Why do people struggle to lose weight?

[Independent voter]

People can't lose weight often times because they try overly complex diets. What worked for me is just removing sugar from my diet, sweet snacks put weight on me not to mention that I'm surrounded by enablers who like to bake. Removing sugar is effective and simple plus sugar has been found to have a lot of ill effects on your health.

[Al Gorefiend]

I'm the opposite. I can't get bigger even if I try. Eating tons of junk makes me sick and ruins my complexion, never actually gaining weight. I was a walking skeleton in middle school.

[ldev]

It's really not that bad. Are people just afraid of feeling a little hungry? I actually feel energized when I'm slightly hungry. 155 pound club.

Boi just wait 'till you're over 40.

[Jayburner]

People can't lose weight often times because they try overly complex diets. What worked for me is just removing sugar from my diet, sweet snacks put weight on me not to mention that I'm surrounded by enablers who like to bake. Removing sugar is effective and simple plus sugar has been found to have a lot of ill effects on your health.

question for you. If anything tastes sweet, does that make it immediately bad for you?

[Cyberowl]

I'm the opposite. I can't get bigger even if I try. Eating tons of junk makes me sick and ruins my complexion, never actually gaining weight. I was a walking skeleton in middle school.

Buy a blender, milk, protein powder, honey, oatmeal, dried fruits, fruits, chia seeds. You can easily go for a 1L shake with 1000 calories. That should be enough...

[May90]

I've never had any weight problems, but I find that I feel much better overall when I exercise regularly and eat healthy, than when I slack on exercises and eat/drink junk. I suppose it is the same for being non-overweight vs overweight: you just feel better physically, because your body is closer to the optimal functionality.

That said, people who make losing weight into their lifestyle, their number 1 goal in life and such, and sacrifice all the small enjoyments in life for that, probably, go a bit too far. Having extra weight is worse than not having it, but it is hardly something you should make your life miserable to get rid of.

[Breccia]

It dramatically varies.

My older brother's wife's younger sister's nephew's former roomate dared give me the raspberry has two knees operated on a total of six times total. She simply can't stay active and eating responsibly and quitting drinking, plus raising an eight year old, isn't enough to keep her below, erm, "curvy".

I know another person who struggled to lose weight for over a decade because she didn't have good health insurance and didn't get the diagnosis until late last year. Since then she's dropped about sixty pounds and she's engaged to a geology professor.

There's no one reason. And there never will be.

[Blueobelisk]

I know another person who struggled to lose weight for over a decade because she didn't have good health insurance and didn't get the diagnosis until late last year.

The diagnosis that she was fat?

[Darsithis]

Weight is a combination of a lot of factors: genetics, exercise level, lifestyle (harried, stressful, calm, active, sedentary, etc), economic situation...

...it's not as clear cut as "putting the fork down".

[chazus]

I'm a pretty big guy, both in build and weight. I know I'm slightly overweight, but simply saying "fix that" isn't that easy. As it is, I work 45 hours a week, and a full school load. I literally get up at ~6am, and I don't get home until 9pm. Despite that, I ride my bike nearly every day, I work out with a home gym several times a week, cook most of my own meals (I have fast food maybe once a week if I don't have time). Most of my meals include mostly protein/meat. I don't eat bread, pasta, or virtually any starchy carbs.

Despite that, it's an utter struggle for me to lose weight outside of absolutely starving myself (1000-1500 calories a day, which I just cannot function on with my schedule). It's not the same for everyone, but for some people it IS a struggle. You can do all the 'right things' and still not see changes.

[Hawthorne Wipes]

The diagnosis that she was fat?

Well, I know a case from first hand.
My cousin used to be overweight, her whole life.
She and her mother usually went through strict diets, with a lot of veggies, meat, and 0 processed stuff, but never seemed to work.
A visit to the doctor, a problem found in the tyroid.. and pum, a couple of months later she was increadibly lean.
Of course, this one is a rare case, but shows the root of our problems are not always the same.

[Cyberowl]

I'm a pretty big guy, both in build and weight. I know I'm slightly overweight, but simply saying "fix that" isn't that easy. As it is, I work 45 hours a week, and a full school load. I literally get up at ~6am, and I don't get home until 9pm. Despite that, I ride my bike nearly every day, I work out with a home gym several times a week, cook most of my own meals (I have fast food maybe once a week if I don't have time). Most of my meals include mostly protein/meat. I don't eat bread, pasta, or virtually any starchy carbs.

Despite that, it's an utter struggle for me to lose weight outside of absolutely starving myself (1000-1500 calories a day, which I just cannot function on with my schedule). It's not the same for everyone, but for some people it IS a struggle. You can do all the 'right things' and still not see changes.

