So I'm taking this Developmental Psychology class and my professor says a lot about weight gain and weight loss. First off, there are 400 genes that determine body type/size. Also, your body reaches a 'set point' and this has to do with homeostatsis (go back to your HS chem or physiology), basically your body wanting to maintain equilibrium. Therefore, your body wants to hover around a certain weight (plateau?). When you do have a dramatic weight loss it takes TWO YEARS for your body's set point to reset. That's why a lot of people gain the weight back extremely fast.
Take home lesson: after you lose the weight it is essential to maintain it for at least two years!

Thanks, that is some valuable information to have~!

edit:
I'm currently in a biology class. My professor was talking about how we have these fatty deposit bags and we get more and more and more as we gain weight. The problem is is that once you lose the weight, they're still there. And that's why it's so easy for people to relapse and gain even more weight.

Thanks!

Very interesting, thanks!

Totally right, we have a certain number of fat cells that we get by the time we are 2!!! We also accumulate a few more when we are 16 and 17. but basically, the time before 2 is vital to your health. You have a certain number of fat cells but the GROW in size. but still...if you have MORE of them, you will always struggle with your weight.
...thanks mom...

cool, thanks for the info!

interesting.
thanks for sharing.
=]

From one of my bio courses: those fat cells are actually really important, cuz if you don't store fat in them it can actually be stored in your muscles and organs (like heart and liver!). So having too few places can be way way way worse for your health than having too many.

Another weight/health fact - this made sense when I heard it in class but I never had thought about it that way: when you lose weight, you lose a combination of fat and muscle, unless you really work to keep the muscle (exercise). Your heart is a muscle, your diaphragm (which makes your lungs work) is a muscle... so you lose some of them too! Starvation diets really scare me now, because I knew that losing muscle was bad, but I was thinking more of the bicep and chin-up kinds of muscle, not the blood-pumping and breathing types of muscle.

That's so good to know...thanks Willow. My last weight loss only lasted a little over a year. If I'd know this, I would have been keeping a closer watch on it. It's good to know that after two years, it becomes a little easier to maintain.

That's a really cool fact! Thanks! Good motivation for keeping it off! I think I've been under 130 for two years now, so hopefully my body will have at least adjusted that far.

People are always saying that the best way to lose weight is s-l-o-w-l-y (and lately, it seems that I've been going slower than a snail!) so that makes a lot of sense.

Thanks!

Yes I remember discussing this with a personal trainer a few years ago. From what she said I think you can actually hinder the weight loss process if you loose too much muscle mass. Think of something hard and solid turning into wiggly jello....kinda like my belly hahahaha

Wow. That is really interesting. Thanks for sharing the information.

Interesting. Thats good to know.. thanks

Thats very interesting! Thanks for sharing!