Obesity research confirms long-term weight loss almost impossible

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by AcGold

Fat shaming is something insecure people do and something overweight people are too eager to claim victimisation over. Words, emotions and dietary changes aren't going to solve your issues. Long term weight loss is possible with permanent lifestyle changes. Eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds. Eat less meat, cheese and empty calory junk food. Seek more quality sleep, drink more clean water and avoid stress. Breath deeply, stretch regularly and exercise often. You have to do all of these things to keep it off.

Love to know where you got your nutritionists degree.

Maybe you know all this from experience? Or are you TOOYA?

First, I have heard PLENTY of fat shaming and insults tossed around. People I have met recently and don't know my history will routinely say completely assinine crap about overweight people and I've had to count to ten more than a few times. I don't think overweight people are quick to claim victimization; if anything they tend to shy away from confrontation and take the abuse in silence.

Second, I don't follow most of you "have to do all these things to keep it off" so I guess I'm doomed. I eat lots of cheeses (yogurts, cottage cheese) for protein. I run on 4 to 5 hours sleep a night if I'm lucky. And the only time I stretch is when my personal trainer tells me to.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by bluck

Anyways exercise and get off the couch and you'll be fine.

So you disagree with the scientists in the original article?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Love to know where you got your nutritionists degree.

Maybe you know all this from experience? Or are you TOOYA?

First, I have heard PLENTY of fat shaming and insults tossed around. People I have met recently and don't know my history will routinely say completely assinine crap about overweight people and I've had to count to ten more than a few times. I don't think overweight people are quick to claim victimization; if anything they tend to shy away from confrontation and take the abuse in silence.

Second, I don't follow most of you "have to do all these things to keep it off" so I guess I'm doomed. I eat lots of cheeses (yogurts, cottage cheese) for protein. I run on 4 to 5 hours sleep a night if I'm lucky. And the only time I stretch is when my personal trainer tells me to.

In my experience ACGold has a strong history of backing up claims with water tight sources.

[bluck]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

So you disagree with the scientists in the original article?

I don't necessarily disagree with them because obviously a lot of people who have had success losing weight do relapse and put it back on. I have only been alive for 25 years so I can't really attest to long term weight loss; however, if you do change your lifestyle, eat healthy, exercise and maintain that for the duration of your life then wouldn't you technically achieve your goal of keeping that weight off?

[Coach]

Originally Posted by bluck

I don't necessarily disagree with them because obviously a lot of people who have had success losing weight do relapse and put it back on. I have only been alive for 25 years so I can't really attest to long term weight loss; however, if you do change your lifestyle, eat healthy, exercise and maintain that for the duration of your life then wouldn't you technically achieve your goal of keeping that weight off?

It's not as easy to maintain as you seem to think. I'm the same age and have gone from being 225 at 18-20, as low as 170 at 22 and now back to almost 200 at 25. Excersise and eating right definitely helped me trim it off, and a lack of continuing that coupled with a retread to bad eating habits has seen me take a turn back.

So as you say "well just get up and go work out" or "well just eat healthy" for some people equates to telling a smoker to just stop smoking. Or telling a drinker to just stop drinking. These are the vices that we have to live with, some people's are different than others and just because you find it easy to choose between an apple and a piece of cake, doesn't mean everyone makes that decision so easily.

[Peanut]

If you don't accept that's it a forever change, a full-on lifestyle change, of course you'll put the weight back on when you go back to the same eating and activity levels you had as an obese person. Temporary fix = temporary results.

I used to be overweight, now I'm not (I lost 25% of my body weight). The weight has been off for 5 years and intend to keep it that way (exception being that I gained 35lbs while pregnant and lost it after my son was born). So I'm another anecdotal story I guess. But I struggled with my weight from age 20-27, until I finally figured out that I *was* actually just making excuses, and I *did* have too much sugar and junk in my diet. I stopped making excuses and that was the "silver bullet" for me.

[V]

I put on 40 lbs when I quit smoking for the first time at 30 years old, and was able to take half of it off with a diet that I've maintained for the last 5 years. Lots of veggies and fruit, not much in the way of sweets. I also love yoghurt and blueberries.

