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It absolutely does and I would hazard a guess that you have never needed to lose a large amount of weight after being overweight for a while. First of all, all
by jjeaff 5y ago
It absolutely does and I would hazard a guess that you have never needed to lose a large amount of weight after being overweight for a while. First of all, all of those things you listed can be rather addictive. Secondly, you don't need any of those to become overweight. I don't eat candy, I only drink water, and I don't like fast food. But I have needed to lose about 20 lbs for a while now. It is very hard. Though, it was much easier when I was younger. For me at least, maintaining the weight I am at is not hard. But losing or gaining is very difficult.
The human body is very good at conserving mass. I can lose ~5 lbs easily - no problem, which is why maybe skinny people think it's so easy to lose weight. But once you really start cutting beyond a superficial amount, your metabolism starts to fight it. Hunger hormones ramp up, and your metabolic rate at rest starts to fall. Additionally, the lighter you get, the less energy you need to move. Your body goes into a kind of conservation starvation mode. Now the amount of food you are eating each day and have grown accustomed to eating is too much, you have to cut more or increase your workouts.
Add to all this the tons of unknowns about gut microbiome affecting mood, cravings, energy levels and a million other things and all the other factors that can come into play.
- a0-prw 5y agoThe only thing I mentioned that is hard to do (for some people, not for me) is fasting. It is also the most effective for losing fat and for resetting insulin sensitivity. Also, hunger hormones actually decrease over a (moderately extended) fast, and metabolism does not go down significantly. I'm talking about a zero-calorie fast, just water / black coffee / tea. The problems you describe apply to low calorie diets, not fasting. I went from >95 kg to 70 using the methods described above. I held that weight for several years, and I can control my weight up and down by manipulating the number of days a week I fast. I know that it is possible to consistently, reliably lose fat because I did it, and continue to do it when necessary. Lots of people have done the same. People are good at finding reasons why they can't lose weight. The truth is, they just don't want to do what is necessary. The hardest part of fasting is not physical but social. When you fast regularly over years, you experience how weird our culture's relationship with food is. We do not eat because we are really hungry. We eat to be social or comfort ourselves or because we are bored.
- jjeaff 5y agoGood on you for finding something that works for you. Hopefully it will continue to work for you. Because as you age, many things change. Fasting does not work the same way for everyone. Which is why the many studies looking into fasting and weight loss don't show an across the board success and has a lot of variability. In fact, many meta-analysis show that intermittent fasting for 24 hrs up to 2 days a week shows about the same amount of weight loss as regular calorie restriction diets. They also show a similar dropout rate to other diets indicating that it is no easier than say an Atkins diet. * https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-weight/diet-reviews/intermittent-fasting/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-weight/...