Is it "easier" when you have more weight to lose?

captivatedlife

I think it's hard to be motivated when you look like everyone else around you. I gained 15 lbs and no one noticed.... I didn't really care until I had a medical scare. So in that sense, it was easy for me to be motivated because I want to be healthy and live for a long time - not because I really want to live a healthy life! (just being honest - don't kill me for it!).
- Sometimes it is hard to make a lifestyle change or difficult choice when you really want to do other things (like eat German chocolate cake..... oops, off topic!).

carlysuzanne85

I think it's easy to say "the grass is greener on the other side." Sure, it's frustrating to sometimes only lose a pound in a whole month after a lot of hard work and then look at someone who lost five pounds this week from simply cutting out ice cream or soda or something but I'm sure it's equally as frustrating for someone who, hypothetically, has been overweight since childhood to look at a person who just needs to lose 10 pounds to "get back to where they were pre- (baby or job stress or life change) weight" and who just have to get back into healthy habits they had most of their life instead of building all those good habits from scratch. Instead of trying to prove who's "hard" is hardest or who's "bad" is worse, we should just recognize that it's a tough process on everyone and that playing the comparison game isn't good for anyone. (Plus, as far as OP's coworker, it's easy to find excuses when you're looking for one too )

Wiseandcurious

Whittedo wrote: »

That's like saying it is easier for someone to run a marathon than it is to run a 5k. Sounds like excuse making to me.

That is a useful analogy.

People kind of forget that *everyone* has a "last 10lb" at some point. The person who started very obese just lost a lot more before that, too!

stealthq

Wiseandcurious wrote: »

Whittedo wrote: »

That's like saying it is easier for someone to run a marathon than it is to run a 5k. Sounds like excuse making to me.

That is a useful analogy.

People kind of forget that *everyone* has a "last 10lb" at some point. The person who started very obese just lost a lot more before that, too!

True.

But I'd be willing to bet that the lighter person in the OP didn't mean to say that getting to goal weight was easier for the OP.

Pretty sure she meant getting started and establishing consistent weight loss is easier for the OP, and harder for her which is why she's stalling in the starting blocks, as it were. Think of it as the 1st 5K of the 5K race being harder than the 1st 5K of the marathon, which I think is pretty cut and dried.

I'd probably agree with her if she has only 5lb or so to lose and is already lean just because she wouldn't be able to create much of a deficit and her loss would be slow, making the commitment harder to adhere to. But OP says she has 10-20 lbs left so she should be able to get a decent deficit going. I call shenanigans on that one.

ETA: Original quote.

ahoy_m8

jgnatca wrote: »

Hah.

That's awesome. So true! Thanks a bunch for that! Vanity pounds require calorie counting precision. That doesn't make it easier or harder, IMHO, it just is. Maybe you could say it takes more experience to do it accurately, but it isn't mentally or physically harder.

I haven't lost 100 lb, so my perspective is not first hand, but it seems that takes greater perseverance. I can lose 5 vanity lb in 3 mo, and larger losses take much longer. Also, obesity plays games with hunger regulating hormones, so some people with a lot to lose have to deal with constant hunger that does not plague vanity losers. Maybe your coworker meant you can safely lose more per week, which is true.

TheSatinPumpkin

Regardless if you have 15lbs or 150lbs to lose its all mental cause you gotta want it. I will admit that i am little nervous about maintenance but i just take it one day at a time.

mbam89

Everyone wants to be the exception. Instead of admitting that you're willing to work harder than I am, it's easier for me to tell myself that it's just not as hard for you. Maybe that's her attitude. I've never only had a small amount of weight to lose, so I can't speak from experience, but as someone who's very overweight, I can say it's never been easy for me.
I'm glad you didn't take offense to her comment. I'm sure she didn't mean to be offensive, and honestly, I think her comment has nothing to do with you, it's about her not being willing/ready/able to do what it takes to lose the weight she wants to lose.

callsitlikeiseeit

i think we all say stupid things without realizing/ meaning to.

i have a feeling what she MEANT is that you (and me and other overweight people) burn more calories faster than someone much smaller. So, while I can burn 600 calories in an hour at the gym on the elliptical and bike, or in an hour long zumba class, the same amount of exercise would burn fewer calories for HER. which, would be accurate.

Francl27

Of course it's easier when you have more to lose. You can eat more and still lose and you burn way more calories doing the same exercise.

The mental part is the same though.

barbecuesauce

Congrats on your loss so far, OP.

I think weight loss was easier when I was heavier, but it's never been easy. The difference for your coworker is that while a heavy person can ease into weight loss (they will see losses just by making baby steps like eyeballing portions then measuring then weighing), someone thin pretty much has to jump into calorie counting and exercise.

But your coworker is either bad at expressing herself or insane if she thinks you're having an easy time of it.

RodaRose

Maybe it would help you to talk less about your weight loss plan at work. This convo might seem benign, but conversations like this can get weirder and meaner. Put a stop to them.
That said, your co-worker is playing one-upmanship -- trying to be better than you.

anarchysbitch

It may be "easier" to drop more weight being larger with exercise but it's harder exercising when you are larger so the answer is no, it's all relative.

PeachyCarol

If she keeps starting and stopping... that's on her. She lacks motivation to stick with it. She expects rapid consistent loss to keep motivating her and then attributes the fact that you have the feedback like that (a natural consequence of having more to lose) for your "motivation".

Um, no.

Her logic is flawed, and she's making excuses for herself and her lack of determination.

Her body is her own and is going to act the way it's going to act.

AbsoluteTara79

As someone losing 30 pounds of baby/new job weight, I don't think it's "easier". I think it's just a slight different set of challenges. (Ones that people with a lot of weight to lose get to deal with later on).

More precision is required and pretty much nobody thinks you're overweight. I've had medical professionals tell me I'm not overweight when I indeed fit the category. So it's easier to fool yourself and backslide.

astrose00

I totally forgot I started th is thread! Glad to see the good comments... no she didn't mean that it was easy for me because I started at a bigger weight. She was saying that it was CLEARLY easier for me because I had actually done it and she can't seem to do it. Lame logic but it's like seeing a ballroom dancer and saying that it is easy for her to do what she does. It looks easy because of the ton of work she put in to get to where she is now. But in actuality, she worked really hard. Sorry I wasn't more clear in my original post.

Bottom line is that I want this. I want it more than I did when i was smaller and I was the one wanting to lose vanity pounds. So my motivation is greater, I would agree. Not just because I was bigger (she and I are actually within 10 pounds of each other now and I'm 3 inches taller) But because I did not quit.

astrose00

barbecuesauce wrote: »

Congrats on your loss so far, OP.

I think weight loss was easier when I was heavier, but it's never been easy. The difference for your coworker is that while a heavy person can ease into weight loss (they will see losses just by making baby steps like eyeballing portions then measuring then weighing), someone thin pretty much has to jump into calorie counting and exercise.

But your coworker is either bad at expressing herself or insane if she thinks you're having an easy time of it.

Thanks. Yes, she is delusional and I told her that. Just because person A accomplishes something and person B doesn't does not mean it was "easier" for person A. All other things being equal, I WOULD say person A was more determined. As I said, we are now the same size, almost. I'm still going in terms of weight loss. It will be slower but slow is better than stopped (or never started). It is all good. I take no offense to anything she says. I don't think she meant to be malicious.