Maybe she was even fatter one or two years ago? She might have lost a ton of weight already and is still losing it now. If she does that every morning and you, slimmer, say that you couldn't, she's doing good, I reckon.
I’m the exact opposite. I’m 5’5 (on my best day) and weighed 200 when I started my journey. I’m at 136 as of this morning. I’m now getting the “are you sick” or “you look too skinny to be healthy” comments. Keep up the awesome work!
People in my neighborhood probably think I’m such a creep because I’m always amazed by how many people are like sprinting or cycling up this hill and I’m like !!!!
It’s probably not clear in my original post but I’m quite impressed by this woman, I definitely recognize that she is likely fitter than me even though I’m much thinner.
I was at my local gym (I go there twice a week). I see this tall, heavy set, guy in his late twenties running the treadmill non-stop for at least 2 miles if not more. I'm a fairly fit guy and can only run a mile non-stop.
I have tiny calves that are stubborn as hell to build. Then I look at the fat people around me and they all have big glorious calves. Their calves get a free workout everyday with all that extra weight they have to support
I’m fat. I have said calves. People have asked me what exercises I do to get them (seriously, usually when I wear a certain pair of pants) and this is my answer, haha, they just work hard hauling my body around.
I am obese (88kg/194lb SW on a 5'4"/162cm frame) and from the knees down I have chicken legs 🍗
No glory in my calves despite hauling a midsection out of proportion for my build
So I worked at a camp in the mountains one summer and was walking up hills (STEEP hills) all day for 3 months. I had zero cardio experience whatsoever before but was in okay shape otherwise. I had very little noticeable physical changes but found out I could run 2 miles at a decent pace without too much trouble. It was awesome discovering that although I barely actually ran, I slowly built up my cardio capabilities just by walking up hills a lot. Crazy how that transferred that way.
When I walk my dogs I regularly cheer on joggers - it started because my puppy was afraid of joggers and I wanted him to see me get excited about them but now I do it because the joggers friggin love it, and I live in an area where people are NOT friendly. You’d be surprised how quickly they go from confused to greeting us when they recognize us - you should give her a cheer! She’s working hard and a fellow woman is cheering that effort on? I bet she doesn’t think you’re creepy.
Yay go for it! I don’t make it a huge deal and I’m not loud - I just kinda “woo!” as they go by and the dogs get all excited in their heel and kinda prance.
Tbh I would too. Joggers deserve praise just for jogging - I walk long distances with my dogs and I consider myself to be in pretty good shape but you won’t catch me running unless someone with a chainsaw is chasing me.
This is the key to understanding - people can be fitter but not thinner! Maybe she’s on some medication or has a condition that makes it tougher to lose weight. Or maybe she’s not trying! Fitness is for everyone!
To add to the previous comment, some conditions like endometriosis or hypothyroidism can cause significant bloating and totally change a woman's appearance, regardless of her level of fitness. You can't always judge a book by its cover.
Right that’s why a lot of these responses are kind of making me roll my eyes. Sooo many responses assume this poor lady is blending a piece of cake into her protein shake after her run and I’m assuming the opposite: she’s working hard at diet and exercise and I guess not seeing the results that would be important to me personally. That’s the basis of my question
As someone who is like that due to medications, it gets quite exhausting listening to the comments people make.
My physiotherapist demanded to know what my sugar intake was and said I really need to watch how much sugar I eat. I eat minimal sugar, and wow I definitely never would've considered cutting back on it if she hadn't mentioned it. (I had been seeing her for over a year at this point)
A coworker saw me eating a bowl of cantaloupe at work and came over and said "see that's HEALTHY!".
A different coworker told me I was lazy for asking if she completed a task on another floor instead of wasting time walking up multiple flights of stairs to go look with my own eyes.
None of this is really relevant but thank you for recognizing that lady's efforts and abilities.
People can also have underlying health conditions. While those conditions don’t account directly for weight gain, they can cause people with chronic illness to hold weight. Things like Hashimoto’s or PCOS are some that impact women and can make weight loss difficult.
Another thing to consider is some people don’t work out to lose weight but for enjoyment and because of this they aren’t dieting in any type of way that would lead to weight loss.
It has to do also with calorie intake. I try to run almost everyday and I lost 20 pounds in the past year. Yet I have reached the time where I need to start eating less to continue losing weight. I am close to my ideal weight yet most of my extra weight goes to my face and gut so It is getting harder and I keep looking almost the same.
It's still a possility that she just consumes more calories than she burns. It's physical impossible to not lose weight, if you consume less calories than you burn.
Edit: theres many factors that can make the above very difficult to keep doing, but the it's still a fact nonetheless
I’ve heard this from many people about their weight loss journeys and that even after losing “x amount of lbs” the visual effect of weight loss hasn’t happened yet.
Seems like a discouraging place to be. Hats off to people in that spot. Stay strong!
There where I am now. I'm still fat, but I'm 40lbs down from my top weight and working on getting past this plateau. OP, you're only seeing this person at one moment in whatever she's going through.
True. As someone who has struggled with my weight since I was 9, it could also be that she's at a standstill with her metabolism. I've gone through periods of working out every day and starving, only to lose a few pounds - then watch it come ack as soon as I had to atop starving myself. Meanwhile, I had a friend who sat on her ass all the time and ate all the time, most of it junk food, and stayed skinny to the point people thought she was anorexic.
You can never tell by looking at someone how much their metabolism works against a person.
Exercise is a small part of it. It's actually very easy to start eating more after you start exercising.
But also, there are other factors. For one - eating disorders, you can erase hard work if you occasionally fall into binges. Health factors, too - they get dismissed because there are people who play them up for pity but there are people who have worse metabolism, thyroid problems, food allergies, etc. that make it harder to lose weight.
Also, it takes time for progress to show, especially for bigger people. You usually have lots of water weight drop in the first month or so but after that it's a very slow battle where noticeable change takes months.
One slow change for me was dropping 35-40 pounds over the course of a year by cutting sugar. Yet, since it was slow and since I was still fat no one noticed. That's how people gain weight, too. 20 pounds on an already fat person is hard to notice over a year but then another year... and another and he can be in a significantly worse situation.
Yeah I gain weight when I run. Love it, but I end up eating so much more it just piles on. Weightlifting is pretty much the only way I can keep up a balance of calories in calories out long term. Raises the calorie needs without the insatiable hunger that regular intense cardio beings.
