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After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

nytimes.com

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Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#211

Post by dclowd9901 »

This jibes pretty well with my experience. Used to weigh about 220 at my peak, and I was eating a lot those days. Cut back, drank less, exercised more (running). Lost about 45 pounds.

However, at that point, I was running about 1000 calories a day, sometimes less (a big reason I think The Martian is bullshit). I was not starving. My body wasn't starving. You can (and many people should) subsist on far less than the recommended daily allowance of calories.

If I eat a typical 2000 calorie diet, I will not just gain weight, but I will gain weight at a rate of about a pound or two a month.

I've currently gained back about 10 pounds of what I lost, so I'm going to have to turn on the afterburners again, but we really need to change the dialogue of what a standard of consumption and health is.

It's very simple: if your body has a slow metabolism, you have to eat a lot less than most people.

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#212

Post by excepttheweasel »

cableshaft wrote: post #126

I really need to lose weight, my heaviness has started to lead to other health problems, but I find that whenever I try to eat significantly less, I have difficulty concentrating on heavy mental tasks (i.e. programming, my job). The constant feeling of hunger distracts me, or my mind just drifts, until I get some food in me again. I never see any of these articles even acknowledge this as an issue, either as if no on…

I have had the most success with a keto based diet. There is a good outline here: http://josepharcita.blogspot.com/2011/03/guide-to-ketosis.ht...

Importantly for me, this diet drastically reduces cravings and reduces the impact of hunger, making it far easier to keep to vs other diets. But it can be quite restrictive, you'll likely find that eating out severely limits your options and it is tricky to keep to if you're traveling.

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#213

Post by DanBC »

chris_wot wrote: post #207
emodendroket wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any source for the claim that if you lose it slower you're more likely to keep it off? While intuitively appealing, I keep seeing it without any evidence.

I can't find the source now, but years ago in an agricultural class in high school I was told that studies had been done on weight recovery in cattle who had been through drought conditions and who were either malnuritied or had lost significant weight. I believe the results were that the cattle recovered and increased their weight after this occurred. Wish I could find that study! But it would be an interesting hypo…

> Wish I could find that study! But it would be an interesting hypothesis to test for: if someone reduced their calorific content too quickly then the body will attempt to compensate when normal eating resumes. Obviously it would need to use animals and a control group but it might be insightful.

There's a natural experiment of sorts in re-feeding people with anorexia. Many people think this is a risky time because they think it's easy for someone to gain wieght too rapidly.

(I'm not talking about the related, but different, "refeeding syndrome" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refeeding_syndrome)

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#214

Post by thirdstation »

sageabilly wrote: post #186
xlm1717 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having a lot of muscle will increase your base metabolic rate. Being a serious powerlifter, I imagine the increase due to muscle was significant (speaking just as someone who reads into this, not as a qualified professional!). Also, being a powerlifter, if you don't maintain the muscles, they would atrophy, taking a lot of weight with them.

Interestingly enough, I stopped powerlifting about a year ago and the atrophy hasn't happened as quickly or as much as I thought it would. Now, I say that with the caveat that I have NO idea how big my muscles were when I was at my strongest (which is also when I was 300 pounds), but I still have 25+ pounds of muscle that I didn't have the last time I was the size I am now (scientifically deduced from being able to f…

How tall are you?

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#215

Post by [deleted] »

checker wrote: post #179
richmt wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think there's more to it. Eating three meals a day at about 2,500 calories for a few weeks, and my body will adapt to feeling full at those portions. Upping that to 3,000+ calories a day when on a bulk, and the first week or two are difficult, but then I adapt and feel hungry if I eat the smaller portions I used to eat.

Applying a sample size of one to the general population is anecdotal and works for you based on your physical, psychological, and societal factors.

[deleted]

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#216

Post by MustardTiger »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #211

This jibes pretty well with my experience. Used to weigh about 220 at my peak, and I was eating a lot those days. Cut back, drank less, exercised more (running). Lost about 45 pounds. However, at that point, I was running about 1000 calories a day, sometimes less (a big reason I think The Martian is bullshit). I was not starving. My body wasn't starving. You can (and many people should) subsist on far less than the r…

You are either a very small person, or you are not accurately counting your calories. The reason some people can subsist on less than the recommended caloric intake is that the recommendation is an average. If you are below average in size and/or activity level, then you need a below average amount of calories.

