The up and downsides of weightloss

[Pi1otguy]

Like many before me trying to shed the pounds I've lost, regained, lost, and stalled in no particular order. Since Jan 1 I'm down 17 and hopefully on track to hit my "flying" weight by end of the year.
Enjoying the upside of it but never though there were so many unexpected downsides too.

I know a few of us here are trying to shed or have done so. So what pros & cons of weight loss have you noticed?

Upsides:

• Looser clothes
• The "spare tire" is almost undetectable.
• I can finally say something positive when my doc advises me that my weight is an issue.
• Closer to "flying weight".
• Sitting in unknown chairs is slightly less perilous.
• bp dropped 10-15 pts.

Downsides:

• My ability to move objects now requires use of strength instead of shifting and leveraging my weight.
• Seem to require an extra hour of sleep since diet & exercise really kicked in.
• Food prep takes a meaningful portion of my day (i cook from scratch much more than eat out now). These foods and the fresh ingredients have short shelf-lives.
• I've lost the ability to sit on my behind for hours on most firm/hard surfaces. Seriously, I get up every hour or so to walk the floor at work in part to avoid soreness.

 

[asgcpa]

Like many before me trying to shed the pounds I've lost, regained, lost, and stalled in no particular order. Since Jan 1 I'm down 17 and hopefully on track to hit my "flying" weight by end of the year.
Enjoying the upside of it but never though there were so many unexpected downsides too.

I know a few of us here are trying to shed or have done so. So what pros & cons of weight loss have you noticed?

Upsides:

• Looser clothes
• The "spare tire" is almost undetectable.
• I can finally say something positive when my doc advises me that my weight is an issue.
• Closer to "flying weight".
• Sitting in unknown chairs is slightly less perilous.
• bp dropped 10-15 pts.

Downsides:

• My ability to move objects now requires use of strength instead of shifting and leveraging my weight.
• Seem to require an extra hour of sleep since diet & exercise really kicked in.
• Food prep takes a meaningful portion of my day (i cook from scratch much more than eat out now). These foods and the fresh ingredients have short shelf-lives.
• I've lost the ability to sit on my behind for hours on most firm/hard surfaces. Seriously, I get up every hour or so to walk the floor at work in part to avoid soreness.

I had WLS last year. Have lost 118 pounds, 18 inches in my waist, no longer diabetic. Upside - everything including being able to fit in a plane again and get my PPL. Downside? Get ill at times if I eat too fast or overeat.

 

[steingar]

I know a few of us here are trying to shed or have done so. So what pros & cons of weight loss have you noticed?

Downsides:

My ability to move objects now requires use of strength instead of shifting and leveraging my weight.

And your heart and vasculature no longer have to run blood through the miles of capillaries it takes to maintain adipose tissue. And your joints and skeleton aren't as stressed carrying the extra weight.

Seem to require an extra hour of sleep since diet & exercise really kicked in.

Sound sleep, unlike what you got when you had the increased mass.

Food prep takes a meaningful portion of my day (i cook from scratch much more than eat out now). These foods and the fresh ingredients have short shelf-lives.

Yielding better nutrition. Besides, what is one going to do during the day that is more important than cooking? You are, after all, what you eat.

I've lost the ability to sit on my behind for hours on most firm/hard surfaces. Seriously, I get up every hour or so to walk the floor at work in part to avoid soreness.
[/LIST]

They have these things called cushions. They're wonderful.

 

[Marauder]

And having lost 75 pounds, I appreciate my talking scale no longer saying "one at a time please"

 

[Pi1otguy]

And your heart and vasculature no longer have to run blood through the miles of capillaries it takes to maintain adipose tissue. And your joints and skeleton aren't as stressed carrying the extra weight.

I thought that tissue was eternal but just deflates?

They have these things called cushions. They're wonderful.

But I used to have one built in.

 

[steingar]

I thought that tissue was eternal but just deflates?

That is the crux of it. But deflated cells need far less energy, thus less blood.

 

[JOhnH]

I have lost 45 pounds. Down from 260 to 215.

The upsides; everything you mentioned, plus the good feeling of the compliments I get and the knowledge that unless all my extra energy gets me killed, I SHOULD live longer.