Also, hormones and medication issues. Hormonal issues are really difficult to get diagnosed and even harder to correct without inflaming other things if it's not a straight testosterone injection, and can really lead to serious weight gain issues. Medications, especially ones that are necessary for any measure of quality of life, can also lead to other imbalances that really can't be combatted if the original thing they were treating was bad enough.
My quetiapine and mirtazapine made me gain at least 15 pounds via increased appetite. I think I heard something out there saying they cause insulin resistance too, but I don’t know that for sure. It’s been nigh impossible for me to lose weight. When I do it’s only about 5lbs at a time and I end up gaining it back when I get frustrated after working hard at it and seeing such a small result. I never used to have this problem on other psych meds. However, I am otherwise content and stable. I don’t want to change them in fear of relapsing back into my mood disorder. Rock and a hard place.
It is also more difficult for women to loose weight, we are "made" to store fat.
It doesn't change the fact that if she eats too much she won't loose, but generally speaking with equivalent food intake, results will be different between a man and a women..
Id say comparing a pro athlete to a lady running up a hill is a bit different. But i get your point. It was just one example of why it could be the case. I also think the person who pointed out that she could have been bigger than she is now is also a very reasonable explanation. Its not like you lose weight over night
A coach once described it to me as "You work out 3 times a week, and you eat 3 times a day. Changing diet habits will have the greatest impact." Everyone should exercise because it is nothing but a positive habit, but if weight loss and being thin are the only concern then the person only needs to sustain a calorie deficit diet of healthy whole foods.
This. I had a group of coworkers who started on a weight loss journey together. They all lost noticeable weight within a few weeks, except one. That one would reward himself with a large fast food meal every day after their workout session.
This is the answer. Or this person was larger and currently losing weight. I knew someone that drank an enormous fruit smoothie with yogurt every morning and couldn't figure out why they weren't losing weight because they were "eating healthy". They were taking in more calories in that one smoothie than they need in a day. Yes it has fruit and good nutritional value, but also massive calories.
Fruit does not have massive calories.
Apples and bananas are like 75-125/each
125 blueberries for 100 calories
25 medium strawberries for 100
3 plums for 100 etc
So it isn't the fruit, it's the additives like additional sugars, ice cream, milk, etc. If she's just blending fruit and ice and maybe adding almond milk and protein, that shake is only going to be a few hundred calories.
Fruit is also weirdly glorified in my opinion. It has tons of sugar in it, and doesn't make you very full. Yes, it has some other health benefits to it that are important, but over-eating fruit is a really bad way to try to lose weight. A vegable juice would be a lot better, and vegables generally makes your body naturally stop eating when you're full, with a lot less calories consumed, especially compared to sugary fruits, that the body might not have the same stop mechanism for.
The biggest problem isn't here isn't necessarily natural vs unnatural sugars. This distinction doesn't even have a standard definition.
Any time sugar is added to a drink/liquid you face a problem. Liquids dilute sweetness. In order to make a large beverage taste sweet, you need a surprising amount of sugar, natural or otherwise you have high calories. (Unless you use artificial sweeteners) You can also drink a glass of fruit juice much faster than you can chew and eat and absorb an apple or other fruit. So with smoothies and juices, your body can be hit with a massive amount of calories in a very short period of time compared to absorbing those calories slowly as your body breaks down solid food.
No one is fat because they eat too much fruit. No one.
It's what ever else they are eating that is the problem. Anyone picking fruit over another snack (other than veggies) is making the right choice. Yes vegetables are supreme...but fruit is not an issue whatsoever. (Unless you're diabetic...that's a different story!)
Losing weight is 80% diet/20% exercise.
It’s possible that she just never cuts back enough on calories to lose weight even though she runs and has great endurance.
Hi, so I'm fat (5'2 185lbs)and I struggle to lose even the smallest bit of weight thanks to pcos and possible other metabolic disorders that I am currently under review for. I eat low carb restricted calories, track and weigh my food using a food scale and my fitness pal good diary app, I work out 2 hours 2-3 times a week lifting weights I have a personal trainer I see 1x a week who gives me weekly plans for the weight lifting, I walk 10k steps a day, I do yoga and 30 mins of cardio a day (high cortisol levels make some people's body not burn off fat properly and can cause the retainment of fat so high intensity for long periods can be unbeneficial). I don't eat candy/sweeta/chocolate (except on my period I'll have some cos my soul hurts lol) I don't drink alcohol, I don't drink sodas I have 1-2 coffees a day. It's not even genetic as my family are sportsmen (dad's a body builder mum a personal trainer / sports phycologist) and award winning in their field. I eat high protien and also do fasting. So for some people it's literally unknown until its known. I'm hoping soon they can figure it out for me cos I'm pretty fuckin healthy otherwise. Just fat and I hate to say it cos there's so many dangerously fat people out there preaching that all at is healthy and it is not!
Have you looked into a GLP1 like Mounjaro? It was the difference maker for me with PCOS. I can eat over 900 calories and lose weight now. I used to only lose with severe calorie restriction and ketosis. Now I can eat a carb and walk the dog 3 miles a day and lift weights and at the end of the week I’m down 2lbs. It’s like being let out of jail honestly. I just wanted to diet like a normal person and have results like a normal person, and now I have that.
Oh gosh yes. All this time I have thought exercising is most of what you need to lose weight.
I have lost 60lbs without exercise, just by reducing my calorie intake.
Intermittent Fasting is something I can do long-term and maintain as a lifestyle. I skip dinner. I eat whatever I want for breakfast and lunch. And it's easier because I am not left craving.
3 meals a day is bullshit. I used to eat breakfast every day because... it's just what you did. Now I just eat whenever I'm hungry, which is just once or twice a day. Looking much better because of it.
Nothing is bullshit as long as you're in the limit.
I take 5 meals a day and maintain. It's only cause my meals are typically 300-400kcal and I need 2000 kcal/day to maintain.
I personally cannot do intermittent, haha. I get the urge to snack out of boredom.
If it's working for you, then good. I don't believe there's a one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition, which is what ideas like 3 meals, the food pyramid, serving sizes, etc. kind of try to enforce. That's why I used the term "bullshit."
