Dieting Problems: This Makes Me So Sad...

I received this from a reader yesterday. Let's call her Mary as I don't want to reveal her real name.

"I am 22 years old and losing 1 lb/day by not eating.  I know this is unhealthy but this is how I lose weight (I have been doing it since 7th grade)  but this time I am 250 lbs trying to lose 100 lbs instead of 130 trying to lose 10 lbs.  Will I have hanging skin?  I just want my life back."

It made me so sad.

Because I know there are lots of others like Mary who would like to lose weight fast.

Maybe they have the willpower to succeed like Mary obviously has, maybe not. But the desire is there.

Now Mary knows this way of losing weight is unhealthy.

I agree.

You see you can't lose a pound of fat in a day - you are losing something else as well - a combination of water and vital muscle along with the fat.

I can hear some of you saying "So what! If it works, it doesn't matter. I'm desperate - I'll try anything".

Well just look what happened to Mary.

She started off her drastic weight loss method when she weighed 130lbs - no huge weight at all.

And she starved herself into losing 10lbs or so and at the same time trained her body to survive on very little food - to go into the starvation mode I often talk about where your metabolism slows down to preserve as many precious calories as it can.

So what happened when she got to her goal weight of 120lbs. She felt great and went back to eating normally again.

But her body remembered that it needed to hold onto as much food as possible and that's exactly what it did!

Result: Mary gained weight again - and fast.

And if Mary continued to diet off and on (and it seems she did "this is how I lose weight") the cycle continued with Mary's weight spiraling upwards.

If you are following this kind of weight loss pattern, each time you finish a period of drastic dieting, a little more weight will be gained and the pounds will be harder to lose the next time you go on a diet.

You have to get out of this kind of yo-yo cycle.

It is like feast and famine. You are either getting too much food or you are starving yourself and at the same time you are training your body to get fatter and fatter to preserve itself.

How do you escape from this vicious circle?

You need to retrain your metabolism to work normally by feeding it nourishing food in the right amount for your body so that you are neither gaining weight nor losing it.

Only when your weight has stabilized should you start to reduce a little so that you gradually lose weight.

Above all, work on boosting your metabolism rather than reducing your calories.

It's not an easy process to kick start it but it can be done. See my article 15 Simple Metabolism boosting secrets for some tips on that.

Now for the loose sagging skin question.

If you lose weight slowly your skin will suffer less than if you lose weight fast. Above all stop yo-yo dieting because constantly stretching and shrinking your skin is not doing it any good at all. It's like constantly stretching and releasing a piece of elastic - in the end it loses its ability to ping back into shape. See my article about avoiding loose skin problems for more information.

Despite these practical problems, what made me the most sad about this email was the final sentence in Mary's note "I just want my life back".

You know weight does not actually stop you doing anything - you can still have a fantastic life no matter what size you are. Live life to the full because you only have one - and there are so many things out there to enjoy whether you weigh 120lbs or 250lbs. You are just the same person whatever your size.

The more you do, the less you will have time to brood about your weight, the less you will think about food, the fewer negative feelings you will have and consequently the less you'll think about comforting yourself by eating.  And every activity that gets you out and about burns calories and gives your metabolism a bit of a boost (provided you're NOT starving yourself!)

And if you are really struggling with these issues (Mary or anyone else) then please seek professional help wherever you are - there are many cases where a blog post or an email is just not enough and you may need more support in getting over these deeper personal issues.

I hope this blog post helps any of you "Marys" out there - please get sensible about losing weight

Janice

Comments

[Philip Kustner]

Thank you for the great blog.

I'm a big fan of the concept of the body adjusting based on feast or famine.

If the body knows that there will always be enough coming in to take care of its needs, it will burn more and not try to store up for the famine.