The downside:

I am constantly hungry. I have been on a very health diet for almost 3 years now and I am happy with it. I don't crave the junk any more, UNLESS I SEE IT. Then I look and act like Pavlov's dogs. But if I don't see it I don't crave it.

I work out twice a day for about an hour at a time. I get up at 4:30am; get to the gym at 5am, leave at 6am go home take a shower, fix breakfast and go to work.

then I leave work around 5:30pm for the Gym. I get home around at almost 7pm. I take a shower, fix dinner for my wife and I, fix the coffee for the next day, brush my teeth and go to bed by 9pm at the latest.

I love going to the gym. I always feel more energetic when i get to my desk at works and I miss it and feel bad if I don't go. But occasionally it can't be helped and if I get out of the routine for even a couple of days the weight starts creeping back up.

I have promised myself and my wife that I will never allow myself to get back where I was. I have vowed NEVER to buy larger pants again. I have kept two pair for emergency use, but they are not in the best shape and I will be embarrassed if I have to wear them so I hope that will be a reminder to kick it up a notch again. But I have come to accept that this will be a life long struggle. And it is a struggle that gets you absolutely no sympathy because the alternative (in many people's mind) is that you are a fat lazy slob.

 

[Old Geek]

I created my own 1200 calorie diet that takes almost zero prep and costs about $3 a day.

Food .............. Points
2 boiled eggs ..... 1
1/2 sausage .......2
1 beer ................1
1 sm bag chips ....2
1 bare hot dog.....1
1/2 avocado ...... 1
1 sm can veg.......1
1 banana.............1

8 points per day max. Run out of points, no more food. No exercise other than walking the dog a 1/2 mile once or twice a day.

One point is nominally 150 calories and I can and do add other stuff.

The boiled, peeled eggs, avocados and Casper's hot dogs are available at Costco cheap. The small bag of chips gives me an excuse to walk a block to 7-11.

So far 3 weeks and 10 pounds off. 192 down to 182.

 

[JimNtexas]

I've lost over 50 pounds this year, and concur with the OP. I would add two other unanticipated results:

1) I look in the mirror and there is a very different face looking back from what used to be there, it's kind of strange to not see that round Stay-Puff marshmallow man face looking anymore.

2) On my legs, arms, and especially my waist there hangs these very unsightly folds of skin, giving me something of the look a melting Stay-Puff marshmallow man.

Like the other guys here, I became much more physically active as I lost weight. I lost this weight with a low carb 1100 calorie diet, I ramped up the exercise gradually over six months, I didn't 'run' it off.

I'm on day 16 post total knee replacement, I've gained about 4 pounds since the operation.

I'm able to move around now and really miss riding my bicycle in particular. I was really depressed about this last week, but my knee is better now and hopefully I'll be back to a higher actively level pretty soon.

 

[JOhnH]

I've lost over 50 pounds this year, and concur with the OP. I would add two other unanticipated results:

1) I look in the mirror and there is a very different face looking back from what used to be there, it's kind of strange to not see that round Stay-Puff marshmallow man face looking anymore.

Amen. Every day when I get out of the shower and see myself in the mirror, and remember what I used to see, I am reminded why I am doing this.

2) On my legs, arms, and especially my waist there hangs these very unsightly folds of skin, giving me something of the look a melting Stay-Puff marshmallow man.

After I lost the first 25 pounds I began seeing this ugly turkey neck where my three chins used to be. It took about a year after that for that to finally begin to recede. It's not gone yet but it is much less obvious.

Like the other guys here, I became much more physically active as I lost weight. I lost this weight with a low carb 1100 calorie diet, I ramped up the exercise gradually over six months, I didn't 'run' it off.

My problem is that I can't stick to an 1,100 calorie diet. But probably consume about a thousand fewer calories per day than I use dot. I have tried and tried, but if I set a goal like that (1,00c/day), eventually I will binge and blow a months worth of dieting in one day. I have a diet that I think I can stay with for a lifetime. Hopefully, over time, I will be able to reduce the calories even more.

 

[Pi1otguy]

My problem is that I can't stick to an 1,100 calorie diet. But probably consume about a thousand fewer calories per day than I use dot. I have tried and tried, but if I set a goal like that (1,00c/day), eventually I will binge and blow a months worth of dieting in one day. I have a diet that I think I can stay with for a lifetime. Hopefully, over time, I will be able to reduce the calories even more.

