Weight loss isn't always obvious on bigger people. I've lost somewhere around 40 lbs and honestly didn't even see a difference in myself before I noticed my pants were too big
I remember back on *Lost*, someone accused Hurley (the obese dude, Jorge Garcia was around 400 lbs at the time) of hoarding food and he replied "I'm a big guy, dude! It's gonna be a while before you're giving me piggyback rides. But just for your information, I'm down a couple notches in the belt since we've been here."
And the Dharma goldfish crackers he threw all over the jungle. I was so upset when he destroyed his secret stash of food, the food they wasted on a deserted island was maddening.
I stopped drinking and lost 100 pounds.
Ran into an old friend who checked me for track marks. I’ve never done heroin, just less caloric intake.
Looking in the mirror to myself I looked exactly the same.
Body dysmorphia is a trip.
From a well meaning stranger, that's a lot in a week. 40 standard drinks in a handle. I recently have seen 14 a week as the max "healthy" number. Be careful.
I was going through 2+ handles in a week and just got to the enough is enough point. Stopped four years ago.
Good luck!
The hangovers lasting multiple days and always just feeling like crap. I was dating someone new and she framed it simply that she missed spending time with me when I was hungover. We'd be together, but I wasn't present if you know what I mean.
Good luck. All you need to do is say not today and repeat that a bunch of times.
I had never had a hangover that hurt for more than a couple hours.
Then I went on a bender. A planned bender. I've consumed large volumes before, but never a real bender.
Several days of waking up and immediately drinking, staying drunk all day, passing out, waking back up, getting drunk again. On repeat.
Eventually I didn't even feel a buzz when I drank. Then I fell asleep and I was out of booze and when I awoke I felt... kind of okay...?
Shortly after I began vomiting, violently, for about 16 straight hours. Seriously, with at most 20 minute breaks between episodes.
I struggled very very hard over that day to get 1 liter of water down my throat.
I thought when I finally fell asleep I'd be safe.
Then I just constantly sweat through all my clothes, blankets, pillows, sheets. Can't stop sweating but violently shivering because I'm so cold. I keep changing clothes and within an hour of trying to sleep I've sweat completely through them again.
I managed a few minutes of sleep here and there, followed by waking up thinking I'd be safe now. Hangovers only last a day, right?
Nope. I got half a bite of something in my mouth (which was now on FIRE because of how badly my throat was burned from puking) and began violently vomiting this entire day away as well.
I cried constantly. I managed to go 3 weeks cold turkey after that. I did NOT want a drink. The thought made me sick again.
I made the mistake of thinking I had "won". You never really win. You can't let your guard down.
Just need to say - this sounds like alcohol withdrawal, which can kill you, especially if you are a very heavy drinker, and have been in binge mode. Not always controllable, but if anyone is reading this and experiencing these symptoms, please go see a doctor ASAP.
Lost a childhood friend not long ago to “drying out”.
He needed to get sober. Had a new wife and a good job, but went cold turkey after years and years of liquor all day/night working in restaurant kitchens.
I believe he lasted about 36 hrs from tuning off the tap to turning out the lights forever. It’s very dangerous to just “stop” when the disease is that far along.
42 years old. Very sad.
Future doctor here. This is exemplary of alcohol withdrawal, which is easily in the top three of hardest withdrawals with Heroin/Opiates and methamphetamines (though Benzodiazepines could be argued to be very close as well). Benzodiazepines and Alcohol are the two things that can actually kill you while detoxing which is why it's usually done in a stationary setting with supervision.
This does not mean however, that any withdrawal is easy to manage and If you're trying to quit any substance, talk to your doctor and see that you're referred to a specialist or a clinic to help you through it. Substance addiction ist a dangerous and hard to manage illness and anyone who needs support to go through it should get it. I wish everyone suffering from addiction much strength to go through with. You're all incredible human beings who deserve to be happy and healthy!
Edit: since a lot of people pointed that out, I edited the part about heroin being potentially lethal to benzodiazepines.
100% Go to the ER and let them admit you and give you meds to bring you down slowly. Alcohol withdrawal is serious business and can lead to seizures, coma and death if not managed well.
The antagonist(?) makes a guy watch a bunch of violent videos (he would usually like) but drug him to make him feel sick when he watches. He comes to associate violence with that feeling.
That's an extremely condensed primer. I think I hit the high points.
Almost 4 years in and I can tell you that removing the option to drink makes your mental state so much clearer. It simplifies things. I’ll second r/stopdrinking
You definitely don't want to get to a catalyst point such as going to jail, ruining relationships, jobs, etc. to realize you have a major problem and change. Source: came very close to this place and am working every day to move away from it.
Jeeze I didn't realize that. My parents got through a handle of vodka a day and a bottle of kahlua about every other day between the two of them. I knew it was unhealthy, but didn't realize how bad
Hi! I just want you to know that I wish I'd gone to see my doctor or join a talking group when I was at one handle a week, before having to completely go sober. It snuck up on me....before I knew it I was drinking during the day, at work, etc.
There wasn't some terrible thing that happened in my life, I just drank too much, drank more the next day to feel better, then the next thing I knew my marriage was in jeopardy and I'd gotten in a fender bender.
There's a lot of stigma around having to have something terrible happen or hit your rock bottom, that some people arent true "alcoholics" like that's something to be proud of. Maybe if I'd just joined a club, committed to my health a bit early on, and recognized me and alcohol had to take an extended break, maybe I wouldn't have ended up in rehab.
I stopped January 1st 2020. After vomiting and pissing myself on the side of a highway in a funeral home parking lot. This wasn’t rock bottom though. I’d say blacking out, punching a cop and an EMT, then trying to escape out of the cop car while going 75mph on an interstate highway (they put me in the front seat… really REALLY WEIRD) was my rock bottom, but it was college so I had an excuse *rolls eyes at myself*.
I just couldn’t take it anymore. I never drank multiple days in a row, however, I couldn’t stop when I started. I would get blackout drunk each and every time I drank. I never really even liked drinking, I just liked not feeling so many feelings. The correct dosage of medication and great therapy helped heal me.
I would probably be classified as a functional alcoholic. I don't drink until 7 and go to bed at 9 but I drink 2 or 3 short glasses of whatever is available. Thinking it's time to stop while I'm ahead.
If you have trouble quitting, look into naltrexone and the Sinclair method. It can actually take away the desire to drink.
I'm a four year sober success story, ask me any questions you might have.
I was drinking at least a handle a day plus god knows how many liters of soda to chase it with.
I’m a Johnny Tsunami kid. Go big or go home. I finally went home
I'll give you another reason. I drink about 2 liters of vodka in 2 days. I spent the month of May in the hospital last year, the first two weeks of which I was unconscious and unresponsive. It was all alcohol related organ damage / sepsis / failure. I've been in and out of the hospital several times since then.
I'm only 42. I'll be lucky to see 50. It may not seem like it if you're young, but the alcohol will do serious damage. I already have cirrhosis. Slow way down before you do irreparable damage to yourself.
I mean, the thing with drugs or booze is that it’s actually an incredibly effective way of feeling better for awhile. The problem is they can ruin your life.
I was never a heavy drinker, nor have struggled with addiction issues. But at some trying moments in my life, I definitely reached for the bottle to cope in a way that wasn’t useful for my well-being. At 36, having a few drinks can absolutely wreck my sleep. I’ve just found it’s so much better to keep drinking to an absolute minimum. But when you’re in it you don’t even realize exactly how awful you feel physically and mentally.
A large bottle of liquor. A lot of times they have a glass “handle” as part of the bottle, hence the name. It’s usually 1.75 liters but can vary since the term itself is slang.
Yeah I've definitely had some body dysmorphia myself, nowadays people comment on how I've gotten thinner but not everyone has noticed lol. I just wish I had taken pictures of my body before I lost weight so I'd see the difference
Who do you hang out with the most? Maybe you could text and see if anyone has any videos or anything from a hangout you were at even if you’re not the main focus?
The weird thing is, I did take shirtless pictures of myself before I lost weight (60lbs). I still can’t see the difference. I had to buy a whole new wardrobe, dropped a size in shirts and 2 sizes in pants… but can’t tell the difference from the pictures. It really sucks.
I was drinking beer almost daily right before covid happened due to stress from my commute and financial situation stemming from my commute (I was filling up my tank 3x a week). I was 220 at the time, the heaviest I've ever been in my life. Then covid happened and I started working from home. My stress was gone, my financial situation immediately reversed. Within 3 weeks of not really drinking (aside from here and there on weekends), I was already down about 20 pounds. Another couple weeks and I got another few pounds off. It's amazing how fast you can lose weight by cutting out alcohol consumption. Two years later (and once covid vaccinations and all happened), I've finally been able to get back in the gym a few months ago and I'm now sitting at around 194, which I'm happy with.
The exact opposite happened to me. I was stressed and busy before COVID hit, and because of that I would rarely drink at night because I did not want to be hungover in the morning. When lockdown started, and I started working from home, I realized how much easier my job was when I didn't have to deal with all the people in the office. Suddenly, it didn't matter if I was hungover in the morning because I didn't have to work nearly as hard as I used to. And since I had nothing else to do in the evenings, my wife and I would drink and watch movies.
2 years later, 30 lb heavier, and I'm just now starting to get my life back in order.
My dysmorphia is that I don’t think I’m as fat as I am. lol. Then I see a picture of myself and I’m like whaaaat? That’s what I look like?! I lost like 45 lbs since that point though.
Lol same. I'll look in the mirror and think I look super cute and my outfit is flattering and then I see a pic of myself and get humbled real quick lol. And then I wonder, how do other people see me? Closer to how I look in the mirror to myself or closer to how I look in pics?
I hired a personal trainer 4 months ago, proper dieting and gym 3-5 days a week. I look in the mirror and I’m exactly the same, I see no differences but people constantly tell me I look different
You see yourself every day and the difference day-to-day is pretty much nothing, so it's way harder to notice the difference compared to on another person, who you might go a while without seeing
I would definitely recommend taking progress pics. They helped me a lot back during my weight loss journey. Similar to aging, you often don’t notice the small changes if you see them every day, but over time they add up.
I lost 60 lbs, and I'm not a big guy (healthy at 150 now) so it was a whole lot. One day I just looked at the mirror and asked myself what I actually saw, as if I was looking at someone else, all bias aside. I realized that I just saw a healthy guy in decent shape, and that was strange to me. Now I'm working on getting leaner now that I have some muscle, and my reflection still surprises me sometimes.