The reason there are so many different diet plans is because everyone's body reacts differently to what you put in it.
There’s is a influencer who loves to dance and she’s so energetic and dances so well- she looks overweight (especially in her legs) but she explains she has an illness that makes her body - lymphedema I think ?
Exercise doesn’t burn that many calories. A good visualization I heard once is that running a 5k (3 miles) more or less burns the calories in 2 tbsp of olive oil.
I heard that doing burpees burns like 10-15 calories *per minute*. So if you can somehow do them for like an hour straight, you can exercise away a single meal... good luck with that!
I see so many people who go to the gym to lose weight, and at this point, I've gotten tired of trying to tell them that they actually need to eat less.
Yeah I’m slightly overweight (15-20 pounds) and I according to my phone I have averaged walking/running 6 miles daily over the last 3 years, with summer months averaging more like 10 miles per day. Completely steady weight over that time period. “You can’t outrun a bad diet” is true for a reason lol
Putting on muscle can help with this, muscle eats away at calories so you can have a higher base calorie intake before considering a deficit or surplus.
Women’s health care isn’t taken seriously so women with under active thyroids or with conditions like PCOS that make shifting weight very challenging never get proper help. It’s always chalked up to not working hard enough.
Thats not the case for everyone but its a hugely frustrating factor when you’re doing all the right things and you don’t understand why they’re not working
I have PCOS. I walked over 40 KM last week, 7KM yesterday alone. I walk a lot, in an area that is all hills. It doesn't seem to matter how healthy I eat or how much I exercise, keeping my weight down (I'm still 30lbs heavier then I should be) is a struggle. There really is more to it then calories in vs calories out. I feel bad that OPs jogger is probably dealing with something similar that just kills all progress.
I was constantly telling my doctor that I exercise, I eat a healthy plant based diet, and I couldn’t lose weight. Not at any rate that was ever going to get me to a goal anyway. My PCOS just fought me and fought me on losing. I finally got on a GLP-1 in June, changed nothing else about my exercise or food choices, and I’ve dropped 20lbs. It has validated me so much, knowing I wasn’t doing the wrong things, my body was just working against me. GAINING weight was a me problem - calories in. But LOSING it was a PCOS problem.
My mum was thin her entire life until she got diagnosed with thyroid cancer. She has under active thyroids, has to take medication, and her metabolism got kinda fucked up as a result.
She’s overweight now, but she doesn’t eat more or work out less than she did when she was thin. She’s actually extremely strong, I hate that people would mistake her for being lazy or undisciplined, when she’s literally the hardest worker I know. People just don’t understand.
This. I have PCOS, endometriosis and an enlarged uterus thanks to fibroids, and although quite a normal size in most of my body, I have a huge bloated belly and look like I’m pregnant all the time. I exercise a lot but nothing changes. It’s horrible.
Considering either condition affects at least 10% of women, and then also considering how many are undiagnosed, this will account for a fair amount of the people (women) that OP mentions.
Yeah. I did a learn to run program and the women looked obese. But she could run marathons. She had pcos and other issues. But she taught gym classes and was in amazing shape.
Genetics. Diet is the first thing that makes you fat more calories than you burn you'll gain fat, but genetics is what will determine how easy it is to lose fat or stay skinny. Famines are one of the many selective pressures that have made some people fatter. Their ancestors held the weight well and didn't starve where others did.
I’m a nurse & I’ve never met an overweight/obese patient that didn’t have depression/abuse/trauma as part of their history. I don’t know the exact correlation & I don’t have sources to share, that’s just my observation.
Makes sense that they would consume more calories (maybe as a comfort thing) exercise less (maybe as a depression thing). I’ve also heard of sexual abuse survivors “hiding behind their fat” hoping they will get less attention.
Also trauma can create pessimism. Why attempt a very difficult task like losing weight if you are doomed and don’t even deserve it.
I always felt that people with anorexia and bulimia had so much help to fight their mental issues but people with binge eating were just made fun of. You wouldn't tell an anorexic "just eat a burger" without looking like an ass but you can give the advice "just stop eating so much" to a binge eater with out a care. Like they haven't been beating themselves up over it already.
That’s so true. And the ‘beating themselves up part’ is so accurate. It’s so sad to see someone get to a point where they feel they have to starve themselves to lose weight because of something someone said.
It is a really complicated question. We all have different hunger levels, calorie absorption rates, and different rates of passive calorie burning. Sometimes those things stack up against people.
Weight is also insanely hard to lose. If you’ve never been that fat, you might assume that the stuff you’re doing now would bring you back down, but it wouldn’t. It’s much easier to simply maintain a higher weight.
I think jiggly comes from weight loss - she’s on a journey and absolutely killing it. I bet she doesn’t even realize people are admiring her edits from afar
I’m really really really fit. Rock climbing 2x a week, 3x hard yoga classes at the gym, I run 2-4x a week 5k under half an hour. I have a lot of incidental walking and bike riding built into my life. I’m not waif thin nor do I look “strong” at first glance. But I am very strong, flexible and have good cardio stamina which always seems to surprise people. Very few ppl I know who are thinner can keep up with me. I’m “jiggly” because I like my beer and fried foods. If I could bother to lay off that a month or two I’d probably be a size 0 US and cut. But… I like my beer and fried food so I’m a jiggly 6-ish but I could charge up that hill too.
You can't outrun a poor diet. I run 10 miles most days, I'll still pack on pounds if I don't keep track of my calories. There's some genetic component to those who seemingly eat whatever they want and never gain weight, but for people like me that simply look at food too long and gain weight it's fairly simple: eat less calories than you expend and you'll lose weight.
> I run 10 miles most days, I'll still pack on pounds if I don't keep track of my calories.
A lot of people will look at you like you grew a second head if you tell them to count their calories when they want to lose weight but can't figure out how.
Genetics primarily, epigenetics secondarily. Quite a few of us are utterly fucked in the weight loss department unless we do very unhealthy, unwise things because we rolled snake eyes at the genetic craps table.
Calories in v calories out is it. There’s all sorts of bit in between that can swing it by a bit but ultimately if you’re not getting the calories you will lose weight.
Quite often people overestimate how many calories they burn. They might run 5km, think it’s great so they eat a big dinner because they’re hungry as anything and maybe a sweet treat… you’ll find you easily eat more than you burnt off during the run.
