Six Things You Learn From Losing A lot of Weight

[Anonymous]

For anyone who has ever lost or is trying to lose a lot of weight, say 50 pounds or more, there are some things that you either will learn or are learning right now on your journey to getting healthy.

1. It actually does involve hard work

I don't know what you thought losing 50, 80, 100+ pounds was going to be like, but if you didn't answer, hard work, and hard work alone, you will totally be disappointed. It is dedicating yourself to typcially 6 months to a year+ worth of relentless work outs, clean eating, getting rest, water, giving up bad habits, cutting out junk and then realizing the next day you have to do it all over again, and again, and again. You can try every fad diet and plan in the book, but you will ultimately come to the realization that at the end of the day, there is no secret, no quick results you can sustain or maintain long term other then a good diet, a healthy lifestyle, and solid exercise.

2. Your friends, family, co-workers will try and sabotage you

When you start losing weight, you sometimes will inadvertantly cause others to take a look at their own unhealthy lives. Whether you are actually trying to get them up and moving or not, it is often difficult, as you probably know, to admit to yourself or others that you have or had a problem with your weight. When you start making changes, some people, want to keep you down and don't want you to change because they think you'll try and force them to do the same, so they will become your worst enemy. When you call them to say you just don't feel like going to the gym today, they agree and say you should stay home or come over for pizza instead of no, get up and get going. Some of them do not do this intentionally, but others do, especially if you are used to eating out with certain friends or going to bars and just drinking, smoking, and other bad habits to excess. What will they do now if you don't want to do that anymore? Beware and learn to steel yourself or guard yourself against enablers and people not there for you looking out for your best interests. You may even lose some friends over it, but you have to keep making the choice for a healthy body or an early grave.

3. You will fail repeatedly

Some people think that they start this plan of exercise and diet, and they are going to be perfect, do perfect, eat perfect, workout for 100% of your workouts, but the truth is, its not if you'll fail at some point, but rather, when. I mean, think about it. You are asking yourself to be "perfect" for an entire year. That's pretty much impossible because you're human and you make mistakes. One doesn't often go from a 3 soda a day, 3 McDonald's runs a week, candy stashed in your work drawer habits to eating nothing but quinoa and baked chicken breasts without a few (a lot of) hiccups. Prepare yourself for failure. Know that you can and will fail. Know that you can start again the same day, or the next day and keep going. Having one Snickers bar in a moment of weakness or extreme hunger is not the same as eating 12 of them for an entire week straight. Yes, it is absolutely not how you fall, but how you pick yourself back up.

4. Weight loss does not equal happiness

Weight loss can help with a lot of things like self confidence and self esteem, but it does not pay your bills, does not find you a boyfriend/girlfriend, does not grant you magical wishes. If you have personal issues or life issues now that you are not dealing with, losing weight is only going to deal with the getting a healthy body aspect of your life. You have to get to the root of sometimes major issues behind the reasons you have eaten yourself up to the weight you have or given up on life. Start working on you now, seek support or counseling now, and think of weight loss as simply one part of that bigger picture, but not the be all end all solution.

5. You may suffer from Body Dysmorphia

If you've been overweight for quite some time, you know your do's and don'ts. You know you can't fit into certain chairs, you know you have to go to the plus sized or big and tall section of the store, you know to keep the fake smile on at Christmas as your Mom makes fat jokes about you to the family, and you know to keep your head down as you walk by the park to avoid being bullied. These are things you know, that have been drilled into your system, so to suddenly no longer know the routine of being the fat guy or the fat girl, you have to learn to accept that you will no longer be those things. You may still see that fat person in the mirror even if you are definitely no longer fat. You may still have anxieties when shopping or feel just as bad when something in your new size doesn't fit like you were "promised it would." Even as you're dropping sizes, you may still cling to your fat clothes and wear them as they are falling off you because that is the life you know. You will have to make that mental adjustment and it may take you quite some time to get to a place where you are comfortable with your new body and some of the new positive attention you may start getting.

