Well, as per my link, my biggest fear is shutting down your metabolism which is what my eating disorder specialist doctor said is what I did.
I was in Calgary two weeks ago for a conference and one of the workshops was done by Dr Arya Sharma who founded the "Canadian Obesity Network", a network for doctors and other health professionals working on obesity. In his book he states:
"(the more weight you take off) determines how much effort it will take to lose the weight and to keep it off"
His rough numbers are:
10% effort can give a 5% weight loss
30% effort can give you a 15% weight loss
50% effort can give you a 20% weight loss
100% effort can give you a 50% weight loss
And this is because the body will try everything in its power to thwart your efforts, especially the more extreme you go. Cravings will skyrocket. Metabolism will come to a halt. Chemicals/hormones such as leptin and ghrelin will be out of whack such that you will not have any feeling of being full/satiated.
I spoke with the doctor after his workshop and said "I fall into the last category and I agree that it has taken 100% effort - I'm preplanning all meals, spending time with nutritionists, doing at least an hour of cardio every day and 30 minutes of weight training, going to weight loss / weight maintenance support groups 4 times a week." I asked the doctor if I have to keep this up forever. His response was, no. At some point I will die. Just likely at a much later date than if I had stayed at 350 pounds.
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