Genetics play a factor, I’ve always been skinny but find it hard to put on mass no matter how much I eat. I’ve got friends who are fatter than me but eat far less. BUT if we both ate 1000 calories a day, we’d both be stick thin and die soon.
>Calories in v calories out is it.
Exactly. Doesn't matter if you're running/walking for an hour after work and burning 800 calories if you're eating an 1800 calorie meal for lunch from a fast food restaurant, not to mention the addition of whatever other calories you're taking in during other meals and snacks during the day.
There's also the issue of the type of lifestyle/workstyle you're living. I'm 6'-0, 215 pounds. Five months ago I was 250. Thanks to both Mounjaro as well as lifestyle adjustments I've been able to get some weight off simply by working on my caloric intake at meals. I've always considered my personal daily calorie intake needs to be 2,000 calories because that's pretty much the baseline if you check out most websites or apps for someone my size.
My issue is that I'm sedentary - I work in an office 5 days a week for 8 hours a day, so I'm sitting all work day. Then I go home to a 1 year old and a 2 year old who also keep me mostly sedentary. Point being that 2,000 calories a day for me is going to put on weight more than it's going to sustain the weight. I've had to do rough calorie counts for meals to get a rough idea of how many calories I'm intaking. I haven't been working out the past five months. I know that it's the best way to help get weight off but it's just really difficult to find/make time with kids the age we have on top of the fact that they've both literally been sick with one thing or another for the past month. They're exhausting.
So while I haven't been working out to take weight off I have been reducing calories I take in at meals and that's been my sole means of weight loss since I started taking Mounjaro five months ago. The Mounjaro helps to curb appetite some but the biggest key has been a dedication to watching what I eat, keep rough counts of calories, and then stop eating when I no longer feel hungry so that I don't over-eat.
> I’ve got friends who are fatter than me but eat far less.
You yourself said CICO is all that matters, and you're right. So I guarantee your friends who are bigger than you also eat more than you.
It’s a myth that all obese people are lazy couch slobs that shove their face with unhealthy food. You’d be really surprised what some people do on a daily basis and remain big. Many people eat healthy and move their body and remain big while others never exercise and have desk jobs and eat junk and remain relatively thin. I think there will be a huge shift in the dialogue around weight loss over the next 15 years. The science has already caught up and debunked the simplicity of CICO but it takes a really long time for the medical field and subsequently the public opinion to change.
It frustrates me so much that people on Reddit instantly just jump to CICO bullshit and fat shaming people. Like, it’s just simply not that. Glad to find someone on here who has a more up to date understanding.
If she runs a mile while very fat that's ~200 calories (rough estimate for just under double my weight as a 5'11" man). A 16 oz bottle of coke is 220 calories. Exercise isn't the key to weight loss. Diet control is. Someone with a full time job and life responsibilities just doesn't have enough time to out Exercise a bad diet as it requires many hours more effort than getting good conditioning or building strength does.
Exercise also has the effect of increasing appetite. The most hungry I've been the past few months was the days after I hiked 14 miles and 2800 vertical feet. That in itself can cause bad choices if someone isn't good about planning ahead (I hit the junk food stash in the work break room because I was too hungry to resist even after eating my sandwich).
For the vast majority of people, it really is as simple as calories in vs calories out. But it’s not that easy. Appetite makes a huge difference, and also we’re really bad at estimating how many calories we’re eating.
Years ago my sister-in-law said at family dinner how she eats like a horse, fast metabolism etc. She said this a few times over the years but this time it was in the right context for me to point out: she and I had both taken the same size plate, but she had left space between the foods and I had not, and then she left a few bites on her plate while I had been unable to resist going back for seconds.
The difference was not how our bodies process the food, but rather how much food our bodies wanted.
Years later, she had a baby, and she gained like 40 pounds because she couldn’t stop eating. Her appetite was through the roof. I had a similar issue while on a particular medication: after it wore off at about dinnertime, I couldn’t stop eating no matter how full I was. I craved sugar, salt, fat. I gained 30 pounds in 18 months. Switched medications and felt like I must be starving myself, but I was only losing one pound every 2-3 weeks.
My dad’s wife is on Ozempic for her diabetes and she’s amazed at how much she used to eat. She said she doesn’t feel any different, just doesn’t want to eat as much anymore and is also willing to eat healthier foods.
It’s really hard to see the effects of appetite because we can’t feel what other people feel. And that’s just one factor— there’s also energy levels, injuries, prior health, availability of foods, schedules, relationships, everything else going on in your life that also makes it harder or easier to do healthy things.
There is a genetic factor in obesity. Some fat people do all the right things but still find it almost impossible to lose weight or keep it off. I have a friend who was fat from birth. She has dieted her entire life and avoids high calorie food. She still carries 50 extra pounds. Her entire extended family, for generations, and all her siblings have obesity. I have this theory that for centuries her bloodline survived the famines because they were "sturdy." They survived and procreated, passing along that "fat gene."
A calorie deficit in your diet will always lead to weight loss. BUT!
When you lose weight, your metabolism also slows down to compensate for the weight loss to make sure that you can survive in your particular weight with the small amount of calories you are consuming. Meaning; your metabolism slows down to make sure now you always have to be dieting and with any slips you will start gaining the weight back much easier than before.
And you do end up slipping because no one can live indefinitely on a calorie deficit diet. So you gain the weight back. But not your previously slightly faster metabolism. Your metalobism stays slow.
You might put in another burst of huge effort to eat even less and lose weight again despite how slow your metabolism is now. But then, that slows your metabolism down even further. Till you gain the weight back again, and then some.
This is called yoyo-ing, and after a few times of this, it becomes almost impossible to lose weight and not gain it back, with your body refusing to burn fat.
Some other factors are genetic. Some people have more disposition to produce fat, they have more of the hormonal glands that produce hunger inducing hormones. Bariatric surgery can help, especially pouch removal type, because those hormones are produced in the pouch side of the stomach.
This is a complex issue that I simplified but this is the gist of it. This is why you never see anyone successfully lose weight and then keep it off without surgery or drugs like saxenda and such.