6. In the end, some will not care

So you get to the end, you lose your 100 pounds and you feel on top of the world. Praise may be heaped on you and it may not. Some or a lot of people in your life, may not care. Even worse, some will still tell you, even at a healthy weight, you could stand to lose more weight to look better. You may also be really excited and want to share your story with everyone on how you did it, but to some people, all you did is go to the gym, something they already do, and eat right, something they already do, but now you're actually doing it. This can be jarring. You may feel like everyone should be praising you for the journey you've been on and what you've gone through to get there, but in the end, some may not care or they might not really want to hear every meal, how to make your healthy snacks, or how you meal prep and workout at the park each morning. You have to be happy for you and celebrate you, even if no one else does. Even if no one throws you a party, throw yourself one and don't throw away your hard work because others don't want to acknowledge it. Honestly, they don't have to, but just be your own best cheerleader.

[Mustachekitteh]

Awesome take! ^^

One video I need to finish watching. She talks about how you don't need to kill or starve yourself to get the amazing body. Sometimes doing less (meaning 1hr workouts) can equal more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8dr9OwnJ-Q

[skeptic007]

this is great its very true and I like it

[redeyemindtricks]

Yr right about #1, but in fact you are greatly understating the case there. It's more than hard work. The hard reality is that, if you become more than 50-60lbs over setpoint, the hormones that regulate hunger (leptin, ghrelin, YY, etc.) are pretty much fucked for the rest of yr earthly life.
Yep.

In the same way you can develop insulin resistance, which leads to diabetes II, you can also develop "leptin resistance". This is a complicated phenomenon, but, to over-simplify a bit, it basically makes it impossible for you to feel full/sated/satisfied with yr food intake. And if you manage to lose weight, it will only get worse. Worse and worse and worse.

SOME people manage to overcome this, just as some people manage to overcome diabetes II. But, most don't. Most people who become that overweight are basically just screwed, for life. They'll have the appetite and hunger of a big, big person FOREVER.

I know two people who've lost between 100-150lbs and kept it off for 7 and 11 years, respectively.
Both of them are still RAVENOUSLY HUNGRY, CONSTANTLY. They are hungry ALL THE TIME. It doesn't matter how much they eat, or what, or when. It is constant. It's just a cross they have to bear. (One of them has told me that, ironically, this helps, in a way -- if he COULD achieve satisfaction, he'd definitely eat until satisfaction! Right now he just has to stop eating at what's basically an arbitrary point, so, he just does.)
They've maintained at about 1/2 their old bodyweight for 7 and 11 years, and this hasn't gotten even a tiny bit better. It's exactly as bad as it was, and it will stay exactly that bad, until the day they die. Unless science comes up with some serious game-changing shit.
The 11-year guy has only maintained his success by cycling back and forth between prescription appetite suppressants.
For 11 years.
11 years.

__

"you know to keep the fake smile on at Christmas as your Mom makes fat jokes about you to the family"

If that ^^ happens, then, Mom can go fuck herself sideways. If you have any self-respect, the Christmas she does this should be the last Christmas you ever waste with her.

Some kids are pretty nasty these days, but, so are some parents. There's no reason either party should tolerate this kind of shit, once both are adults.

[myTake Owner]

I've never heard of the first part, so I'll have to look that one up. As far as your second comment, your mother is your mother and just throwing them away for making some mistakes they might not even know they are making or saying, is a bit harsh. I mean, what if she did that to you. Parents often think they are helping in situations like this by pointing out your flaws to you and others and if someone already has a low self esteem or they are a young child, they might not know how to speak up against the hurtful words. I know a lot of people where it was someone's negative comments which actually motivated them to lose weight b/c they were sick of hearing it. I'm not saying it's right, but for some people it's their kick in the pants.

[redeyemindtricks]

Yea, but, you prefaced that with "You KNOW to keep the fake smile on...", thus implying an ongoing pattern of verbal abuse.

Pointing out flaws is one thing. Making cruel jokes is another. Look, my kids are life itself to me, but, If I ever sink to the level of doing that to them? Yea, I hope they tell me to go fuck myself sideways. If I sink that low, that'd be the kick in the pants that **I** would need, to go get help. Long overdue help.

I mean, I dunno. In my book, home and family should be fundamentally supportive places. Mb I'm asking too much. LOL
I have 2 brothers who are USMC officers, and a third brother who was in the Corps for some years. When we get together for Christmas, the first thing we do, is join hands and thank God that we're all still ALIVE.
I can't imagine despoiling that environment with that kind of bullshit. Just can't. That has no place in a household run by adults. Nope.

