Body Resistant, misconception or fact?
SiiaMarl
Posts: 19 Member
there is a saying that if you lose weight then gain it back multiple times in your life your body will resist and it will be slow and hard to lose weight.. is it true? because im struggling with it.
I know people have different bodies and lose weight in totally different patterns but I see many people lose like 8 kg in 2 months then I thought to myself maybe they spend a lot of time in gym but when I see their routine (diet +exercise) is similar to mine and some of them do not even go to gym( im not talking about morbidly obese people). some people are not even that fat to begin with, I know a girl is is 160 cm and 62 kg in 2 months and half she lost 9 kg. for me when I was 20 kg heaver I spent 6 month to lose 10 kg.
with diet and 30 minutes treadmill, 30 minute weight training and various workouts.
since last August I have been losing 1 kg a month despite my activities and diet
I know people have different bodies and lose weight in totally different patterns but I see many people lose like 8 kg in 2 months then I thought to myself maybe they spend a lot of time in gym but when I see their routine (diet +exercise) is similar to mine and some of them do not even go to gym( im not talking about morbidly obese people). some people are not even that fat to begin with, I know a girl is is 160 cm and 62 kg in 2 months and half she lost 9 kg. for me when I was 20 kg heaver I spent 6 month to lose 10 kg.
with diet and 30 minutes treadmill, 30 minute weight training and various workouts.since last August I have been losing 1 kg a month despite my activities and diet
4
Replies
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No, it's not true. It's another excuse.
The movement of mass and basic metabolism of energy are the means of energy use - i.e. fat loss.
Food intake is the controlling factor for weight.
Find your weight loss calorie number and stick to it and you will lose.
If you aren't losing, you aren't eating the correct amount. Full stop.
How are you deciding how much to eat? Are you keeping track of your food every day? Start there.12 -
No, it's not true. How would it? Body fat is energy. When you eat too little then your body takes the energy stored as fat to survive. It would not make evolutionary sense to rather die than take energy from fat stores in periods of famine. Your body wants to survive and does everything possible to do so.7
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While I don’t know about body resistance there is a difference in individual metabolism and that metabolism does change when you change diet and exercise. And Persons of the same height and body mass can have different caloric needs. Our energy loss is discharged through breath. You can get your individual metabolism checked by machine. Then you can keep a ledger of caloric needs-inputs if you want to know for sure you’re eating/exercising an effective amount.3
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I would say it's real, but probably more your brain than the rest of your body. You probably have, in your mind, certain visual and physical cues that say, "OK, this is the right amount of food," and I think those can exert a strong pull on us. I have a suspicion that successful weight loss (losing and then maintaining at a healthy weight) has a lot to do with working on that mental part, and yo-yo dieting is probably the result of that mental retraining not really taking. That's one reason I find I like logging so much - it's much more objective. I don't have to argue or barter with myself about "is this too much, can I have another, what is a handful anyway?" I just figure out how many calories I need to live my life but still lose at a reasonable rate, and I go with that, making adjustments as needed.
If you're losing 1kg a month that's great! Losing fast isn't necessarily better (some would say it's actually worse). The quick beginner losses you sometimes see aren't just fat loss. The thing is, unless other people are sharing their data with you, you really can't know how it is they're doing what they're doing. It's not a competition, and the thing to focus on is how you get to your goal weight *and then stay there, or near.*3 -
First off--you don't really "know" what other people are doing unless you're siamese twins and with that person 24-7. Many people talk up a good game and, yes, some might want to make you feel inferior. You do you. Plug along, use your digital food scale, weigh and measure everything, stay within your daily calorie goal, and exercise a bit. You're losing just fine. Keep going and don't get off track. You'll make it.7
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Let me say that I agree with the others: What matters for weight loss is calorie balance, the relationship between calories eaten and calories spent via being a living body that moves. Further, I agree that it's impossible to know what others *really* do, and they may be inaccurate even if they believe every word they say (like they leave out the pretty-frequent times they skipped breakfast because they were running late, or the touch football with the kids on weekends, or whatever.)