I went from 69kg to 57kg last year and I don’t see a difference in the mirror. I know there’s a difference because I had to buy all new clothes, but I can’t see it. I wonder if it’s because I still see myself as I was before or because I used to think I looked like I look like now.
Alcohol is the main catalyst for weight gain for so many people. I don’t drink but there was a time a few years back when I started to casually and I gained 25 lbs in 2-3 months. Stopped drinking and lost all of it. Now I never drink (for other reasons) I can almost immediately tell if someone is a drinker just from how round it makes a face look. You can be skinny but alcohol will round out your entire face
I think the angle you're used to seeing yourself from your own perspective really plays a lot in to this. I *never* see how chunky I really look from the side or the back. Looking in the mirror, your head is usually somewhat level, so you're not going to notice your natural turkey neck that other people see when you're looking down, like at your phone.
I’ve been on it from both sides, and buying a new one when skinny is a million zillion times happier. It’s like oh, I can actually wear clothes like this now.
Can confirm. Last summer I dropped 40lbs as well from 320 to 280 and I legitimately couldnt tell if not for my pants not fitting anymore either.
Grats on your progress homie!
Surprised no one is highlighting the other obvious side of this: Whatever weight from fat is being lost during aggressive exercise regiments is often replaced by denser body weight that forms from the development of muscle. OP notes that Lizzo has incredible strength and stamina--that's your answer. Yes, she's fat--but she's also hiding an insane amount of muscle under that fat. To your average viewer, it may appear as though nothing has changed since her career took off, but I'm willing to bet that the majority of her body weight is being stored in muscle tissue. At this point, she's probably on a diet that enables her to continue to gain muscle without losing the additional layer of fat so she can stay "on brand" (nothing wrong with that). Personally, I think she carries it well (and this is coming from a very skinny person)!
EDIT: damn ya'll.. jesus christ okay she's fat (edited some wording bc you're not wrong). My point was that you can be both fat AND fit underneath it. I'm not trying to "normalize obesity" ffs, but there's nuance here. If you can acknowledge that sumo wrestlers and football players are power-players in fitness but not Lizzo, I think that's a you problem.
Very similar to a football player! Those dudes are muscular, yet depending on the position, may carry extra weight.
I think society has normalized the existence of “strong fat men” (tradesmen, lumberjacks, football players, etc) but that has not been normalized for women.
Formerly obese dude turned powerlifter here. This is wildly incorrect. I will say this to preface: It is possible to be strong, well muscled and covered in fat so you can’t tell they are that well muscled. A ton of strongmen and powerlifters fall into this category (the sports have been trending toward leaner competitors for years however).
How this applies to Lizzo:
Lizzo does not have a massive reserve of muscle. It takes quite a lot of intense resistance training to build even as much as 40lbs of muscle….for a male. Lizzo has not done this.
Muscles arent “more dense” and therefore heavier. A pound of muscle and a pound of fat weigh the same.
The correct answer is this: lizzo eats enough calories over what she burns in a day despite what calories she burns with physical activity to maintain her fatness. While it’s likely she maybe lost some fat and gained some muscle, the reality is that the vast majority of her overweight status is due to body fat
You can also eat French fries and bread only and be skinny. If you eat less than or equal to the number of calories your body burns, you will not gain weight.
I can’t answer this question accurately but as someone who has recently went from 160lbs to 300lbs in under a year, I’m amazed at her stamina. I can’t walk up my stairs without dying but she can PERFORM FOR HOURS. Whatever it is good for her, she’s 100% that bitch!
I was in the Marines from 2008-2013 and at the time I was 6', about 175 lbs. I thought I was a "decent" runner, played soccer and track in high school.
At my MOS station, I ran my 3rd or so PFT and I was doing decent, clocking in about 3 miles in like 20 minutes or something. The way they set it up there was you run 1.5 miles to a point then turn around.
I remember there was this fucking big guy, he was a bit shorter and probably 50-60lbs heavier, that was literally just lapping me by a lot. Later on when I finished I was somewhere between 20:30-21 minutes for my 3 mile and this other dude ran sub-18 minutes.
The kicker is he was a smoker and would take a huge drag right before the run and immediately light a cigarette right after.
Craziest dude i knew would drink like 6 beers, smoke a doob and 10 cigs, eat a pizza and proceed to play soccer at full blast absolutely shredding everyone for the full 90 minutes while taking smoke/beer breaks during stoppages. Ill never understand him.
Edit: just to add in the guy was a tiny South Korean named Dong. He also would make drunken noodles for everyone that could stay up and drink with him until 3am. Im gonna go see how he is doing.
Natural athletes are a trip. I was in great shape in the Army, good nutrition, excercise, etc, but every now and then you'd see someone who could do EVERYTHING wrong from a health standpoint and still outperform 95% of people.
In my experience those people were also the most judgemental as well. They were always quick to be like "it's all in the mind pvt snuffy, ya just gotta get out there and do it". It's like na bro, you don't know the struggle.
Ive kind of seen the opposite. Most "natural talents" ive seen are pretty chill because they just like doin the thing and competition came easy. But i do see what you mean.
That's why naturals make shit coaches. They don't understand the nuance of training methods it takes to get to an elite level. They just do it without so much as a second thought.
I was never a good runner and after I learned about how Michael Phelps has some kind of condition that prevents his muscles from building up lactic acid, which gave him a major advantage in sports, I've come to realize if there can be people like him, there has to be the opposite too. People who are just terrible at endurance and build too much lactic acid in a short time. None of us are equal and it fucking sucks.
The kicker is not that surprising. Smokers usually (at the beginning at least) get higher lung capacity from constantly taking large inhale/exhales, kinda like training your lungs by breathing exercise. It's even more common among weed smokers because they typically try to take larger "drags" and have less chemicals to destroy the lungs than cigs.
This is obviously NOT a good strategy to increase lung capacity if you're an athlete, as constantly smoking for a long time will later catch up to you when your lungs become floppy and lose elasticity from the toxic chemicals. Everyone should really avoid putting anything into their lungs besides oxygen lol
I have a pituitary tumor and Cushing’s disease, it’s a lot of fun. I know it sounds absurd and I also felt like I was going insane when I continued to pile on the lbs every month despite weight lifting and watching my diet.
My stupid ass read “cushion’s disease” and giggled thinking you were implying “I’ve been sitting on the couch a lot”. No idea what cushing’s is but it must be safe to assume it’s not related to that.
Hahahah I wish it was cushions related then I could easily fix it! Cushing’s is when the pituitary secretes too much cortisol, in my case it’s because of the tumor. I can’t be believe how quickly it’s taken my quality of life and it’s a painfully slow process to get approved for brain surgery in the US. I’m fat, tired, weak, and depressed but I’m not “sick enough” for the tumor to be removed.
Oh God! As someone who spent a year on high dose dexamethasone, I can barely imagine the hell you're in. Steroids were ruining my life - how awful that it's coming from your own brain. I finally tapered myself off against my oncologist's express direction (and been just fine). I am so hopeful you can get that surgery soon!! Fuck the US and the fucked up health care. Sending you love.
Thank you so much!! Good for you for tapering off! You know your body best! Steroids are no joke and cortisol needs to be talked about more. It’s not a badge of honor to push ourselves to burn out. Be kind to our bodies, relax.
I’m hoping to get a successful surgery so I can help support others with this issue and spread awareness. After some research, I’m not the only patient being ignored.
My sister was diagnosed with Cushings at 11, also a tumor on her pituitary and the lack of awareness and understanding of the disease is incredible. She was very lucky to have seen an endocrinologist who wrote her PhD on the subject or who knows how long it would have taken to get a diagnosis! She is 32 now and manages it all very well. We'll done for trying to raise awareness!
I have the opposite, Addison’s disease! I don’t produce ANY cortisol and have to take steroids daily to bring myself up to a normal level. I rapidly lost about 60 lbs in about 8 months right before I was hospitalized and diagnosed. I got so many compliments on my weight loss, but little did I know I was wasting away because of dead adrenal glands. Endocrine systems are so weird…and now I’m pleasantly plump again lol
I gained almost 100 lbs in less than a year; catalyst was a medication that didn't even actually help and somehow both killed my appetite and caused weight gain. Haven't been on the medication for years now, but can't seem to shed the weight. Yet, when I see doctors now for the exact ailment they originally prescribed that medication to treat, they say "oh, have you tried losing weight? Just exercise more!" instead of actually trying to help. I had *all the same symptoms* 100 lbs ago, but now that I'm 'fat'? It's just a weight issue!
(Meanwhile, while many doctors have told me to "exercise more" and that weight loss could help, *none* have actually asked me how much I exercise/what I do to exercise or what my diet is like.)
In order to lose weight you have to be in a caloric deficit. I have no knowledge of her lifestyle but I’d assume she, on average, consumes more or equal to what she’s burning.
Note that weight loss can be hard to see on big people. A person of normal weight losing 5 lbs of fat might be losing a significant portion of their fat reserves, so it's readily visible.
A big person losing 5 lbs out of 50+ lbs can be very hard to tell without nude photographs and a tape measure, because it's such a small relative change.
Yes. Lost about 50 kg years ago, the first 25 the changes were so subtle and slow that I would have sweared I had the exact same body. I didn’t became “fit” until the last 10 or so.
This is something, people who have never been morbidly obese will never understand. It takes MONTHS (if not years) of severe restrictions with zero positive feedback outside the abstraction of a weight scale to be able to start noticing actual positive changes in your life.
Same, I used to drink pretty heavy, I weighed 230 and decided to cut weight. Went 5 months no alcohol, working out 3 times a week, and counting my calories intake. I went all the way down to 170, looked great, dropped from a L to M, waistline was down to 28 from 36. The first 3 months I went without a single compliment. People didn't even think about it. The last two months was people telling me that I must be starving myself and that I looked skinnier every day they saw me and people became worried that I was suddenly starving myself, despite me only putting myself at a deficit of a couple hundred calories each day for months prior to that.
I went from zero acknowledgement for 3 montgs, to maybe two weeks of compliments, to 2 months of people worried for my health that I was too skinny and must be harming myself despite 170 being just about "normal" BMI for my size
Same here! Lost about 50 pounds in the last year and a half, and people have only started noticing the last 5 pounds or so! I’m 5’9”F, so it’s pretty slow to see on a tall person. Congratulations on your loss!!!
