The stress of weight loss, not weight loss/gain from stress

aaajn

I have noticed a trend in my own yo-yo dieting; when I start to lose weight my body rebels. Like I have a set point, and turning it down causes all these problems to show up. I am not doing anything crazy, eating healthy, lower fat, and more vegetables. The first time it was gall bladder; I understand that one; this time, respiratory infection and a GI bug that was so bad, it took me out for a week.

Everybody talks about stress causing weight gain (sometimes loss). Has anybody else run into this- is losing weight is physically stressful?

penguinmama87

Our bodies (and our minds) are creatures of habit. Changing a habit is very difficult because you have to create a new path rather than do the thing you were already doing on autopilot. If you try to change a lot of things at once (diet, exercise, sleep, etc) that's more habits that are all up in the air. Even "just" changing your diet can involve a lot of changes - what/when/how much you eat, new recipes/cooking skills, shopping habits, etc. I've learned it's best to tackle one of these at a time because they're much more likely to last, and then it's easier for the others to fall into place, rather than trying to be "perfect" all at once, which is just completely foreign to my experience - at least for now.

All that said, losing weight *is* physically stressful. Your body eats its own fat to do the stuff it needs to do to stay alive. Our bodies are designed to do this, but if it's too much too fast our bodies will shut down other things to make up the difference and conserve a little - some people will note things like a lot more fatigue, or their hair and nails stop growing or become more brittle. Women can experience irregularities in their reproductive cycles that weren't there previously. I can easily imagine immunity being affected by this too. There are other, more life threatening things that can happen if there are other health conditions in play or if the deficit is extreme enough.

IME, the sweet spot with weight loss is where you're losing at a slow enough rate that your body keeps up its regular activity and you have enough energy to do what you need to do (including additional exercise), but your body will still dip into its fat stores. You might have to experiment a little to find it and it might change as you lose more. Generally, a 2lb/week loss can be handled by someone who is obese and has a lot of weight to lose, but that's probably not appropriate for a person slightly overweight or even within a normal BMI range. 1 lb or even 0.5/week would be better in those cases.

sollyn23l2

I agree with penguinmama87, any change will be stressful to your body. I decided to eat more vegetables after not eating much of any for several years. My body immediately went "what the heck" and started having some massive gastro issues for a few days. Then it calmed back down when my body adjusted to it. Does that mean vegetables are bad and I shouldn't eat them? No. I just got overexposed and maybe added too many vegetables all at once.

AnnPT77

Yes, weight loss is physically stressful (an extra demand on your body), plus it's psychologically stressful (change of habits, maybe nonessential guilt and worry, lots of stuff on that side). The faster the weight loss targeted, the more the stress. The more restrictive and unnatural or unpleasant-feeling the eating plan, the more the stress.

If new exercise is part of the picture, more stress (even though exercise is thought of as "good stress", positive in the long run). Make that intense exercise, in context of current fitness level, and that's even more stress.

Any of that stress is cumulative with other physical or psychological stress in our lives. Too much stress, bad things can happen, physically and/or psychologically.

How fast are you trying to lose weight? How unusual and restrictive does your new eating routine feel? Are you a person who beats yourself up (inside your head) if something happens that isn't always exactly what you aspired to? Have you added new exercise at the same time as cutting calories? Is it very challenging exercise given your current fitness level and recent past fitness activities?

I'm a big believer in thinking about how to make weight loss relatively easy, rather than trying to make weight loss fast. It's pretty common here to get a new group of highly motivated new (or returning) participants, bright eyed and putting pedal to the medal to improve many aspects of their lives. When the honeymoon's over, when the motivation or willpower thins out, they tend to drop out of sight. Maybe that's not you, I have no way of knowing . . . but it's a common thing.

Is there anything you can do to make the weight loss process gentler on yourself? All that's required for weight loss is a calorie deficit you can live with, and calorie deficit has a speed dial, slow to fast.

It can be that a slow loss rate takes less calendar time to reach goal weight than a fast loss rate goal that's hard to stick with long enough to lose a meaningful total amount of weight, and faster loss amps up health risks, besides.

Best wishes - I hope you're able to find a path to your goals that keeps you happy and healthy!

mtaratoot

There may be a logic fallacy here. Post hoc ergo propter hoc. That's Latin and means that something happened before another thing, so the first thing must have caused the second thing.

In your case, you are assigning the causality of your respiratory infection and GI bug on a!n attempt to lose weight. They may not be related in any other way than in time.

It is possible that if your weight loss was achieved at too fast a rate, your body might have been in a weakened state. That may have allowed some infectious agents a higher likelihood of getting a foothold. It's also possible it's synchronicity - a coincidence.

Set yourself up for success with a reasonable loss rate for your current weight and make sure to get adequate nutrition so you fuel your body. How long ago was the gall bladder issue? Is your body still fighting to heal from that? Any kind of healing process uses more fuel. Be sure to give your body enough fuel! If that means you have to go even slower with weight loss, or if you have to wait a while to restart, you will be doing yourself at least a small favor.