once fat, always fat
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@FrancI27
"Also dietary cholesterol has typically no impact on blood cholesterol"
Yes, there are new studies that that's the case. Again, back to my own experience. 25 lbs weight, cheese, other dairy products, bread and cold cuts ago, my blood cholesterol was 236. I stopped eating these things. After 5 months, my blood cholesterol was 160. I must be an anomaly.
Losing weight overall affects blood cholesterol a great deal.0 -
The heavier you were and the longer you were obese/overweight, the more difficult it will be to stay normal weight, - just because habits form and solidify with time, and the greater the loss, the bigger the difference in calorie needs. The difficulty is 99% mental/psychological/social/environmental, maybe 1% physical/medical. And it's difficult, but not impossible.
My experience of losing and regaining around 45 pounds - recently lost again, and maintained for a year - was that I hadn't prepared for real life situations. When I couldn't continue doing classes at the gym, I couldn't figure out an alternative, and I didn't really care, because I was fed up. I didn't know how and when to say no thanks to food and snacks. The food I believed I was supposed to eat most of the time, was boring and quite tasteless. I felt sorry for myself and "had to" have that candy and chips. Soon, it became an everyday "need". I hadn't really learnt much, or maybe just "forgot" - this time around I had to learn about proper portions, get in some meal time structure, picking up hunger and satiety cues, and of course, learn to cook properly and shop accordingly.0 -
The statistics don't support people maintaining a weight loss, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. The solution is not complicated and not easy either. It happens when you change the way you think and act in a significant way.0
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I don't think "once you're fat, you'll always be fat," but the fact is most people who lose weight will regain it, some will regain even more than they lost. Those who have truly made a lifestyle change and remain vigilant, using the knowledge they've gained on this journey, will maintain. I'm hitting 2 years maintaining. I am still learning a lot about myself and my body. Is it easy? No. I can't eat whatever I want. But I can go overboard every once in a while without any significant weight gain. I'm also very active. I grew up thin and gained weight while pregnant and life just got in the way. When I decided to lose the weight, I educated myself (and I'm still learning...learning never ends) and have maintained it while staying active, eating healthy, and still enjoying the foods I love. I'm really enjoying my active life and won't be going back to being overweight ever.0
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Knowledge is power! My weight loss journey started in my teens. From age 11, I was 11 stone and increased by one stone each year until I was 13. I had no clue about nutrition. I somehow managed to get down to a healthier weight by trying to cut out more fattening foods and exercising. In my late teens and early 20's, I seemed to yo yo by 3 stone. As others have said, this was most probably down to emotional factors. I found it really hard to relate to my body when it was thinner. I still do to some extent. I guess the fat becomes a metaphorical protective layer. In my late 20s I realised that I needed to change how I thought about food. I started to eat with more awareness about hunger and more nourishing foods and lost weight very slowly, without dieting as such. This time, I was able to continue eating like this but worries about losing too much weight would lead to consuming more rubbish. When I start down this path, I quickly lose control. I continued on a yo yo pattern but with 10 lbs instead of 3 stone.
As I am now approaching the years of menopause, I find myself wondering how I can make the process easier. Lots of my research has highlighted nutrition. There has been lots of contradictory information but I have decided to try and really restrict processed food. I have just lost that pesky 10lbs and am embarking on my maintenance plan. I think that remaining mindful of diet and exercise will be key. I will continue with the same kind of diet but just gradually increase the amount of food and monitor until I find a level that suits. I am hoping that logging my meals will become habit and keep me aware of what I am eating. I will never say never (experience teaches me that that is foolhardy) As much as we can be determined, at times it is hard to get past a life time of conditioning and experience. I have to be on my guard. I was at a 21st meal in the local chinese all you can eat buffet at the weekend. So hard to find anything unprocessed but with a bit of effort, I found a reasonably healthy meal and even indulged a little in some sweet stuff. I probably enjoyed it more that if I had just mindlessly filled my plate. I think for me, informing myself about the effects of sugar and highly processed foods, on my hormones and body, has really helped me avoid such foods.0 -
Not true. For me anyways. I will NEVER go back to the way I used to be & I don't have to starve to do that. It's pretty simple actually. & if being fat means youll always be fat.. Then being skinny means you'll always be skinny & that's NOT true. ALOT of the skinny people I went to hs with (almost 5 years ago) blew up like balloons.0
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@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.