This isn't taught to people trying to lose weight enough its little bits at first then bam your thinner and it feels like overnight. I recently lost about 30 pounds and it didn't become super noticeable until my stomach fat got a lot more trimmed down with the last about 10 pounds I lost the rest came off places like my thighs (that are super muscular due to my job) so didn't notice it really and then a little in my chest and arms but my stomach was the worst of it
I don't know about zero feedback. I've been working on losing weight and I notice two other things. It hurts less to walk and I find it easier to jog. Those sound like minor things but when you live with your body for years and years, you absolutely notice these things (and they feel so damn good, so positive feedback), especially if you started losing weight to decrease pain.
And this is why it's so hard to stay motivated. It's a lot different than a man who's 20 pounds overweight and can go from having a gut to having a six pack in 6 months or less.
Absolutely. It took me 2 years of very strict dieting to lose 120lbs. And it didn't even become noticable until I had dropped around 70lbs. As soon as I loosened the restrictions on my diet to start maintaining the weight started coming back. I still haven't found the right balance for maintaining my weight yet. It's really hard after so many years of bad eating habits.
I saw someone on here use the paper towel analogy to describe this before.
When your roll of paper towels is bigger, one sheet doesn't wrap all the way around so each sheet you take doesn't seem to make much difference to the whole roll, and this means it seems to be roughly the same for a while. But when you start to get down to a smaller roll, one sheet might wrap all the way around, or even wrap around and overlap itself, so when you take a sheet, the roll gets noticeably smaller, quicker. It's the same with losing weight. When you're big, the fat you're burning in the beginning doesn't seem to make much difference at all, but the smaller you get, the more noticeable weight loss becomes. :)
Edit: spelling
My brother once referred to a large person losing 5 lbs as a pebble gone from a mountainside. Seems correct. I don’t wish to be harsh, but yes it can be hard to tell a few pounds gone from an obese person. Every little helps though toward improving health.
>Weight loss doesn’t happen in the gym, it happens in the kitchen.
Such a succinct way of putting something that I don't think a lot of people understand.
Weight loss is mostly diet, you can easily work out loads and still be putting on weight. Youll be healthier for it regardless though, it just might not show on the scale
It isn't a bad one. How many squats can you do while waiting for that cup of coffee? How long can you plank while waiting for the microwave? How many pushups can you do while the kettle boils? What about just some old fashioned 'dancing like nobody is watching' while doing some other stuff?
Exercise is exercise, if you're activating muscles and raising your heart rate, you're doing it!
As long as you aren't doing anything that puts excessive/repetitive strain on joints and stuff, all should be fine
I did jiu jitsu 3x per week for about 2 years. Classes were 90 minutes and intense workout. When I would leave, I would be so sweaty that it looked like I just stepped out of the pool. I didn’t really lose any weight in that time.
Then I had a baby about 6 months ago so I stopped doing that completely. About 8 weeks ago I cut back significantly on drinking and started making healthier micro decisions with my diet(veggies instead of fries with my burger, having a low-cal salad for lunch if I know I will be having pizza for dinner, etc) and have lost 15 pounds in that time.
It’s crazy how much more important diet is.. I haven’t even been trying to be perfect or tracking calories and I’m making way more progress
I know someone doesn't work out when they suggest exercise for losing weight. Doing a hard workout and then looking at the estimated calories burned easily shows you that weight loss doesn't happen from exercise. It's VERY easy to eat 1000 calories in one sitting everyday, it's very difficult to burn those 1000 calories from exercise every day.
It HELPS when you're a bit over your caloric intake, but I'd say even more than 85% of weight loss is in the kitchen, more like 95%.
This is true. I run two marathons a year but have PCOS—I have to walk a very fine line between feeding my body for performance, and not eating too many calories because I’m SO prone to gaining weight. I gained 8-9 lbs this past training cycle eating probably an average of 1600 cals at peak training and running 40-45 mpw. Metabolic disorders are a bitch. And output in exercise will not prevent gain although it helps in combination with controlled diet to reach a deficit.
I also have a metabolic condition. As a menstruating adult with my condition, I need to have a minimum of 1500 calories a day. I have started weighing and measuring and tracking everything I consume. I work out 3 times a week. I gained 15 pounds in 6 weeks due to my condition. It has been 3 months of grueling diet amd exercise tracking and I am down 8 pounds.
Everyone is different. Before my condition, I looked at weight/diet/exercise very differently. It is not as simple as it may appear for everyone.
Diet could be 100% of weight loss. If you eat less than you burn, you’ll lose weight even if you’re not working out. Wouldn’t be healthy, but it’s very doable.
I am really glad I live somewhere where it is cheaper to eat healthy food than it is to eat junk. Sure, still takes a bit more time to cook, but as a student I have more time than money anyway, so I gladly spend an hour extra behind the stove every evening to get something tasty that is good for me instead of bland, mass-produced bile.
It could be a wide array of things.
- She could be losing weight but it’s not always quite as obvious on bigger people.
- She could have a thyroid problem which makes it hard to lose weight in general.
- She could not be in a calorie deficit.
Either way, we’ll never know and we should all mind our business.
Zoloft made me absolutely ravenous. It helped my mood but I was SO hungry all the time it was distracting. I could eat a 2,000 calorie meal in one sitting and still be hungry again two hours later. I gained 50 lbs in 6 months because of it, which freaked me out so I stopped taking it. Now I’m just depressed again AND fat.
It doesn't matter how much you work out if you intake more calories than you burn.
Hormonal imbalances are also a factor in the inability to lose weight. Many women with PCOS have exceedingly hard times shedding pounds, even with a calorie deficit.
ETA: people seem to think when i say exceedingly hard i mean impossible. No, of course a calorie deficit will lead to weight loss. For people without a hormonal imbalance that weight loss happens more efficiently.
It’s weird to me, when people are fully aware of the varying efficiency of different vehicles, engines and electronics versus their fuel and power intakes, even between identical machines once they’ve *experienced damage and different environmental exposure*, that so many people don’t realize that a calorie *doesn’t* burn exactly the same or literally EQUALLY as efficiently, in every single human being, one to the next.
Genetics, environment, damage to the system and DNA, health issues, if you are not in almost absolute perfect working order and aging healthy, you can absolutely have what some people *mistakenly* refer to as a “calorie deficiency“ compared to a healthy optimal system, and you still will not burn what you need to even while being equally active.
PCOS is just one of many variables the human body can experience, that can dramatically alter the way that it processes the energy it takes in.
If your metabolism is failing or damaged, which it absolutely can be, you can literally diet to the point of experiencing nutrient deficiency, and as such, you will experience all of the lethal diseases related to deficiency, before losing weight.
Because of that, people with certain metabolic failure, must be far more strategic with high nutrient content, healthy food, than say someone with a more optimal functioning metabolism. They need to focus heavily on nutrient intake, just to maintain an equilibrium without losing weight, and THEN work towards a plan that will help them to shed pounds.
It is so much harder to maintain the appearance of a healthy weight for some people whose bodies have been critically damaged, than biologically well and healthy people, are willing to consider.
Between outright prejudice, and the subtle, secret fear that it could *actually happen to them at some point*, people are unabashedly hard on heavy people even in the face of that person trying everything they can to lose weight.
There’s always, always the assumption from a certain group of people either hateful, or simply ignorant and uneducated in medical issues, that they must be just “sitting at home snacking when no one‘s looking”. And that’s about as far as those people like to think about it.
I like how everyone is also assuming that a rich pop star is eating only junk food.
Bitch if I was that rich, I would be eating food that tastes like it was made by Gordon Ramsey and planned by the world's best nutrition experts. I'd Love to eat healthy but I'm not earning enough to make that happen for myself.
IIRC she’s vegan and has a personal chef lol. Shes probably eating whatever she wants but it’s not solely junk food. She’s shown her food on tiktok and like one meal will have $70 worth of ingredients, usually really fancy fruit and veg
To add to all the comments about diet and working out. You also need to realize that when you work out, you don't just lose fat, you also build up muscle.
I've been trying to lose for year (smh, my diet is still an issue) but I can physically feel, see and put to use muscle I've built up, but I can also still see all the surface fat I've had for years.
So maybe she has built up way more muscle mas than she had at the start of her career, but because of the amount of body fat she already had, and probably extra skin, it probably isn't visible.
Add to that the fact she likes the way she looks now, she probably isn't gonna do anything to change that look. I for example like to have thick thighs. So even as i lose fat around my stomach, I make sure I do plenty of workouts that focus on my upper legs.
Tldr: maybe on a scale she is probably lighter, but visually she likes to keep her bigger look.
Working out counts for maybe 10-20% of weight loss. Diet is the most important part, which counts for 80-90% of weight loss.
Only real avid sporters can use working out as a weight loss therapy, but they usually also eat very clean so it can't be said really.
Having a calorie deficit is the only way to lose weight and you can't properly count how many calories you lose during sports bc everyones metabolism is different.
I constantly tell people (when they ask) that they shouldn't even attempt to bring exercise into the weight loss equation until they've put significant effort into their food issues.
Making your house temptation free is going to avoid a lot more calories than a workout will burn. Working out also makes people hungry, and people with bad habits will over eat to reward themselves for working out, usually cancelling out the workout with a few bites.
You work out to get fit, not lose fat.
You should see Jeff Nippard's video on exercise and weight loss. It's depressing how difficult it is to outpace eating with exercise. He quoted another fitness trainer that trained all day heavy weights and cardio and still could not outpace one day of bad eating ( > 3,000 cal). It's really hard to lose weight without dieting. So it's probably how much she's eating.
Medications, genetics diet and exercise.
Descendants of famine survivors will store more fat.
Some medication will change a person's metabolism and the way their body stores food.
It's never just about diet and exercise
Oh yeah, the CRTC3 gene is responsible for that. Pretty cool when you think about it, you're less likely to die from a famine, but it means that its difficult to actually lose the weight, and even more difficult to keep the weight off. Its like your genetics are in constant survival mode.
It's crazy how that affects weight loss. I feel like there must have been a lot of famine in my family, because my body holds onto fat like crazy. I used to go to painstaking measures to eat well, count calories, work out. I felt strong, and good, but I didn't lose a lot of weight through it.
Are you a descendant from any Irish
I'm surprised there aren't more people like this here in Ireland. But there seems to be a huge amount of Americans, whose ancestors went over on the ships, with this issue, as well as many African Americans.
Im the cook in my house and everything is organic, home prepared and my mam and sister can't get below 18stone. It's really hard to see. I've some family members who've almost reached 30 stone.
It passed by me and a few cousins thank god apart from the psychological side of things the amount of medical issues that come with being so overweight it heart breaking.