I also think it's possible for us to misunderstand or misinterpret our own situation, in the form of things like imprecise logging (there's a learning curve!), or thinking of what we do as being our normal practices but forgetting or glossing over some "minor" unusual things like that weekend when it got too hard so we over-indulged, or the time(s) we felt like we were coming down with something or got to bed late, so slept later and skipped the morning workout . . . or simply didn't get enough sleep/nutrition/calories so dragged through the day.
However . . . a couple of things.
I do think it's possible, via cycles of extreme yo-yo dieting, to train one's body to expect famine, and slow things down to conserve energy. The effect would be small, but potentially non-zero. The mechanisms may be subtle. They would be things like reduced spontaneous movement (fidgeting, basically), perhaps sitting more when we might otherwise have stood or moved, maybe generally resting/sleeping a bit more, perhaps feeling cold more often, slowed hair/nails growth, etc.
Some of those things can become habits that persist after the diet. For example, if one reduces some regular non-exercise hobby activity - gardening, say, or playing drums - it may feel like it happened because on "lost interest" or "didn't have time anymore", and not be resumed again. If we get used to watching TV or playing computer games more because we felt dragged out by evening, we might continue those TV/gaming habits because we're enjoying them, and they're now habits.
Besides that, multiple cycles of extreme yo-yo dieting can result in losing unnecessarily much muscle mass alongside fat loss. While a pound of muscle burns slightly more calories at rest than a pound of fat does, that effect is tiny, like 4 extra calories per pound per day. But I suspect that a weaker person is going to find various forms of movement less easy, less fun, and probably do them less. If weight regain happens, they're then moving a bigger body with that reduced muscle, perhaps making it even less pleasant to move, so movement less likely. (Starts to sound like it could become a slow negative spiral, eh?)
A pattern I've seen, among women my age (65) who've done many cycles of extreme yo-yo dieting over decades is this: Go on a very low calorie diet (VLCD), probably a faddy one with some sub-optimal nutrition. Often, it's been some salad-intensive thing, lower protein, low fat. To that, add a bunch of cardio (aerobic dance was a classic example), and no strength training (wouldn't want to "get bulky"). Obviously, that's going to be unsustainable for very long. So, lose maybe 10-20 pounds (unnecessarily much of which was muscle), give up, "go back to normal", regain. "Normal" eating is often high carb, high fat, still low protein, low nutrient generally, and exercise often drops out of the picture entirely. That's like a custom-designed recipe for losing muscle mass, regaining fat. Probable result, after multiple cycles: Getting less capable/active over time, with down-spiraling body composition.
The good news is this: All of this is under our near-total control. We don't have to try to lose weight so fast that it's physically destructive and stressful. We can consciously strive to get enough nutrition (especially protein) in those adequate calories. We can pursue a well-rounding exercise program, one we enjoy that's sustainable, ideally with both cardiovascular and strength challenge to it. We can consciously put more movement into our day, in non-exercise ways. Some of the things that had been lost can be regained, via effort.
So . . . might your cycles of yo-yo dieting have you losing slower than others who didn't do that sort of thing? Perhaps by a bit. But there's still some calorie level where you'll lose weight (kg a month sounds OK, to me). Use those calories to get overall good nutrition.
Try to get more movement into your daily life. Consider this thread:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1
Keep going with your cardio/strength exercise; keep it always a little challenging, but not exhausting (that's counter-productive). You can make progress. Comparing yourself with others is not helpful. You are where you are, and you can do what you can do. The only reason to focus on obstacles (like a "slow metabolism", which isn't mostly really a real thing) is to figure out how to get over, around, through or otherwise past them. Otherwise, they're just a reason to feel bad emotionally, or an excuse to give up altogether.
This article is decent, and evidence-based:
https://examine.com/nutrition/is-my-slow-metabolism-stalling-my-weight-loss/
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Everything other than your own current and possibly past stats is irrelevant.
1kg per month could be downright excellent or abysmally slow or even abysmally fast according to an individual's situation.