I too tried 1200 calories diets before and was miserable, angry, tired, and emotionally unstable. My understanding is that below 1500 for men (1200 for women) should be medically supervised.

Now I simply aim for 2200 which is much less than the 3600 I used to consume.

 

[AggieMike88]

I too tried 1200 calories diets before and was miserable, angry, tired, and emotionally unstable. My understanding is that below 1500 for men (1200 for women) should be medically supervised.

Now I simply aim for 2200 which is much less than the 3600 I used to consume.

Are these calorie numbers you're quoting the "gross" figure before you burned off some in exercise to get the net final number?

One of the iPhone apps I like to assist with weight loss (www.LoseIt.com) works on a net number (food less exercise) and coaches you to eat what you need and sensibly, then exercise to get the number below the target. My program has a net number set at 1650. So if I eat 2100 calories today, I need to burn 450 exercise calories to get to my target...

I think the concept is that if "old normal" that would not cause a weight loss or weight gain was 2100 or 2200, and it takes 3500 burned to burn off a pound of fat, then setting a 500 calorie per day deficit (eating and exercise) will safely lose you one pound of fat per week.

Of course this can be safely accelerated a small amount. But I think you folks get the general concept.

 

[Pi1otguy]

Oh okay. I was thinking about experiences with 1200 gross calories and how bad that was. If net then have at it.

 

[comanchepilot]

The only complaint the wife had with me losing weight was I lost my rear and got old man rear - which was fixed with liberal applications of bicycle riding and leg presses . .

 

[iflyforfun]

I too tried 1200 calories diets before and was miserable, angry, tired, and emotionally unstable. My understanding is that below 1500 for men (1200 for women) should be medically supervised.

Now I simply aim for 2200 which is much less than the 3600 I used to consume.

I'm technically down 18 lbs over the last 3-4 months (from 190 to 172), but that is cheating a bit because the 190 was an absolute all time high, and the 172 was a really low recent weight.

I got turned on to the fasting diet. Two days a week, I limit myself to a 300 calorie breakfast and a 300 calorie dinner. For breakfast it is coffee and either a 2 egg omelette (no cheese, light milk), 2 hard boiled eggs and a load of cherry tomatoes or a 2 egg low cal mayo egg salad. For dinner, it is a 0 calorie drink and a Subway veggie 6 inch with no cheese.

I'm a bit hungry on my diet days, but the other 5 days I eat my normal diet. I've found that I tend to cut back a bit more than I used to (no more candy bars at lunch for example) and drop a bit more than a pound a week. I've also added 30 minutes of elliptical time about 4 times a week.

My job keeps me busy, I have customers in and have to take them to dinner several times a month and I travel a good bit. On crazy weeks, I can still find at least one day to "fast" and I maintain instead of drop that week.

Really pretty amazing. I just show a bit of control two days a week and the weight comes off. The remainder of the week, I eat pretty much as I want. A good friend owns a bar across the street from my apartment and I have either pulled pork sandwich, boneless buffalo chicken tenders with fries or a taco salad at least 3 days a week along with 3-4 big beers. I remember dieting in the past with a lot of distaste and was much more interested in exercising the weight off. As I've aged and my schedule has become a bit more challenging, exercise alone didn't seem to be doing it. This diet is pretty easy. I'm sure if I went crazy on non-diet days, this wouldn't work well. That said, I've developed a fairly healthy diet and good portion control over time, so I'm not doing a lot of damage on my off days (yeah, I eat junk at the bar and should cut down on my beer, but I have a whole bran breakfast and nice pan fried veggies for lunch).

One unexpected benefit is that my heart burn has gotten MUCH better. As would be expected, I sleep much better. My periodic lower back pain is also almost gone.

I don't expect this would work for everyone, but it has done wonders for me. After 3-4 months, I don't see any reason I won't stay on this diet for the rest of my life. I get to enjoy life >70% with no guilt what so ever, and then show a bit of control the other 30% and I no longer have to worry about putting on 2-3 pounds a year. If you are in the 15-25 lbs over weight range, I'd suggest you google the fasting diet and give it a spin. If you are someone who puts on 20 lbs a year, I don't think this would have much impact, but if you are putting on 10 lbs a year or so, this will stop the weight gain and maybe deliver some loss with very minimal change to your life style.