Sounds like a lot of anecdotal stories here on CP. We are the 5%.

[FlamesAddiction]

I remember reading a synopsis of a study that said that a person's weight at puberty often dictated what their body would try to default to as an adult. Basically, it claimed that if a child at the time they hit puberty is overweight, even if they get into shape as an adult, they will struggle more to maintain that than if they were in shape at that age. And the opposite was also true, that a if someone who was in shape at the time they went into puberty but later became obese, that they would have a much easier time losing the weight.

The claims were not made from a lifestyle perspective, but rather a biological imprint of sorts. I can't find the article now and can't say how that their findings are correct, but I thought that it was interesting.

[photon]

Originally Posted by MattyC

So as you say "well just get up and go work out" or "well just eat healthy" for some people equates to telling a smoker to just stop smoking. Or telling a drinker to just stop drinking.

Or telling a depressed person to stop being depressed by cheering up. Or the most accurate one I've heard is to tell a person with allergies to breathe less.

Because eating isn't just a vice, it's a requirement.

[bluck]

Originally Posted by MattyC

It's not as easy to maintain as you seem to think. I'm the same age and have gone from being 225 at 18-20, as low as 170 at 22 and now back to almost 200 at 25. Excersise and eating right definitely helped me trim it off, and a lack of continuing that coupled with a retread to bad eating habits has seen me take a turn back.

So as you say "well just get up and go work out" or "well just eat healthy" for some people equates to telling a smoker to just stop smoking. Or telling a drinker to just stop drinking. These are the vices that we have to live with, some people's are different than others and just because you find it easy to choose between an apple and a piece of cake, doesn't mean everyone makes that decision so easily.

Very valid points and I totally agree with you. I agree that working out and eating healthy is definitely hard for some people, hell it's hard for me... I love fast food ans grease.

Although if you were truly and I mean truly committed then could you not spend an hour a day exercising at some point? Or choosing a vegetable or fruit over french fries. It's all about the choices that we make going forward. It might be harder for some people but that's when you really have to look in the mirror and decide what you really want. You have to look inside yourself and make that choice, same applies to quitting smoking and drinking. If you really want to do it, then you can.. it's all psychological. It's definitely harder for some people but it's not impossible.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Esoteric

If 2500 calories is your TDEE - consume less calories to lose weight, consume more to gain weight.

But it's not that simple. Unless you want to claim that everyone that went an entire year without gaining or losing weight meticulously tracked all their calories all year so that their total calories for 1 year was less than 3500 off of their requirement?

There's been studies where they get people to overeat on purpose and monitor weight gain. Just giving an extra 1000 calories per day to people, there was a variation of 4 times in the amount of weight gain. So for some 1000 extra calories was like 4000 extra calories for others.

[rotten42]

Originally Posted by bluck

Very valid points and I totally agree with you. I agree that working out and eating healthy is definitely hard for some people, hell it's hard for me... I love fast food ans grease.

Although if you were truly and I mean truly committed then could you not spend an hour a day exercising at some point? Or choosing a vegetable or fruit over french fries. It's all about the choices that we make going forward. It might be harder for some people but that's when you really have to look in the mirror and decide what you really want. You have to look inside yourself and make that choice, same applies to quitting smoking and drinking. If you really want to do it, then you can.. it's all psychological. It's definitely harder for some people but it's not impossible.

Exactly....people are mentally soft. They lack commitment. Then they have others enabling them to be that way by coming up with phrases like "Fat shaming" and Thin privilege". You can call obesity a disease if you like but many diseases are preventable with committed lifestyle choices.

You choose to smoke, the diseases you get were voluntary
You drink too much...same thing
You stuff your face with food and never get off the couch, then the hypertension, blocked arteries and such are a choice.

Yes, this is a bit over the top but our society is so quick to jump on things and make excuses for it. Next time something isn't going right ion your world no matter what it is, you should look long and hard in the mirror first.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by rotten42

Exactly....people are mentally soft. They lack commitment. Then they have others enabling them to be that way by coming up with phrases like "Fat shaming" and Thin privilege". You can call obesity a disease if you like but many diseases are preventable with committed lifestyle choices.

