you will always be fat...

slim_photographer
slim_photographer Posts: 310 Member
edited September 28 in Health and Weight Loss
I read in a runner's world article that when have been overweight you will always be overweight or you will always worry about being overweight.
In my personal experience this realization is dead on. I was overweight, lost much of my overweight, and when I stopped worrying about weight I gained it all back.
It seems like we are all doomed to worry about our weights for the rest of our lives, which is not too bad, compared to the alternative.

Do you agree? what's your take?
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Replies

  • AtomicDarling
    AtomicDarling Posts: 42
    I think for me that's why my ultimate goal is not to lose weight but to live a healthier lifestyle for the rest of my life. Although weight loss would be a fantastic perk, it's not my only reason for doing all of this.

    If I can make a permanent change then hopefully I can break the cycle. :)
  • Hernandezedw
    Hernandezedw Posts: 284
    You can stop worrying once you make exercise and eating healthy a part of your life. For those that gain it back, they did not make that change.
  • Dee1006
    Dee1006 Posts: 37
    That is actually one of my goals. I don't want to exercise to just lose weight, but to try and make it as natural as brushing my teeth. That is why it is better to view this as a lifestyle change rather than a diet. Which is also why I like to switch up my activities so I can keep challenging myself and not get bored.
  • soldier4242
    soldier4242 Posts: 1,368 Member
    Worry is like a rocking chair it gives you something to do but it won't get you anywhere. The Buddhists have a saying if a problem has a solution then you don't have to worry and if a problem does not have a solution then worry will not help you.

    I would say that if you find something that you like to do which is healthy you will have an easier time working it in to your schedule. For me it was going for walks and runs with my wife. Eventually it just became a habit and then it was a natural part of our routine. Over time you find yourself looking forward to the next time you get to do it. You won't be overweight because of it and you won't have to worry at all. I think that is a much healthier way to look at it.
  • iAMaPhoenix
    iAMaPhoenix Posts: 1,038 Member
    Totally...How easy is it to gain it all back. We have all been there. 5 off, 7 on, 6 off, 10 on, and so on. I swear, it is almost easier for a person to get off drugs than for someone to lose weight and KEEP it off. This site helps a lot though, so I am staying here for my 12 step program.
  • shesnotthere
    shesnotthere Posts: 117
    I think that is a really negative way of looking at things. I would rather focus on the positives of losing weight.
  • shannonkk
    shannonkk Posts: 192 Member
    I agree, I want to feel good and have energy, and the ony way I can achieve that is by eating healthy and working out. But, sometimes I eat too much healthy, so the scale may stay the same but I will still fee good.
  • withchaco
    withchaco Posts: 1,026 Member
    I know two very small girls (5' 1", size XS). They are NOT fat, and they're always worrying about how they're not skinny enough!! One of them has some muscle tone on her calves, and she wants to lose the muscle so her calves will be skinnier.

    So this isn't exclusive to people who are actually overweight. Either you find a healthy lifestyle you enjoy, or you'll be doomed for life, whether it's being overweight or constant worries.
  • AnaNotBanana
    AnaNotBanana Posts: 963 Member
    I think that is a really negative way of looking at things. I would rather focus on the positives of losing weight.

    I totally agree with this!! But I think for most people having to focus on healthy eating and making an effort to get some sort of physical activity will always be something that they have to be mindful of. It is kind of stereotypical to think that skinny people don't ever have to worry about what they eat or how much they work out. I'm sure none of the Victoria Secret models have ever been overweight but they are always have to be conscious of what they eat and how much they work out.
  • Mateo1985
    Mateo1985 Posts: 153
    In my personal opinion a lot of people when trying to lose weight are trying to fix the consequences of their life styles instead of actually changing the root cause of why we are getting overweight. While losing weight it's important to actually learn and gain healthy eating habbits and hopefully exercising habbits as well. Then nothing is going to be a problem/
  • JDMPWR
    JDMPWR Posts: 1,863 Member
    I think that is a really negative way of looking at things. I would rather focus on the positives of losing weight.

    All the positivity in the world can't change your genetic predisposition to being over weight. You pretty much have to make conscious food decisions from the point when you hit your goal weight on as our metabolisms are not the same as people that are predisposed to being skinny.
  • HadraPriestess
    HadraPriestess Posts: 58 Member
    I agree. Staying on point w/ a healthy diet and a fitness routine that makes you happy AND healthy is where it is all going on!
  • dls06
    dls06 Posts: 6,774 Member
    I agree. If you began your life either having bad choices made for you and then making bad choices for yourself, You will always go back to what you know. Therefore you have to make a choice, either change to a healthy lifestyle or be a yo-yo dieter.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    I think for me that's why my ultimate goal is not to lose weight but to live a healthier lifestyle for the rest of my life. Although weight loss would be a fantastic perk, it's not my only reason for doing all of this.

