I was feeling super depressed a few days ago about my 50 pound weight gain over the last 11 years and my partner reassured me by saying that weight loss is a sham. I'm now going to finally buy clothes that fit my body and stop shaming myself for no longer fitting into medium sized clothes. This post came at a time that I needed to hear this. I will not try to diet. I will exercise for my mental health and I will happily live with this extra weight and not judge myself.
I think this is extremely under reported. I know lots if people that go on and off diets continuously. Up and down and up and down. They do not seem to see the direct line from their weight cycling to their slower metabolism, depression, and a myriad of other things wrong. Either that or they ignore it.
This is great Ragen! I went though the list of health outcomes that can be caused my weight-cycling, and I had a check mark next to over half of them. I wonder how much better I would be feeling, despite my chronic illness, if I hadn't spent so many years weight-cycling.
I'm wondering if you know anything about whether a set point can change on its own. I've lost 27 lbs since about August and from October I actually eat more than I usually do (I lost my appetite back in 2017, so I have to force myself to eat regularly). My family thinks its my new very physical job, but I lost the majority of it before starting.
I can't find anything on this subject except weight loss companies selling snake oil that promises to change set point lower,and looking up "unexpected weight loss" gives a list of dire health issues that don't really fit (better and more predictable menstrual recently, no gastrointestinal issues or gas for months, since this started, i tend to gain weight by anxiety and depression esp in the middle which its mainly departing from, etc). None of it fits.
I have no intention of going to any doctor for this, my overall health is actually better than before and I feel great, I'm mostly just curious. And suspicious, and hesitant to buy clothes that fit because I don't know if its going to come back in a year with friends and my parents are more excited than I am and can't understand why I'm not beside myself with glee and mostly annoyed because they're firmly ensconced in diet industry weight loss "common sense" and my mom is even put out that I "eat like a pig" and lose while she starves and gains...
So does set point ever change on its own? Ever hear of this happening?
Is there a way to distinguish weight cycling (harmful) from "unintentional" body fluctuations? I no longer weigh myself and I don't diet (yay!!), but I do go through different phases of life where my body is different sizes, and I'm worried that might constitute weight cycling and have negative health outcomes.
I find this really compelling but I wonder what the control is in the data - is weight cycling bad compared to being thin? Or compared to being overweight?
I was feeling super depressed a few days ago about my 50 pound weight gain over the last 11 years and my partner reassured me by saying that weight loss is a sham. I'm now going to finally buy clothes that fit my body and stop shaming myself for no longer fitting into medium sized clothes. This post came at a time that I needed to hear this. I will not try to diet. I will exercise for my mental health and I will happily live with this extra weight and not judge myself.
I think this is extremely under reported. I know lots if people that go on and off diets continuously. Up and down and up and down. They do not seem to see the direct line from their weight cycling to their slower metabolism, depression, and a myriad of other things wrong. Either that or they ignore it.
This is great Ragen! I went though the list of health outcomes that can be caused my weight-cycling, and I had a check mark next to over half of them. I wonder how much better I would be feeling, despite my chronic illness, if I hadn't spent so many years weight-cycling.
Hi! Long time reader, originally of your blog!
I'm wondering if you know anything about whether a set point can change on its own. I've lost 27 lbs since about August and from October I actually eat more than I usually do (I lost my appetite back in 2017, so I have to force myself to eat regularly). My family thinks its my new very physical job, but I lost the majority of it before starting.
I can't find anything on this subject except weight loss companies selling snake oil that promises to change set point lower,and looking up "unexpected weight loss" gives a list of dire health issues that don't really fit (better and more predictable menstrual recently, no gastrointestinal issues or gas for months, since this started, i tend to gain weight by anxiety and depression esp in the middle which its mainly departing from, etc). None of it fits.
I have no intention of going to any doctor for this, my overall health is actually better than before and I feel great, I'm mostly just curious. And suspicious, and hesitant to buy clothes that fit because I don't know if its going to come back in a year with friends and my parents are more excited than I am and can't understand why I'm not beside myself with glee and mostly annoyed because they're firmly ensconced in diet industry weight loss "common sense" and my mom is even put out that I "eat like a pig" and lose while she starves and gains...
So does set point ever change on its own? Ever hear of this happening?
Is there a way to distinguish weight cycling (harmful) from "unintentional" body fluctuations? I no longer weigh myself and I don't diet (yay!!), but I do go through different phases of life where my body is different sizes, and I'm worried that might constitute weight cycling and have negative health outcomes.
I find this really compelling but I wonder what the control is in the data - is weight cycling bad compared to being thin? Or compared to being overweight?