So.... without your stats 🤷🏻♂️
I've lost weight at 1.5lbs a week on average, and at less than 1lb a month on average over the course of a complete year in each case.
Both were appropriate at the time (and owe their appropriateness to a good degree of luck, but also some planning)3 -
Here's the thing:
What is their job? What is their life circumstance? What are these people doing all day long and eating all day long? The gym and self-reporting of meals are not the whole story, EVER.
If you ask me my workout routine I'm going to tell you I do the occasional 10 minute youtube workout video a couple of times a week and lift some weights maybe once a week for another 10 minutes. I won't tell you about the running because I"m only TRYING to get into it and it's for fun, anyway.
My LIFESTYLE however involves a LOT of moving around - like 10-12 hours or so a week of walking, sprinting, or hiking. It isn't exercise routine it's what I do in life. I also sit around and jiggle my leg and fidget and live 3 flights of stairs up from the street to the front door AND my bathroom is up a flight of stairs from my living room. Sound inconsequential? Sure, but they're all calories burned. (Also, I pee a lot. That's a lot of stair climbing)
If you ask me what I've eaten today I'd tell you two cups of coffee with milk and hot chocolate, cottage cheese with fruit, candy and chips. What you *don't* see is that the milk is unsweeneded almond milk, the hot chocolate is reduced calorie (meaning each cup of coffee was 70 calories) and the candy and chips were a combined 200 calories (look I haven't eaten real food yet, I've been busy). If you're doing math assuming standards the coffee is 200ish calories each, 200 calorie candy bar and I dunno 300 calories of chips.
This stuff makes a big difference in perception and if you don't live with someone 24/7 you can't know and they can't self report stuff like 'time they're walking around their house' and 'how much do they fidget' and 'what do they do while they brush their teeth, stand there or wander around'.7 -
I would just like to say I am so grateful for the insight of AnnPT77. Every time she chimes in I think "We are about to get some knowledge, people!" Voice of reason, kind, patient, respectful, and insightful.11
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The BRAIN is resistant to weight loss in a way dt changes that drive appetite https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2926239/. There are also changes that seem to slow your rmr slightly and change skeletal muscle efficiency.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7632212/.
That said, it seems to be individual how hard these compensation mechanism kick in. What we see in the research is, people who maintain long term weight loss is, DIETARY AND EXERCISE compliance. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19828901/ . Basically, find a lifestyle that helps you overcome these mechanisms and stick to it.
There... That will be $99.99 US..... I take cash, precious metals, or indentured servitude.... lol6 -
Thank you ALL for your comments and the clarification, to answer your questions:-
I know that I cannot be sure 100% about other people's lives but what made me confused is when I was heaver people told me that individuals who lose weight fast ( by fast I mean 2 or 3 kg a week) they are morbidly obese people and you are not that, if observe thin people you would see how they struggle to lose weight because they don't have much. Later on I found that what people kept saying was not accurate since I witnessed people losing weight at different levels, weight etc.
on the 1st Jan 2020 I was around 90 kg and now im 67 kg what im (height is 163 cm). I thought I would at some point lose 2 or 3 kg in a month or 2 but no matter what changes I incorporate to my diet or exercise I don't see much difference.
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01-Jan to 03-Apr is 3 months, and 90 kg to 67 kg is 23 kg. That's about 1.9 kg/ week. Not sure where the problem is between 1.9 and 2? Weight loss predictions are never going to be exact. Bodies don't work that way.0
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SuzanneC1l9zz wrote: »01-Jan to 03-Apr is 3 months, and 90 kg to 67 kg is 23 kg. That's about 1.9 kg/ week. Not sure where the problem is between 1.9 and 2? Weight loss predictions are never going to be exact. Bodies don't work that way.
I think you misread my post its from the 1st Jan [ YEAR 2020 ] not this year1 -
So you've lost 0.78lbs a week and at your current weight 0.5% of body weight a week would be slower than that at 0.735lbs a week.
You have done great and you sound to me like someone who is ready to self sabotage out of a misguided notion that you should have done better.
