Why is it so hard to lose weight but so easy to gain weight

[Appleday11]

I have been trying for the last two years to lose weight. It took me about six months to lose three pounds. Then I went to my parents for Christmas, ate more than I usually would and I put on three pounds in one week. Three months later i havent been able to shift the three pounds. I go out walking every day, I go to the gym three times a week. I eat pretty healthily. I only let myself have snacks one day a week. The rest of the week is soup, salads, chicken etc. I hate the mental exhaustion of trying to lose weight.

Why does it take so long to get weight off, but so little time to put weight on.

Because overeating the wrong things is enjoyable and takes no effort whatsoever.

Ahhh. Why is the world like this. Haha

Your body strives for equilibrium I think, and to store up protection again famine.

Because creating a 3,500 calorie deficit required to lose 1lb is incredibly hard and requires discipline and proper calorie counting. To over eat by 3,500 calories is a couple of takeaways….

I would suggest measuring everything out and counting every calorie if you’ve only lost 3lb in 6 months because 1-2lb a week is a healthy rate to lose weight. I would also be careful believing calorie burns on exercise provided by an app or watch because they often grossly overestimate how many calories are burned doing certain exercises and can lead to the assumption that far more calories are available from food than actually are

The reason is, It’s nice to be full and horrible feeling hungry.

to lose weight you have to be in calorie deficit. It doesn’t matter if you are eating healthily if you aren’t under eating you wont lose weight.
Work out how much you can eat and stick to it.

Thats true. And its a vicious circle. Whem I am overweight, I am much hungrier than when I am thin.

All my cells are hungry

Second point. I find that i get so hungry that i find it hard to get into a calorie deficit.

If you managed it, how did you do it please

If it makes you feel any better, I've lost 7.5st and maintained since last March. Put on 5lb over Xmas and I'm still trying to lose the first pound despite being in strict calorie counting and upping my daily steps significantly (I already weight lift 3 x a week and run 3x a week!) Since 1st Jan. I literally can do no more. I've lost enough weight to know exactly what I'm doing. It's a mathematical process. And the maths work! But this is just incredibly incredibly painfully slow. I'm just trusting the process. It can take time. It 100% is calories in vs calories out.
If I was you, I would use a calorie counting app and try logging cals after working out your tdee (Google tdee calculator). Cut by 300 per day for at least a month and see what happens. Don't go too fast too soon, or you will just crash.

Jabs.

I am 68 and have not exercised like you, but lost a lot at Slimming World. Unfortunately I got Covid again and stayed home overeating and I’ve just had a fright because my weight gain has given me very, very high blood pressure. I was told to take my pressure at home and return to the surgery if still high but I’m just going to lose weight. High blood pressure can cause strokes/heart attacks but also cause your kidneys to form stones - a friend now has stage 3 kidney disease.

I am avoiding all processed foods, and anything containing palm oil or palm fat. I do think Michael Mosely and the Fast 800 is safe and it works - I have rejoined the site. I’ve bought a month’s Jane Plan to try - it has just arrived, I’ll see what happens but I need to lose stones.

Good luck - try not having anything with palm oil, see if that makes a difference.

There are only a specific number of calories you can cut (even if you cut to zero calories per day) however there is no limit to the number of calories you can consume.
Jason Munro does a podcast on this very subject. Mind you all his podcasts are really helpful - look for The Munro Method Clancast.

Ah im so fed up of trying to lose weight.

Its the mental stress aswell. We look at ourselves in the mirror and think "oh ive so much to lose this is so stressful," then we eat out of stress

Because we evolved in a time when food was scarce (leptogenic environment) and are now in a world where food is in abundance (obesogenic environment). Our bodies are strongly guarded against becoming underweight as compared to overweight.

For hunger, I've always volume ate. So I eat without restrictions, but knowing I need to feel full, I aim for high volume foods with lower calories to be the basis of my meals.
Today, I've had a hot drink at breakfast (I'd normally have porridge, but as I'm calorie cutting I find I'm okay to not eat at breakfast so an easy way for me to cut 200-250 cals out). Lunch was 2 slices of seeded wholemeal bread, with ham to make a sandwich (I don't eat butter or anything on my bread), some watermelon, and apple, a packet of pom bears and a protein yogurt. Dinner was 200g (cooked weight) pasta (white, sorry to those who think it's the devil!) with a tomato sauce and 200g Mediterranean roast veg to bulk it up and 40g reduced fat cheese.

I've had some more fruit snacks, and 2 more hot drinks. Oh and some chicken breast as I was a bit low on protein. Total cals 1600 which is my target (5ft 2, 62kg, 41, and doing loads of excercise - my tdee is around 1900-1950).

So yes, volume is key for me. More bang for my buck!

Do you think we inherit genes aswell. Im sure I read that somewhere. My grandfather was starved for a lomg time by the Nazis. I know its my own actions, but my body also seems to panic if I dont eat.

How much weight do you need to lose OP?

I lost 7 over the last couple of years. It flew off because I had so much to lose. I’m currently trying to lose the half a stone I put on over Christmas and it’s like 1 step forward 2 steps back. So so hard, but I put it down to being a healthy weight currently.

That sounds very similaiar to what i eat. I either skip breakfast or have porridge. I have a sandwich for lunch. I have brown pasta with veg and vegetarian protein for dinner. No snacks.

Yet im still three stone overweight!

Your body will go into starvation mode and hang onto any calories it can if you under eat to significantly.

Focus on building natural movement in your life as being active day to day makes a big difference.

Are you weighing every single thing? I weigh it all, even 3 years down the line. I never ever guess.

It won't. This is a myth. It really is just calories in vs calories out.

We are biologically programmed to avoid hunger, conserve energy and keep weight on. Humans who lose weight easily and dye to stress etc are not the norm - because it doesn't help us (from a historic, evolutionary perspective).

No i dont. What kind of weighing scales do you use?

Also what hot drink do you have in the morning please? I sometimes think its my sachet of powdered coffee that is tipping me over

Yes but we have a basal metabolic rate that forms the bulk of those ‘calories out’ and your basal metabolic rate will drop if you are not consuming enough calories to sustain yourself. As I said above, we are biologically guarded against losing too much weight.

Just regular kitchen scales (digital). I used myfitnesspal to log it all too. I also log it as I'm going so I don't accidentally over eat. My dinners are all planned out so I know day to day what calories I have for the rest of the week.

I usually have a galaxy light hot chocolate (38 cals). But sometimes a cup of tea (with measured and logged milk!). You can have whatever you want, if it's in your calorie allowance!

There’s no physiological mechanism where the body can maintain fat mass in a true calorie deficit. Metabolism can slow slightly, yes — but not enough to cancel out a genuine deficit. ‘Starvation mode’ as people describe it isn’t supported by evidence.