Does your body remember your highetst weight?

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misskarihari
misskarihari Posts: 104 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I read somewhere at some point that your body remember the highest weight you've been and always want to go back to that weight when you are losing weight.

Is this true?
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Replies

  • oneoddsock
    oneoddsock Posts: 321 Member
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    No.
  • SexyKatherine73
    SexyKatherine73 Posts: 221 Member
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    is this a serious question? ;)
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Twaddle!
    Just one of many excuses people use to avoid making the link between what they stuff in their cake-hole and their weight gain.
  • misschoppo
    misschoppo Posts: 463 Member
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    oneoddsock wrote: »
    No.

    +1
  • luvbwfc
    luvbwfc Posts: 107 Member
    edited January 2015
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    I think its more a case that reverting to previous habits will of course mean your body reverts to previous weight. Not a case of "fat memory" just a case of same excess calories having the same result.
  • misskarihari
    misskarihari Posts: 104 Member
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    SexyKatherine73 wrote: »
    is this a serious question? ;)
    Hehe, yes, it is but I don't believe that statement and that's why I wanted to ask on this community.

  • CarrieCans
    CarrieCans Posts: 381 Member
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    Um no. I dont believe that or the opposite which i have heard also.
  • misskarihari
    misskarihari Posts: 104 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    Twaddle!
    Just one of many excuses people use to avoid making the link between what they stuff in their cake-hole and their weight gain.

    That's what I thought!
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    <boggle>

    "Set Points" (including your highest) are a myth. Woo woo of the highest order.

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Um...
  • Phoenix_Down
    Phoenix_Down Posts: 530 Member
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    No. People often regain weight and end up back at the same because that was the intake they became accustomed to and they stop being mindful. If you adjust your intake to meet your caloric needs for your new weight (which will obviously be lesser calories), you will be able to maintain whatever weight you're at.
  • misskarihari
    misskarihari Posts: 104 Member
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    Phoenix_Down wrote: »
    No. People often regain weight and end up back at the same because that was the intake they became accustomed to and they stop being mindful. If you adjust your intake to meet your caloric needs for your new weight (which will obviously be lesser calories), you will be able to maintain whatever weight you're at.

    Exactly. Thank you for your reply, being serious and explaining in a proper way (like a few others here! ;-) ).
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    No, but it seems like that sometimes.
  • misskarihari
    misskarihari Posts: 104 Member
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    PlaydohPants wrote: »
    No, but I have heard of "happy weight". For example, your "ideal" weight base on height, age, gender, etc. may 135 but your "Happy weight" is 150. Where you aren't overweight but your body likes to stay there.

    Either way, you can beat it! Just keep counting those cals ;) Drink lots of water, and get lots of sleep. Sleep is so important it. I know it sounds cliche but there's a reason for that!

    Thank you! I sure hope I will reach my weight goal and keep it for years to come. And sleep is so important to me and I make sure to get my 8hours, since I have some "issues" that makes me more tired than others (I am deaf in a hearing world) :)
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    Does "the body" remember your highest weight and want to get back there? Not exactly in that sense. Being accustomed to a certain food intake, ingrained food habits, hunger hormones change when you lose weight, you become more efficient at burning calories.. etc all work collectively that if you stop paying attention to what you eat and how much you move, you are likely to gain and get back to the same weight, possibly higher.

    That's why maintenance is hard. You need to consciously do it and pay attention to things. Maybe that's what they mean by "body memory"? In the sense that if you stop paying attention, things will get back to the way they were as if it's the "natural" state your body reverts to, as if it has a memory. Maybe it isn't meant literally, you know.

    Never heard of this statement, but I'm trying not to go on a straw man bashing frenzy.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    Where is this link so I can laugh at it?
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    Phoenix_Down wrote: »
    No. People often regain weight and end up back at the same because that was the intake they became accustomed to and they stop being mindful. If you adjust your intake to meet your caloric needs for your new weight (which will obviously be lesser calories), you will be able to maintain whatever weight you're at.

    that and people usually activity levels decrease too.

  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
    edited January 2015
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    Your body doesn't remember your highest weight. That's just bunk.

    However, studies have shown that people who've lost weight have a lower RMR than what would be predicted by an RMR calculation for their current statistics (meaning they have a lower average RMR than someone who never lost weight). This means that they would have to eat less to maintain their weight than someone else with the same stats and activity level that didn't lose weight. This study was only conducted for 44 weeks (so less than a year), so its possible that your body adapts over time to your new weight.

    Here's the conclusion paragraph for this particular study:
    "In conclusion, our study showed that moderate weight loss induced by energy restriction leads to a disproportional reduction in RMR. In addition, adaptive thermogenesis was not only observed after the diet, but it was sustained up to 44 wk of follow-up and was positively correlated with the amount of lost weight. As a consequence, adaptive thermogenesis favors a positive energy balance during weight maintenance and may increase the risk of weight regain."

    Link: ajcn.nutrition.org/content/97/5/990.full

    They also cite several other studies that have found the same thing. I'm not saying this is the definitive truth or anything, but something interesting to consider when you're thinking about maintenance.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    SingRunTing wrote: »
    Your body doesn't remember your highest weight. That's just bunk.

    However, studies have shown that people who've lost weight have a lower RMR than what would be predicted by an RMR calculation for their current statistics (meaning they have a lower average RMR than someone who never lost weight). This means that they would have to eat less than someone with the same stats and activity level to maintain their weight. This study was only conducted for 44 weeks (so less than a year), so its possible that your body adapts over time to your new weight.

    Here's the conclusion paragraph for this particular study:
    "In conclusion, our study showed that moderate weight loss induced by energy restriction leads to a disproportional reduction in RMR. In addition, adaptive thermogenesis was not only observed after the diet, but it was sustained up to 44 wk of follow-up and was positively correlated with the amount of lost weight. As a consequence, adaptive thermogenesis favors a positive energy balance during weight maintenance and may increase the risk of weight regain."

    Link: ajcn.nutrition.org/content/97/5/990.full

    They also cite several other studies that have found the same thing. I'm not saying this is the definitive truth or anything, but something interesting to consider when you're thinking about maintenance.

    It makes sense to me. Maybe that is why when some people get to the vanity pounds that MFP community recommends body recomp instead of lose the pounds.

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