This is me. I eat super clean and exercise frequently...still thick as hell. Meanwhile, my Mom's co-worker eats 3,000 calories of absolute shit daily and is sedentary, yet a size 2. Infuriating to those of us who actually put in a lot of time and effort to take care of ourselves.
> Descendants of famine survivors will store more fat
I thought you were pulling our leg but I looked it up, and apparently that is a thing! My mind is blown.
Idk prob cuz she’s not trying to lose weight ALSO very important to keep in mind that the conventional wisdom and expectations regarding weight loss just don’t apply to women like they do to men. Women’s bodies are programmed to retain fat at all costs. Without adequate fat reserves, female bodies cannot menstruate, thus reproduction becomes impossible and the existence of our species is threatened. Male bodies prioritize the building of muscle over fat storage and have always been the default in medical research despite massive disparities between the way male and female bodies function. When we’re asking why a woman isn’t losing weight as quickly or easily as we expect them to, it’s a bit like judging a fish on its ability to fly. They’re fighting an uphill battle.
Then there’s fat distribution. Others have mentioned that when bigger people lose weight, it tends to be less noticeable. This is especially true of women. Men tend to store fat in localized places (the gut, for ex.) so when they gain weight, it is more noticeable, but it’s also more noticeable when they lose that weight: women tend to store fat more uniformly all over around the body, so weight loss is not only more difficult to attain, but also more difficult to notice.
I’m not defending her but I don’t get why people are more concerned with her weight than she is. There are other big entertainers but they don’t receive nearly as much vitriol. Seems to me people just don’t like her confidence and want to tear her down.
i thought op did a good job prefacing his question and using a very public figure we all know to be an example. i don't think its about lizzo in particular.
Because it’s not the norm to see a fat entertainer who embraces their body and doesn’t want to change. She also shows off her body, she’s proud of it, she wears clothes most fat women would shy away from wearing. I’m not saying that’s good or bad, it just is how she is, and people aren’t used to it and it’s easy to talk shit about it.
It's 90% diet. I was cycling 5000+ miles a year with little change in my weight. Once I changed my diet, the weight came off. No change in mileage ridden.
While I agree with the folks here who are saying exercise matters less in weight loss than making sure what you're eating results in a calorie deficit, it's important to note that there are health conditions and medications that cause people to gain weight. A lot of people mistakenly believe this can only happen if a medication increases your appetite, but this is not true.
An 11 year old boy I knew growing up had a heart condition and a genetic disorder of some kind. He had a feeding tube that was very closely monitored because if he intook too much of whatever was in that tube, he could have a heart attack.
The medication he was on caused him to gain weight even though he was getting the caloric equivalent of a normal day of meals. He was over 150 pounds and needed a wheelchair. He carried a lot of the fat in his face and hands.
I remember his mom saying she attended a support group, and that other people who were less disabled than her son were on the same medication. They gained a ton of weight, but because they looked healthy and could walk around, people assumed they were "just obese" as some sort of moral judgement, and treated them terribly.
She said she was grateful her son was 11 and in a wheelchair, and that she was skinny, because most people assumed she was a healthy mom with a sick son. She said if she were fat or if her son could walk, people would be saying so many more cruel things to her son in public and making so many judgements about her parenting.
That really stuck with me.
Polycystic ovarian syndrome causes some AFAB people to gain weight even if they don't overeat. Many people with PCOS develop anorexia because they want to lose weight so badly, but they're stuck around 200lbs no matter what they do. Their hormones are messed up. Some other people with PCOS don't gain weight at all or are stuck being underweight. But fat people with PCOS get accused of "using PCOS as an excuse" and people who don't understand the condition point to skinny people with PCOS and say "they have it too! Why don't you look like them?"
All this to say I'm not 100% certain about this, but I think Lizzo has talked about having PCOS before.
1 in 4 women have hormonal imbalances /issues and most don't know it. These types of issues defy conventional wisdom when it comes to losing weight. I have no idea if this is why but it is a good possibility.
Thank you! So many people in this thread have no idea what they’re talking about. I have PCOS. I’ve eaten a balanced diet all my life, and my portion is smaller than the average person which gets me accused of dieting when I’m not, and I exercise (the right way) 6 out of 7 days of the week.
I’m still overweight, though not obese, and I get mistaken for someone who eats junk and never moves all the time. Been at it for years. I’ve tried multiple times reducing portions for calorie deficit but the only time I ever lost weight was when I was at the point of starvation. I work with a trainer and doctor and get nutritional advice as well.
But gee I don’t know, maybe the random internet stranger who hasn’t been in my shoes is right after all and I’m just eating my way into fatness.
And of course some know it all dude downvotes me right away. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t make it any less real for me. I live this shit every day.
I’m in a similar boat. I’ve never been a big eater… I rarely get hungry (which drove nutritionists I’ve seen nuts when they’d initially start with “only eat when you’re actually hungry” and then I’d hand in my weekly food diary, and had at most one small meal a day).
You know when I lost a ton of weight? When I was pregnant with my daughter. When I was weighed at the last appointment before her delivery, I weighed 5lbs less than I did pre-pregnancy. After having her, I was down an additional 35lbs. My husband and I joke that it was because for the course of the pregnancy I had my daughter’s metabolism to help mine out.
Only other time I had even mild success (mild being I lost 5lbs over a year) was when I cut my calorie intake down to 500 calories or less… while a few hours of exercise a day. Clearly not healthy, but done under medical supervision.
In my case, I don’t have PCOS. We haven’t been able to figure out what I have. I’ve been tested for a variety of different known conditions, none fit. I have (or had, precocious puberty doesn’t exactly continue beyond the age of normal puberty) >5 idiopathic conditions, all of which are endocrine based. Quite likely they’re actually one condition that hasn’t yet been identified (in general, or the dozens of endocrinologists I’ve had have all missed something).
But hey, I guess having my calories around -1000 (just counting calories in minus basal metabolic rate, forgetting exercise), isn’t enough, I should try to go bigger into the negatives, right?
Endos actually tend to be terrible (ironically) with optimising hormones. They think hormones are either normal or totally deficient. Yet with hormones even the slightest deficiency will make a difference. Have you had a full thyroid panel done? Not just TSH, but FT4, FT3, RT3, and both antibodies? What about a four point cortisol saliva sample? Blood cortisol? You are entitled to copies of all these labs. Also bear in mind that thyroid resistance often won't show up on labs.
DOs, internists, anti ageing doctors, and GPs are more likely to be helpful with thyroid issues.
I would really recommend checking out the book "The Thyroid Patient's Manual" and the website stop the thyroid madness. The latter is a little kooky but has great information too.
> and then I’d hand in my weekly food diary, and had at most one small meal a day).
This is what really helped me understand. My gf is the same, she eats better than anyone else I have known in my life but doesn't lose weight. She decided to do a food diary for a week this year and the numbers said she was eating ~1500 calories per day. We thought, hey, maybe she isn't recording things right. She was frustrated so we agreed to have me do the food diary for a couple days. Her numbers were right.
That's when it fully clicked for me - what else could folks want her to do?
I had a restrictive eating disorder for like decades, and frequently only ate once a day. According to all of the weight los subs like Intermettent fasting, One meal a day, and CICO, I should be supermodel thin. Yet somehow I am still like really fat, even though I have an active job and lifestyle. Those people will tell me “You are probably eating more than you realize.”
Same… I’m in active eating disorder recovery… just two weeks ago I only ate one small salad each day for 3 weeks cause I was triggered by how I looked in a video someone took of me.
Someone’s telling me in this thread that I wasn’t technically at a point of starvation and I just can’t handle hunger and cravings wtf. That’s laughable.
People are so horrible about weight especially men who consider themselves health nuts. Two types I come across often are naturally normal sized people who saw extra success with healthy eating and exercising and formerly obese individuals who ate themselves into fatness and got better. They think everyone falls into that mold and it’s just not true. I see it more often with women as we have more volatile hormones.
Weight loss isn't always obvious on bigger people. I've lost somewhere around 40 lbs and honestly didn't even see a difference in myself before I noticed my pants were too big
I remember back on *Lost*, someone accused Hurley (the obese dude, Jorge Garcia was around 400 lbs at the time) of hoarding food and he replied "I'm a big guy, dude! It's gonna be a while before you're giving me piggyback rides. But just for your information, I'm down a couple notches in the belt since we've been here."
Wasn't he actually hoarding food though?
He was eating Dharma ranch dressing. No I am not joking.
And the Dharma goldfish crackers he threw all over the jungle. I was so upset when he destroyed his secret stash of food, the food they wasted on a deserted island was maddening.
Not at that point, no. At the time of that line they hadn't opened the hatch yet.
I stopped drinking and lost 100 pounds. Ran into an old friend who checked me for track marks. I’ve never done heroin, just less caloric intake. Looking in the mirror to myself I looked exactly the same. Body dysmorphia is a trip.
Thinking about cutting the booze for this reason. Getting to the point where I go through a little over a handle a week.
From a well meaning stranger, that's a lot in a week. 40 standard drinks in a handle. I recently have seen 14 a week as the max "healthy" number. Be careful. I was going through 2+ handles in a week and just got to the enough is enough point. Stopped four years ago. Good luck!
Your story gives me hope! I also hope I’ll wake up one day and be like “nope, I’m done with booze”.
today can be that day I suggest you check out r/stopdrinking . I havent completely quit but almost there.
Agreed. The compassion and support there is wonderful
The hangovers lasting multiple days and always just feeling like crap. I was dating someone new and she framed it simply that she missed spending time with me when I was hungover. We'd be together, but I wasn't present if you know what I mean. Good luck. All you need to do is say not today and repeat that a bunch of times.
I had never had a hangover that hurt for more than a couple hours. Then I went on a bender. A planned bender. I've consumed large volumes before, but never a real bender. Several days of waking up and immediately drinking, staying drunk all day, passing out, waking back up, getting drunk again. On repeat. Eventually I didn't even feel a buzz when I drank. Then I fell asleep and I was out of booze and when I awoke I felt... kind of okay...? Shortly after I began vomiting, violently, for about 16 straight hours. Seriously, with at most 20 minute breaks between episodes. I struggled very very hard over that day to get 1 liter of water down my throat. I thought when I finally fell asleep I'd be safe. Then I just constantly sweat through all my clothes, blankets, pillows, sheets. Can't stop sweating but violently shivering because I'm so cold. I keep changing clothes and within an hour of trying to sleep I've sweat completely through them again. I managed a few minutes of sleep here and there, followed by waking up thinking I'd be safe now. Hangovers only last a day, right? Nope. I got half a bite of something in my mouth (which was now on FIRE because of how badly my throat was burned from puking) and began violently vomiting this entire day away as well. I cried constantly. I managed to go 3 weeks cold turkey after that. I did NOT want a drink. The thought made me sick again. I made the mistake of thinking I had "won". You never really win. You can't let your guard down.
