When you’re trying to lose a lot of pounds, getting the scale to go down feels like such an uphill battle. I’m not just imagining how difficult it can be to lose weight. I read a study that said people are 10% heavier today than they were in the 70’s – even when they consume the same number of calories and have similar daily activity routines. That’s hardly fair. So what’s causing it? Food? Chemicals? Stress? I don’t think anyone really knows.
It’s a curse: Those who need to lose weight the most have the toughest time succeeding at it. We all know that fast and easy weight loss is the holy grail of dieters, but I suppose it’s a matter of realizing that it took time to put in on, and it’s going to take time to take it off. The sad news: people who have a body mass index between 30 and 35 (yep, that’s me) have a lower chance of attaining even a 5% weight loss in a year. I read that one in 10 women and one in 12 men succeeded in that 5% weight loss—and at least 50% of men and women regained the weight within 2 years. Again, this is not good news for the obese dieter.
Reminder: small weight loss goals rather than one big one – experience multiple mini successes to help you stay the course! And I am celebrating the weekly losses (okay, I have the big one out there, too.
I’ve also read that dieting can disrupt hunger-related hormones and cause them to remain at altered levels. This means you feel hungry all the time—which is nearly a guarantee that if you manage to lose weight, you won’t be able to keep it off. I frequently misread the hungry signal anyway. It’s just habit, not hunger. Water is an important component to healthy weight loss and to stem hunger signals that aren’t hunger. As I’ve said before, I do like water. No flavors, just plain water. I need to track my water intake better. I always just assume I’m getting enough