You should be losing your kilos on the fly. Even doing nothing the calory deficit (which screws your metabolism longterm) should be enough. Sure you don't fall into some traps? Soda, the "lean caesar sandwich" which totals 1000 calories, dried fruits, nuts?

[Dug]

It's difficult to change your habits. Takes a conscious effort and some people just can't manage it. Not by themselves anyways.

[Draco-Onis]

It's really not that bad. Are people just afraid of feeling a little hungry? I actually feel energized when I'm slightly hungry. 155 pound club.

Because losing weight and keeping it off isn't just about going on a single diet, it's changing your entire lifestyle. It's hard for people to change one thing about themselves let alone change their entire lifestyle, once you find a regiment that suits you it becomes second nature but making that change is a huge lift for a lot of people.

[Poganin]

Sometimes, being unable to lose weight is actually caused by not eating enough! I had this problem for ages. I'd eat three small meals per day and my weight wouldn't budge or it would go up. Eventually I went to a dietician and she made a meal plan for me where she had me eat four meals per day that were as big or bigger than what I had been eating, just composed differently: less meat and cereal products, more veggies and fruit. I never went hungry, just had to mind the meal times. It started a bit costly, because I had to buy all those weird products that I never even glanced at, but after that it was fine money-wise.

Lo and behold, one month later I was 3 kg lighter without going hungry, I stopped having cravings for snacks or junk food. I just spend way more time in the kitchen than I used to Lots of cooking new stuff, but I also discovered new things that I like. Like guacamole or ratatouille.

[Breccia]

The diagnosis that she was fat?

Please tell me you didn't mean that to be as insensitive and context-blind as you sounded. This thread is about people struggling to lose weight. I doubt people who are struggling to lose weight, need a "diagnosis" that they are fat.

[Cyberowl]

Aside from some really good points that have been made here, I myself am at a point where I'm almost ready to lose all faith in my ability to shed some pounds. I cooked for myself for the last good 5 years or so, and since it's just me, buying stuff such that it yields one decent portion, even for two days is near impossible. My freezer is tiny (and my appartment doesn't allow for much bigger), so the tendency to overeat just to not have the same meal 3-4 days in a row but also not waste half of it (I quite dislike throwing good food away) was there. I also tended to make a pizza 1-2 days a week when work used me up for the day.
Since the beginning of this year I am eating "under observation" so to say, with my dad and sister, and the latter is the cook. I have NEVER eaten THIS healthy, always with a fresh salad on the side, only proper meat from the butchers, usually white meat, in general a LOT less fat, aaaand she even calculates the calories for the meals. I constrain myself to 3 evenly spaced out meals a day (doctor's orders), and eat NOTHING in between. No sweets, no snackies, no sweetened drinks. Nofuckingthing.

What did my doc tell me a few days ago!? "Obviously entirely wrong nutrition, high cholesterol, some vitamin defficiencies." Like... what the...!? I NEVER had high cholesterol, despite being quite overweight. AND eating not the best way one could. And without any other changes to my daily routine, which as always mostly consists of office time. What is my stupid body trying to tell me here?

I mean, yeah I need to move more often. That's in the making (ergometer in my office and I hopefully get out of there a tad earlier in the future). But with nothing changed but my meals, towards a nicely balanced, veggie and fiber rich and controlled portions, I should NOT get significantly WORSE ffs!

Tell your doctor to stick it and look for a new one. Are you exercising? It's not only about the net loss of calories, it's about activating your metabolism. How much water do you drink a day?

[Godric]

It's really not that bad. Are people just afraid of feeling a little hungry? I actually feel energized when I'm slightly hungry. 155 pound club.

Perhaps this is something you should discuss with your parents and not the internet. Unless you are actually a 155 pound manlet that has a childlike fascination with alcohol and a insultingly high ignorance towards dietary habits. Unless of course you have little man syndrome and it makes you feel better by calling out the weight of others, which is quite common.

[Celista]

Environment, dietary habits, behavior (such as emotional eating) all play a role...there are people who struggle to gain or lose despite having a healthy diet and exercise though (usually these people are in the normal/slightly overweight range and not in the obese range). For these people, genetics may play a bigger role.

Generally speaking, the body prefers homeostasis and it has a whole host of mechanisms to keep you from going too far above/below a certain weight range.

[Independent voter]

question for you. If anything tastes sweet, does that make it immediately bad for you?

Yeah, taste usually, lots of things have a bit of sugar added like bread for example so you can't avoid sugar completely.

There's also a new artificial sweetener on the market that we're trying out, works pretty good.