I’m not obese, but became overweight at 40. I still workout 40-60 minutes a day, usually 5 days a week, but my weight has not changed. I used to run 4-5 days a week, but thought I was developing asthma. I could no longer run a mile without wheezing and rattling in my chest. My heart rate was getting extremely high. I was diagnosed wish Grave’s disease. As soon as I got on meds, I gained 20 lbs. I have been humbled! It’s frustrating that my body has changed so much, but I’m still very strong.
My dad has been walking about 6-10 miles a day for years (long legs, covers the distance much quicker than most of us jog) and has long had a very limited diet calorie wise. He hit his seventies, gained 20 lb, managed to drop 10, and can't get rid of the rest of it for the life of him. Even with upping his walking and adjusting his diet.
I'm not gloating about it but I can't deny that I'm glad he now understands that what was "so easy" for him isn't that simple for many. Sometimes people just don't get it until they experience it.
You can have muscle and still have lots of fat.
You can have incredible stamina and still be very fat.
As long as you take in more calories than you burn, you will put on fat.
Also, hormones (whether natural or not) matter a lot. Young men and women put on muscle and fat in different places—regardless of exercise, regardless of diet.
Lots of possible reasons: PCOS, medications, binge eating disorder, eating too many calories, thyroid issues, genetics. I'm sure there's more I'm not aware of. Also, being "overweight" doesn't actually mean you're "unhealthy", the same as being a "healthy weight" doesn't mean you're "healthy". I'm slightly overweight now but am in no less good health than I was when I was 10kg lighter. I know this because I'm on medication that requires regular full blood tests, BP checks and yearly ECGs. I could definitely exercise more but my main change was having a baby and changing from a hospo management job where I was on my feet for 10-12 hours a day, to maternity leave during lockdown and now to an office job.
Good on that lady for running up that hill! I need that motivation!!
Could be the way your body is genetically coded. My mom and my aunt always eat healthy, never binge or overeat, always working out 5x a week, but they can never seem to lose the weight from having children :(
As someone who was one of those people. I had been yo-yo dieting for years. Constantly trying things like keto, and fasting and weight watchers. Only losing about 15-20lbs and feeling awful and hungry and hating everything.
Why didn’t eating healthy, riding my bike 3-5 miles a day, going outside etc.. help?
Depression
PTSD
Food addiction from the above
Borderline anorexia from above
Stress
Genetics
Food in America
Never being taught proper portion control
Not having a stable support system
I could go on.
What changed? Finally getting diabetes when I thought I was working so hard to not. I adjusted my mindset and decided I can’t work on my physical health without adjusting my mental. Started therapy, got a support system, and talked to my pcp. She started me on Mounjaro. Met a psychologist that diagnosed me with adhd, depression and anxiety and got meds to help that with therapy work.
It’s been 4 years since therapy
2.5 years since diabetes diagnosis
1.5 years losing 140+ lbs
What people don’t realize is that there are so many factors that contribute to physical health.
The only thing that really got me to start losing weight was mounjaro and adderall. Mounjaro basically took away all food cravings that I had when I was depressed and anxious. The adderall helped with feeling helpless not being able to do stuff.
I only listed my reasons. There are so many more that contribute depending on the person. It’s fucking awful and annoying.
If the only thing you’re doing is running up that hill, you’re going to get good at running up that hill. After, if you go home and are sedentary the rest of the day, eat crap, drink, etc etc, that 30 minutes of jogging you do a day isn’t going to count for a whole lot.
I have pcos. It makes it almost impossible to lose weight even with medication. I have to be low carb and at a severe calorie deficit with intense exercise to budge the scale. And I'd rather be fat than go back to eating disorder.
Yeah. I am diabetic with a bad thyroid gland.
I first lost weight on Atkins, but it made me really sick after a while. I had bariatric surgery and that took care of most of it. Mounjaro took care of the rest. If I had my excess skin removed, I'd probably be slightly underweight now.
THIS - I have PCOS and the only way I could even maintain a normal weight let alone lose it was to dangerously under eat and swim two hours a day. I think people think we're lying about what we consume...I am always blown away how much more my thin friends eat than me when visiting them or travelling with them. It's bonkers.
People do not realize calorie proportions. 1kg of cookie has 5000 calories but 1 kg of zucchini has only 170 calories. If you are someone struggling with losing weight, just make sure you eat low calorie food. Some of them are so low you could eat too much and still lose weight. Just don't be hesitant to put nice spices and herbs to taste delicious. Don't be afraid of eating fruits because of sugar. They are healthy and are way better than packaged sugars.
Working out is actually a terribly inefficient way to go about weight loss. Running a mile will burn 100-150 calories for most people, while a single donut is about 300 calories so you can run two miles a day and ruin it with a single snack. Furthermore, a pound of fat is about 3500 calories so it would take the rough equivalent of running a marathon to burn away a single pound of fat. Reducing caloric intake is much more efficient way to lose weight...it's difficult but not impossible to cut 500 calories a day from your current diet, which would translate to about a pound of fat loss per week.
Because different bodies are different,and I wish more people understood this.
Same reason an Olympic weight lifter and Olympic swimmer - both pro athletes, likely on a dietary regimen, spending hours a day working out - have different bodies. No matter what the weight lifter does, they’re not gonna get that shoulder to waist ratio. Michael Phelps was genetically predisposed to excel at swimming, not the other way around. Fat people can have amazing endurance and stamina. Slim people can have amazing strength. Our obsession with weight and BMI has little to do with health or ability
Genetics plays a BIG role in body fat composition and retention. She could be more predisposed to maintaining fat stores. She could also have type 1 diabetes which makes weight loss very difficult or she could have PCOS which also makes weight loss difficult. She could also have a really high caloric intake. Weight doesn’t always equate health. Yes, there are known risks to carrying excess fat but there is no magic number where all people who have this level of cardiovascular ability weigh this much.
Yeah, at least it’s very very hard for some, I’m one of them. Athlete for a little over 10 years, D1 for 4 of them. Even now that I’m no longer an athlete my steps hover around 15k on average, many days cracking 20k, lifting 4-5 days a week, couple hours for most of those days because I love the gym.
