once fat, always fat

Well I've been maintaining my weight loss for over a year.. I'm not 'miserable, sick, and tired' but yeah, to be totally honest, I do go to bed hungry sometimes - BUT it's because I have really bad PMS and get very hungry when it happens so I pretty much have to keep a deficit the rest of the time in order to maintain. And from what I read on the forums, it's not really a common occurrence, as a lot of people seem to think it's 'all in my head'... but I've still managed to maintain my 80 pounds loss. I'd just be much happier eating 200 more calories a day.

So yeah, I think it's possible to make the change.. you just got to want it enough, and have the tools for it - MFP is a HUGE help.

@synacious " I'm 30 now and I weigh 118 pounds; my body looks the best it ever has in my life. Do I deprive myself? No. Yesterday I had half of a pumpkin spice donut, half of an apple cinnamon donut, half of a jelly donut, and a hamburger with BBQ sauce and french fries. I enjoyed every bite, but I know I can't eat like that every single day unless I'm willing to get the physical activity it takes to burn that off or maintain my weight. I still ended up losing two pounds this week when my goal is only half a pound per week. I didn't mean to, but I move around so much now that it just happened."

I weighed 115 until age 38, and then I slowly slowly gained. Up to to that point I ate whatever I wanted and the weight just melted off of me. I was always active too. So "age" is not necessarily starting at 30. Now, I can't even look at those things you mention in your comment. If I overeat one day, or eat something that has a tiny bit of more sodium or sugar, I gain 1-2 lbs that takes me 4-5 days to work off. I lift weights and do cardio 7 days a week. Have to do almost scientific efforts to lose the weight.

So as a conclusion, if one continues eating the stuff you mentioned, around a certain "age" one will gain back the weight without a doubt.

It's true that most people who lose a substantial amount of weight gain at least some of it back. Often, though, that's because they revert to the way they ate before they lost weight; they think of their diet during weight loss as a temporary change, not a new lifestyle.

I lost a lot of weight (not sure how much, maybe 50 lb.) in my first couple years of grad school, due to a couple of lifestyle changes: more walking for transportation, regular exercise, and more home-cooked meals. I kept it off for several years. I then put it on again when I got a demanding job, didn't make time to exercise, and needed to drive most places instead of walking to them. I kept eating like I was when I was burning a few hundred extra calories a day, and no surprise, I gradually packed on the pounds.

This time around I've been maintaining for nearly a year. I eat on average 2200-2300 calories a day. I don't feel deprived. I've learned which foods keep me sated longest, and which ones leave me feeling hungry. The only significant change I made to my diet was to stop eating breakfast cereal and milk, because a slice of buttered toast keeps me sated much longer than shredded wheat, raisins, and milk.

If you look at the National Weight Control Registry, you'll learn a lot about the habits of people who do successfully lose weight and keep it off.

hugheseva wrote: »

@synacious " I'm 30 now and I weigh 118 pounds; my body looks the best it ever has in my life. Do I deprive myself? No. Yesterday I had half of a pumpkin spice donut, half of an apple cinnamon donut, half of a jelly donut, and a hamburger with BBQ sauce and french fries. I enjoyed every bite, but I know I can't eat like that every single day unless I'm willing to get the physical activity it takes to burn that off or maintain my weight. I still ended up losing two pounds this week when my goal is only half a pound per week. I didn't mean to, but I move around so much now that it just happened."

I weighed 115 until age 38, and then I slowly slowly gained. Up to to that point I ate whatever I wanted and the weight just melted off of me. I was always active too. So "age" is not necessarily starting at 30. Now, I can't even look at those things you mention in your comment. If I overeat one day, or eat something that has a tiny bit of more sodium or sugar, I gain 1-2 lbs that takes me 4-5 days to work off. I lift weights and do cardio 7 days a week. Have to do almost scientific efforts to lose the weight.

So as a conclusion, if one continues eating the stuff you mentioned, around a certain "age" one will gain back the weight without a doubt.

I don't completely agree; there are women on this forum twice my age who weigh the same or even less than I do and easily maintain it. Just because one hits a certain age doesn't mean they will gain back the weight "without a doubt". That's just not true for everyone. Things vary from person to person, but for the majority of people, their TDEE will decrease with age, especially if they have little muscle mass to begin with. I agree that "age" doesn't begin at 30, but society has women believe that after their twenties, it's all downhill and they just deteriorate and that's just not true.