That's because you're gaining water weight... donuts or hamburgers won't make you gain weight as long as they fit your calories. Just saying.
I experienced first hand that the balance also counts. I cannot explain how, but the same caloric intake of "bad" food stays on more. Not to mention the increased cholesterol intake that just shortens one's life.
My point was really that we'd better watch out how and what we eat because at the end, you'll pay the piper.
Nope. As long as you're in a caloric deficit , weight comes off. No matter what. If you didn't lose weight, you weren't in a deficit. You need to weigh all solid food on a food scale to accurately verify caloric intake. All things in moderation, including cholesterol, and you're fine.
and as far as the piper goes, no one gets out alive, that's just how it goes. Enjoy the journey.
I don't intend to hijack this thread, but if you look at my diary, you can see how detailed I am logging everything. I am weighing even the .2 oz garlic I put in food. In spite of this, I lost maybe 1 lb in 2 weeks. So in spite of all the heavy training and proper eating, I have difficulty losing at my age.
Also, eating 200 calories of carbs is NOT the same as eating 200 calories of fat. Carbs burn up, fat stays. And fat is only burnt after you used up all the carbs in your body. So it does count what type of food you eat within the same caloric intake.
Please stop spreading misinformation. This is truly one of the reasons people regain weight. Too much misinformation out there.0 -
@FrancI27
"Also dietary cholesterol has typically no impact on blood cholesterol"
Yes, there are new studies that that's the case. Again, back to my own experience. 25 lbs weight, cheese, other dairy products, bread and cold cuts ago, my blood cholesterol was 236. I stopped eating these things. After 5 months, my blood cholesterol was 160. I must be an anomaly.
Losing weight overall affects blood cholesterol a great deal.
Me personally, I lost weight this year and cholesterol went up, so it does happen to some people.0 -
@FrancI27
"Also dietary cholesterol has typically no impact on blood cholesterol"
Yes, there are new studies that that's the case. Again, back to my own experience. 25 lbs weight, cheese, other dairy products, bread and cold cuts ago, my blood cholesterol was 236. I stopped eating these things. After 5 months, my blood cholesterol was 160. I must be an anomaly.
Losing weight overall affects blood cholesterol a great deal.
Me personally, I lost weight this year and cholesterol went up, so it does happen to some people.
Dietary cholesterol can have some effect on blood serum cholesterol. Statin use is going up widely because even with weight loss and exercise, there are genetic factors involved in cholesterol that haven't been completely explained by science yet. (For example - Native Americans have terrible problems with blood cholesterol levels, even when they are a healthy weight and change diet.)0 -
@FrancI27
"Also dietary cholesterol has typically no impact on blood cholesterol"
Yes, there are new studies that that's the case. Again, back to my own experience. 25 lbs weight, cheese, other dairy products, bread and cold cuts ago, my blood cholesterol was 236. I stopped eating these things. After 5 months, my blood cholesterol was 160. I must be an anomaly.
Losing weight overall affects blood cholesterol a great deal.
Me personally, I lost weight this year and cholesterol went up, so it does happen to some people.
This happened big time after being on very Low Carb High Fat for nearly a year. I do not have the labs for 2013, 2014 and 2015 in front of me. LDL was like 200 in 2013 and 323 in 2015. But HDL had climbed to 55 from 38. Triglycerides were down to 115 but forget the ### for 2013.
The doctor was freaking out and wanted me to start on statins. After doing some reading I learned that was normal for a few people. If HDL and triglycerides have moved into a good range from a bad range then the LDL number when further tested will typically show the large size particles vs the small dense ones. I just told the doctor since my other numbers were going in the right direction we would take about LDL numbers next year.
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GaleHawkins wrote: »@FrancI27
"Also dietary cholesterol has typically no impact on blood cholesterol"
Yes, there are new studies that that's the case. Again, back to my own experience. 25 lbs weight, cheese, other dairy products, bread and cold cuts ago, my blood cholesterol was 236. I stopped eating these things. After 5 months, my blood cholesterol was 160. I must be an anomaly.
