Why is it so Easy to Gain Weight and so Hard to Loose it?

mallchick

I go on diets off and on I can loose it but it is so hard to keep it off. My question is why is it so easy to gain weight, but it is so hard and not easy to loose it?








Thanks

Colm_OReilly

Chances are your "diets" are starving you, so they're unsustainable.

Post your current eating regime and we'll try to help you make lasting changes.

Also, are you exercising?

mack1

mallchick wrote: »

I go on diets off and on I can loose it but it is so hard to keep it off. My question is why is it so easy to gain weight, but it is so hard and not easy to loose it?

Thanks

Because you go off and on - think about it, the way you eat made you gain weight in the first place, you went on "a diet" and lost the weight, then you went OFF again - when you go back to eating the way that made you gain weight in the first place why would it not have the same result again?

You should not go on "a diet," severly cutting kcals in an effort to lose weight and then go back to your previous eating habits, you should make permanent improvements in your diet so that you can sustain a healthy weight.

G-Money

I know the feeling. A few years ago I joined a gym and went onto a "diet". I cut out all the junk I was eating, cut out the booze, everything. After about 6 months I had lost 3 1/2 stone. Then for some stupid reason I stopped going and since then, all the weight has crept back on and I'm back to my old eating habits.

I agree with Colm in that half the battle is doing something that can be maintained going forward. I think some people (I'm not saying you are one of them) think of a diet or fitness regime as a temporary thing that they only have to do until they reach their target weight. And once they reach that target, they can kind of forget about it all and go back to the way they were eating before. Then sure enough, the weight comes back.

I also dislike the word "diet" as it implies something temporary and that you are denying yourself nice food.

I think the only way forward is a reasonable and maintainable eating plan combined with exercise. If your diet consists of healthy food but you don't like any of it, you almost certainly will not stick to it. I know I wouldn't. I think the trick is eat a balanced diet, keep the portions under control and just watch what you eat. Add into this a bit of moderate exercise and you should be well on your way. You don't have to join a gym if you don't want to, there's lots of other ways to exercise. For example I'm moving to a place that is about a 20 minute walk from where I work. I plan on walking to and from work each day so that should definitely help. Maybe you can do something similar?

My sister joined Weightwatchers and she lost about 3 stone on it over the course of a year. She done this about two years ago and has maintained her weight since. I'm planning to join Weightwatchers myself next week as I need to do something about my weight. I don't feel particularly motivated or determined, but I'm just resigned to the fact that I need to do something about my weight so while the first few weeks may well be tough, hopefully once I lose a little bit, that will spur me on.

Anyway, that's my two cents worth.

rubadub

Your metabolism changes with your size. A child needs less food to survive than an adult. A 20stone man needs more energy simply to keep himself warm, more energy to walk around and pump blood around his system etc.

They recommend a man to eat around 2500kcal per day at an "ideal size". If I increase to 3500kcal then I will put on weight up to a point, it will eventually stabilize when I reach the point where my body needs that extra 1000kcal to simply stay warm and be able to move myself around. You do not increase in size indefinitely.

Now if I diet for a period on 2000kcal I will lose fat. Now if I reach my "ideal size" I could up the calories, take in 2500kcal per day and be stable at that.

However most people will lose the fat and go back eating what they used to eat, 3500kcal, and put it all back on.


If you are not exercising during the diet phase you will lose muscle along with fat, if you then get back to the same weight again you may actually be bigger, since fat takes up more space than muscle, so the lost muscle weight goes back on as fat weight. Also the fat goes on in "bad places" so you can look worse at the same weight.

If you build additional muscle then your body needs to support it. So if you really want to still eat the 3500kcal and not put on additional fat you can, but you have to increase your metabolic rate, this can be done by lifting wieghts to build muscle, or just get fat again and stabilize the same as before.

EileenG

There is also another factor. Your body evolved during times when food was sometimes scarce, and it developed ways to cope. So when you deliberately eat less, your body doesn't know that there is still lots of food, it thinks there is a famine and it needs to stockpile against the next one. So there will a natural tendancy to put on more fat, just in case.

To avoid triggering this, you should not starve yourself. Eat when you are hungry and eat good quality food, so your body doesn't feel threatened. Just eat slightly less you need, so you can gradually lose fat.

LegacyUser

EileenG wrote: »

There is also another factor. Your body evolved during times when food was sometimes scarce, and it developed ways to cope. So when you deliberately eat less, your body doesn't know that there is still lots of food, it thinks there is a famine and it needs to stockpile against the next one. So there will a natural tendancy to put on more fat, just in case.

To avoid triggering this, you should not starve yourself. Eat when you are hungry and eat good quality food, so your body doesn't feel threatened. Just eat slightly less you need, so you can gradually lose fat.

This evolution stuff you talk about? Is this fact?

EileenG

cheesedude wrote: »

This evolution stuff you talk about? Is this fact?

It is on my flat earth. No wait, I grew out of my husband's rib. And all my children were brought by the stork....

bwardrop

cheesedude wrote: »

This evolution stuff you talk about? Is this fact?

It is known as the 'thrifty gene' - lots of research in to it at the moment seeing as the technology (DNA mapping) is available. Big centre in UCD working on it (among other things) as part of a Europe wide study - I think.

It is a little outside of my area - certainly when I am not in the office, so I'll not comment further - here is the wikipedia page on the topic FYI.

LegacyUser

EileenG wrote: »

It is on my flat earth. No wait, I grew out of my husband's rib. And all my children were brought by the stork....

What are you on?

bwardrop wrote: »

It is known as the 'thrifty gene' - lots of research in to it at the moment seeing as the technology (DNA mapping) is available. Big centre in UCD working on it (among other things) as part of a Europe wide study - I think.

It is a little outside of my area - certainly when I am not in the office, so I'll not comment further - here is the wikipedia page on the topic FYI.

I see...interesting. Thanks for the link.

?mark

It's easier to be lazy and do nothing than it is to be consistent and disciplined.

Transform

Its not easy to put on weight

You have to be lazy, eat crap diet for your body and keep telling yourself 'I'll start tomorrow'

Hal1

Let me know your secret OP. I have never been over 12 stone, mind you I am a healty eater, spuds and veg for me most days. We where always deprived of junk food when we where younger. My sig lies, just abit

liberation

Pure and simple because in the shorterm the things that make you fat like drink and junk food and sitting on the couch watching tv are more enjoyable than exercising and eating healthy but if you stick to a healthy lifestyle you will enjoy it in the longterm

Smellyirishman

Whenever I relax with my training my weight plummets.

hardtrainer

The human body is specifically designed to lay down fat when there is excess calories. Likewise, when calories get scare the body copes by depressing the metabolism to make the fat stores last as long as possible. It's an extremely successful survival strategy when you live in a world where cals can be hard to find and available irregularly, which is the way it was for most of human history. Only in the last hundred years or so has the world food economy meant that those in the west has an excess of cals available to them.

The only way to lose weight is to reduce cals below the level required to sustain. If you just do this, you risk the metabolic rate plummeting, but exercise is an excellent way to combat this as it helps to elevate the metabolism.

There is a very complex hormonal system in place to try to prevent you from willingly abstaining from cals, which is why the body will just keep on getting fatter and fatter with your help. Crash dieting is pointless because while you will lose weight, the dietary changes are drastic and it's very difficult to know what level to continue eating at, which is why most people get it horribly wrong and pile all the weight back on again. If you make small, but permanent changes in your eating habits you will see the results slower, but they'll last.

I know there will be some replies with people saying they can't put on weight, but they are very much the exception, not the rule.