You seem to have an extreme case where you gain 1 to 2 pounds of water weight from consuming a bit more sodium or sugar than usual, but that's not the case for most people. It's scientifically improbable to gain 1 to 2 pounds from sugar or salt that isn't water weight related, unless that food was somehow approximately 3,500 to 7,000 calories or someone has a severe insulin issue. It's also highly unlikely to have someone be able to eat whatever they want at ANY age and not gain weight at a caloric surplus. It's the physical activity that makes it seem like they can eat whatever they want because their activity level is actually putting them at a deficit. If an older person has more muscle mass, their TDEE will be more than someone their age who does not have as much muscle mass. Lifting weights at a deficit is not going to increase muscle mass and all cardio does, besides heart/lung health, is help burn off more calories so you can eat a bit more.

If I don't move at all throughout the day, my Fitbit only gives me 990 calories to eat in order to lose half a pound per week. If I get 10,000 steps per day and exercise, I can eat anywhere from 1200 to 2100 to lose half a pound per week depending on how much activity I got that day. I'd imagine for someone older they'd start out with less than 990 calories per day to lose, especially if they have less muscle mass than I do or medical issues. Of course eating a burger and fries would make them gain or maintain since that can easily be 900+ calories alone. If they haven't eaten at a big enough deficit during the week or they don't burn off enough calories, they'll see no loss or even a slight gain per week.

abatonfan wrote: »

I consider my "lifestyle change" to be a catalyst for development instead of a simple change. In order for something to be classified as development, it has to be functionally significant and relatively permanent (O_O I'm actually remembering stuff from my human development class). People make huge changes to their diets, but many only see dieting as a temporary thing (as soon as they lose the weight, they'll resume normal eating patterns), which will then result in them gaining back the weight. Due to medical conditions that popped up during my journey, I know I'll be logging my food and paying super close attention to what I eat for the rest of my life, so any weight that I might gain would be minimal (and would probably correlate to worse control of that medical condition).

I appreciate this post about personal development. While this is significant to the topic at hand, I can totally apply this concept to other areas of my life that have nothing to do with weight loss. Totally stealing this to post on my newsfeed!

I agree with all the posters who believe weight re-gain after loss is due to reverting to previous eating habits. I would say they are "abnormal" eating habits, rather than "normal".

I see a lot of people on MFP who are making progress towards current weight goals, but then reward themselves for their achievements with unhealthy food. That's the mindset that got you here in the first place! Personally, I've learned to reward myself for weight loss and fitness gains with non-food prizes (new pair of workout shoes, a new piece of exercise gear, a pedicure, a new outfit, etc). Food will always be entertainment, comfort and enjoyment but removing it as a "reward" is a big help towards maintaining weight goals.

No, I don't believe it. I do know that once fat, always harder to stay thin. Not only do we see most people who lose weight gain it back, but they've already found physiological reasons that it's harder to stay thin. I'd be a fool to not realize that it is going to be tough to stay thin and that I'll have to guard against regaining for life.

I don't know (in real life) anyone who lost a lot of weight and didn't gain it all back. Instead of letting that discourage me, I use them as cautionary tales. "Be careful. Don't get sloppy. That could happen to you." I'd never say, "Hey, Lisa, your fatness is what keeps me going! Thanks for gaining it all back!" or anything. But it's in my head. "Don't end up like Lisa."

I don't believe it cannot be done. If you're ready to work at it for life and you have a good reason (whatever that reason is) to remain thin, it's possible to do it.

I have to believe it's possible. The other option isn't acceptable.

I will say that one woman told me she purposely let herself get too thin (5'4", 290lb to 108lb) because she wanted to have "wiggle room."

Allowing herself the wiggle room meant she could gain a few pounds and not sweat it. But then, she knew she had the extra room and decided to chow down and use them up. Soon, she was back to old habits and went up over 300 pounds again. She never lost it.

I remember that. I remember everything people tell me about their failures.

I disagree.

Maintaining physical fitness and a healthy diet has very little to do with age, or past physical condition including weight.
Meet Ernestine Shephard http://ernestineshepherd.net/?page_id=2 She describes herself as a "sedentary, well-padded school secretary when she start body building at age 56. She's now age 75 and still competing and training others.
Meet Harriet Thompson https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2015/05/31/harriette-thompson-92-is-trying-to-become-oldest-woman-to-run-a-marathon/ Started running at age 76, and has run 16 marathons since 1999. She's 92.
And look at these 9 athletes www.cozi.com/live-simply/9-aging-athletes-who-put-you-shame

Dieting is so goal-oriented. Maintenance is different. I really don't know until I get to that maintenance place. I like to think I'll monitor my weight. I do know, just for me, that at my age, it's going to need to be lifelong habit to weigh, make sure I'm not over-indulging, and keep an eye on it.

I have to give up big portions. Period. It's STILL very hard for me to convince myself that the smaller amount of food really will be enough.