"You'll always struggle with food."

I'm done with my weight loss but I struggle over food.

I find myself obsessing over what to eat.

Trying to make healthy choices and get my macros correct is difficult and frustrating sometimes.

I don't have a problem with not eating junk food though.

I think everyone is different. For some people that might be the case. It might be something that they have to work at for the rest of their lives. Would I used the word "struggle"? No. He probably meant that often people have a hard time keeping weight off long term. BUT I think that is because most poeple don't view weight loss in a long term perspective. You have heard the phrase on here, "its not a diet, its a lifestyle change". Its very true, and that IS something that will now and forever be a part of your new healthier life.

Read this:

http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=415

I think what he means is "Oh, so you are a fat person on the inside. Guess it's still ok to insult you then"

(I'm being facetious, but people have really odd ideas about weight loss, especially if they put fat people into a "BAD" category and thin into "GOOD" and then when people cross over that line, what to do? Or maybe he just wants to lose weight himself and is jealous. It certainly doesn't sound like a positive thing to say.)

I've been maintaining for almost two years now, and it's just as "hard" as losing, but... I don't consider any of it "hard work" anymore.

I have to log what I eat most of the time. I have to exercise regularly, and to eat the way I want to eat and get/keep the results I want, I have to exercise pretty vigorously. But I don't consider that anything out of the ordinary. It's just part of being a responsible, healthy adult.

Of course I have to watch what I eat, which some might call "struggle with food," but it's like saying, "You paid off a great deal of debt, but you'll always have to keep track of your income and expenses." Of course I will. It's the right thing to do.

I think for most people who have been significantly overweight, yes, food is always something you have to think carefully about. I know when I go 'off plan', when I stop watching what I eat, it's incredibly easy for me to slide back into bad habits. That's the reason so many people struggle to keep weight off.

But forewarned is fore-armed. You know that it might be a challenge to keep 'at it', and stay focused. So keep that in your head, and make sure you have a plan.

I probably wouldn't chose to frame it as 'always struggle' - that seems so unecessarily negative. But I certainly think that the factors that led to significant weightgain don't disappear simply because I've decided to lose weight. I still have a tendency to eat emotionally. I still like to eat when I'm bored. I have a love affair with carbs that just doesn't disappear that easily. I know how to eat healthy. I choose to eat healthy, most of the time. But it's always a conscious choice.

Welll that was rude of him. I believe that every person is different so who is he to say you will always struggle with food? It sounds like he was jealous, like those people who have to point out that you will gain all of your weight back in a year. They don't know about it being a lifestyle yet, I guess. Anyway, I don't consider planning my meals, purchasing healthy foods, enjoying some not-so-healthy foods once in a while and enjoying my food a problem. I enjoy my food 100% more now because I take the time to prepare tastier foods, I savor every calorie that I do put in my mouth and I look forward to cooking it. You CAN change your habits and live with them for a lifetime. It's called a lifestyle.We were created to enjoy food but it doesn't have to be a struggle!

I don't think he was being hateful or "jealous" or negative or whatever the hell else people are saying. "Struggling with food" is a common saying---it just means that you'll always need to be mindful of what you're eating in order to maintain. Which is true.

I think I would suggest therapy for young people who take the weight off. Much of their eating is for emotional reasons.

Nope. I just enjoy food.

As I approach goal and have a few more 'off' days I realise that I will never be able to control myself unless I log. I am coming to the realisation that I will always need to log and if I don't I will put weight back on.

Everyone is different but for me, I would have to agree with what your, albeit rude, friend said.

it depends on how you lose the weight. If you lose it in an unsustainable way, e.g. cutting your calories too low, then you will always struggle because you keep the weight off the same way you lost it, and you slow your metabolism in the process if you eat too little

However if you lose weight with small, sustainable lifestyle changes and a moderate deficit, while exercising to look after your lean body mass, your metabolism doesn't slow as much, and as the lifestyle changes are sustainable, it's a lot easier to maintain your goal weight.

I used to be obese, I'm now maintaining my weight without difficulty. I use this site to track calories while bulking and cutting (I'd like to improve my body fat percentage a little and also gain lean mass and increase my strength by a lot) but I can maintain my weight without needing to track, just a little attention to portion control, listening to my body (i.e. stopping eating when I'm full) and not going OTT (and by OTT I mean something like McDonalds every day... fast food once a week or once a fortnight doesn't stop me from maintaining, I get a water weight gain from the sodium which goes away again within a day or two, that's it)