Losing weight overall affects blood cholesterol a great deal.
Me personally, I lost weight this year and cholesterol went up, so it does happen to some people.
This happened big time after being on very Low Carb High Fat for nearly a year. I do not have the labs for 2013, 2014 and 2015 in front of me. LDL was like 200 in 2013 and 323 in 2015. But HDL had climbed to 55 from 38. Triglycerides were down to 115 but forget the ### for 2013.
The doctor was freaking out and wanted me to start on statins. After doing some reading I learned that was normal for a few people. If HDL and triglycerides have moved into a good range from a bad range then the LDL number when further tested will typically show the large size particles vs the small dense ones. I just told the doctor since my other numbers were going in the right direction we would take about LDL numbers next year.
For me, LDLs were up, HDLs were down, and Triglycerides were up (like, as in all those numbers lost 5 years worth of improvements). So everything was moving in the wrong direction after 8 years of things continuing to decrease.
But this is just my experience. I know I'm just a n=1.0 -
GaleHawkins wrote: »@FrancI27
"Also dietary cholesterol has typically no impact on blood cholesterol"
Yes, there are new studies that that's the case. Again, back to my own experience. 25 lbs weight, cheese, other dairy products, bread and cold cuts ago, my blood cholesterol was 236. I stopped eating these things. After 5 months, my blood cholesterol was 160. I must be an anomaly.
Losing weight overall affects blood cholesterol a great deal.
Me personally, I lost weight this year and cholesterol went up, so it does happen to some people.
This happened big time after being on very Low Carb High Fat for nearly a year. I do not have the labs for 2013, 2014 and 2015 in front of me. LDL was like 200 in 2013 and 323 in 2015. But HDL had climbed to 55 from 38. Triglycerides were down to 115 but forget the ### for 2013.
The doctor was freaking out and wanted me to start on statins. After doing some reading I learned that was normal for a few people. If HDL and triglycerides have moved into a good range from a bad range then the LDL number when further tested will typically show the large size particles vs the small dense ones. I just told the doctor since my other numbers were going in the right direction we would take about LDL numbers next year.
Interesting. My LDL went up after I lost 80 pounds too, but my HDL went up more so the ratio was better... now a year later I'm not sure what my labs were but the doctor hasn't called me so I'm guessing it's all within normal range.. and all I did was eat more eggs and shrimp, switch back to full fat cheese (even though my doctor told me to eat fat free everything), eat more oatmeal and nuts.
So yeah, I don't think that food cholesterol has much of an impact on my cholesterol.0 -
I read an article where a physician described formerly fat people as having "obesity in remission." That's how I feel. Fat Jruzer always wants me to have that road burger, or an extra dish of ice cream once I've hit my calorie target.
I don't feel like maintaining my weight loss will ever be second nature - I will have to pay attention to it forever.
I know how to lose and how to maintain. But if I'm not vigilant, if I stop paying attention, I gain at 1-2 lbs per week.
However, I am at the point where if I do gain, I know how to arrest it and start losing again. I'm hopeful I will never be fat again, because I've kept the bulk of my weight off for almost 4 years. But I have to say I'm not as confident in this fact as a lot of posters here. Because I HAVE made a pretty substantial lifestyle change, and the siren song of Fat Jruzer still plays in my head.0 -
Acceptance is difficult with the majority of dieters. We must accept and believe that we can not return to our old eating habits. The new norm (eat to live instead of living to eat) is my future. I believe I will stick to my new routines of healthier eating choices this time around and that this will stick permanently.0
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@FrancI27
"Also dietary cholesterol has typically no impact on blood cholesterol"
Yes, there are new studies that that's the case. Again, back to my own experience. 25 lbs weight, cheese, other dairy products, bread and cold cuts ago, my blood cholesterol was 236. I stopped eating these things. After 5 months, my blood cholesterol was 160. I must be an anomaly.
Losing weight overall affects blood cholesterol a great deal.
Me personally, I lost weight this year and cholesterol went up, so it does happen to some people.