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#217

Post by Karunamon »

zyxley wrote: post #165
varelse wrote: post #15

Extreme diligence seems to be the only way to fight this. If I stop exercising, the pounds pack on within weeks. If I insure I burn at least 3000 calories a day (usually much more), I can maintain my weight indefinitely. But I walk to work and I exercise for 1-2 hours daily. Most people cannot or will not do this. Add in the extreme carbohydrate and fat-laden diets most readily available to America and it's a perfect…

> If I insure I burn at least 3000 calories a day (usually much more), I can maintain my weight indefinitely. If you're having to burn 3000 calories a day, you're eating too much. That energy has to come from somewhere . Have you tried calorie tracking?

As a decently sized guy (6'3 ~300), my BMR is around 2700.. so it wouldn't be that hard to add 300 calories worth of energy expenditure, at which point I'd be eating below maintenance level.

Would depend on your height and weight I think.

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#218

Post by MustardTiger »

criddell wrote: post #140
kefka wrote: post #104

Well, I'd say that the endocrine reason sounds like a valid one. I can at least be counted in that group. Last December, I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes. After talking with a researcher about this (have worked with diabetes research school locally due to job), I came across a few things: 1. Damage is done to the pancreas at 140mg/dL 2. Too long at 140mg/dL or above can cause permanent damage to the pancreas. 3. Earl…

> The answer is "Don't eat foods that raise your blood sugar above 140mg/dL". Is that related to glycemic index?

Sort of. The glycemic index is not really useful because it is based on arbitrary quantities of food. Glycemic load was created to be useful to people, as it is based on reasonable quantities people would eat. Like GI says watermelon is bad because its calories come from sugar. But it is based on eating 100g of carbs from watermelon. That's a huge amount of watermelon, which is mostly water. GL shows watermelon is fine, because you only eat 10g of carbs from it in a normal serving.

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#219

Post by MustardTiger »

hourislate wrote: post #70
varelse wrote: post #15

Extreme diligence seems to be the only way to fight this. If I stop exercising, the pounds pack on within weeks. If I insure I burn at least 3000 calories a day (usually much more), I can maintain my weight indefinitely. But I walk to work and I exercise for 1-2 hours daily. Most people cannot or will not do this. Add in the extreme carbohydrate and fat-laden diets most readily available to America and it's a perfect…

Exercise has nothing to do with weight loss. Caloric restriction also doesn't work without consuming the correct fats to satiate your appetite. As you age there is no amount of exercise that will allow you to maintain the amount you weigh in you 20's or 30's. It will all depend on your diet of the correct foods. I would suggest probably the best book ever written about why people get fat. Why We Get Fat: And What to…

Gary Taubes is a fraud. He deliberately misrepresents research the scientists he quotes out of context in his books have come out repeatedly saying this. Everything Taubes says is nonsense, and he is doing this deliberately to sell books on the back of a fad diet craze. There are no magic satiety fats. Fat is not higher satiety than carbs. Protein is.

Re: After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight

#220

Post by zzleeper »

xlm1717 wrote: post #137
kefka wrote: post #104

Well, I'd say that the endocrine reason sounds like a valid one. I can at least be counted in that group. Last December, I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes. After talking with a researcher about this (have worked with diabetes research school locally due to job), I came across a few things: 1. Damage is done to the pancreas at 140mg/dL 2. Too long at 140mg/dL or above can cause permanent damage to the pancreas. 3. Earl…

Buying a blood glucose meter is not an expensive investment (provided you don't really need it, ie. don't have diabetes) and it will pay dividends in terms of health. With a meter and about 200 strips and lancets, you can determine a big list of foods that raise your blood glucose and foods that don't. I've been customizing my meals based on what my glucose meter tells me raises my blood glucose the least and I am lo…

Do you have a particular suggestion? prices seem to vary a lot in amazon and other sites..
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