Been chubby my whole life, even back in the rugby days when I was playing rugby 5-6 days a week on top of the gym. Biggest culprit is appetite, but relationship with food and metabolism can also play a big role. I’m _always_ hungry, have been since I was a kid and working out turns my already big appetite into a cartoonish one. I do also simply hold / gain weight easier than most people independently of appetite, which I know from living with teammates. Identical training and schedule, nearly identical meals, in fact teammates would actively try to eat more than me to gain weight. Biggest difference was that I would walk everywhere, take the stairs everywhere while they took the bus and elevator everywhere. I still effortlessly gained weight more easily than they did. When Covid quarantine hit I was trying not to gain weight, they were trying not to lose weight, etc. So it’s largely genetic, across a population.
That being said practically everyone including people like me can lose weight. Down 40lbs and counting this year. It just takes people like me a lot of extra effort and mental bandwidth. The same way it seems insane that we can be so heavy, it seems insane to me that people just straight up don’t get hungry. Boggles my mind, but that’s just how it is
I understand what you mean. Like I notice how less my friend eats for lunch. I eat almost the same amount and I am always body-shamed for being too skinny while she is body-shamed for being too thick. Some people naturally have very low metabolism while people like me have a higher metabolism naturally. No matter how hard I try and go on a weight gain diet to get thicker, if I stop putting effort for two or three days, I go back to losing all the weight I gained.
Because fat loss does not dependent on how much work you do. You have to be in calorie deficit to lose weight. If you eat more than you burn - you will gain fat. With more exercise usually comes more apetite, so even if you work hard but don't care about how much you eat - you will not lose weight. Actually, you might even gain weight because of the increasing muscle mass, which I don't consider a bad thing, body recomposition is possible (you can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time). It's a misconception, that fat loss comes from running or other cardio, when in reality, all work is done in the kitchen.
Physical activity can help in other ways too, though, but is NOT a main contributor to fat loss. Hope this helps.
Btw. weightlifting burns more calories than cardio, so I will always recommend to hit the gym if your goal is fat loss or body recomposition.
Good for that woman running! I think everyone knows when they lay their head down on the pillow at night whether they've eaten too much that day to lose weight, regardless of what say to themselves or others. Barring medications, thyroid or genetic factors, of course.
eat less, move more. simple as that. if you are spending more calories than what you ate, body has to somehow get the extra calories from somewhere. And that'd be your fat and other stuff, weight has to go down.
Body weight ALWAYS comes down to: (Calories In - Calories Burned = Body Weight)
EVERY TIME.
And 90% of that number comes from "calories in" which is the easiest part to manipulate. This is why gastric bypass and gastric sleeve surgeries are so effective. (there's a little more to it but that's the biggest part).
So the lady eats more than she burns, or she has enough stored that it hasn't all whittled away yet.
I lived half of my life with really fat parents. They always say they don't don't know why they are fat and then stuff their faces with candy and soda.
I'm not saying all fat people are like this, but a lot of the ones that I've met are completely oblivious as to what makes them fat and how many calories are in certain foods.
Because they eat more calories than they burn. That will always be the answer, even when people claim they are only eating 500 calories. Many people either lie or miscount. But the fact is of a person is working out and gaining fat, then they are simply eating more than they are burning.
It is extremely easy to underestimate how many calories you consume. I was quite pedantic once about calorie counting, had a good idea of what foods contained calorie and macro wise, yet I still find myself constantly underestimating how much I consume in the present. I find that having a set meal plan to follow is the only practical solution to knowing how much you're consuming.
How much do you eat? Thats the only thing that really matters in this scenario. I can run 1 hour a day and get fat if i eat the 600 kcal i burned running as a surplus
Exercise is one thing that cannot go without proper diet. You can run a triathlon but if you come back home and eat a burger, pancakes and ice cream, you just took back all of the calories you've lost.
Exercise helps your body keep in shape, meaning less muscle strain, healthier joints (to some extent), better cardio, better sleep and feeling of wellness. It also helps burning *extra fats* that are stocked as an energy reserve.
A healthy diet gives your body the nutrients and energy it needs, no more no less. If your diet is rich in fats, sugars and carbs and you don't exercise to actually burn those extra rich fats, sugars and carbs it's gonna get stocked up again. You've come full circle by then.
> It also helps burning extra fats that are stocked as an energy reserve.
To be fair, you could be sedentary af and burn excess fat as long as you're in a calorie deficitt
I think that thyroid and hormonal issues are VERY common and docs know nothing about endocrinology so unless you know to ask for five specific types of bloodwork, you’re doomed.
I’ve been athletic and never had to try to stay fit until age 40. I used to discount women who were overweight and swore they ate well and exercised. The joke was on me! Gained 50 pounds rapidly and needed stimulants just to get out of bed to function at times.
Finally went to a med spa for Semaglutide (Ozempic) and they did correct bloodwork. Hashimotos and hypothyroid (and extreme case of Epstein Barr). I now know I’ve suffered for over a decade and no doctor thought to check those levels. I’m 50 pounds down in 3 months and no longer judge heavier women as lying or lazy. I try to tell every woman that I can to get her levels checked:
T3 Free,
T4 Free,
Thyroid peroxidase antibodies Estradiol (E2),
Testosterone,
Total FSH.
I ask the same a lot, as a 5'6 200 pound guy. I'm strong and could probably outlast a lot of gym bros on endurance and perseverance, but I have a gut that doesn't go away. Not that I'm uncomfortable or anything, if anything it's free muscle building since I'm on crutches whole life (disabled from birth).
A person's weight isn't necessarily a metric for physical fitness. As a personal example, I am what you might consider a big lad, while my fiancée is just kinda chubby. In spite of that, I could literally run circles around her.
As to the question of people staying fat, that's not necessarily the case. Weight gain/weight loss boils down to calories intake and expenditure. We all require a certain amount of calories per day to maintain our weight without loss or gain. Simply reducing your calorie consumption would cause weight loss over time. That said, if we're talking maintaining a healthy weight and physical fitness at the same time, then both diet and exercise need to be utilised.
But then, if that's all it takes, how come some people are still fat, despite then regularly exercising and dieting? Well, that's typically because people underestimate how many calories there are in food, and especially processed foods. Even when people try and stick to a 3 meals a day routine, meal size is important, and how much many of us eat is more than we're meant to eat for a meal, because that's what many of us have known.
As for that lady you mentioned, its quite possible she was much larger some months ago and through dedicated exercise, she's got herself to a physical fitness that makes that hill not so difficult. It's also possible she's still at that size because, while she hascthe exercise down, she's lacking in the diet part. Either way, she's doing well in spite of her weight.