Dietary cholesterol can have some effect on blood serum cholesterol. Statin use is going up widely because even with weight loss and exercise, there are genetic factors involved in cholesterol that haven't been completely explained by science yet. (For example - Native Americans have terrible problems with blood cholesterol levels, even when they are a healthy weight and change diet.)
The problem is conventional wisdom focuses on LDL levels as opposed to HDL : Triglyceride ratios.0 -
I read an article where a physician described formerly fat people as having "obesity in remission." That's how I feel. Fat Jruzer always wants me to have that road burger, or an extra dish of ice cream once I've hit my calorie target.
I don't feel like maintaining my weight loss will ever be second nature - I will have to pay attention to it forever.
I know how to lose and how to maintain. But if I'm not vigilant, if I stop paying attention, I gain at 1-2 lbs per week.
However, I am at the point where if I do gain, I know how to arrest it and start losing again. I'm hopeful I will never be fat again, because I've kept the bulk of my weight off for almost 4 years. But I have to say I'm not as confident in this fact as a lot of posters here. Because I HAVE made a pretty substantial lifestyle change, and the siren song of Fat Jruzer still plays in my head.
"obesity in remission". I'm afraid that I tend to agree. Focus is a metaphoric chemo. I might use the term "recovering foodaholic" if I didn't know what a hornet's nest comparing it to an "addiction" can be. Safer to compare to cancer?
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I think it might be reasonable to think that because many people do crash diet, not understand caloric deficit, or have an underlying mental health issue that's going unaddressed and leading to overeating or bingeing. (I personally have started seeing obesity as a symptom, rather than a "disease" in itself. It signals that something is not right. For me it's been anxiety, for other people it may be ptsd or depression, or a maladaptive coping mechanism. I think those issues need to be addressed alongside weight loss for true change to be effective). I also think that for those of us who have been obese, getting to a point where you're not obese but still overweight is a big achievement that may go unrecognized by statisticians.0
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@SuggaD
Please stop spreading misinformation. This is truly one of the reasons people regain weight. Too much misinformation out there. [/quote]
No, my Dear. This is not why people regain weight. They regain for all the reasons that other posters mention here, the main reason being : personal responsibility!
Read this:
Energy Sources
"Carbohydrates and fats are two of the three types of energy sources, the other being protein. All three sources must be processed and converted into energy before your body can use them. Carbohydrates are converted into energy the quickest, so the human body relies heavily on the easy access of stored carbohydrates as its main energy source. Fat isn’t as quickly available as carbohydrates; it must go through additional processes before being converted into energy. Protein contributes very little energy."
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I think it might be reasonable to think that because many people do crash diet, not understand caloric deficit, or have an underlying mental health issue that's going unaddressed and leading to overeating or bingeing. (I personally have started seeing obesity as a symptom, rather than a "disease" in itself. It signals that something is not right. For me it's been anxiety, for other people it may be ptsd or depression, or a maladaptive coping mechanism. I think those issues need to be addressed alongside weight loss for true change to be effective). I also think that for those of us who have been obese, getting to a point where you're not obese but still overweight is a big achievement that may go unrecognized by statisticians.
Just caught on the news here that the Canadian Medical Association has formally recognized obesity as a chronic disease. Apparently the American Medical Association recognized it as such two years ago.
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Read this:
Energy Sources
"Carbohydrates and fats are two of the three types of energy sources, the other being protein. All three sources must be processed and converted into energy before your body can use them. Carbohydrates are converted into energy the quickest, so the human body relies heavily on the easy access of stored carbohydrates as its main energy source. Fat isn’t as quickly available as carbohydrates; it must go through additional processes before being converted into energy. Protein contributes very little energy."
That has nothing to do with weight loss, though. If you're eating at a deficit, your body is still going to convert all of it no matter what. All that paragraph basically means is that if you're going to exercise, like go for a 30 minute run, you're not going to eat something like cheese for energy for that workout. You're going to want to have something like a banana so your body can use the energy as quickly as possible to fuel that run. This paragraph also proves why a lot of people struggle on low-carb diets; they feel sluggish because they don't have as much energy to access as quickly throughout the day.0
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