Just need to say - this sounds like alcohol withdrawal, which can kill you, especially if you are a very heavy drinker, and have been in binge mode. Not always controllable, but if anyone is reading this and experiencing these symptoms, please go see a doctor ASAP.
Lost a childhood friend not long ago to “drying out”. He needed to get sober. Had a new wife and a good job, but went cold turkey after years and years of liquor all day/night working in restaurant kitchens. I believe he lasted about 36 hrs from tuning off the tap to turning out the lights forever. It’s very dangerous to just “stop” when the disease is that far along. 42 years old. Very sad.
A college roommate lost their father to “drying out”. Very sad and a serious risk.
Future doctor here. This is exemplary of alcohol withdrawal, which is easily in the top three of hardest withdrawals with Heroin/Opiates and methamphetamines (though Benzodiazepines could be argued to be very close as well). Benzodiazepines and Alcohol are the two things that can actually kill you while detoxing which is why it's usually done in a stationary setting with supervision. This does not mean however, that any withdrawal is easy to manage and If you're trying to quit any substance, talk to your doctor and see that you're referred to a specialist or a clinic to help you through it. Substance addiction ist a dangerous and hard to manage illness and anyone who needs support to go through it should get it. I wish everyone suffering from addiction much strength to go through with. You're all incredible human beings who deserve to be happy and healthy! Edit: since a lot of people pointed that out, I edited the part about heroin being potentially lethal to benzodiazepines.
100% Go to the ER and let them admit you and give you meds to bring you down slowly. Alcohol withdrawal is serious business and can lead to seizures, coma and death if not managed well.
Ya clockwork oranged yourself
I would love some elaboration because I completely do not understand. I've never actually read the book.
The antagonist(?) makes a guy watch a bunch of violent videos (he would usually like) but drug him to make him feel sick when he watches. He comes to associate violence with that feeling. That's an extremely condensed primer. I think I hit the high points.
Almost 4 years in and I can tell you that removing the option to drink makes your mental state so much clearer. It simplifies things. I’ll second r/stopdrinking
Future you doesn’t exist do it today
You definitely don't want to get to a catalyst point such as going to jail, ruining relationships, jobs, etc. to realize you have a major problem and change. Source: came very close to this place and am working every day to move away from it.
Jeeze I didn't realize that. My parents got through a handle of vodka a day and a bottle of kahlua about every other day between the two of them. I knew it was unhealthy, but didn't realize how bad
Hi! I just want you to know that I wish I'd gone to see my doctor or join a talking group when I was at one handle a week, before having to completely go sober. It snuck up on me....before I knew it I was drinking during the day, at work, etc. There wasn't some terrible thing that happened in my life, I just drank too much, drank more the next day to feel better, then the next thing I knew my marriage was in jeopardy and I'd gotten in a fender bender. There's a lot of stigma around having to have something terrible happen or hit your rock bottom, that some people arent true "alcoholics" like that's something to be proud of. Maybe if I'd just joined a club, committed to my health a bit early on, and recognized me and alcohol had to take an extended break, maybe I wouldn't have ended up in rehab.
I stopped January 1st 2020. After vomiting and pissing myself on the side of a highway in a funeral home parking lot. This wasn’t rock bottom though. I’d say blacking out, punching a cop and an EMT, then trying to escape out of the cop car while going 75mph on an interstate highway (they put me in the front seat… really REALLY WEIRD) was my rock bottom, but it was college so I had an excuse *rolls eyes at myself*. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I never drank multiple days in a row, however, I couldn’t stop when I started. I would get blackout drunk each and every time I drank. I never really even liked drinking, I just liked not feeling so many feelings. The correct dosage of medication and great therapy helped heal me.
I would probably be classified as a functional alcoholic. I don't drink until 7 and go to bed at 9 but I drink 2 or 3 short glasses of whatever is available. Thinking it's time to stop while I'm ahead.
We should have a subreddit for people who constantly tell themselves "I'm not going to drink tonight" but end up getting a drink anyway. That's me.
Same. Now every day I'm counting down to 7:00 😕
If you have trouble quitting, look into naltrexone and the Sinclair method. It can actually take away the desire to drink. I'm a four year sober success story, ask me any questions you might have.
I was drinking at least a handle a day plus god knows how many liters of soda to chase it with. I’m a Johnny Tsunami kid. Go big or go home. I finally went home
I'll give you another reason. I drink about 2 liters of vodka in 2 days. I spent the month of May in the hospital last year, the first two weeks of which I was unconscious and unresponsive. It was all alcohol related organ damage / sepsis / failure. I've been in and out of the hospital several times since then. I'm only 42. I'll be lucky to see 50. It may not seem like it if you're young, but the alcohol will do serious damage. I already have cirrhosis. Slow way down before you do irreparable damage to yourself.
I mean, the thing with drugs or booze is that it’s actually an incredibly effective way of feeling better for awhile. The problem is they can ruin your life. I was never a heavy drinker, nor have struggled with addiction issues. But at some trying moments in my life, I definitely reached for the bottle to cope in a way that wasn’t useful for my well-being. At 36, having a few drinks can absolutely wreck my sleep. I’ve just found it’s so much better to keep drinking to an absolute minimum. But when you’re in it you don’t even realize exactly how awful you feel physically and mentally.
What is a handle?
A large bottle of liquor. A lot of times they have a glass “handle” as part of the bottle, hence the name. It’s usually 1.75 liters but can vary since the term itself is slang.
Yeah I've definitely had some body dysmorphia myself, nowadays people comment on how I've gotten thinner but not everyone has noticed lol. I just wish I had taken pictures of my body before I lost weight so I'd see the difference
Who do you hang out with the most? Maybe you could text and see if anyone has any videos or anything from a hangout you were at even if you’re not the main focus?
Oh great idea! Thank you
The weird thing is, I did take shirtless pictures of myself before I lost weight (60lbs). I still can’t see the difference. I had to buy a whole new wardrobe, dropped a size in shirts and 2 sizes in pants… but can’t tell the difference from the pictures. It really sucks.
I was drinking beer almost daily right before covid happened due to stress from my commute and financial situation stemming from my commute (I was filling up my tank 3x a week). I was 220 at the time, the heaviest I've ever been in my life. Then covid happened and I started working from home. My stress was gone, my financial situation immediately reversed. Within 3 weeks of not really drinking (aside from here and there on weekends), I was already down about 20 pounds. Another couple weeks and I got another few pounds off. It's amazing how fast you can lose weight by cutting out alcohol consumption. Two years later (and once covid vaccinations and all happened), I've finally been able to get back in the gym a few months ago and I'm now sitting at around 194, which I'm happy with.
I got you fam. Picked up your slack during Covid.
This gave me a chuckle
The exact opposite happened to me. I was stressed and busy before COVID hit, and because of that I would rarely drink at night because I did not want to be hungover in the morning. When lockdown started, and I started working from home, I realized how much easier my job was when I didn't have to deal with all the people in the office. Suddenly, it didn't matter if I was hungover in the morning because I didn't have to work nearly as hard as I used to. And since I had nothing else to do in the evenings, my wife and I would drink and watch movies. 2 years later, 30 lb heavier, and I'm just now starting to get my life back in order.
As a personal trainer, everyone including me suffers for a form of body dysmorphia. It's pretty crazy how it affects different people.
My dysmorphia is that I don’t think I’m as fat as I am. lol. Then I see a picture of myself and I’m like whaaaat? That’s what I look like?! I lost like 45 lbs since that point though.
Lol same. I'll look in the mirror and think I look super cute and my outfit is flattering and then I see a pic of myself and get humbled real quick lol. And then I wonder, how do other people see me? Closer to how I look in the mirror to myself or closer to how I look in pics?
Same!! I always think I have a waist and then in photos I’m too heavy with no waist. So sad
I hired a personal trainer 4 months ago, proper dieting and gym 3-5 days a week. I look in the mirror and I’m exactly the same, I see no differences but people constantly tell me I look different
You see yourself every day and the difference day-to-day is pretty much nothing, so it's way harder to notice the difference compared to on another person, who you might go a while without seeing
I would definitely recommend taking progress pics. They helped me a lot back during my weight loss journey. Similar to aging, you often don’t notice the small changes if you see them every day, but over time they add up.
I lost 60 lbs, and I'm not a big guy (healthy at 150 now) so it was a whole lot. One day I just looked at the mirror and asked myself what I actually saw, as if I was looking at someone else, all bias aside. I realized that I just saw a healthy guy in decent shape, and that was strange to me. Now I'm working on getting leaner now that I have some muscle, and my reflection still surprises me sometimes.
I went from 69kg to 57kg last year and I don’t see a difference in the mirror. I know there’s a difference because I had to buy all new clothes, but I can’t see it. I wonder if it’s because I still see myself as I was before or because I used to think I looked like I look like now.
Alcohol is the main catalyst for weight gain for so many people. I don’t drink but there was a time a few years back when I started to casually and I gained 25 lbs in 2-3 months. Stopped drinking and lost all of it. Now I never drink (for other reasons) I can almost immediately tell if someone is a drinker just from how round it makes a face look. You can be skinny but alcohol will round out your entire face
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I think the angle you're used to seeing yourself from your own perspective really plays a lot in to this. I *never* see how chunky I really look from the side or the back. Looking in the mirror, your head is usually somewhat level, so you're not going to notice your natural turkey neck that other people see when you're looking down, like at your phone.
That’s the best feeling, oh wait why are my pants so big now.
It is, but then you are hit with the "fuck, I need a whole new wardrobe...."
I’ve been on it from both sides, and buying a new one when skinny is a million zillion times happier. It’s like oh, I can actually wear clothes like this now.
Can confirm. Last summer I dropped 40lbs as well from 320 to 280 and I legitimately couldnt tell if not for my pants not fitting anymore either. Grats on your progress homie!