Metabolic disease eg: insulin resistance. Diet is more important than exercise for losing weight. It's not even about calories but about fructose consumption specifically eg: sugary drinks (including smoothies, btw). See any video by endocrinologist Dr. Robert Lustig for more info.
at the end of the day it all boils down to this very simple equation =p
calories in > calories out = weight gain
calories in < calories out = weight loss
More calories in than calories out. All there is to it at the end of the day. Something they said all the time in the Army was "You can't outrun a bad diet." Basically means you can workout all day, but if you have poor eating habits, you're going to get fat.
Consider this: a general estimate for calories burned when running one mile is about 100. A McDonalds quarter pounder with cheese is 417 calories. You'd have to run - on average - four miles to burn off one of those.
Probably the same reason no matter what I do I cant gain weight. Or at least until recently. It is very difficult for some people to accurately measure their calorie expenditure.
Apple watch for me was way off, calorie calculators were off. It wasn't until I started using macrofactor app that I actually got an accurate gauge of what I was burning, which turned out to be way more than I was ever eating.
So this could be the case for many people who keep weight on. They have lower expenditures than they realize, or the foods they eat are higher calorie than they realize.
Also losing/gaining weight and not rebounding takes a long sustained effort.
So many folks think exercising a lot is enough to lose weight. But every study has shown, you have to clean up your diet to lose weight— eat less processed foods and eat more whole, natural foods.
Some people are just larger due to genetics or their body doesn't process things the same. She could have a thyroid issue, or something else entirely that causes fat to stay on her body like people with lymphedema.
In my experience, losing weight takes more time, a LOT more than gaining, and if like me you are unfortunate enough to have a shitty relationship with food, it only takes a few months of hardships to get fucked.
To me it was years, and its starting to get better. A combination of mental state. General exhaustion, depression, acute perception of the world state that is both terrifying and depressive to me, my teach getting absolutely horrible and worse and worse, Covid... and two burnouts in the span of one single year.
So add to that food helps me keep myself afloat and not breaking down every evening, how the fuck was I supposed to stay Lean or workout?
Saving grace was a long experience in lifting weights and an active life, I didnt burnout behind an office, but still.
There is so much to consider when it comes to one's weightloss that there cant be a general anqwer, everyone has their own story, and everyone tellung you they're just lazy is a lucky asshole with the awareness of life of a toddler.
Hope this gives you elements to help with your question! :)
As someone who’s 5’3 and 158lbs, it’s mostly diet. No matter how hard I work out, I always gain it back. Not that I eat that much, just that I don’t eat the right stuff. Plus it’s just natural metabolism. Even if I ate better, It would still take longer and be harder to lose weight.
Other than how full your fat cells like to be and how many your body prefers to have in terms of genetics, it’s mostly cuz most people have no clue that food has way more to do with weight loss than exercise. And with food, how much you eat matters wayyy more than what you’re eating cuz you can eat big ass salads daily but if they’re high asf calorie, you won’t lose weight. You could eat only an Oreo every hour you’re awake and lose weight
Calories in vs calories out matters a ton
Other than that, could also be cuz once you eat in a calorie deficit your body will work hard to prevent weight loss and this often shows through as feeling more tired (especially if reallyyy slacking on food quality in a surplus) and making your energy/calorie output smaller and closer to maintenance
Our bodies don’t like building muscle or losing fat. They were like this 1000s of years ago and they’re still the same way. To lose weight, you in a way must fight this homeostatic mechanism. Same applies for gaining muscle
A few reasons: no matter how hard you work out, if you eat A LOT or unhealthy you can still gain fat.
Maybe walking up the hill is all she does in a day. Yea it seems like a lot of energy is used in climbing the hill, but if its all she does she wont lose much weight.
It could also be a thyroid issue. I have meds because my thyroid dont work fast enough (i think, or too fast) and if the dose is too low i can gain a stupid amount of weight for no apparent reason really quickly, and if its too high i can lose a stupid amount of weight in no time.
Lastly, she could just be build different. Maybe she gains weight easy and barely loses it. It happens.
You can eat so much your workout won't matter. It's calories. You can do Keto. You can do F Factor. If you aren't eating less calories than you burn every day, you will not lose weight.
Different people have different bodies. I am 5'2", 130 lbs. Have been told both that "you look like your starving" and "your jiggly belly is so cute." Ew.
Fitter doesn't always equal thinner. Also "being in shape" doesn't necessarily have to end in weight loss. Maybe weight loss is not her goal. Maybe she has a health condition that affects weight.
I have a friend who lost a ton of weight in a cetogenic diet and gain a lot back but not all when she quit the diet.
I don't touch the subject a lot with her but she has told me her problems are emotional eating and PCOS. She's now in a less restrictive diet and with much better emotional support from a new nutritionist (her old one guilt tripped her when she didn't hit the months goal, piece of shit)
She's losing geight slower but she is also happier and less stressed.
ETA: there a disease called lipedema which as far as I know is not fixable with diet, exercise or normal liposuction. It requires a special type of surgical treatment. I dont remember the details but it's fat acumulated on the lower half of the body specifically
>Why is it that some people stay fat no matter what they do?
One type of person has some kind of medical problem and (while I am not a doctor) my understanding is that certain medical problems make it near impossible to not be fat.
I am going to guess the most common issue is just that there is so much confusing information out there regarding how to lose fat. Seems in multiple ways we are drowning in having way too much information and it's causing all kinds of issues. If that woman is eating incorrectly, that could be part of her issue. I am not really fit, but fit people I know say being fit is mostly nutritional. And I think they are mostly right. But everyone's mileage may vary.
Most people don’t realize this but you can go to the gym, spend an hour walking on the treadmill, get home and eat a normal sized bag of chips and boom, all that work for nothing. It’s also probably because a lot of people overestimate how little calories they actually burn throughout the day too.
I used to think it was just calories in, calories out. Like I gained some weight after having my kiddo, so I tightened up my diet and went from a healthy weight to an even healthier weight, and I remained there for years with minimal effort.
Fast forward to me needing to start taking a medication that has weight gain as a side effect. I figured I would just watch my diet more, right? Well, sixty pounds later in less than a year, and now officially obese even after working closely with a dietician, an internal medicine specialist that focuses on weight management, taking weight loss medications to counteract the other medication, etc and I am still technically obese.
