Why is regaining weight so common????

Sabine_Stroehm

People regain the weight because they didn't make real habit changes. Sustainable changes.

tlblood

jennifer_417 wrote: »

The only thing I hate more than being hungry is being cold. So, yeah, no thanks!

Me too!

Aviva92

I don't know if any of this is true, but if it is, my 5 mile walks in the single digit temperatures to and from work is more fantastic for staying thin than I thought.

If fat cells are truly mostly formed as a kid, then it would explain why it was really easy for me to keep the weight off. I was a skinny kid. I did not become hungry to eat more and regain it after losing. My appetite completely adjusted to eating less. I was never obese though, just bordering on overweight at my highest.

jnv7594

zyxst wrote: »

"There is one method that works in animals and live humans, but it doesn’t actually kill fat cells. It converts them into a more useful type of fat:

Cold exposure. It turns out that cold exposure has the potential to transform white adipose tissue cells into metabolism-stimulating brown fat cells. In one recent study, researchers took belly fat samples from the same people during the summer and winter. Biomarkers of brown adipose tissue activity were higher in the winter belly fat. In another portion of the study, people held ice packs against their thighs. Thigh tissue samples revealed greater conversion of white fat into brown fat in the lean members of the group, while the obese had less brown fat conversion, probably due to higher baseline inflammation levels. A more recent study found that cold applied to human neck fat initiated the conversion of white fat cells into brown ones. If you can’t kill ‘em, convert ‘em.

One problem with this: it’s not a one-and-done deal. Cold-converted brown fat can revert back to white fat if the stimulus is withdrawn, though not immediately. Periodic cold exposure, even if it’s just taking early morning walks in short sleeves or cool showers or regular dips in cold water several times a week, might be required for people trying to maintain the browning."



Ooookay. I think I'll stick with not constantly stuffing my face with food.

Off topic, but oh, how I miss Three's Company and John Ritter.

Lourdesong

Being cold makes me want to eat to get warm.

MKEgal

Sparklething2325 wrote:

Most woman (sic) don't strength train and cardio is not good for long term fat loss.

False and false.
There are plenty of women who lift, either as part of their exercise or even competitively.
Cardio burns calories more efficiently than weightlifting. It's been working wonders for me.
Yes, I also lift, and have at least maintained my lean body mass while losing 80-ish lb of fat. One calculator says I've gained muscle.
But lifting is definitely important!
.

and as we age we loose (sic) muscle mass as well. This results in a slower metabolism.

_Aging_ slows the metabolism:
A 150 lb 5'10" female who's 45 years old has a BMR of 1406.
At age 25, it's 1506.

Since muscle uses 6 cal/day/lb losing muscle would result in a slightly slower metabolism, but it's not a huge change. How likely is it that someone would lose 17 lb of muscle as a young to middle-aged adult in her most active years? (Resulting in that 100-cal drop.)
.

we burn less (sic) calories doing the same cardio we did at a heavier weight then (sic) when we weigh less.

Sadly true. When I first started, 75-ish lb ago, it wasn't hard to score an 800 calorie workout. Now it takes an hour on the elliptical + some weightlifting + some hill-climbing on the treadmill (but that day I broke 1000!).

bmanlatour

Maintaining a calorie restricted diet for a long time does 2 things that contribute to regaining lost weight.

1. You lose muscle mass. You aren't eating enough protein so you have a negative nitrogen balance. You body breaks down muscle for use in making other proteins. Less muscle lowers your resting metabolic rate.

2. You body becomes more efficient at living off of less calories. While calorie calculators say you are going to lose 2 lbs per week, you have acclimated to a lower calorie intake in addition to losing muscle mass.

You reach your goal. Then you try to return to a maintenance level of calories. You are well adjusted to a low caloric intake at 2000 calories. Now you start eating 2500 calories like a normal person of your weight and size. Your body treats the 500 calories like a surplus. 500 calories for 7 days equals 3500. 3500 calories is the estimated energy in 1 lb of adipose tissue! Your muscles are tiny so they can't hold much glycogen and haven't been stimulated by exercise so they don't need anything protein synthesis. Guess where it goes: adipose tissue.

Aviva92

bmanlatour wrote: »

Maintaining a calorie restricted diet for a long time does 2 things that contribute to regaining lost weight.

