Fact or fiction: doomed to be fat forever?
motiv8td18
Posts: 14 Member
Hello, I have 40 lbs to lose to be back at a healthy weight and just began my endeavor this week. Therefore I have only seen a 0.2 weight reduction and will go to weekly weights thereafter to save my sanity. I have seen web based research that has said that once you are overweight or obese the likelihood of returning to a healthy weight despite diet changes and exercise is unlikely. This is very very deflating as I have gained about 50 lbs in 5 years
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I lost over 70 pounds in 2007.
I'm still maintaining that weight loss.
Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right.44 -
I'm not surprised to hear research like that and I can understand it. Over those 5 years, you've built up certain habits around how much to eat, what foods to eat and how much to exercise. To change that means changing those habits that are very ingrained and that's not easy. Someone who never was overweight doesn't have habits to unlearn. That's why I focused my first few months on burning in the new habits every day while the motivation was highest.8
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It's totally your choice. Most people who are overweight will either remain overweight or lose weight and then regain it. But it's because they don't work at it. They either don't put in the work to lose weight, or they fail to continue to work at maintaining the loss.
It's not that they can't, it's that they don't. You control which group you'll be in.11 -
Successful weight loss is down to you. If you form healthy habits and continue to practice them, you'll succeed.
Read about the success achieved by the members of The National Weight Control Registry/. I learned a lot from reading that site when I first started on my path to losing the weight I needed to lose (which was quite a bit more than you need to lose), and it taught me a great deal and gave me hope.
The statistics on lasting weight loss are only dire because people have the false belief that they can go back to their former way of eating and maintain their weight loss. People, in general, are woefully misinformed as to how weight management truly works. If you truly understand the fundamental principles of weight management and what it takes to either lose, maintain, or gain weight, the whole process is rather simple and not at all up to chance.9 -
I lost about 50 lbs and have kept it off for years. It takes work and I have set backs but I refuse to give up. I'm normally leaner in the summer and then around November and December I take a break (little fluffier). I don't believe that once your obese that's it. I did plateau for several weeks but broke that last week. I hear you on the sanity weigh ins, and have decided to not step on the scale for all of February. I know I'm doing everything right so that little bit of less stress will help me. Hang in there and know that you will have good days and bad days.2
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I lost 60+ lbs a few years ago and gained 80+ after because I went back to what I had always done (over eating and not exercising).
Since then, I am down 30 and have maintained this for about a year, and starting on losing another 30 now. I've realized that maintaining the loss is totally possible, it will just require some effort on my part, much like losing the weight. Regular exercise, changing my eating habits, and watching my portions sizes (or logging my food) will be necessary for me to continue to maintain my loss. As well as losing the weight with a method and intake that is reasonable to sustain.
I think gaining weight back is often easier than the work it takes to keep it off, but after doing this a second time I've realized it will be totally worth it.2 -
Myth. I was morbidly obese for 30+ years. Four years of hard work, lost 173#, and am at a "normal/healthy" weight. Starting my second year of maintenance.24
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I've been obese for around 24 years. I lost 160 pounds in 2015. Despite gaining a little weight, I have kept most of it off. The extra weight is something I can lose in a few months of moderately trying. It can be done.9
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In about 9 months during 2015, I was able to lose about 75 lbs, due to primarily being conscientious of how much I ate and exercised through MFP. Then, once I hit my goal, I got a little lazy and didn't continue to work at it. Well, slowly but surely, the weight began to come back. I gained about 45 lbs of my total weight loss back. When I got sick of feeling terrible about myself, I got back into it. I am happy to say that I've lost 10 of the 45 lbs that I gained back and am working to create and MAINTAIN a better and healthier me. So, to answer the question... NO, you are not doomed to be fat forever, BUT you and your own discipline will determine if that healthy lifestyle lasts!6
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I cant think of anything that we are doomed to be forever - everything and anything can change if you want it to change. Maybe ethnicity, but even then.............so no, you are not doomed to be fat (or thin) for the rest of your life. Make a decision and go for it. Change is in your hands, its your life so live it the way you want, whether its overweight or not.5
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It's habits. Bad food habits make you fat. More wholesome food habits AND exercise make you thin.
It's up to you.
Do you prefer a bag of chips and quart of ice cream or feeling good about looking in a mirror as you walk by or flipping through a photo album?
Yes. The choice is yours.2 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »It's totally your choice. Most people who are overweight will either remain overweight or lose weight and then regain it. But it's because they don't work at it. They either don't put in the work to lose weight, or they fail to continue to work at maintaining the loss.
It's not that they can't, it's that they don't. You control which group you'll be in.
This.
I don't think it qualifies as either a myth or a rule. But I do think there is a lot of truth to it in that most people who lose weight don't keep it off and end up heavier than they were before they lost.
I'm still losing and can't speak to how I will do long-term, but I think I have enough knowledge to know how to keep it off once it is gone. I guess only time will tell but I'm optimistic. I'm resigned to using a food scale and weighing at least weekly forever. Maybe I won't have to, but at this point I expect I will.2 -
cmriverside wrote: »I lost over 70 pounds in 2007.
