Why is it so much easier to put on weight than lose it

[Briannaco]

I'm overweight.

And I've been really working at losing weight.

Last year It took me about three months to lose four pounds. I had been eating really healthily and going to the gym.

At christmas , I ate some snacks and unhealthy things. It's hard to resist when they're all around at christmas

I put on 5 pounds in two weeks!

After Christmas I'm back on my healthy diet. I've been eating really really healthy . I've even been doing some intermittent fasting. I've been going months gym. After one month, I've lost one pound.

Why does it go on so much quicker than it comes off!

Because of your amazing genes!
That trait would have kept you alive thousands of even hundreds of years ago.
Today it's not so useful.

And I guess cuz it's easier to get a calorie surplus, than a calorie deficit.

If we eat three normal meals, then one bag of crisps. It would make us put on weight.

However to lose weight , we have to burn more calories than we are eating, which is harder to do

Try a different diet . I tried 1000 cals a day and couldn’t lose any weight . I started doing low carb in mid September and have lost over 2 stone . BMI has gone from 29.2 to 24.9 .

Ooh what's a typical day like? What do you eat?

2 large soft boiled eggs for breakfast
salad at lunch usually smoked salmon or prawn
dinner is normally chicken / smoked haddock / salmon / mushroom with veg .
or chilli with cheese
If you look at the low carb boards there are lots of adventurous recipes but unless I want to cook multiple dinners I keep it simple . I don’t really snack but if I do it’s a small portion of mixed berries or a Tesco finest chipolata or pork sausage as they are pretty low carb .

I have no advice, but only solidarity, I feel the same way.

I find that I lose weight much slower when I'm also exercising.

The only way I lose weight is by absolute starvation and not exercising.

I mean, up to 1000 calories a day max. Which is very unsustainable.

If I eat more than that, it takes forever. I mean, maybe 1 kg a month.

I can easily put on 5 kg in a month though,

I feel the same way- well if I go on a very strict diet I can lose weight but it comes back scary fast. The last week I have been putting on 1lb a day. I think I might need to try low carb again but I find it hard to maintain.