If it's hate that motivates someone, there's plenty of that in the outside world. LOL

[myTake Owner]

Let's be honest, when someone is morbidly obese, there are a lot of people doing and saying things that are awful, mean, and hurtful. I read a GaG post once in which this guy perceived to basically tell fat people to go and kill themselves to get it over with faster then what they are doing to themselves. I mean, really. I've been in situations where I've heard the comments I speak of, at a party, or a parent talking to another about their kid, and the kid is just sitting there smiling to keep from crying. In many situations, not just obesity, some parents think they are doing the best for their kids by giving what they think is tough love, and sadly for some it works, but many others, it just adds to their misery. I'm not saying it's right or that I would do it if I had kids, but that it's done as is teasing, bullying and negativity from others. I just read a Gag question asking why people tease fat people who are actually working out at the gym. I mean, you're right, its everywhere!

[JustAnotherPassenger]

So true, but I will have to disagree with the part about it being TOO HARD.

It requires work, and of course it is harder than NOT losing weight, but it isn't a REALLY hard thing and bodybuilders know it, to the point that they tend to get about 7 extra kilograms and lose them again in a couple of months. If you go to the gym and aside from your weightlifting you do 45-60mins of cardio, you will lose weight, you may not get "prime" gains but you will get them anyway always you don't be stupid enough to carry your vanilla weight-loss diet knowing you need some extra calories. I've been eating around 2000-3000 calories a day and still lose 3-4 kilograms within a month, but I spend 1h doing cardio, You burn around 700 calories per session. .

The hardest part is to have discipline, because it requires some dedication, not just the exercise, but buying and cooking everything you need. You can even have cookies or chocolate and such from time to time, at the end of the day, the "general" aspect of having a good diet and doing exercise is better than being paranoid about everything you eat. Of course, the quality of those calories is as important as the quantity (even more IMHO).

Pro tip: try to avoid bread, too much calories and little benefit, and always buy fresh bread because the one from the mall have a lot of shit inside, just look how long it takes for a regular piece of bread to get hard as a rock and how a commercial loaf of bread needs a month of more to start cracking up.

[redeyemindtricks]

Lol cardio. Don't you find it easier to just eat 700kcal less food? And then have that extra hour of glorious free time?

I'm a professional figure model. I also train other fitness/figure models, both male and female. These are boys who hang out in the 5-8 percent bodyfat range, and girls who hang out in the 13-16 percent range. Like, shredded. And none of them do a single ounce of "cardio", except for the smaller girls. They have to do it because it's the only way they can hit a calorie deficit without metabolic damage. (For a girl who's 5'1" 90lbs, a 30% calorie deficit means about 800 kcal/day. Doing that through diet alone isn't healthy, unless she's a freak who can eat a PSMF diet for months.)

Pretty much ALL of these clients report that cardio is either useless or counterproductive. If they did yr 1hr of cardio, they'd be so damn hungry that they'd just eat 700 extra calories, thus nullifying the benefit. That gets even worse once they're leaner. (cont'd)

[redeyemindtricks]

Also, I can tell you've never been too much overweight, because, what you are saying in yr first 2 paragraphs is simply wrong. It's totally wrong. All the wrongness.

When someone goes more than about 50-60lbs overweight, all the hormones that regulate hunger pretty much get fucked, for life. If not for life, at least for years and years and years.
It's like a hormonal equivalent of the loose skin that stays loose after it's stretched. If someone weighs 350lbs and gets down to 200-250lbs, his/her body is still gna have the HUNGER and APPETITE of a 350lb individual, for years and years and years, if not 4lyf.

Srsly. Look up "leptin resistance." That's some scary shit. I mean, I know a couple people who've lost 100-150lbs and kept it off, and they are ALWAYS RAVENOUSLY hungry. They're never, ever not hungry. It doesn't matter how much they eat, they will be hungry forever and ever and ever.

I mean, c'mon now. Being that big sucks, a LOT. It's more than just laziness keeping people there.

[Mekkalyn]

I always find it funny when people look down on bigger people and don't realize just how hard it is to maintain a healthy weight (those people that typically are like that are the ones that are blessed with beautiful DNA and don't have to worry at all). It is a really big challenge for anyone who likes to eat things with preservatives, high in carbs, etc. etc. It's a struggle for people with medical problems. People blindly judge when they have no idea what's going on in that person's life and it makes me really sad.

