobs is the biggest disappointment.
The pride I feel knowing that I am still striving to lose...even when I temporarily gain back 5-7 pounds. I have lost 28 pounds of the original 70.
The best part is having doctors compliment me on my natural weight loss.
That is the best part indeed..My employer provided Mobile clinic testing last week and i took the tests.All my tests came back perfect and the nurse complimented me on my blood sugar level,it was just right even though I had just had a meal less than an hour before testing,my cholesterol,my BP..all was just perfect.He actually asked when last i had carbs and i told him I'm on a low carb diet and he said that explains my results bcoz they are just so good..Keep it up girl7 -
IronIsMyTherapy wrote: »That every Single week (If even that long) you have to work harder to burn the same amount of calories.
That your cat takes longer to find a comfy position laying on you lol
idk if this helps but as your weight drops, your calories have to as well. If you're 150lbs and lose 15lbs, you weigh 10% less and your calories need to drop 10% accordingly. Assuming your activity is the same and you haven't gained muscle.
Not sure if that was actually meant for me. I was stating that you have to exercise harder because your body gets used to the exercise level and you burn less calories.
That depends on the exercise you do. If you mainly do cardio, yes. If you strength train, probably the opposite. Every lb of muscle you gain is a calorie burning furnace. If, for example, you lost 10lbs of fat and gained 10lbs of muscle, you will absolutely have a higher maintenance caloric requirement. I'm not saying this is the case with you, but too many people new to fitness think "cardio" when they want fat loss. If they enjoy it, more power to em but adding muscle is the smart long term play to maintaining a lean physique. Not disagreeing with you, just expanding on it.5 -
IronIsMyTherapy wrote: »That every Single week (If even that long) you have to work harder to burn the same amount of calories.
That your cat takes longer to find a comfy position laying on you lol
idk if this helps but as your weight drops, your calories have to as well. If you're 150lbs and lose 15lbs, you weigh 10% less and your calories need to drop 10% accordingly. Assuming your activity is the same and you haven't gained muscle.
Not quite exactly.
For sure your caloric requirement does decrease as your mass does; there's less of you to move around. It's not linear, though. A 10% decrease in mass doesn't mean a 10% decrease in calorie needs. A large amount of our daily calorie needs are to fuel our brain. Our brain uses a LOT of fuel. But yes, it's a very good idea to go back to the goal setting portion of MFP as your mass decreases and then reset your calorie consumption target because, sadly if you like to eat, it will decrease.
As an example, if I tell MFP I want to maintain at 175 pounds, I get 1980 calories. If I tell MFP I want to maintain at 145 pounds, I get 1810 calories. A 22.8% reduction in my mass reduces my caloric requirements 8.6%. So yes, you do have to adjust your calorie-in goal as you get closer to your target weight goal, but it's not one for one.
I get your point and don't disagree, although MFP's recommendations are largely inaccurate. There's a lot of factors not accounted for, like LBM. If I cut from 210 to 185 for a competition, my caloric requirement decrease is closer to one for one because of my approach to diet and exercise.3 -
IronIsMyTherapy wrote: »That every Single week (If even that long) you have to work harder to burn the same amount of calories.
That your cat takes longer to find a comfy position laying on you lol
idk if this helps but as your weight drops, your calories have to as well. If you're 150lbs and lose 15lbs, you weigh 10% less and your calories need to drop 10% accordingly. Assuming your activity is the same and you haven't gained muscle.
Not sure if that was actually meant for me. I was stating that you have to exercise harder because your body gets used to the exercise level and you burn less calories.
Not quite exactly.
It's just that as you have less mass, it takes less energy to move yourself around. Your body doesn't "get used" to the exercise; it's just not as much work to perform the same task. A calorie is a measure of energy. If you want to move a two-pound box of pickling salt a mile, it takes less work than a 20-pound bag of ice melting salt. Same salt, just a different amount of it. So as you lose mass, if you perform the same exercise, you have to do it longer to expend the same number of calories as when you were a higher mass. That's why you need to reassess your calorie target from time to time as you lose mass.
And you know what? It's AWESOME!
After you've lost a fair bit of weight, find something heavy and carry it around. I strapped 30 pounds of SCUBA weight on me and walked around. My knees hurt right away. But I used to ALWAYS carry that much weight around ALL the time.
I will gladly walk a little farther to not carry the extra, unneeded, unwanted weight.
Well, then maybe I'm just weird, because my body will get used to an exercise level within a week or less. My hrm tells me my heart is working slightly less hard, meaning I am burning less calories even when putting out the same energy level. I am not losing enough mass in 5-7 days for weight to be the big difference in calorie burn.
ETA it's walking, aerobics and minor strength training using a total gym.3 -
I kind of get what you are saying. Lately, in my mat Pilates classes, I feel bored and unchallenged, like I’m not working hard enough.
My watch says I’m burning the same amount of calories, but I feel like I’m on autopilot and surely not “earning” the calories, even though the electronic evidence is on my wrist.
Same with walks. I’ve recently increased my morning walk from 2.75 miles to six or seven, and it still doesn’t feel like much of a workout.
So perhaps when “ability” outstrips “work” it feels like we haven’t “achieved”.
Does that make sense?