How many of your **kitten** friends have maintained their weight loss for 3, 5, or 10 years? What is then the relevance of the various diet regiments they follow and of the short term success they see?
You have lost 50 lbs. More than 50 lbs. You are way healthier than before your loss.
a) be happy
b) worry more about maintaining the weight loss than about the bonus of losing more.
Time will pass either way. It will pass either with you working sustainably towards small improvements, or with you fighting tooth and nail and being unhappy.
c) most people who feel they are not losing fast enough are probably NOT currently engaging in what they envision their final post weight loss type of eating, moving, and exercise will look like.
it is past time for you to consider what your future take on eating, moving, and exercising will look like.
If you currently plan on making major changes when you get to maintenance after a major weight loss... I would give that a double think to ensure it's a good idea.
You're better off introducing any changes while you're still attempting to lose weight and you have the extra deficit push to help your experiment.
Since your op seems, I feel, to imply that you are engaging in more exercise activity than what would make your happy, I remind you that the survey of the weight loss registry participants (peopke who have lost and maintained the loss of a lot of weight) seems to indicate that the majority of long-term maintainers have chosen to incorporate at least one hour of movement in their days with a majority again engaging in something as basic as walking--not necessarily ZX90-boot-spin-Bumba-till i drop, or what have you.
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^ also every bit of the above post.
At some point I think it's good for everyone to reach a point where they allow weight loss to fade into the background of their lives and become a side-effect of their lives, not the focus of it.
Keep an eye on your weight and make sure it's trending toward where you want it to be, but otherwise... just build habits and let those habits carry you while you live your life.
The habit building is hard, but don't make it harder than it has to be and do it with an eye toward a day it becomes easy. Not a day you hit goal weight and it continues to be a struggle to maintain.
Relax. Breathe. Your weight will eventfully reflect the habits and life you live.2 -
I think it's only harder mentally. I've maintained since the spring of 2013 until I put on 20 Lbs in 2020 with COVID and such, of which I have dropped about 10 Lbs. It has been mentally harder to lose this than it was my initial 40 Lbs.
As far as other people go, you don't really know what's going on..."working out" isn't something that is necessary for weight management. I rarely do a "workout"...I'm only in the gym to lift 2x per week and it takes me about 40 minutes and I typically do a couple of training workouts on my bike a couple times per week which are also around 40 minutes and not particularly large calorie burns given the nature of those sessions. I am however pretty active and play a lot and spend a lot more time and burn a lot more calories just out an having fun playing than I do with "workouts". Even when I'm sitting around, I'm moving...I rock and fidget a lot and have a hard time just sitting still and doing nothing.1 -
So you've lost 0.78lbs a week and at your current weight 0.5% of body weight a week would be slower than that at 0.735lbs a week.
You have done great and you sound to me like someone who is ready to self sabotage out of a misguided notion that you should have done better.
How many of your **kitten** friends have maintained their weight loss for 3, 5, or 10 years? What is then the relevance of the various diet regiments they follow and of the short term success they see?
You have lost 50 lbs. More than 50 lbs. You are way healthier than before your loss.
a) be happy
b) worry more about maintaining the weight loss than about the bonus of losing more.
Time will pass either way. It will pass either with you working sustainably towards small improvements, or with you fighting tooth and nail and being unhappy.
c) most people who feel they are not losing fast enough are probably NOT currently engaging in what they envision their final post weight loss type of eating, moving, and exercise will look like.
it is past time for you to consider what your future take on eating, moving, and exercising will look like.
If you currently plan on making major changes when you get to maintenance after a major weight loss... I would give that a double think to ensure it's a good idea.
You're better off introducing any changes while you're still attempting to lose weight and you have the extra deficit push to help your experiment.
Since your op seems, I feel, to imply that you are engaging in more exercise activity than what would make your happy, I remind you that the survey of the weight loss registry participants (peopke who have lost and maintained the loss of a lot of weight) seems to indicate that the majority of long-term maintainers have chosen to incorporate at least one hour of movement in their days with a majority again engaging in something as basic as walking--not necessarily FX90-kick-Bumba-till you drop or what have you.