    If I can make a permanent change then hopefully I can break the cycle. :)

    EXACTLY!!
  • ladyluck4210
    ladyluck4210 Posts: 107 Member
    I would have to agree with everyone else here. I've been overweight for most of my life, but after my 28th birthday I knew I needed to make some serious changes in my life. Not just to lose weight, but to gain control over my life period. I've been at this lifestyle change for almost a month and I can honestly say I see my attitude about food and about exercise totally different than I did before. It's amazing to see that my positive attitude has helped me lose the almost 15lbs I've lost so far.


    This sight is such a useful tool as well. It's such a wonderful community here. People understand your goals and are there to support you. If you really want to just lose weight to lose it, then you're doing it for all the wrong reasons. You have to change your outlook on food. It's okay to go out to eat and eat a piece of pizza, but don't eat it every day or every week even. I noticed so far for me, I think about what I'm going to eat before I actually eat it now. Depending on what I ate yesterday and if I'm going to be doing any extra activities later on in the day. There is a time and place for every kind of foods. You just have to think about it.

    So I do not believe that I am doomed to be chunky my whole life. I do believe that through my journey I will become healthy, and to live a life that I always wanted. That is my goal. So that 25 years from now I'm still hiking and riding bikes and when I have kids to be able to do the activities that they love.

    You just need to stop thinking about getting skinny, and start thinking about changing your life for the long run. If you do it that way, you won't have to be worried about gaining weight.
  • Pronoiac
    Pronoiac Posts: 304
    It's animportant topic and thanks for posting it. It can certainly be true, and likely would be for most people who are coming fromt hat place. Ironically it's that fear of being fat again that takes so many people back to that place. Changing our bodies and maintaining that healthier version ulttimately comes down to reprogramming one's self image. In my experience (persoanl and as a tfirness consultant) once a person updates that image the changes are lasting. Embracing the new you is very empowering. Love the freedom of the new lifestyle! For some people the changes are easier, for those wou need support here are many guided meditation and hypnosis products to help with reprogramming.
  • AUPerry
    AUPerry Posts: 166
    do you have the link to the article?
  • slim_photographer
    slim_photographer Posts: 310 Member
    do you have the link to the article?
    I read in the actual magazine but I looked it up here http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7120,s6-243-297-519-13846-0,00.html
  • Pril2000
    Pril2000 Posts: 254 Member
    It's the same as quitting smoking. I quit 3 years ago and I still think about it sometimes. I think about it much less, sure, but every now and then I hear, "I could really use a cigarette" pop into my head, before i say to myself, "Uh, we don't do that anymore, remember?" And then the urge goes away. It's the same with being overweight. I still feel fat sometimes even though I'm at my goal weight and the thinnest I've been since high school. The way I feel inside does not always reflect what is in the mirror.

    The flip side of this, however, is that most of the time I DO feel confident because I CAN look into a mirror and see how much progress I've made. I worry less and less every day. So, yes. I will always be worried about gaining the weight back, but the more I exercise and the stronger I get through strength training and the more natural it is to work out every day... the less I will worry, because even if I have that pastry one day a week, I'll have the tools to counteract the negative impact that at one time might have derailed me for weeks.

    It becomes just a pastry that I can run off later today and it stops being, "well, I had that pastry, so I might as well have a cheeseburger for dinner". I no longer think like that and that's it's own accomplishment.
  • AUPerry
    AUPerry Posts: 166
    do you have the link to the article?
    I read in the actual magazine but I looked it up here http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7120,s6-243-297-519-13846-0,00.html

    Thank you for the link to the article. I found it to be an incredibly good read and may even subscribe to the magazine (or visit the site more). It's the freaking story of my life, and I find comfort in it that I'm not the only one. Ahh, thank you!
  • freerange
    freerange Posts: 1,722 Member
    I don’t buy that at all. It’s just a matter of knowing what it was that made you fat in the first place and not doing that again. Simple sounding I know. But if you make eating the right foods, and avoiding the wrong foods part of your life then you don’t have to worry any longer, because it becomes natural. Same with exercise, if you decide to make exercise part of your life, and I don’t mean hitting the treadmill for 2 hours a day, but just get off the damn couch and go for a walk. You will have long lasting health. That is what I’m working towards, I have found the eating style, and the exercise style I will make part of my lifestyle now I just have to make them part of my daily life, and so far that is going good.
  • Schraudt814
    Schraudt814 Posts: 496 Member
    I read in a runner's world article that when have been overweight you will always be overweight or you will always worry about being overweight.
    In my personal experience this realization is dead on. I was overweight, lost much of my overweight, and when I stopped worrying about weight I gained it all back.
    It seems like we are all doomed to worry about our weights for the rest of our lives, which is not too bad, compared to the alternative.

    Do you agree? what's your take?