It doesn’t help that my watch is always pushing me to do more. This month it wants me to do about 7,000 excercise minutes because it always tries to increase the prior month’s total. At some point it’s going to break the time space continuum, right?20 -
You can drop the weight but not the inches at the same time
People will have different opinions on your weight...since giving birth in March,I have lost weight.only started eating healthy and monitoring my weight beginning of August and currently i'm at 75.2kg..after birth I was at 91kg so i've lost quite a lot.My helper has commented on my visible weight loss and then just last week a colleague told me that i'm gaining weight...I couldn't even respond,I was confused such that i actually went to the loo and checked myself out in the mirror.It was a bit demotivating I must say
Whether true or not, what sort of rude coworker just goes up to someone and tells them they are gaining weight to begin with? I think you can safely file this person’s opinions in the garbage.25 -
IronIsMyTherapy wrote: »That every Single week (If even that long) you have to work harder to burn the same amount of calories.
That your cat takes longer to find a comfy position laying on you lol
idk if this helps but as your weight drops, your calories have to as well. If you're 150lbs and lose 15lbs, you weigh 10% less and your calories need to drop 10% accordingly. Assuming your activity is the same and you haven't gained muscle.
Not sure if that was actually meant for me. I was stating that you have to exercise harder because your body gets used to the exercise level and you burn less calories.
Not quite exactly.
It's just that as you have less mass, it takes less energy to move yourself around. Your body doesn't "get used" to the exercise; it's just not as much work to perform the same task. A calorie is a measure of energy. If you want to move a two-pound box of pickling salt a mile, it takes less work than a 20-pound bag of ice melting salt. Same salt, just a different amount of it. So as you lose mass, if you perform the same exercise, you have to do it longer to expend the same number of calories as when you were a higher mass. That's why you need to reassess your calorie target from time to time as you lose mass.
And you know what? It's AWESOME!
After you've lost a fair bit of weight, find something heavy and carry it around. I strapped 30 pounds of SCUBA weight on me and walked around. My knees hurt right away. But I used to ALWAYS carry that much weight around ALL the time.
I will gladly walk a little farther to not carry the extra, unneeded, unwanted weight.
Well, then maybe I'm just weird, because my body will get used to an exercise level within a week or less. My hrm tells me my heart is working slightly less hard, meaning I am burning less calories even when putting out the same energy level. I am not losing enough mass in 5-7 days for weight to be the big difference in calorie burn.
ETA it's walking, aerobics and minor strength training using a total gym.
You are also increasing your fitness level, which means you expend less calories to do the same thing
It's super fun /s
Haha. I'll take it anyways though, even if it means working harder for the same goal.10 -
After you've lost a fair bit of weight, find something heavy and carry it around. I strapped 30 pounds of SCUBA weight on me and walked around. My knees hurt right away. But I used to ALWAYS carry that much weight around ALL the time.
I will gladly walk a little farther to not carry the extra, unneeded, unwanted weight.
I was just talking about getting one of those weight vests to see what it was like the other day. When I run now, I can actually feel that I weigh less. I can feel that it is easier to move. It's kind of a weird sensation and it's pretty great when you realize what is happening.
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That eventually, you start counting calories in your head and knowing how much each meal is 'costing' you.
How delicious REAL food is.
How quick and easy it is to make yourself a delicious meal.
How your legs feel after a long walk.
How sitting at a desk (working from home during corona) feels like torture.
How sometimes it's hard to eat ENOUGH calories.
How water tastes.
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thelastnightingale wrote: »My fat feels different.
I'm not sure how to describe this or if anyone here has had a similar experience... My stomach felt firmer at maximum fatness. I'm not saying the skin is loose now or anything (well, maybe it's a bit looser, but that's not what I mean), but it feels... softer and squishier? I don't have to prod it to know it feels different, I just 'know' - but if I prod it, I can feel the difference.
There's less fat overall, but what is left feels like a different type of fat. A different texture. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, just that it's different and it's a little bit weird.
Is it just me?
I get it!
My tummy hasn't gotten much smaller yet (about .5 an inch) but it feels firmer.
Is firm fat a thing?
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That when you lean on your elbows and hold your face in your hands you will be able to feel that your face is skinnier!6
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That eventually, you start counting calories in your head and knowing how much each meal is 'costing' you.
How delicious REAL food is.
How quick and easy it is to make yourself a delicious meal.
How your legs feel after a long walk.
How sitting at a desk (working from home during corona) feels like torture.
How sometimes it's hard to eat ENOUGH calories.
How water tastes.
I completely agree with the first but the rest nope. I ALWAYS ate and loved “ real food” ( fish, lean poultry, veggies, healthy oils) and made myself delicious meals. I just ate too much of it. I’m just someone who can eat a lot! A pound of salmon or chicken.several cups of brown rice, 6 bananas a day was typical. I do take long walks every day now but honestly that’s often torture. Love sitting at my desk way too much. And hard to eat enough calories? Omg, if only.
I’ve lost 75 pounds and kept it off for a year and a half so far. I think what this shows about what no one told me was “ what worked for others may not work for you. You have to find your own path” Glad you found yours!
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RelCanonical wrote: »When I was gaining weight, the last time I bought clothes, I was a size 14. I continued to think I was a size 14, even though my clothes were getting tight.
I then lost about 35 pounds. For someone my height, this is 3-4 dress sizes. Therefore, I thought I was a size 8. I went to go try on clothes for the first time in a while, since my stuff is getting loose.
I am not a size 8. I did drop 3-4 dress sizes, but I am a size 10-12 now. Denial was strong with this person. I was probably up to like an 18 before I started losing, but my brain did not connect.
It's sometimes painful when reality hits you in the face. I would always think I gained 10 pounds over the holidays, only to find I gained 25. ugh.
I can relate to this. Thanks for explaining it so clearly.
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