I thought that when I entered the 60's I would not have lots of fat (since im Pear shape I have most of fat in my hips) which made me think I need to lose more maybe reach 50 kg THAT'S when they told me that maybe because I have been yo-yo diet for a long time im struggling and im not losing enough or maybe something wrong with my metabolism etc.
actually I haven't really reach the place where I think how to maintain my weight( I mean I know about TDEE and how to calculate calories) but since I still need to lose weight, all I think is how to lose more.
I tried reducing my intake to 900-1000 cal per day but then I was told im destroying my health and its not sustainable in long term. about my weight loss rate. I don't lose very week, sometimes it scale is stuck for 2 weeks before I see any changes.1 -
I dunno, but comparison is the thief of joy and I'm really enjoying losing this weight that I've hated for so long, so I'm gonna mind my own and keep on truckin at my own pace. ❤️4
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wunderkindking wrote: »^ also every bit of the above post.
At some point I think it's good for everyone to reach a point where they allow weight loss to fade into the background of their lives and become a side-effect of their lives, not the focus of it.
Keep an eye on your weight and make sure it's trending toward where you want it to be, but otherwise... just build habits and let those habits carry you while you live your life.
The habit building is hard, but don't make it harder than it has to be and do it with an eye toward a day it becomes easy. Not a day you hit goal weight and it continues to be a struggle to maintain.
Relax. Breathe. Your weight will eventfully reflect the habits and life you live.
True! but I guess its hard for me cuz i don't want to take any risk, I have been overweight since I was young and I have been doing diets rather than living my childhood life, I'm 28 now and I don't wanna waste more time that's why I need to focus.
but believe me Im trying to loosen up0 -
Yeaaaah, but the thing is this:
If you're waiting on living life until you hit your goal weight, you're going to slam smack first into the reality that when you go from loss to maintain you're going to gain 3 apples or 1 candy bar's worth of calories back. That's all. Otherwise, what you are doing now will have to be what you keep doing.
Might as well get living now, rather than waiting to start once you hit goal. Some of the more active pursuits will be easier, you may or may not have more confidence, but seriously. 3 apples or 1 candy bar of calories is all that changes between 'loss' and 'maintain'.
Just keep breathing. Trying to loosen up is REALLY good. You'll get there. I have no doubt.3 -
wunderkindking wrote: »^ also every bit of the above post.
At some point I think it's good for everyone to reach a point where they allow weight loss to fade into the background of their lives and become a side-effect of their lives, not the focus of it.
Keep an eye on your weight and make sure it's trending toward where you want it to be, but otherwise... just build habits and let those habits carry you while you live your life.
The habit building is hard, but don't make it harder than it has to be and do it with an eye toward a day it becomes easy. Not a day you hit goal weight and it continues to be a struggle to maintain.
Relax. Breathe. Your weight will eventfully reflect the habits and life you live.
True! but I guess its hard for me cuz i don't want to take any risk, I have been overweight since I was young and I have been doing diets rather than living my childhood life, I'm 28 now and I don't wanna waste more time that's why I need to focus.
but believe me Im trying to loosen up
You're taking risks. They're just different risks. If you cut your calories to super-low levels, you're risking health. Ditto if you lose weight faster than your current fat levels will support. If you can't think beyond where you are now, and consider the habits you'll need to keep your weight in a healthy range permanently without major stress, you're risking regain (which usually comes with extra pounds as friends). (I'm not saying you absolutely must implement that plan right now, but it's time to think about it, and consider how and when to experiment & find the habits you'll need in maintenance - not so much calorie level as eating style, exercise habits.) You're risking another round of yo-yo dieting, repetitions of which have bad cumulative consequences.
If other people are convincing you you're doing it wrong . . . stop listening to them. Really.
You have people here in this thread giving you advice who've lost weight, and more importantly stayed at a sensible weight thereafter for multiple years. They (we) might know something, ya never know. 🤷♀️
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there is a saying that if you lose weight then gain it back multiple times in your life your body will resist and it will be slow and hard to lose weight.. is it true? because im struggling with it.