I'm still maintaining that weight loss.
Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right.
What did you do to lose the weight?
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The long term success rate for weight loss adherance is pretty dismal, but it's up to you if you're going to be one of the many who fail, or one if the few who are successful. Me personally -I decided to be successful and I'm approaching my 4 year maintenance anniversary in April, (50lbs lost).
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motiv8td18 wrote: »Hello, I have 40 lbs to lose to be back at a healthy weight and just began my endeavor this week. Therefore I have only seen a 0.2 weight reduction and will go to weekly weights thereafter to save my sanity. I have seen web based research that has said that once you are overweight or obese the likelihood of returning to a healthy weight despite diet changes and exercise is unlikely. This is very very deflating as I have gained about 50 lbs in 5 years
Absolutely untrue. I don't know what "web based research" is, but not everything you see on the internet is true. Most of it is not true. Please read the Success Stories forum here on MFP for hundreds of stories of people who've lost weight and kept it off. These are case studies, not scientific research studies, but they disprove your theory.2 -
It doesn't mean you're doomed, but once you've been overweight, being a healthy weight is a lifetime commitment.1
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I am not a product of circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. Stephen Covey
May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears. Nelson Mandela
You don’t drown by falling in the water, you drown by staying there. Robert Jordan
I am learning every day to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be to inspire me and not terrify me. Tracee Ellis Ross
What do you want: The pain of staying where you are, or the pain of growth? Judith Hanson Lasater
Do, or do not. There is no try. Master Yoda
Dont be a statistic. Be the exception. -Me
You want to change what you are? Then form new habits and break the old. Then that callus article you read wont be about you but about those who give up trying.
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While the stats on people sustaining their weight loss long term are confronting low, it doesn't mean that you will fall into that group at all.
I have maintained a loss of 178 lbs for 4 years. Everything that others often use as reasons why they have not even tried to lose weight or why they have re-gained was in the deck I was holding.
I started losing at 48, menopausal and on HRT, had no gallbladder (told by my ever 'supportive' Mother and Sister that once that organ was gone I was doomed), on meds. notorious for weight gain and difficulty with losing, plus multiple health issues. I just said bugger to the naysayers and all the negatives, I found putting my fingers in my ears and singing La-la-la to be effective
started eating less and getting out for a walk as often as I could.
Finding MFP and reading, learning fact from fiction and logging accurately was a total win, especially as I had got to a stall point alone. I needed the guidance and understanding of how much I was eating regarding CI.
I got fitter and stronger than I had been for years. Dropped a lot of weight related meds. and started to really feel alive...interesting snippet though, many of the people whose prediction of doom and failure now started to say how 'lucky' I was to be losing weight, they also made comments about how my metabolism compared to theirs was better. Again fingers and ears were used....
Now I'm 54, 3 years ago my health went down the toilet and everything has changed for me. I can no longer bushwalk for hours and get my adrenaline on climbing mountains etc. I do what I can movement wise with weights and Yoga mainly.
MFP has continued to be a valuable resource for me. I log in every day still, making sure I am getting adequate nutrition. I tend to lose quickly when in a flare. I also take steroids, anti-depressants and other meds. that have bad reputations for weight gain....it hasn't happened for me because CI-CO is reliable and simple.
Hope this helps.
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Some already said something like this .... the longer you have been overweight or obese, the harder it will be to lose a lot of weight and keep it off .... because of habits mostly. That said, I have read research (that has been discussed on these forums) about the body wanting to revert to it's status quo condition .... which, after many many years of a certain weight is the status quo. That's what I have also found to be true for myself ... but I also recognize that my brain and all it's secret hidden secrets are part of my body and that a lot of the walls I've hit in trying to lose and maintain that loss come from my personal preferences and habits.
Never give up! If you want to be thinner, you CAN DO IT ... it will take effort, it will take work, sometimes it will feel bad, other times it will be good.0 -
motiv8td18 wrote: »Hello, I have 40 lbs to lose to be back at a healthy weight and just began my endeavor this week. Therefore I have only seen a 0.2 weight reduction and will go to weekly weights thereafter to save my sanity. I have seen web based research that has said that once you are overweight or obese the likelihood of returning to a healthy weight despite diet changes and exercise is unlikely. This is very very deflating as I have gained about 50 lbs in 5 years
It is unlikely because people don't want to do what they need to do to lose the weight and get healthy. But there's a big difference between unlikely and impossible. In fact, anyone can do it if they are willing to.0 -
One of the beauties of calorie-counting with MFP is that you can experiment, learn, and practice the skills you'll need to stay at a healthy weight forever. By the time you reach goal weight, you then know what to do to stay there permanently.
Some people lose out on that opportunity by undertaking crazy diets they couldn't and wouldn't want to sustain forever: Forcing themselves to do exercises they hate in volumes that disrupt their life balance; demonizing particular foods or nutrients ("fat is bad" "sugar is bad", etc.); buying into supplements or "cleanses" that are supposed to be magical; trying to lose at punitively fast rates that leave them at risk of cheating or bingeing their way out of success. If they lose the weight, those people then have no idea how to stay at a healthy weight, and are likely to return to old habits and regain.
