"If you're fat and lose weight, you're probably gonna get fat again"

bjankabanjac

A very interesting article on food addiction in obese and formerly obese people. What are your thoughts on it?

http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2014/05/if-youre-fat-and-lose-weight-youre.html

karyabc

Oh oh It gives me an error from my cel, would have try later from my laptop.

Anyway I'm on a special snowflake plan since day 1

Sued0nim

An excuse not to commit

Don't care what happens to those who don't commit properly ...I've got this

Therealobi1

oh wow the article was abit long and whiny but i get the idea.
he saying we should face this like a drug addict faces their drug addiction or you are doomed

like everything everyone is going to be different, some will need more help than others. So far for me trying to be more mindful of what i am eating and how much i move is doing the trick. Giving a damn about how i look and having loads more choice in the shops is keeping me going. Not having heart burn or being less tired is also keeping me going. so the simple move more and eat less is ok for me, i dont need therapy and i cant afford a personal trainer.

yarwell

Sued0nim

2 in a 1000... I would like to see the source of that ...

karyabc

Yeah I think I can agree in the get all the help you can to beat obesity, but let's just be honest the best explanation for weight gain again is just the whole setting of I'm dieting (plus I must deprive my self from anything that is not salad and meat) , so when the diet is over I can go back and eat what I want.

Yeah "the diet" is never over, we can't expect to temporally change our eating habits and stay in a healthy weight for ever

Mycophilia

Considering how much misinformation about nutrition is out there, I'm not surprised.

47Jacqueline

The statistics are pretty bad - not that bad, but not great. There's a new study out that says the tide as been stemmed and the recidivism rate is now "only" 80%.

But the reality is more people who lose weight gain it back than keep it off.

That's the reason there's a health crisis in this country. That's the reason they keep writing diet books, why there are millions of people on this site. And why the diet industry is so lucrative.

The bottom line is that success is not easy to maintain, it's not dramatic to say I've stayed the same weight as opposed to I've just lost x pounds.

zyxst

Since I don't have food addiction, I'm okay.

professionalHobbyist

I really don't care what a flaky study says.

People do great things all the time

Have some faith In yourself.

mystgrl1604

that doesn't bode well for me. Im trying to develop healthy habits and Im hoping they stick, as I've been fat all my life and want a change. Once I get this weight off, I hope it stays off! Hehe.

Sued0nim

mystgrl1604 wrote: »

that doesn't bode well for me. Im trying to develop healthy habits and Im hoping they stick, as I've been fat all my life and want a change. Once I get this weight off, I hope it stays off! Hehe.

mystgrl1604 wrote: »

that doesn't bode well for me. Im trying to develop healthy habits and Im hoping they stick, as I've been fat all my life and want a change. Once I get this weight off, I hope it stays off! Hehe.

Don't hope

Plan for it

Realise maintenance takes commitment too

And do

mangrothian

mystgrl1604 wrote: »

that doesn't bode well for me. Im trying to develop healthy habits and Im hoping they stick, as I've been fat all my life and want a change. Once I get this weight off, I hope it stays off! Hehe.

Read the comments above you. Article is a load of codswallop. The only thing that decides if your weight stays off is you, not an article that is written by a person who likes to make excuses, or a statistic. The willpower of people is what changes the statistics in the first place.

xcalygrl

yarwell wrote: »

This, so much this.

I have been guilty of the "I eat this way. Oy, I need to lose weight. I will now restrict myself something fierce, lose the pounds I want, then fall back into my old ways" before. It takes a lifestyle change, doing something you can do for the rest of your life. Ten years ago when I finally decided I wouldn't do anymore diets, it clicked. I lost and have maintained relatively well since. It took me changing my mindset before I found something I could live with for the rest of my life.

Iron_Feline

bjankabarazani wrote: »

A very interesting article on food addiction in obese and formerly obese people. What are your thoughts on it?

http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2014/05/if-youre-fat-and-lose-weight-youre.html

Might as well quit then and just stay fat

barbecuesauce

mystgrl1604 wrote: »

that doesn't bode well for me. Im trying to develop healthy habits and Im hoping they stick, as I've been fat all my life and want a change. Once I get this weight off, I hope it stays off! Hehe.

You're a special snowflake. I'm a special snowflake. Everyone who stays the course is a special snowflake.

I think I will probably log forever and I am okay with that. It's worked for me for the last 11 months and as I enter maintenance very soon, it will work for me there too.

Don't hope your habits stick. Plan to make your habits stick.

snowflake930

Everything I have read says pretty much the same thing, but not only about obese and formerly obese people. Most people gain back all (and in many cases) even more weight. Very few actually keep it off for five years or more. I am approaching 21 months of having kept the weight off (I was formerly morbidly obese, and have been a "normal" weight for almost 21 months now) and intend to keep the weight off. The alternative is not acceptable, and no food tastes as good as it feels, to feel healthier and to be able to move around easier and to buy clothes in a much, much smaller size.

