[guacamole]

Hello, fellow weight loss soldiers! I used to be very active on here a few years ago and lost a bunch of weight. Between raising a large family, breaking my leg, and losing my mojo, I have gained a bunch of weight back (I'm too scared to weigh myself, but that's coming soon). I know I haven't gained back everything, but now I am back to wearing large and some medium sizes instead of mediums or smalls (when I started at my high weight I was wearing 1x and 2x).

The only things I continued to do faithfully was go to the gym, not eat bread or pasta or sweets on a regular basis (rare treat only), and stick with drinking water (not soda, juice, or diet drinks). These were not enough to prevent me from gaining weight, as I did not track portion sizes or calorie counts. I think I got burned out from obsessively tracking my calories and also from feeling hungry a lot of the time, despite eating a lot of fiber and lean protein to stay full longer.

Anyway, I have come to the sad conclusion that, at least for me, losing weight requires feeling hungry - not ravenous - but hungry between meals. I really hate that, and I try to stave it off by drinking water, but it is what it is. Whenever I don't get hungry before my next meal, I don't lose weight either - it means I'm eating too much. If I don't stick to 1200 calories a day, I don't lose. Sometimes I plateau even on that amount. When I was losing there were days when my calories counts would go as low as 700, certainly under 1000 on some days.

BUT - to get back to my question, I was at the doctor the other day, and he mentioned that obesity in the midsection is the worst place to have obesity and is an indicator for all kinds of nasty health conditions like diabetes, cancers, and hypertension. He kindly pointed out that I had some obesity around my midsection and that it can NEVER go away. Even if you temporarily lose weight, the fat cells are still there just waiting to grow again. Basically, once you get fat the first time, you never really get rid of it - the fat cells shrink - but never disappear.

Talk about feeling dejected! Now, I know firsthand that my body always wants to climb back up to my high weight, and while I am committed to fighting this war, I hate the idea of always having fat cells lurking beneath the surface waiting to bulk back up if I have a few bad days or weeks. I hate feeling like I'm at war with my body and it's a losing battle.

Sorry for being a downer, but that doctor made me feel rather hopeless and discouraged. I'm hoping to lurk and sometimes post to get some encouragement and inspirations from others who are in the same boat.

Have a great day!

[Magicsusan]

Wow! I have heard that theory, like lots of other things that 'they' say, this may be based on 1 or 2 poorly controlled studies. It's hard for us lay people to distinguish from real research including properly conducted double-blind studies and so on, and "penguins prefer purple crayons- oh, no, wait; turns out the purple ones are made of fish oil" type studies.
I'd a) look for evidence and b) ignore him and get a new doctor and c) keep eating right and exercising and doing what makes you feel good anyway. Even if you never lose the last 10 pounds or whatever, I think you'll feel a lot better being a fit 10 pounds overweight that a couch potato 10 pounds overweight. Just my 2cents.

(Also, hi! I remember you!)

[guacamole]

Thanks, Magicsusan! In no way will I let this doctor's theory derail my weight loss efforts. He is a specialist I am seeing (a second opinion specialist to my first specialist, at that) to control my hypertension. He is a nice guy, but a thin guy. I find a lot of times that skinny doctors who never had a weight problem themselves are often not the most sensitive when speaking to overweight patients about losing weight and the dangers of being overweight. That's just been my experience. But yeah, if his theory is true, there's no point in even trying, just let nature take it's course and stop wasting time at the gym or depriving myself of all the fattening foods I love - fat cells, take me away!

[Magicsusan]

But what I'm saying is, CLEARLY THAT'S NOT TRUE.
Even *if* the fat cells stay there forever, it doesn't mean they need to be full of fat. If you can get the weight off, you can keep it off. You might simply have to accept that you have that sort of metabolism and your slices of cake will be a quarter of the size as the person next to you-

But the end goal is to have a body that you can used for all kinds of cool things other than sitting on a sofa eating chips, right?

[guacamole]

I agree totally...the fat cells might be there, but as long as we work hard to keep them dormant, we don't have to actually be fat. I thought the doctor's perspective was pretty pessimistic. Although, I talked to a cardiologist once who said that obesity is one of the only chronic diseases that we have yet to find a permanent cure for. Most people who lose a significant amount of weight gain it all back within a few years, and those who don't are a minority. That's why I have a wariness of medical professionals....