Marys, my pleasure! Thank you!

I found this article to be rather discouraging. It makes me feel like.....well gee...will I ever be able to ENJOY food again without regaining all the weight?

Of course we can enjoy food again, but we have to constantly be aware of how much we are eating .I also try to be aware of how foods are prepared. Are they fried or baked, do they contain cream sauces or gravy ? It is really not so hard but it is constant. When I forget or get lazy then I see the pounds come back on.

I am also wondering the same thing. At 500 cals a day, you would expect metabolic damage and loss of lean muscle mass so I don't see how this study wasn't skewed from the beginning. Seems like just yo-yo dieting to me and I am not sure why they'd use this method unless they were trying to prove that yo-yo dieting causes metabolic damage and lean muscle loss that contributes to re-gain. It's like saying "I painted this orange the color red, now it's an apple and I know how to grow apples b/c I am a farmer. "

I know people in real life who've lost half their body weights(at a rate of approximately 10 lbs a month or 2.5 lbs a week) and kept it off for the rest of their lives. I would be interested in seeing results from a reasonable diet and exercise routine that would be sustainable long-term for the patients. I am sure we'd see some regains but a lot more success stories as well.

I wonder how much and what sort of exercise these folks did. I would think that if they put on muscle they would have boosted their metabolism...they were on such few calories, I can't imagine not boomeranging food-wise...

If that is the best example that the New York Times can find of a person who has to forever struggle to maintain, then thats encouraging to me because it kind of makes sense why they would struggle. I saw the slide show of their food, and looking at their exercise (perhaps burning a lot of cals, but also burning away a lot of muscle but maintaining their caloric intake and I wonder how much regular ol' walking around they do? because that adds up and I did that almost unconsciously when I was younger along with working out when I had to get to class and such), and I don't think that they eat as little or burn as much as they think they do-maybe they measure but things like French Toast at a restaurant can be hard to estimate. But I don't follow them around so IDK for sure lol. Its just that for an extreme example of struggling to maintain, its not that extreme.

Hi Berk,
My question to you, did you stop eating healthy and dieting after weight loss?
I am also loosing weight slowly, not even 4 lb / month.
I am happy because, i am able to run a little bit, jump a little bit and my scitica pain has reduced.

Great article. I agree, a person really must both get in and STAY involved to achieve and maintain any progress. Not only that, but you also have to learn to understand what your body needs, as it could actually need more food to lose more weight, etc. I know that doesn't make sense to some, but it's all about portion control and shocking the system. From my experience, you have to throw it off sometimes by eating random or things bad for you just so it doesn't get too used to only having good stuff. One thing I also noticed is that if after a long time eating healthy I eat one thing bad, I actually get sick. I find it better to on occasion to snack on something ridiculous, just not in an absurd amount, ya know?

puneri, sorry I just saw this now! I did stop eating healthy & dieting after my weight loss low in 2001 (156 pounds). Wish I could say there was another reason, but there was no magical way I regained 50+ pounds, and kept going! It really does have to be a for-real, lifetime commitment.

But I am in a much less stressful job now, and slowly losing weight in a way I feel will work: focused on lots of fruits and vegetables plus mild but steady exercise.

A little bit will get you there! Keep it up!