    I think that's a very generalized statement to make. The difference is that you stopped worrying about it. If you lose weight by working hard and eating right and stop when you reach your goal weight, it shouldn't really surprise you that the weight comes back. weight loss is only permanent if you adjust your lifestyle accordingly.
  • DeBlue
    DeBlue Posts: 254 Member
    I think we are all born with a thorn to bare... ours is weight! I hate this as much as anyone but have hope to learn to manage better. There are much worse "thorns" many cope with and that is reason to be thankful.
  • LilRedRooster
    LilRedRooster Posts: 1,421 Member
    Actually, I remember that article very well. It really struck a chord with me. Peter Sagal wrote it, which I found pretty cool.

    I don't think the point of the article was that you'll gain everything back once you stop worrying; it was that the shadow of the fat person you used to be will always be with you, no matter how healthy, happy, and slim you get. Mentally, you will always be running from that fat person, especially if the way that worked for you wasn't the healthiest.

    I know for me, it's true. I have always been athletic, every since I was a kid, and I didn't have to worry about weight until high school, when suddenly I got a lot of hormones going on, and I ended up getting a bit chunkier. Not fat, just chunkier. I started watching what I ate, and running cross-country, and I toned up. Then I got into college and my first relationship, and ended up not being as active. I gained about 15lbs, without really noticing it. I then broke up with the guy I was dating, and decided to redefine my life, so I began running again, got more serious with martial arts, lost that 15lbs initially, and then another 15, because once I got going, I couldn't stop.

    But I did it not only with running, but with a lot of restricting, and then eventually, got into pretty serious eating disorder territory. I became terrified of even eating one piece of chocolate, or one cookie, because mentally, the way that had worked for me did not permit that. Food became an enemy. I just couldn't enjoy it any more, and no matter how great I felt and looked, I still had mental notes in my head in terms of food. I could sit there and have an extra portion of pasta only if I knew that I had done my 6 miles for the day, or did an extra workout later. And even then, I still felt absolutely TERRIFIED of that food, even though logically, I knew that I'd be fine.

    Even today, when I'm eating healthy and running again, losing the weight slowly, I still have nagging voices in the back of my head that I have to force myself to ignore, because they're entirely irrational. But they're a product of being that chunky girl that got dumped that started running again to get away from her chunky, unhappy self, and they won't ever go away entirely.

    So it's not that I'll get fat once I stop worrying; it's just that once you've been fat, or even just moderately overweight, it seems impossible to be thin without worrying you'll get fat again. The two aren't mutually inclusive, I suppose, but for me, that article was bang-on.
  • Ahzuri
    Ahzuri Posts: 272 Member
    Its true for those who "diet" but those who make the effort to regularly exercise and eat healthy regardless of weather they are overweight or not will not because they will have made a lifestyle change. You can be unhealthy in your "Healthy" range just like you can in the overweight range if you don't exercise or eat too much junk.

    When I get down to a healthy weight for me I won't stop exercising or eating healthy because I would feel like crap if I did. Even now when I eat junk food like tv dinners, soda, or some fast food it makes me a bit sickish feeling. I also feel like complete crap when I go too long without hitting the gym!
  • hemisam
    hemisam Posts: 3
    yea you know i am just getting use to this web site. and it is hard 4 me to watch what i eat and so forth
  • RhysUK
    RhysUK Posts: 8
    If you go on a diet, but don't change your life, then yes, there is a chance that you will always be fat.

    When I first met my personal trainer in November 2010, the first thing she told me was "You are not on a diet, I am going to teach you how to change your life so that excercise and a healthy diet are a natural part of what you do"

    She was right, 6 months or so later, I think differently about food, drinks and snacks - but I'm still not "on a diet". Many friends comment on how good I look and how much weight I've lost, but when they ask "Are you dieting" I say "No, I'm not"

    There are no short-cuts, ignore the fad diets, being healthy is a lifestyle it's not some kind of temporary fix.

    BTW - I've just dicovered this website and app - love it!

    Rhys
    November 2010 - 108 Kg
    June 2011 - 91 Kg
    Goal 80 Kg
  • sushisuzi2
    sushisuzi2 Posts: 111 Member
    I've done the whole "lifestyle change" about 10 times since 1987. Life happens...
  • pittielover23
    pittielover23 Posts: 268
    Well I certainly hope not, because if that is the case, what the hell is the point? LOL

    I want to get to the poitn that I have a healthy relationship with food and my body. I cannot think that is impossible.
  • sh0ck
    sh0ck Posts: 168 Member
    I think for me that's why my ultimate goal is not to lose weight but to live a healthier lifestyle for the rest of my life. Although weight loss would be a fantastic perk, it's not my only reason for doing all of this.

    If I can make a permanent change then hopefully I can break the cycle. :)



    AMEN!
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