I know people have different bodies and lose weight in totally different patterns but I see many people lose like 8 kg in 2 months then I thought to myself maybe they spend a lot of time in gym but when I see their routine (diet +exercise) is similar to mine and some of them do not even go to gym( im not talking about morbidly obese people). some people are not even that fat to begin with, I know a girl is is 160 cm and 62 kg in 2 months and half she lost 9 kg. for me when I was 20 kg heaver I spent 6 month to lose 10 kg. with diet and 30 minutes treadmill, 30 minute weight training and various workouts.
since last August I have been losing 1 kg a month despite my activities and diet
It is not true that cyclical weight loss somehow “damages metabolism” and affects future weight loss. It is true that some people respond more easily and quickly to weight loss routines than others. The key is really being as accurate and consistent as possible with calorie intake. The #1 reason by far when people struggle to lose weight is that they underestimate their calorie intake.1 -
Have you ever either participated in or watched sports that involve difficult manouvers in the air... and then landing?
Have you ever seen an athlete execute less complicated maneuvers in the air but stick the landing(s) the other competitors flub... and then walk away the winner?
Your landing matters.
Successfully losing a lot of weight is what buys you a run of the mill lottery ticket with a fairly low chance of winning the jackpot of five years of maintenance. Successful maintenance for 5 years then buys you a gold ticket that (finally) had a more than 50% chance of continuing to maintain.
That's the *kitten* news; but no need to despair!
All dismal weight loss and maintenance stats and observations involve a majority of people who are not on MFP and who are not reading this pearl of wisdom!
Forewarned is forearmed! So now it's time for some forethought! 🤣
As with anything else we do (or don't do) in regards to our body and health, weight loss also has some side effects that we can choose to mitigate or we can just ignore and hope they just don't manifest.
You mentioned several diets in your first 28 years.
I gave up trying to diet when I was I think a little bit younger than you.
Exercising till I puked would not work. Eating nothing but cabbage soup would not work. Doing Atkins would not work long term... Since nothing would work and I was destined to be obese i might as well enjoy that state since it's the only one open to me, right?
Guess who got to spend 20-22 years as obese?
Start being the person who will maintain your weight loss. Start eating like that person, moving like that person, living like that person.
You are not spending another three months, or six months or a year losing to the final weight and shape you want to... and then you're done!
Off to a no more weight management worries holiday we go!
and nope!
If you want to maintain this loss you're looking at at least the same amount of time as you've already spent loosing in terms of ongoing weight management consciousness.
And as mentioned by others above, and based at your recent loss results, you're looking at either eating an extra 500 calories or so while maintaining the same level of activity and exercise, or doing about 500 Cal worth of less activity and exercise, or a combination of both.
500 Cal extra is not nothing; but it doesn't buy you cheesecake and drinks and all you can eat sushi and Thai all at the same time and as often as you want! And at a guess you would be better off having a tub of yogurt and a couple of apples instead, unless it was a very occasional occasion!
Look nobody can plan your future for you and even when we make plans the universe oftens laughs. And we have to adapt and change.
But don't leave future planning as a complete afterthought.
And pushing high deficits in an attempt to speed up weight loss at the tail end of a period of large loss is, in my opinion, failing to plan for maintenance.
Both in terms of hormones and strategy you may want to either taper off into maintenance or have an iron clad plan for your first six months/year/three years of maintenance that you will apply with as much (or more) effort as you did during weight loss.
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Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. But what good will that knowledge do you? Whatever anyone's past weight history may be, they have to take themselves as they find themselves now, and find a path forwards that works for them.
Good luck.0 -
You are currently 163 cm tall and you weigh 67 kg.
That is a BMI of 25.2 - only very just into overweight.
You will not be losing at a rate of 2- 3 kg/month - you should be aiming for 1/2 lb/week or 1/4 kg - 1 kg a MONTH
also a goal of 50kg would give you a BMI of 18.8 - right at very lower end of normal. Possibly not a realistic or healthy aim for you.2
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