November/December weight management challenge

[goldfinch]

I think almost all adults who are trying to maintain a healthy weight/lifestyle need to keep track of and limit the amount of food they eat, even if they have never gained and then lost excess weight. Some might do it more casually, rather than weighing and measuring, and they might be able to get away with treats more often, but they're still doing it. And then there are people like the always-thin guy in my office who doesn't gain weight easily, but has to watch his diet due to hereditary health issues (high blood pressure in his case).

And btw, congratulations on losing 200 lbs. That's a huge achievement.

I think it is substantially different for the obese and formerly obese than for those who are not. I think one difference is the huge drive to eat that the formerly obese have. Our bodies and their brains say feed me right now. Resistance is far more demanding than simply watching what you eat. It is driving yourself to exercise more than others may have to exercise. It is being obsessed with what you eat. It is catching yourself immediately if weight goes up the least little bit because once it starts up significantly odds are it will not stop. For many if not most it is living with not eating what your body says is enough for the rest of your life.

"The greater the weight loss, the greater the hunger and, sooner or later for most dieters, a primal hunger trumps the conscious desire to be thin.”

"Obesity is not a personal failing. In trying to lose weight, the obese are fighting a difficult battle. It is a battle against biology, a battle that only the intrepid take on and one in which only a few prevail.” Jeffrey Friedman, A War on Obesity, Not the Obese. [Science. 2003] – PubMed – NCBI.

Years ago I was pregnant and my hormones went out of whack. I couldn't eat a thing as I would just throw it up. I threw up many times a day for a couple of months. I dramatically lost weight. I had to be fed intervenously. When I recovered I was hungry. I was hungry for years. I was never, ever full. And I gained weight. I know the power of hormones.