You choose to smoke, the diseases you get were voluntary
You drink too much...same thing
You stuff your face with food and never get off the couch, then the hypertension, blocked arteries and such are a choice.

Yes, this is a bit over the top but our society is so quick to jump on things and make excuses for it. Next time something isn't going right ion your world no matter what it is, you should look long and hard in the mirror first.

And what happens when scientists and doctors specializing in the field start saying that it is EXTREMELY difficult? Do you ignore the research so that you can continue your shaming/bullying/insulting?

[AcGold]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

In my experience ACGold has a strong history of backing up claims with water tight sources.

I'm so sorry for trying to help people based on years of exercise and research into health and nutrition, oh wait no im not. You want a source lets go take a physical and see who is the healthiest here.

[photon]

Originally Posted by rotten42

Exactly....people are mentally soft.

Yeah 95% of people that attempt weight loss but are unable to keep it off, are all mentally soft. We'll just ignore how mentally strong they are in other areas of their life, that can't possibly be true they all have to be mentally soft.

Mentally soft people deserve what they get, if they didn't they shouldn't have chosen to be mentally soft, right?

Jesus.

[Wood]

Originally Posted by MattyC

It's not as easy to maintain as you seem to think. I'm the same age and have gone from being 225 at 18-20, as low as 170 at 22 and now back to almost 200 at 25. Excersise and eating right definitely helped me trim it off, and a lack of continuing that coupled with a retread to bad eating habits has seen me take a turn back.

So as you say "well just get up and go work out" or "well just eat healthy" for some people equates to telling a smoker to just stop smoking. Or telling a drinker to just stop drinking. These are the vices that we have to live with, some people's are different than others and just because you find it easy to choose between an apple and a piece of cake, doesn't mean everyone makes that decision so easily.

This is exactly it though. If someone is committed to losing the weight and consistently works out, stays active and eats decently, theyre going to lose the weight

If you lose the drive and go back to old habits you're not going to be successful. Just like any addiction, you need to fight the urges and stick to what needs to be done, and if you want to lose it long term you have to live that lifestyle forever. Its extremely difficult especially if you arent committed to being completely healthy, but its possible

As annoyed as some people get hearing what they should eat or how they should work out or whatever it is, I also get annoyed at the people who say to me "well you're tall and skinny, its easy for you to be in shape." Its not at all though, I could be fat much easier. I work hard everyday and eat quite well, just because im currently in shape doesnt mean I dont need to continue to work at it, or else id be one of the people this article is talking about

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by AcGold

I'm so sorry for trying to help people based on years of exercise and research into health and nutrition, oh wait no im not.

But you seem to have a standard approach to things:

AcGold: Makes Claim

Another Poster: asks for source

AcGold: can't provide any, or is upset that he is being asked for one.


You did it with vaccinations, organic v non-organic foods, and another topic which slips my mind.

You want a source lets go take a physical and see who is the healthiest here.

Hmmm, I might take you up on that.

42, 195lbs, run 5 km a morning, lift weights 3-4 days a week and still play rugby.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

And what happens when scientists and doctors specializing in the field start saying that it is EXTREMELY difficult? Do you ignore the research so that you can continue your shaming/bullying/insulting?

Difficult doesn't mean impossible.

[rotten42]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

And what happens when scientists and doctors specializing in the field start saying that it is EXTREMELY difficult? Do you ignore the research so that you can continue your shaming/bullying/insulting?

....and you will find other doctor's and specialists saying the opposite. It is not hard to find people on both sides of the argument.

shaming/bullying/insulting? My opinion is different than yours. If you don't like it...too bad. Put any label on it you like.

[rotten42]

Originally Posted by photon

Yeah 95% of people that attempt weight loss but are unable to keep it off, are all mentally soft. We'll just ignore how mentally strong they are in other areas of their life, that can't possibly be true they all have to be mentally soft.

Mentally soft people deserve what they get, if they didn't they shouldn't have chosen to be mentally soft, right?

Jesus.

95%...now you are just making #### up.