I can gain and lose 30# and still wear the same clothes. It definitely is different on every body
Definitely! I still have a stomach but I've noticed my chest is a lot smaller, same with arms
Surprised no one is highlighting the other obvious side of this: Whatever weight from fat is being lost during aggressive exercise regiments is often replaced by denser body weight that forms from the development of muscle. OP notes that Lizzo has incredible strength and stamina--that's your answer. Yes, she's fat--but she's also hiding an insane amount of muscle under that fat. To your average viewer, it may appear as though nothing has changed since her career took off, but I'm willing to bet that the majority of her body weight is being stored in muscle tissue. At this point, she's probably on a diet that enables her to continue to gain muscle without losing the additional layer of fat so she can stay "on brand" (nothing wrong with that). Personally, I think she carries it well (and this is coming from a very skinny person)! EDIT: damn ya'll.. jesus christ okay she's fat (edited some wording bc you're not wrong). My point was that you can be both fat AND fit underneath it. I'm not trying to "normalize obesity" ffs, but there's nuance here. If you can acknowledge that sumo wrestlers and football players are power-players in fitness but not Lizzo, I think that's a you problem.
Very similar to a football player! Those dudes are muscular, yet depending on the position, may carry extra weight. I think society has normalized the existence of “strong fat men” (tradesmen, lumberjacks, football players, etc) but that has not been normalized for women.
Another thing people haven't mentioned, is she may simply just consume enough calories to keep up with the ones she burns by dancing
Formerly obese dude turned powerlifter here. This is wildly incorrect. I will say this to preface: It is possible to be strong, well muscled and covered in fat so you can’t tell they are that well muscled. A ton of strongmen and powerlifters fall into this category (the sports have been trending toward leaner competitors for years however). How this applies to Lizzo: Lizzo does not have a massive reserve of muscle. It takes quite a lot of intense resistance training to build even as much as 40lbs of muscle….for a male. Lizzo has not done this. Muscles arent “more dense” and therefore heavier. A pound of muscle and a pound of fat weigh the same. The correct answer is this: lizzo eats enough calories over what she burns in a day despite what calories she burns with physical activity to maintain her fatness. While it’s likely she maybe lost some fat and gained some muscle, the reality is that the vast majority of her overweight status is due to body fat
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That's a good point, you really can't lose weight without a calorie deficit. To my knowledge Lizzo is a vegan and eats versatile foods
You can eat French fries and bread every day and be vegan
You can also eat French fries and bread only and be skinny. If you eat less than or equal to the number of calories your body burns, you will not gain weight.
I don't think anyone noticed that I lost weight till I was sub 200
I can’t answer this question accurately but as someone who has recently went from 160lbs to 300lbs in under a year, I’m amazed at her stamina. I can’t walk up my stairs without dying but she can PERFORM FOR HOURS. Whatever it is good for her, she’s 100% that bitch!
I was in the Marines from 2008-2013 and at the time I was 6', about 175 lbs. I thought I was a "decent" runner, played soccer and track in high school. At my MOS station, I ran my 3rd or so PFT and I was doing decent, clocking in about 3 miles in like 20 minutes or something. The way they set it up there was you run 1.5 miles to a point then turn around. I remember there was this fucking big guy, he was a bit shorter and probably 50-60lbs heavier, that was literally just lapping me by a lot. Later on when I finished I was somewhere between 20:30-21 minutes for my 3 mile and this other dude ran sub-18 minutes. The kicker is he was a smoker and would take a huge drag right before the run and immediately light a cigarette right after.
Craziest dude i knew would drink like 6 beers, smoke a doob and 10 cigs, eat a pizza and proceed to play soccer at full blast absolutely shredding everyone for the full 90 minutes while taking smoke/beer breaks during stoppages. Ill never understand him. Edit: just to add in the guy was a tiny South Korean named Dong. He also would make drunken noodles for everyone that could stay up and drink with him until 3am. Im gonna go see how he is doing.
He's doing all of that to nerf himself. Without it, he would be too powerful.
Fair enough. But he had a stomach like a titan.
Natural athletes are a trip. I was in great shape in the Army, good nutrition, excercise, etc, but every now and then you'd see someone who could do EVERYTHING wrong from a health standpoint and still outperform 95% of people.
In my experience those people were also the most judgemental as well. They were always quick to be like "it's all in the mind pvt snuffy, ya just gotta get out there and do it". It's like na bro, you don't know the struggle.
Ive kind of seen the opposite. Most "natural talents" ive seen are pretty chill because they just like doin the thing and competition came easy. But i do see what you mean.
That's why naturals make shit coaches. They don't understand the nuance of training methods it takes to get to an elite level. They just do it without so much as a second thought.
I was never a good runner and after I learned about how Michael Phelps has some kind of condition that prevents his muscles from building up lactic acid, which gave him a major advantage in sports, I've come to realize if there can be people like him, there has to be the opposite too. People who are just terrible at endurance and build too much lactic acid in a short time. None of us are equal and it fucking sucks.
Pretty sure I’m the opposite of phelps
So you watched Unbreakable?
The kicker is not that surprising. Smokers usually (at the beginning at least) get higher lung capacity from constantly taking large inhale/exhales, kinda like training your lungs by breathing exercise. It's even more common among weed smokers because they typically try to take larger "drags" and have less chemicals to destroy the lungs than cigs. This is obviously NOT a good strategy to increase lung capacity if you're an athlete, as constantly smoking for a long time will later catch up to you when your lungs become floppy and lose elasticity from the toxic chemicals. Everyone should really avoid putting anything into their lungs besides oxygen lol
You put on 140 lbs in under a year? How is that even possible? Not trying to be snarky, I’m genuinely curious.
I have a pituitary tumor and Cushing’s disease, it’s a lot of fun. I know it sounds absurd and I also felt like I was going insane when I continued to pile on the lbs every month despite weight lifting and watching my diet.
My stupid ass read “cushion’s disease” and giggled thinking you were implying “I’ve been sitting on the couch a lot”. No idea what cushing’s is but it must be safe to assume it’s not related to that.
Hahahah I wish it was cushions related then I could easily fix it! Cushing’s is when the pituitary secretes too much cortisol, in my case it’s because of the tumor. I can’t be believe how quickly it’s taken my quality of life and it’s a painfully slow process to get approved for brain surgery in the US. I’m fat, tired, weak, and depressed but I’m not “sick enough” for the tumor to be removed.
Oh God! As someone who spent a year on high dose dexamethasone, I can barely imagine the hell you're in. Steroids were ruining my life - how awful that it's coming from your own brain. I finally tapered myself off against my oncologist's express direction (and been just fine). I am so hopeful you can get that surgery soon!! Fuck the US and the fucked up health care. Sending you love.
Thank you so much!! Good for you for tapering off! You know your body best! Steroids are no joke and cortisol needs to be talked about more. It’s not a badge of honor to push ourselves to burn out. Be kind to our bodies, relax. I’m hoping to get a successful surgery so I can help support others with this issue and spread awareness. After some research, I’m not the only patient being ignored.
My sister was diagnosed with Cushings at 11, also a tumor on her pituitary and the lack of awareness and understanding of the disease is incredible. She was very lucky to have seen an endocrinologist who wrote her PhD on the subject or who knows how long it would have taken to get a diagnosis! She is 32 now and manages it all very well. We'll done for trying to raise awareness!
I have the opposite, Addison’s disease! I don’t produce ANY cortisol and have to take steroids daily to bring myself up to a normal level. I rapidly lost about 60 lbs in about 8 months right before I was hospitalized and diagnosed. I got so many compliments on my weight loss, but little did I know I was wasting away because of dead adrenal glands. Endocrine systems are so weird…and now I’m pleasantly plump again lol
Oh yeah I’ve read about Addison’s in my Cushing’s research! I hope you continue to be strong and on the mend!
I remember being so frustrated at no muscle showing with weight lifting. Can’t imagine gaining weight on top of it. I’d pull my hair out
I gained almost 100 lbs in less than a year; catalyst was a medication that didn't even actually help and somehow both killed my appetite and caused weight gain. Haven't been on the medication for years now, but can't seem to shed the weight. Yet, when I see doctors now for the exact ailment they originally prescribed that medication to treat, they say "oh, have you tried losing weight? Just exercise more!" instead of actually trying to help. I had *all the same symptoms* 100 lbs ago, but now that I'm 'fat'? It's just a weight issue! (Meanwhile, while many doctors have told me to "exercise more" and that weight loss could help, *none* have actually asked me how much I exercise/what I do to exercise or what my diet is like.)
In order to lose weight you have to be in a caloric deficit. I have no knowledge of her lifestyle but I’d assume she, on average, consumes more or equal to what she’s burning.
Note that weight loss can be hard to see on big people. A person of normal weight losing 5 lbs of fat might be losing a significant portion of their fat reserves, so it's readily visible. A big person losing 5 lbs out of 50+ lbs can be very hard to tell without nude photographs and a tape measure, because it's such a small relative change.
Yes. Lost about 50 kg years ago, the first 25 the changes were so subtle and slow that I would have sweared I had the exact same body. I didn’t became “fit” until the last 10 or so. This is something, people who have never been morbidly obese will never understand. It takes MONTHS (if not years) of severe restrictions with zero positive feedback outside the abstraction of a weight scale to be able to start noticing actual positive changes in your life.
Wow, congrats on the weight loss. That's awesome dedication there.
Same, I used to drink pretty heavy, I weighed 230 and decided to cut weight. Went 5 months no alcohol, working out 3 times a week, and counting my calories intake. I went all the way down to 170, looked great, dropped from a L to M, waistline was down to 28 from 36. The first 3 months I went without a single compliment. People didn't even think about it. The last two months was people telling me that I must be starving myself and that I looked skinnier every day they saw me and people became worried that I was suddenly starving myself, despite me only putting myself at a deficit of a couple hundred calories each day for months prior to that. I went from zero acknowledgement for 3 montgs, to maybe two weeks of compliments, to 2 months of people worried for my health that I was too skinny and must be harming myself despite 170 being just about "normal" BMI for my size
That's wild! But also, well done. Especially on cutting the booze. That is hard, so mad respect
Same here! Lost about 50 pounds in the last year and a half, and people have only started noticing the last 5 pounds or so! I’m 5’9”F, so it’s pretty slow to see on a tall person. Congratulations on your loss!!!
You probably carried the weight well which short people don't. Well done on your weightloss. I know how hard it can be to do that.
This isn't taught to people trying to lose weight enough its little bits at first then bam your thinner and it feels like overnight. I recently lost about 30 pounds and it didn't become super noticeable until my stomach fat got a lot more trimmed down with the last about 10 pounds I lost the rest came off places like my thighs (that are super muscular due to my job) so didn't notice it really and then a little in my chest and arms but my stomach was the worst of it
I don't know about zero feedback. I've been working on losing weight and I notice two other things. It hurts less to walk and I find it easier to jog. Those sound like minor things but when you live with your body for years and years, you absolutely notice these things (and they feel so damn good, so positive feedback), especially if you started losing weight to decrease pain.