However, you can do what most successful people here do: Eat things you enjoy in reasonable portions within a calorie goal; experiment with changes in your eating to emphasize nutrition while still consuming foods you enjoy; maybe start some new activities (maybe "exercise", maybe just something you enjoy that involves moving more but that isn't a formal exercise); losing at a sustainable rate so you don't struggle with falling off the wagon frequently.
If you take that latter kind of approach - which you can learn about here from other real people who've been successful, not from someone who's trying to sell you something - you can lose weight and keep it off, if you choose to do so. Maintaining your healthy weight just means keeping the same general new, happy habits, while eating a few more calories than you did in order to lose.
(I've lost about 1/3 of my body weight here, starting at age 59, and am now going into my second year of maintenance.)9 -
motiv8td18 wrote: »Hello, I have 40 lbs to lose to be back at a healthy weight and just began my endeavor this week. Therefore I have only seen a 0.2 weight reduction and will go to weekly weights thereafter to save my sanity. I have seen web based research that has said that once you are overweight or obese the likelihood of returning to a healthy weight despite diet changes and exercise is unlikely. This is very very deflating as I have gained about 50 lbs in 5 years
Fiction.
I spent 20+ years morbidly obese and thought I was "doomed" forever. I was pretty set in my ways of eating as much as I wanted, whenever I wanted and being miserable with myself. I thought that was just normal, and I would be like that forever.
Once I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself and decided to do something about my health I found mfp and educated myself on calories, and how weight loss actually works. I read everything I could and found hope. It was refreshing to know that I had complete control over my weight if I actually made the effort to commit to it.
That was almost 3 years ago. I lost 142lbs, and have been maintaining that loss for the past 8 months now. I logged my food here, I weighed it for accuracy, and I incorporated daily exercise into my life. I committed to the process and stayed consistent.
I am at a healthy weight for the first time since I was 5 years old. So no, nobody is doomed. I am living proof of that. Who's going to be part of that measly 5% of people who keep their weight off? This girl right here.
Its all about the calories. The only way I will regain any weight is if I eat too much food. Period.
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I have been on the up and down of weight gain/loss for the last 7 years (before that it was a slow but steady up). Each time I hit a wall around the same weight, and eventually slide back up. Though each time maintenance of a lower weight has actually been longer. The prob for me is I get that F**k it attitude about not being able to move past a certain weight and give up. But I have improved some habits which will help my in the long term and that's probably why each time maintenance is longer. This is the first time my husband has actively participated as he would like to lose some weight too so maybe it will stick longer and maybe I can move past that wall of mine.1
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People who are, or have once been overweight are not doomed to be overweight forever. The main issue is there is so much focus on only fixing the weight but not the habits that lead to being overweight. These habits easily return in times of stress, bordom or after long periods of time when the will becomes weak. It's not that they can't do it, it's just new life-long habits and coping strategies need to be implemented for long-term success.
For example, whilst I was never "overweight", I wanted to lose a couple of kilos and change my habits before I became overweight. I was successful for over a year until I decided I wanted to start a bulk/cut cycle to gain muscle. Unfortunately that "bulk" cycle quickly became an excuse to eat how and as much as I used to, I stopped logging and I have since gained half the lost weight back. Whilst I know some weight gain is required for a bulk, it's primarily been fat and not muscle as intented. For long-term success, I need to re-implement what was working for when I was losing weight (calorie counting) into my gaining weight and eventually, implement it into maintenance.3 -
gosh..there was a list of things successful people who lost weight did.. Here's what i recall
watch less than 10 hours of t.v. a week
exercise most every day
ate breakfast
made a lifestyle change meaning ate healthy foods2 -
Honestly I would take a "web based research" with a grain of salt. Most of those "researchers" simply correlate few data's and act like they have found a causation. It also sounds pretty convenient not having a peer-review on their statistical analysis, or methods, or their data sample.
Don't let nonsense like those effect you. There are many people that lost twice as much as you've gained, and still having healthy lives.0 -
ive lost 80+ pounds.
many people here have lost that, and more.
as someone else said, whether you think you can or can't, is what youll do. if you want to do it, you will.
as far as HOW i did it.
eat less. move more. i counted every calorie, but didnt flip out if i went over, or for special occasions. i work out 5 times a week. i understand weight fluctuates.1 -
In my opinion people struggle to maintain significant weight loss when they don't adress the psychosocial and/or economic reasons that have led them to become overweight.
Understanding these factors is essential to preventing both self sabotage of weightless and implementing lifelong lifestyle changes.
ie: do the confronting thing and explore the reasons WHY you put on weight (not just how) rather than just adress how you can loose weight.3 -
I was doomed to be fat forever ... untill I decided not to be.5
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It's habits. Bad food habits make you fat. More wholesome food habits AND exercise make you thin.
It's up to you.
Do you prefer a bag of chips and quart of ice cream or feeling good about looking in a mirror as you walk by or flipping through a photo album?
Yes. The choice is yours.
I prefer both, actually, although to be fair I mostly stick with smaller amounts of chips and ice cream.
Lost 50 pounds over 15 years ago, have maintained that loss.3
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