It is not easy to maintain, but it isn't easy losing the weight either. Staying committed and focused is necessary to keep the weight off and achieving long term success, and I am going to prove the statistics wrong as many people here have done, and are doing.

amusedmonkey

The "addiction " approach is ill-conceived. With addiction you cut out the addictive substance entirely. You can't cut out food. The issue is that some habits are hard to change, and in a battle of instant gratification vs delayed benefit, without conscious reasoning instant gratification will always win. In maintenance a person's focus on diet tends to taper off since seeing the same number on the scale (that is if they keep the amazing habit of weighing periodically) is not the same as anticipating different numbers each time.

This sounds more like an excuse to me. Yes it's hard for those who have been consuming too many calories to change their whole eating world to fit their new maintenance goal, but it's not impossible. Relying on concepts such as "addiction" only shifts the blame from the person to some mysterious power out of their control that forces them to eat.

Unknown

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isulo_kura

Ahh the Addiction card or as it's otherwise known. 'It's not my fault, so that's the excuse me not getting of my fat *kitten* and doing something about it'

Kalikel

The stats are sobering. Anyone who doesn't take heed is either cocky or stupid, IMO.

I pray that it's not me.

I think I'm setting myself up for success. But reading articles about failure rates and having watched people IRL lose a lot and then gain back (surgery or no surgery), I have to take a good, hard look at it and do some thinking. Am I being arrogant when I think I will be the exception? Are my plans good, long-term plans and not just things I like now, but could change later if I stop liking them?

I think I have good plans. I think I'll maintain it. Sometimes when I read others' plans, I think, "You're a fool," and kind of slap myself on the back. Am I right or not? Is their plan the better one?

I don't know that I will be the miracle one who keeps it off. I think so. I have unique, sensible plans. But I just don't know.

The odds are against all of us. Most of us will gain it back.

It's a lot to think about. And kinda scary.

bmele0

Also, when individuals lose weight say via diet and exercise, their bodies have become more efficient at this point. For example, if I finally reach a weight of 150 after losing a 100 lbs and the woman next to me who is the same weight and height has been in the vicinity of 150 her entire life, her body hasn't had to learn to work as efficiently as the person who has dieted/exercised to lose the weight. It means I will always have to eat less than whatever that person eats to maintain. Although, one should never look to others to find out what is right for them.

Often we see people on the board that claim to hit a plateau even though their goal should set them up to lose 0.5-1 lb a week and they are doing everything right like weighing their food and logging it- what some of them didn't realize is that they are probably already very close to or at maintenance despite thinking they are at a deficit. It sucks, but it just means adjusting and shaving off more cals.

All in all, weight loss is difficult and I don't want to be one of those people that looks at other obese people and say, "If I can do it- why can't they?" I'm sure people thought/ think it about me. I can't apply my own failures or success on others. I can totally see how people get sucked right back into old habits. We are human after all.

_Terrapin_

rabbitjb wrote: »

2 in a 1000... I would like to see the source of that ...

Weight watchers is quoted. Take the OP's link, scroll through meat head's diatribe and find the a link about WW(second link I think). . . .WW. Some of the studies are talking about greater then 10% of someone's body weight being the measuring stick. IDK, I think Weight Watchers may not be the best barometer.

Kalikel

Weight Watchers isn't the best barometer. They have a financial interest in lying. Plus, they don't keep up with people who quit paying them, so there's absolutely no way for them to know how many of those many, many people gained it back.

WW can't be relied upon as a good source.

bennettinfinity

rabbitjb wrote: »

An excuse not to commit

Don't care what happens to those who don't commit properly ...I've got this

Yup...

Unknown

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SezxyStef

rabbitjb wrote: »

An excuse not to commit

Don't care what happens to those who don't commit properly ...I've got this

exactly...it's like everything else in life..marriage, your job, paying off your mortgage...

It takes drive and commitment and the desire to keep at it regardless....

Like my profile says...you either want it or you don't....

flaminica

I wasted a click for the opinion of a penny-ante weightlifter's blog that quotes Cracked.com as its primary reference?

Thanks for my morning laugh. I love you crazy people.

mystgrl1604

Thanks everyone I think the reason most people don't stick to their diets and go back to old habits and regain everything and more, is that they went on a diet in the first place. Too much change is unsustainable. Sooner or later you will give up coz it's too much hard work.

For me, it's been a little change here, a little change there. Im not looking for a quick fix, but a total lifestyle change for the better, with each habit obtained slowly but surely. I set myself monthly goals, as studies have said that it takes 28 days for your body to develop or stop a habit. The first goal I set myself was to go to the gym at least twice a week. Done. 2nd goal: go to the gym 3-4 times a week. Done. This is my third month, and my goal was to drink more water (4litres/day) and to join MFP to start counting calories. Status ongoing, but going well.

I know it will be a long slow slog to get to where I want weight-wise, but at the moment Im more focused on undoing all the damage I've unknowingly done to my body with all the years I've been living a sedentary, unhealthy lifestyle. Setting myself small, achievable goals stop me from being discouraged and in fact spurs me on everytime I finish a month with goal achieved!

I've got more than a hundred lbs to lose, but I know I will lose it, if not a year, then maybe two or three. As long as I keep it off after I lose it. That's my long long long term goal, in the far-off future.

Good luck to all of us!!

_Terrapin_

Not attempting to derail OP's thread; a link though for habit forming http://jamesclear.com/new-habit Try the veal, I'm here all week.