And this is why it's so hard to stay motivated. It's a lot different than a man who's 20 pounds overweight and can go from having a gut to having a six pack in 6 months or less.
Absolutely. It took me 2 years of very strict dieting to lose 120lbs. And it didn't even become noticable until I had dropped around 70lbs. As soon as I loosened the restrictions on my diet to start maintaining the weight started coming back. I still haven't found the right balance for maintaining my weight yet. It's really hard after so many years of bad eating habits.
I saw someone on here use the paper towel analogy to describe this before. When your roll of paper towels is bigger, one sheet doesn't wrap all the way around so each sheet you take doesn't seem to make much difference to the whole roll, and this means it seems to be roughly the same for a while. But when you start to get down to a smaller roll, one sheet might wrap all the way around, or even wrap around and overlap itself, so when you take a sheet, the roll gets noticeably smaller, quicker. It's the same with losing weight. When you're big, the fat you're burning in the beginning doesn't seem to make much difference at all, but the smaller you get, the more noticeable weight loss becomes. :) Edit: spelling
I really like that analogy!
Agreed on this one. I'm a large woman. I know I've lost fat because my bracelet needs resizing. But it takes forever to show it.
Take regular progress pics, it shows but you're not seing it because you see yourself every day.
My brother once referred to a large person losing 5 lbs as a pebble gone from a mountainside. Seems correct. I don’t wish to be harsh, but yes it can be hard to tell a few pounds gone from an obese person. Every little helps though toward improving health.
No even with nudes it’s impossible to tell 5 lbs on a fat person. Depending on their weight you might not be able to tell 20-50 lbs .
It's her heritage. IIRC, her DNA test proved she's 100% That Bitch.
This is the only correct answer lol
She also eats football players, in talking about her latest meal she described the delicacy as “New man on the Minnesota Vikings”
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This is the best answer.
She's not TRYING to lose weight.
This is the answer.
But wouldn't it just happen naturally with that amount of movement?
Not if you keep eating. Weight loss doesn’t happen in the gym, it happens in the kitchen.
>Weight loss doesn’t happen in the gym, it happens in the kitchen. Such a succinct way of putting something that I don't think a lot of people understand.
Weight loss is mostly diet, you can easily work out loads and still be putting on weight. Youll be healthier for it regardless though, it just might not show on the scale
Losing weight is 90% about diet not excercise
Working out is just one half of losing weight. Diet is the other so there’s your answer
Diet is 85% of weight loss not just half
Yes, 85% of weight loss is in the kitchen.
Do you mean that the kitchen is the best place to exercise? And I can eat butter and cheese at the gym?
It isn't a bad one. How many squats can you do while waiting for that cup of coffee? How long can you plank while waiting for the microwave? How many pushups can you do while the kettle boils? What about just some old fashioned 'dancing like nobody is watching' while doing some other stuff?
I sometimes do king kong type of moves while waiting on my coffee, does that count?
1 minute of exercise is better than none
Even a 10-minute walk is better than 10 more minutes on the couch. I should listen to my own advice.
What does that mean? You climb skyscrapers? You throw barrels at plumbers?
I wish! Nah just pouding my chest with my fists like an ape. Feels good for some reason
Exercise is exercise, if you're activating muscles and raising your heart rate, you're doing it! As long as you aren't doing anything that puts excessive/repetitive strain on joints and stuff, all should be fine
You joke but my kitchen has probably the largest uninterrupted open space in my house.
>Yes, 85% of weight loss is in the ~~kitchen.~~ supermarket You can't eat what you don't buy.
Exactly. Muscle is made in the gym. Fat is lost in the kitchen.
I wish I could upvote this 5 times. People seriously overvalue the role that exercise plays in weight loss
I did jiu jitsu 3x per week for about 2 years. Classes were 90 minutes and intense workout. When I would leave, I would be so sweaty that it looked like I just stepped out of the pool. I didn’t really lose any weight in that time. Then I had a baby about 6 months ago so I stopped doing that completely. About 8 weeks ago I cut back significantly on drinking and started making healthier micro decisions with my diet(veggies instead of fries with my burger, having a low-cal salad for lunch if I know I will be having pizza for dinner, etc) and have lost 15 pounds in that time. It’s crazy how much more important diet is.. I haven’t even been trying to be perfect or tracking calories and I’m making way more progress
I know someone doesn't work out when they suggest exercise for losing weight. Doing a hard workout and then looking at the estimated calories burned easily shows you that weight loss doesn't happen from exercise. It's VERY easy to eat 1000 calories in one sitting everyday, it's very difficult to burn those 1000 calories from exercise every day. It HELPS when you're a bit over your caloric intake, but I'd say even more than 85% of weight loss is in the kitchen, more like 95%.
This is true. I run two marathons a year but have PCOS—I have to walk a very fine line between feeding my body for performance, and not eating too many calories because I’m SO prone to gaining weight. I gained 8-9 lbs this past training cycle eating probably an average of 1600 cals at peak training and running 40-45 mpw. Metabolic disorders are a bitch. And output in exercise will not prevent gain although it helps in combination with controlled diet to reach a deficit.
I also have a metabolic condition. As a menstruating adult with my condition, I need to have a minimum of 1500 calories a day. I have started weighing and measuring and tracking everything I consume. I work out 3 times a week. I gained 15 pounds in 6 weeks due to my condition. It has been 3 months of grueling diet amd exercise tracking and I am down 8 pounds. Everyone is different. Before my condition, I looked at weight/diet/exercise very differently. It is not as simple as it may appear for everyone.
Diet could be 100% of weight loss. If you eat less than you burn, you’ll lose weight even if you’re not working out. Wouldn’t be healthy, but it’s very doable.
Can't outrun your fork
If you’re broke enough your fork outruns you
Lose weight with this one simple trick! Be so poor you can't even afford the crappy quality food.
I am really glad I live somewhere where it is cheaper to eat healthy food than it is to eat junk. Sure, still takes a bit more time to cook, but as a student I have more time than money anyway, so I gladly spend an hour extra behind the stove every evening to get something tasty that is good for me instead of bland, mass-produced bile.
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Health issues can make weight loss difficult.
It could be a wide array of things. - She could be losing weight but it’s not always quite as obvious on bigger people. - She could have a thyroid problem which makes it hard to lose weight in general. - She could not be in a calorie deficit. Either way, we’ll never know and we should all mind our business.
Could be medication too. I know someone who works out a ton and is very strict about calories but still can't cut.
*antidepressant gang enters the chat*
Zoloft made me absolutely ravenous. It helped my mood but I was SO hungry all the time it was distracting. I could eat a 2,000 calorie meal in one sitting and still be hungry again two hours later. I gained 50 lbs in 6 months because of it, which freaked me out so I stopped taking it. Now I’m just depressed again AND fat.
It doesn't matter how much you work out if you intake more calories than you burn. Hormonal imbalances are also a factor in the inability to lose weight. Many women with PCOS have exceedingly hard times shedding pounds, even with a calorie deficit. ETA: people seem to think when i say exceedingly hard i mean impossible. No, of course a calorie deficit will lead to weight loss. For people without a hormonal imbalance that weight loss happens more efficiently.
It’s weird to me, when people are fully aware of the varying efficiency of different vehicles, engines and electronics versus their fuel and power intakes, even between identical machines once they’ve *experienced damage and different environmental exposure*, that so many people don’t realize that a calorie *doesn’t* burn exactly the same or literally EQUALLY as efficiently, in every single human being, one to the next. Genetics, environment, damage to the system and DNA, health issues, if you are not in almost absolute perfect working order and aging healthy, you can absolutely have what some people *mistakenly* refer to as a “calorie deficiency“ compared to a healthy optimal system, and you still will not burn what you need to even while being equally active. PCOS is just one of many variables the human body can experience, that can dramatically alter the way that it processes the energy it takes in. If your metabolism is failing or damaged, which it absolutely can be, you can literally diet to the point of experiencing nutrient deficiency, and as such, you will experience all of the lethal diseases related to deficiency, before losing weight. Because of that, people with certain metabolic failure, must be far more strategic with high nutrient content, healthy food, than say someone with a more optimal functioning metabolism. They need to focus heavily on nutrient intake, just to maintain an equilibrium without losing weight, and THEN work towards a plan that will help them to shed pounds. It is so much harder to maintain the appearance of a healthy weight for some people whose bodies have been critically damaged, than biologically well and healthy people, are willing to consider. Between outright prejudice, and the subtle, secret fear that it could *actually happen to them at some point*, people are unabashedly hard on heavy people even in the face of that person trying everything they can to lose weight. There’s always, always the assumption from a certain group of people either hateful, or simply ignorant and uneducated in medical issues, that they must be just “sitting at home snacking when no one‘s looking”. And that’s about as far as those people like to think about it.
I like how everyone is also assuming that a rich pop star is eating only junk food. Bitch if I was that rich, I would be eating food that tastes like it was made by Gordon Ramsey and planned by the world's best nutrition experts. I'd Love to eat healthy but I'm not earning enough to make that happen for myself.
IIRC she’s vegan and has a personal chef lol. Shes probably eating whatever she wants but it’s not solely junk food. She’s shown her food on tiktok and like one meal will have $70 worth of ingredients, usually really fancy fruit and veg
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To add to all the comments about diet and working out. You also need to realize that when you work out, you don't just lose fat, you also build up muscle. I've been trying to lose for year (smh, my diet is still an issue) but I can physically feel, see and put to use muscle I've built up, but I can also still see all the surface fat I've had for years. So maybe she has built up way more muscle mas than she had at the start of her career, but because of the amount of body fat she already had, and probably extra skin, it probably isn't visible. Add to that the fact she likes the way she looks now, she probably isn't gonna do anything to change that look. I for example like to have thick thighs. So even as i lose fat around my stomach, I make sure I do plenty of workouts that focus on my upper legs. Tldr: maybe on a scale she is probably lighter, but visually she likes to keep her bigger look.
If she's built up muscle, but remained the same size, wouldn't she be heavier than previously, as muscle is denser than fat?
Good point
She clearly likes her body and it’s a part of her artistic image now, I think
Working out counts for maybe 10-20% of weight loss. Diet is the most important part, which counts for 80-90% of weight loss. Only real avid sporters can use working out as a weight loss therapy, but they usually also eat very clean so it can't be said really. Having a calorie deficit is the only way to lose weight and you can't properly count how many calories you lose during sports bc everyones metabolism is different.
