An article about losing and then regaining
 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36716808...and_nutrition/

The article says (among other things) the deck is stacked against people who restrict a lot to lose quickly. One quote, from Dr. Judith Beck, is, "If you lose weight on 1,200 calories a day, the minute you go up to 1,300 is the minute you start gaining weight." :eek:

There is hope for getting out of the yo-yo cycle--but the article stops short of saying how not to regain. One can infer that it has to do with being able to permanently change behavior.

What do you all think?

Jay

Thanks for posting the article JayEll. I found it kind of scary how much is stacked up against us to regain all the weight we've lost. The article just ends so abruptly too!

"Along with other weight-loss techniques, one group received an additional hour of therapy, in which they learned to change their behavior; the other group did an extra hour of low-intensity exercise. After a year, those in the therapy group had maintained their weight loss, while the other group's members hadn't."

I think of 3fc as our therapy!

I read the article that featured Dr. Judith Beck and am awaiting delivery both of the Beck Diet Solutions books. I agree that making long term behavioral changes and conquering emotional eating is key to long term change. Losing weight by dramatically restricting calories will take weight off just about anyone but it will come back just as fast if we don't learn maintenance.

I want to learn to make my weight loss last a lifetime. Looking forward to the books as a supplement to what I have learned by myself. I also consider everyone on 3FC as my personal coach. (Thanks, everyone!)

fantastic article.
i *know* people want fast results but i cannot help but feel sad when someone posts about their starvation diet plans as if it is a good thing.
i lost all my weight taking in between 1400-1600-1800 kcals, and now i am happily maintaining at 1800-2000 kcals. so much more humane

I'm beginning to think it's a couple things:

1) Choosing a realistic weight to maintain at. It may not be you at your hottest. You may have to make some choices about how much thought, effort & stress you'll be willing to put into maintenance & go from there.

2) Turning into Mr. Spock whenever faced with food or even the idea of food. I mean, removing emotion entirely out of the transaction, deliberating rationally, thinking logically, counting, watching portions, maintaining control about 95% or more of one's life.

3) Training, rather than exercising. Accept that you'll always have to do more than many people do. A daily walk may not be enough for many of us. And making this training an enjoyable part of your life, because, face it, you're gonna spend a lot of time doing it.

I'd like to be wrong because from here, sometimes it looks a little grim.

wouldn't exercise be the key here? so long as you eat a decent amount of calories but exercise and build muscle/tone up shouldn't you be able to maintain once you reach goal? but i agree that maintenance is a whole different ball game, its harder to maintain than to lose in the first place and i see this is as a life journey

oh, and this:

4) Accepting your constant vigilance & your efforts are going to put you outside of the mainstream U.S. culture. You can't "do what everyone else does." It didn't work for you. You have a chronic illness, pretty much. (Only no one will accept it as such, if you say: "I was once extremely obese." They'll hear you, and then two blinks later, they'll offer you something, "Just this once. C'mon, it won't hurt ya.") And the way you have to treat it resembles disordered eating to many people.

Yep, I read that article. Was pleased that it seemed to convey solid information, including that there are permanent changes in the body. I do wish they'd given more information on how to keep it off.

My choice for the article's best quote from Dr. Judith Beck is:

I think so many have proven this isn't true for everyone. I'm surprised she would be that black and white.

Yep, I've read the Beck books - black and white like that isn't her style. That quote is out of context. In the chapter, When to Stop Losing and Start Maintaining in the Beck Diet Solution her strategies suggest adding or deleting about 200 calories when you're trying to find that elusive point she calls LOWEST MAINTAINABLE WEIGHT.

I don't think the article is scary at all.

Leigh Moyer, 31, of Philadelphia
Darcie Schmidt of Sioux Falls, South Dakota
I see a trend. Change your eating habits. Lose weight. Return to old habits. Regain weight.

I figured that out almost 6 years ago, exactly, based on my own personal lose/regain/regain more cycle (from 140 lbs to 200 lbs).

No stopping. No derailing. No freaking chips. Ever.

As much as we'd like to believe that exercise is a large part of weight loss, it really isn't. The key to most weight loss lies in the food we eat. Exercise is important as you say to build muscle/tone up, but the added calorie burning is much less than we'd like. But, you can have a smaller, tighter body and look lots better that someone at the same weight who hasn't exercised. Just don't count on that exercise to let you add any significant number of calories. :)

I can't live in the Land of No Never Not Ever.

Perhaps my Lowest Maintainable Weight is just higher than what I would like it to be.

Jay

Edited to add: Actually, I realize that I already live in the Land of No Never Not Ever with regard to some things. I never drink alcohol. I don't eat certain things for ethical reasons. And these don't bother me at all! I guess what I'm trying to express is that I'd like an approach that was more allowing than restricting--but that may not be possible.