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MyFitnessPal Community

Simple hatred, or just another method...

PAV8888

Knowing that what you're doing has no magical properties frees you.

It frees you to adjust when it no longer suits you to continue doing what may have worked for a while.

If it has magical properties and if you don't, deep down, viscerally truly understand why you're losing or gaining weight, then you're dependant on the magical talisman and severely impacted when you need to adjust.

There is nothing wrong with employing time restricted eating if it helps you control your calories.

There is nothing wrong with eating fewer carbs if it helps you control your calories.

Neither is a magical talisman. And neither is *hated*, at least by me, unless it all of a sudden becomes magical.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2114833

What I would love to dig into if I had full access to the study is the drops in number of participant between months 6 and 9, nicely dovetailing with the end of the "honeymoon" period for people with a good amount of fat to lose. And showing as more dropping from the group losing a bit faster, though the study found neither group was significantly different in terms of results.

And I would have been interested in watching more of what looks to me like a good beginning of a rebound around month 10 onward.

Don't make too magical.

Be willing to drop sacred cows and to adjust.

Don't make it too hard.

Stay in the game.

Sustainability and continuing long term compliance for the win!

Replies

ReenieHJ

Although I haven't taken the time to click your link yet, I love your post.

springlering62

Makes me think of Dumbo’s feather.

PAV8888

But you can fly!

ahoy_m8

I like your post, too. If one's method is working for them, great. If it stops working, experiment to find a new one that does. We all change, and our situation changes. Taking stock periodically and making course corrections when needed will keep us moving in the direction desired.

I didn't quite understand about the 6-9 mo honeymoon and the 10 mo rebound. Are those typical time frames for a wave of deficit fatigue and regrouping? I'm unfamiliar with that.

PAV8888

ahoy_m8 wrote: »

I didn't quite understand about the 6-9 mo honeymoon and the 10 mo rebound. Are those typical time frames for a wave of deficit fatigue and regrouping? I'm unfamiliar with that.

My post above was prompted by a couple of "news flash" articles that were quoting the study I linked to above.

The study abstract concludes: "Among patients with obesity, a regimen of time-restricted eating was not more beneficial with regard to reduction in body weight, body fat, or metabolic risk factors than daily calorie restriction"

If you look at the graph that they include to the right of the abstract you will see all methods showing sharp drops to month 5, an uptick on month 6, flats and some drops for months 7 to 9, and what looks to me increasing upcurve / progress towards regain starting on month 10 and continuing at an increasing rate on to month 12 at which point the study and graph terminate

The timelines do not seem incompatible with what I would answer (based on general observation) about how long a typical cycle of loss and regain runs for most people who go on a "diet".... I have some light support from AT studies which show increases in AT after month six, but mostly observation--and differing opinions are always welcome!

If you asked me "off the cuff": Three to four months before the excess deficits start catching up. A snapping point sometime after that where people stop caring. Since we can assume that people on MFP (and possibly in the study) are "keeners", that would push things for them a few more months. But really: month six doesn't sound like a bad "average" snapping point! And then, absent waking up early and breaking out of the "I don't care this will never work" state of giving up, we just hit upward progression all the way to regain!

You know that I keep saying that "pure" speed matters less than being able to set things on semi-autopilot so as to save most of our "willpower" for the purpose of adjusting and finding ways to keep going--right?!?!

BTW: even more n=1. Before I found MFP I went FIVE months of deficits, flat for September, large deficits for 1.5 months and BREAKING POINT. VERY similar to that graph.

Had I not landed on MFP and the forums when I was trying to figure out a longer term solution as an alternative to quitting the impossible. Had I not internalised right there and then (after reading forum posts) that ALL that mattered was "A" deficit and being able to *continue* with ANY deficit and ANY way of eating that allowed me to achieve that deficit was ALL that was necessary... then I would have quit at about -50lbs in mid November. And with holiday eating would have easily hit +20 to +25 and halfway to full regain by New Year's.

Instead the next 365 days were -72.5lbs (@ a rate of 695Cal a day or 21.35% of TDEE) which in retrospect was at the limit of fast for me. And then another -11.1lbs the next year (106 Cal a day or 3.5% of TDEE)... and that was just about 5.5 years ago. I've been at that 157lbs mark or below since, ranging to a trend weight of as low as 150 but mostly with trending in the 153-156 bracket. With some adjustments along the way, of course!

lemurcat2

I also think that pattern could be consistent -- in addition to what you said -- with a significant change in diet making it harder to eat things you tended to overeat (plus the honeymoon period of excitement caused by a change) followed by either learning to overeat on the new diet or, yes, getting bored with it.