1. You lose muscle mass. You aren't eating enough protein so you have a negative nitrogen balance. You body breaks down muscle for use in making other proteins. Less muscle lowers your resting metabolic rate.

2. You body becomes more efficient at living off of less calories. While calorie calculators say you are going to lose 2 lbs per week, you have acclimated to a lower calorie intake in addition to losing muscle mass.

You reach your goal. Then you try to return to a maintenance level of calories. You are well adjusted to a low caloric intake at 2000 calories. Now you start eating 2500 calories like a normal person of your weight and size. Your body treats the 500 calories like a surplus. 500 calories for 7 days equals 3500. 3500 calories is the estimated energy in 1 lb of adipose tissue! Your muscles are tiny so they can't hold much glycogen and haven't been stimulated by exercise so they don't need anything protein synthesis. Guess where it goes: adipose tissue.

maybe, but if your maintenance decreases, your appetite should also decrease. the reason in that link seemed to be a better reason to me.

RodaRose

Your calories for maintenance are lower than you think that they would be. It is math.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1105816
One year after initial weight reduction, levels of the circulating mediators of appetite that encourage weight regain after diet-induced weight loss do not revert to the levels recorded before weight loss. Long-term strategies to counteract this change may be needed to prevent obesity relapse. (Funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number,

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
A full year after significant weight loss, these men and women remained in what could be described as a biologically altered state.
. . . . “What we see here is a coordinated defense mechanism with multiple components all directed toward making us put on weight,” Proietto says. “This, I think, explains the high failure rate in obesity treatment.”

bunnypy

jennifer_417 wrote: »

The only thing I hate more than being hungry is being cold. So, yeah, no thanks!

Yep tht's me, i'd rather starve!

ninerbuff

rjrobert wrote: »

There working on a new treatment for cancer that tiny nanobots (I know, Science Fiction sounding) attach themselves to cancer sells and then a proton pulse cannon shoots the nanobots signature thus killing the cancer cell.

If this ends up working, not only would it be the miracle so many are looking for in Cancer research, I also wonder if they could reprogram them to attach to fat cells and blast them this bringing the number of fat cells in your body back down?

You're born with the amount of fat cells you'll have for life. Fat cells increase when obesity is present.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

bmanlatour

Aviva92 wrote: »

maybe, but if your maintenance decreases, your appetite should also decrease. the reason in that link seemed to be a better reason to me.

You don't find that your hunger decreases after sticking with calorie restriction for a while? It seems like I acclimate after 10-14 days.

SergeantSausage

Because food tastes good, that's why.

amusedmonkey

Sparklething2325 wrote: »

Most woman don't strength train and cardio is not good for long term fat loss. That leads to muscle loss and as we age we loose muscle mass as well. This results in a slower metabolism. Also we burn less calories doing the same cardio we did at a heavier weight then when we weigh less. I'm gaining weight now but that's on purpose because i want more muscle mass.

While it's true muscle mass generally decreases with weight loss, but it isn't true that cardio isn't good for long term fat loss. It's been proven over and over that maintaining an exercise regime (regardless of the type) is one of the best maintenance tactics. According to the National Weight Control Registry, a database of people who have successfully maintained the loss of at least 30 pounds for at least a year, the most common form of exercise is walking.

heybales

Aviva92 wrote: »

I don't know if any of this is true, but if it is, my 5 mile walks in the single digit temperatures to and from work is more fantastic for staying thin than I thought.

If fat cells are truly mostly formed as a kid, then it would explain why it was really easy for me to keep the weight off. I was a skinny kid. I did not become hungry to eat more and regain it after losing. My appetite completely adjusted to eating less. I was never obese though, just bordering on overweight at my highest.

The bummer part is the research has also shown your body can grow more fat cells besides just filling up the existing ones to max, which then are never gotten rid of, and always available for use.

Not sure I've seen any research on that fact with leptin feedback loop that could explain a harder time for some regaining. Beyond not prepared with fact your body likely burns less than it would have otherwise, depending on how fast you got to goal weight.

Lrdoflamancha

If you always do what you always did... You will always get what you always got....

47Jacqueline

Because most people who regain their weight have not changed the way they eat as a habit. They persist in thinking about being on a diet vs not, cheating, good vs bad, etc.

sarahmoo12

I hate the cold (unless its snowing), I would rather stay the size I am that take a cold shower 3 odd times a week !