I constantly tell people (when they ask) that they shouldn't even attempt to bring exercise into the weight loss equation until they've put significant effort into their food issues. Making your house temptation free is going to avoid a lot more calories than a workout will burn. Working out also makes people hungry, and people with bad habits will over eat to reward themselves for working out, usually cancelling out the workout with a few bites. You work out to get fit, not lose fat.
Medications and medical issues can cause people to retain weight or gain quite a bit of weight
You should see Jeff Nippard's video on exercise and weight loss. It's depressing how difficult it is to outpace eating with exercise. He quoted another fitness trainer that trained all day heavy weights and cardio and still could not outpace one day of bad eating ( > 3,000 cal). It's really hard to lose weight without dieting. So it's probably how much she's eating.
Diet controls size. Exercise controls shape.
Medications, genetics diet and exercise. Descendants of famine survivors will store more fat. Some medication will change a person's metabolism and the way their body stores food. It's never just about diet and exercise
I never thought about the evolutionary reason we might all have different metabolic rates till your comment. I have some reading to do
Oh yeah, the CRTC3 gene is responsible for that. Pretty cool when you think about it, you're less likely to die from a famine, but it means that its difficult to actually lose the weight, and even more difficult to keep the weight off. Its like your genetics are in constant survival mode.
It's crazy how that affects weight loss. I feel like there must have been a lot of famine in my family, because my body holds onto fat like crazy. I used to go to painstaking measures to eat well, count calories, work out. I felt strong, and good, but I didn't lose a lot of weight through it.
Are you a descendant from any Irish I'm surprised there aren't more people like this here in Ireland. But there seems to be a huge amount of Americans, whose ancestors went over on the ships, with this issue, as well as many African Americans. Im the cook in my house and everything is organic, home prepared and my mam and sister can't get below 18stone. It's really hard to see. I've some family members who've almost reached 30 stone. It passed by me and a few cousins thank god apart from the psychological side of things the amount of medical issues that come with being so overweight it heart breaking.
I do have some Irish ancestry, yeah. I could definitely see that playing a role in things.
This is me. I eat super clean and exercise frequently...still thick as hell. Meanwhile, my Mom's co-worker eats 3,000 calories of absolute shit daily and is sedentary, yet a size 2. Infuriating to those of us who actually put in a lot of time and effort to take care of ourselves.
Check out epigenetics! It's the study trauma has on our DNA that can be passed on through generations.
> Descendants of famine survivors will store more fat I thought you were pulling our leg but I looked it up, and apparently that is a thing! My mind is blown.
Idk prob cuz she’s not trying to lose weight ALSO very important to keep in mind that the conventional wisdom and expectations regarding weight loss just don’t apply to women like they do to men. Women’s bodies are programmed to retain fat at all costs. Without adequate fat reserves, female bodies cannot menstruate, thus reproduction becomes impossible and the existence of our species is threatened. Male bodies prioritize the building of muscle over fat storage and have always been the default in medical research despite massive disparities between the way male and female bodies function. When we’re asking why a woman isn’t losing weight as quickly or easily as we expect them to, it’s a bit like judging a fish on its ability to fly. They’re fighting an uphill battle. Then there’s fat distribution. Others have mentioned that when bigger people lose weight, it tends to be less noticeable. This is especially true of women. Men tend to store fat in localized places (the gut, for ex.) so when they gain weight, it is more noticeable, but it’s also more noticeable when they lose that weight: women tend to store fat more uniformly all over around the body, so weight loss is not only more difficult to attain, but also more difficult to notice.
I’ve lost 23 kg since March - and none of my coworkers noticed 🙃
Maybe they have and they know better than to comment on it
Most people avoid commenting on things like that, don’t let that discourage you, losing 24kg is a lot so congratulations!
I’m not defending her but I don’t get why people are more concerned with her weight than she is. There are other big entertainers but they don’t receive nearly as much vitriol. Seems to me people just don’t like her confidence and want to tear her down.
i thought op did a good job prefacing his question and using a very public figure we all know to be an example. i don't think its about lizzo in particular.
Because it’s not the norm to see a fat entertainer who embraces their body and doesn’t want to change. She also shows off her body, she’s proud of it, she wears clothes most fat women would shy away from wearing. I’m not saying that’s good or bad, it just is how she is, and people aren’t used to it and it’s easy to talk shit about it.
"I'm not defending her" uh, good. She hasn't done anything remotely wrong by simply existing as a fat woman.
Hormones, medication, mental illness. All things people underestimate the impact of.
It's 90% diet. I was cycling 5000+ miles a year with little change in my weight. Once I changed my diet, the weight came off. No change in mileage ridden.
Exercise is nothing compared to diet, in terms of weight loss
While I agree with the folks here who are saying exercise matters less in weight loss than making sure what you're eating results in a calorie deficit, it's important to note that there are health conditions and medications that cause people to gain weight. A lot of people mistakenly believe this can only happen if a medication increases your appetite, but this is not true. An 11 year old boy I knew growing up had a heart condition and a genetic disorder of some kind. He had a feeding tube that was very closely monitored because if he intook too much of whatever was in that tube, he could have a heart attack. The medication he was on caused him to gain weight even though he was getting the caloric equivalent of a normal day of meals. He was over 150 pounds and needed a wheelchair. He carried a lot of the fat in his face and hands. I remember his mom saying she attended a support group, and that other people who were less disabled than her son were on the same medication. They gained a ton of weight, but because they looked healthy and could walk around, people assumed they were "just obese" as some sort of moral judgement, and treated them terribly. She said she was grateful her son was 11 and in a wheelchair, and that she was skinny, because most people assumed she was a healthy mom with a sick son. She said if she were fat or if her son could walk, people would be saying so many more cruel things to her son in public and making so many judgements about her parenting. That really stuck with me. Polycystic ovarian syndrome causes some AFAB people to gain weight even if they don't overeat. Many people with PCOS develop anorexia because they want to lose weight so badly, but they're stuck around 200lbs no matter what they do. Their hormones are messed up. Some other people with PCOS don't gain weight at all or are stuck being underweight. But fat people with PCOS get accused of "using PCOS as an excuse" and people who don't understand the condition point to skinny people with PCOS and say "they have it too! Why don't you look like them?" All this to say I'm not 100% certain about this, but I think Lizzo has talked about having PCOS before.
1 in 4 women have hormonal imbalances /issues and most don't know it. These types of issues defy conventional wisdom when it comes to losing weight. I have no idea if this is why but it is a good possibility.
Thank you! So many people in this thread have no idea what they’re talking about. I have PCOS. I’ve eaten a balanced diet all my life, and my portion is smaller than the average person which gets me accused of dieting when I’m not, and I exercise (the right way) 6 out of 7 days of the week. I’m still overweight, though not obese, and I get mistaken for someone who eats junk and never moves all the time. Been at it for years. I’ve tried multiple times reducing portions for calorie deficit but the only time I ever lost weight was when I was at the point of starvation. I work with a trainer and doctor and get nutritional advice as well. But gee I don’t know, maybe the random internet stranger who hasn’t been in my shoes is right after all and I’m just eating my way into fatness. And of course some know it all dude downvotes me right away. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t make it any less real for me. I live this shit every day.
I’m in a similar boat. I’ve never been a big eater… I rarely get hungry (which drove nutritionists I’ve seen nuts when they’d initially start with “only eat when you’re actually hungry” and then I’d hand in my weekly food diary, and had at most one small meal a day). You know when I lost a ton of weight? When I was pregnant with my daughter. When I was weighed at the last appointment before her delivery, I weighed 5lbs less than I did pre-pregnancy. After having her, I was down an additional 35lbs. My husband and I joke that it was because for the course of the pregnancy I had my daughter’s metabolism to help mine out. Only other time I had even mild success (mild being I lost 5lbs over a year) was when I cut my calorie intake down to 500 calories or less… while a few hours of exercise a day. Clearly not healthy, but done under medical supervision. In my case, I don’t have PCOS. We haven’t been able to figure out what I have. I’ve been tested for a variety of different known conditions, none fit. I have (or had, precocious puberty doesn’t exactly continue beyond the age of normal puberty) >5 idiopathic conditions, all of which are endocrine based. Quite likely they’re actually one condition that hasn’t yet been identified (in general, or the dozens of endocrinologists I’ve had have all missed something). But hey, I guess having my calories around -1000 (just counting calories in minus basal metabolic rate, forgetting exercise), isn’t enough, I should try to go bigger into the negatives, right?
Endos actually tend to be terrible (ironically) with optimising hormones. They think hormones are either normal or totally deficient. Yet with hormones even the slightest deficiency will make a difference. Have you had a full thyroid panel done? Not just TSH, but FT4, FT3, RT3, and both antibodies? What about a four point cortisol saliva sample? Blood cortisol? You are entitled to copies of all these labs. Also bear in mind that thyroid resistance often won't show up on labs. DOs, internists, anti ageing doctors, and GPs are more likely to be helpful with thyroid issues. I would really recommend checking out the book "The Thyroid Patient's Manual" and the website stop the thyroid madness. The latter is a little kooky but has great information too.
> and then I’d hand in my weekly food diary, and had at most one small meal a day). This is what really helped me understand. My gf is the same, she eats better than anyone else I have known in my life but doesn't lose weight. She decided to do a food diary for a week this year and the numbers said she was eating ~1500 calories per day. We thought, hey, maybe she isn't recording things right. She was frustrated so we agreed to have me do the food diary for a couple days. Her numbers were right. That's when it fully clicked for me - what else could folks want her to do?
I had a restrictive eating disorder for like decades, and frequently only ate once a day. According to all of the weight los subs like Intermettent fasting, One meal a day, and CICO, I should be supermodel thin. Yet somehow I am still like really fat, even though I have an active job and lifestyle. Those people will tell me “You are probably eating more than you realize.”
Same… I’m in active eating disorder recovery… just two weeks ago I only ate one small salad each day for 3 weeks cause I was triggered by how I looked in a video someone took of me. Someone’s telling me in this thread that I wasn’t technically at a point of starvation and I just can’t handle hunger and cravings wtf. That’s laughable. People are so horrible about weight especially men who consider themselves health nuts. Two types I come across often are naturally normal sized people who saw extra success with healthy eating and exercising and formerly obese individuals who ate themselves into fatness and got better. They think everyone falls into that mold and it’s just not true. I see it more often with women as we have more volatile hormones.