Why is my body so efficent!? I hate the way my body has a low metabolic rate.
When people eat x amount of calories.. they lose 58 lbs.. I lose 40. When I start eating normally again they gain back 5 lbs.. I gain 15. To lose weight for me is a herculean task.. especially when I get down to a certain point. At that point literally one or two slips can keep me from losing...

I have tried it all... weight lifting.. water .. everything and nothing really makes me lose as much as other people... just so sick of it.

yeh that was a rant.

You call that a long rant? That was just a mini b*tch. I am also a slow loser fast regainer and I have to swear off bread, pasta, hummos, all crackers, rice and non dairy coffee creamer.

I cut it back in the middle of it because it was already bored.

WHY!!! Why are we this way. I HATE IT.

I went from being a stay at home mom to a full time job at a desk for 40 hours a week. Not only did I gain back a bunch of weight, but it KILLED my metabolism. I seem to lose weight at about half the rate I used to. It's very depressing. I feel your pain.

I'm a fast regainer, too. Woah, baby, do I feel your pain.
Darn you, efficiency! *shakes fist*

Ranting is good. I have the same issue. After I quit taking a bunch of meds for depression, I developed a slow metabolism, it sucks. I just came to accept it, but it's still quite frustrating at times, leaves me in tears when I don't see results after all I do for myself. But during those times I try to convince my mind that I'm otherwise healthy (which is true) so the pounds will eventually come off.

Have you lost weight in the past and then regained? I have seen some research saying that some people who lose weight and regain do end up with a slower metabolism than people who never lost weight. However, there is some controversy about this. Some of the factors that can lead to a low metabolism or what people think is a low metabolism but really isn't (by the way I say this as someone who is a very slow loser):

1. How much body fat you have. Fat doesn't burn as many calories as muscle. So too people who are the same weight can have a difference in how many calories they burn if one of the has a different fat percentage than the other.

2. Age. As you get older (I think after 40 but I'm not sure), you lose muscle every year. So someone who weighs X at 40 and the same thing at 60 who doesn't do any strength training may have gained body fat and lost muscle and then 1 above comes into play.

3. Activity level apart from exercise. I read something saying that obese people tends to generally move less on things that aren't exercising. Think of fidgeting for example. Obese people often just don't move around as much as people who tend to have a lot of non-exercise activity. I remember my dad who was very thin. He always was fidgeting and just getting up and puttering around. He didn't like to sit. Me? I can sit still for hours and hardly move a muscle. So I don't burn as many calories.

4. Overall activity level. I have a sedentary life. My work my entire career has mostly involved sitting. I live in a 1 story house that isn't that large. There are no stores within walking distance so I drive every where. I use a Fitbit and find that I will walk under 2000 steps in a given day if I don't make an actual effort to walk and get steps. Sometimes the people who lose weight more quickly are doing it because they are more active. For me, I found that getting a Fitbit and seeing what it says I was burning was illuminating. I do think that I burn about 150 calories or so less a day than Fitbit says (perhaps due to me having lost weight and regained) but it really was helpful in me seeing what activities burned calories and it really helped me to see that I just wasn't moving enough.

I always said that I was a slow loser and I often averaged only a 1/4 to 1/2 pound a week. I still don't lose fast but using the Fitbit and prioritizing getting more steps in I find that I lose 3/4 to 1 pound a week.

Because I've been reducing my calorie intake for most of my life (since I was a young child) I feel the same way. My metabolism is just awful. I eat much less than most people, but I remain slightly chubby. I have to work so hard for so long just to get down to a mid-average weight and I have to keep working hard at it for it to stay off. The people I know who I can b!tch about my weight to always tell me to just accept it. Some people are meant to be curvy, some are meant to be very thin. I just have a really hard time accepting that - it feels like I'm giving up on a dream that I should be able to achieve!

ITA... I was eating lunch yesterday -- a salad -- for me, it was a lot. Lettuice... egg, some chicken and bread. Someone saw it and was like "wow" aren't you being good. HA I wish.

The worst part is that for me... to lose.. I have to be perfection. I can't have a small slice of cake at the office party or it puts me back a week, just enough time for another party to come up. I need to be perfection for a long time to lose... and no one understands.