This article just reminded me of how unfair it is for others to put down bigger people, especially when they are trying. Once you get in the habit of gaining weight it is really, really difficult to reverse it. It's easy to say "you shouldn't have done it!" or to say "lose weight fatty" but obviously if the person who gained a lot of weight could go back in time and change it, they would! And obviously it's easy to tell someone to lose weight, but it won't make them magically lose weight (instead it'll only put them down).

[FakeName123]

"Your friends, family, co-workers will try and sabotage you"

That part is a bit more complex than you think. Humanity still operates in hieraches and as an overweight person you are usually quite far down in the hierachy. Now when you start working on yourself, improving yourself and getting fit you suddenly become an x-factor in where you end up in the hierachy which creates a certain sense of chaos within social interactions.

Now don't get me wrong, there are people who sabotage on purpose, but usually it's just a new situation people don't know to deal with and therefore potentially act weird and/or distant.

[myTake Owner]

Yes, that's why I said in my take, some do it intentionally and others don't do it intentionally. I mean, honestly, even if you have a group that all started out as equally fat, if you drop 100 lbs and start garnering the attention you all were previously not getting, and you start getting new friends, particularly ones all about the fitness as well, the dynamic within your former group most certainly has and will change.

[9mfeo]

I think that weight loss is usually a good thing but that it's dangerous to equate "thin" with "healthy". You can be naturally thin and desperately unhealthy.

In any case, I liked that you say "healthy" instead of "thin".

[YourFutureEx]

Last point was so great. Don't expect anything from others. You just have to achieve you personal best day by day and complete your goal.

[peachblossomluck]

Straightforward and brutally honest. Thank you for writing this♡

[BelleGirl21]

Fabulous take girlie. I love it and I applaud those putting in the effort to get healthy.

[RainbowFanGirl]

This is so true and I suffered from most of these things as well. Good take.

[lilac_flowers]

Not true about #1. I didn't do anything but walk for hours a couple of times a week and switch to wfpb diet 90% of the time. That's all.

[myTake Owner]

#1 is absolutely true. The truth is, you would not have lost weight had you say sat on your couch and stared at a tv for however long it took you to lose the weight. You had to dedicate yourself to walking and I whatever diet plan you were on, and keep doing it. If weight loss were so incredibly easy, everyone would be doing it and we wouldn't have this huge obesity problem.

[lilac_flowers]

Well I should admit that I don't live in US where most people have food addiction due to over-engineering of your food. I ate healthy food my whole life and wfpb diet only took a month of "switching" from fatty food to whole plants.
So yeah, I didn't go trough a crisis like a fat person in US might. (Or some country that has US food, I'm presuming you're American.)

[apple24]

6. In the end, some will not care
Thats me in a nut shell. I didn't share my story and I didn't even tell them i was losing weight. My family found out on there own.

[myTake Owner]

Yup, that's how I lost weight in college. I lived in campus, started hitting the gym hard and came home for the summer having lost a ton of weight, and that's how my family found out. They immediately reacted negatively saying I was anorexic looking and needed to gain back weight now considering the last time they saw me I could barely get up half a flight of stairs. No one was like good job or wow that must have been hard for you. Thankfully I went back to school after the summer and was around friends who had seen my journey and were super supportive.

[apple24]

Oh thats cool. Nah my family just doubted me. They were like why are u measuring everything. I basiically ate the the same but eat little. I lost 40 and now i am feel so unmotivated I replapse. Hopefull I can start tomorrow. I am just really tired today haha!

[myTake Owner]

Don't give up even if you relapse. It happens. It will happen again. Tomorrow is a new day, fresh start.

[apple24]

Yeah I just wish I knew how to find whole grain bread and rich. Its so hard finding that stuff and vegtables its so hard to find good vegtables and than what do I even do with them haha! lol But I need to start just not today my head isn't on str8!

[Ashely_Princess]

This is very true, good take 👍

[xxcchhllaauu]

that people are shallow creature's and the yoke of humanitys filled with corrupt and impure a unhonorable flesh bas who call them self human?

[OrdinaryGentleman]

7. You can finally see you dick again