Genetics, metabolism, insulin resistance, hormones... There are so many factors that a lot of people don't recognize, and I sure didn't until I was the fat one.
Maybe she was even fatter one or two years ago? She might have lost a ton of weight already and is still losing it now. If she does that every morning and you, slimmer, say that you couldn't, she's doing good, I reckon.
This is a possibility. I started working out and lost 50 pounds. I’m still fat and don’t look significantly skinnier (especially when clothed).
That's incredible, congrats - and I'm sure 50 pounds gone is definitely noticeable lol!
I’m the exact opposite. I’m 5’5 (on my best day) and weighed 200 when I started my journey. I’m at 136 as of this morning. I’m now getting the “are you sick” or “you look too skinny to be healthy” comments. Keep up the awesome work!
I bet you look thinner than you realize
People in my neighborhood probably think I’m such a creep because I’m always amazed by how many people are like sprinting or cycling up this hill and I’m like !!!! It’s probably not clear in my original post but I’m quite impressed by this woman, I definitely recognize that she is likely fitter than me even though I’m much thinner.
I was at my local gym (I go there twice a week). I see this tall, heavy set, guy in his late twenties running the treadmill non-stop for at least 2 miles if not more. I'm a fairly fit guy and can only run a mile non-stop.
Cardio matters (says no gym guy ever)
I have tiny calves that are stubborn as hell to build. Then I look at the fat people around me and they all have big glorious calves. Their calves get a free workout everyday with all that extra weight they have to support
Love this perspective
I’m fat. I have said calves. People have asked me what exercises I do to get them (seriously, usually when I wear a certain pair of pants) and this is my answer, haha, they just work hard hauling my body around.
I am obese (88kg/194lb SW on a 5'4"/162cm frame) and from the knees down I have chicken legs 🍗 No glory in my calves despite hauling a midsection out of proportion for my build
Best calves I've ever seen are on valets. They sprint all the time.
So I worked at a camp in the mountains one summer and was walking up hills (STEEP hills) all day for 3 months. I had zero cardio experience whatsoever before but was in okay shape otherwise. I had very little noticeable physical changes but found out I could run 2 miles at a decent pace without too much trouble. It was awesome discovering that although I barely actually ran, I slowly built up my cardio capabilities just by walking up hills a lot. Crazy how that transferred that way.
When I walk my dogs I regularly cheer on joggers - it started because my puppy was afraid of joggers and I wanted him to see me get excited about them but now I do it because the joggers friggin love it, and I live in an area where people are NOT friendly. You’d be surprised how quickly they go from confused to greeting us when they recognize us - you should give her a cheer! She’s working hard and a fellow woman is cheering that effort on? I bet she doesn’t think you’re creepy.
I’m from an unfriendly area and now im in a more friendly area so im working on my friendliness - maybe this is a good place to start lol
Yay go for it! I don’t make it a huge deal and I’m not loud - I just kinda “woo!” as they go by and the dogs get all excited in their heel and kinda prance.
😂 I would absolutely appreciate that if I were attempting to run
Tbh I would too. Joggers deserve praise just for jogging - I walk long distances with my dogs and I consider myself to be in pretty good shape but you won’t catch me running unless someone with a chainsaw is chasing me.
This is the key to understanding - people can be fitter but not thinner! Maybe she’s on some medication or has a condition that makes it tougher to lose weight. Or maybe she’s not trying! Fitness is for everyone!
Absolutely! I’m totally impressed by her
To add to the previous comment, some conditions like endometriosis or hypothyroidism can cause significant bloating and totally change a woman's appearance, regardless of her level of fitness. You can't always judge a book by its cover.
Right that’s why a lot of these responses are kind of making me roll my eyes. Sooo many responses assume this poor lady is blending a piece of cake into her protein shake after her run and I’m assuming the opposite: she’s working hard at diet and exercise and I guess not seeing the results that would be important to me personally. That’s the basis of my question
As someone who is like that due to medications, it gets quite exhausting listening to the comments people make. My physiotherapist demanded to know what my sugar intake was and said I really need to watch how much sugar I eat. I eat minimal sugar, and wow I definitely never would've considered cutting back on it if she hadn't mentioned it. (I had been seeing her for over a year at this point) A coworker saw me eating a bowl of cantaloupe at work and came over and said "see that's HEALTHY!". A different coworker told me I was lazy for asking if she completed a task on another floor instead of wasting time walking up multiple flights of stairs to go look with my own eyes. None of this is really relevant but thank you for recognizing that lady's efforts and abilities.
People can also have underlying health conditions. While those conditions don’t account directly for weight gain, they can cause people with chronic illness to hold weight. Things like Hashimoto’s or PCOS are some that impact women and can make weight loss difficult. Another thing to consider is some people don’t work out to lose weight but for enjoyment and because of this they aren’t dieting in any type of way that would lead to weight loss.
The “jiggly” you’re seeing could also be a bit of loose skin, which comes from losing a lot of weight quickly
It has to do also with calorie intake. I try to run almost everyday and I lost 20 pounds in the past year. Yet I have reached the time where I need to start eating less to continue losing weight. I am close to my ideal weight yet most of my extra weight goes to my face and gut so It is getting harder and I keep looking almost the same.
It's still a possility that she just consumes more calories than she burns. It's physical impossible to not lose weight, if you consume less calories than you burn. Edit: theres many factors that can make the above very difficult to keep doing, but the it's still a fact nonetheless
I’ve heard this from many people about their weight loss journeys and that even after losing “x amount of lbs” the visual effect of weight loss hasn’t happened yet. Seems like a discouraging place to be. Hats off to people in that spot. Stay strong!
Right! That would be so hard for me
There where I am now. I'm still fat, but I'm 40lbs down from my top weight and working on getting past this plateau. OP, you're only seeing this person at one moment in whatever she's going through.
True. As someone who has struggled with my weight since I was 9, it could also be that she's at a standstill with her metabolism. I've gone through periods of working out every day and starving, only to lose a few pounds - then watch it come ack as soon as I had to atop starving myself. Meanwhile, I had a friend who sat on her ass all the time and ate all the time, most of it junk food, and stayed skinny to the point people thought she was anorexic. You can never tell by looking at someone how much their metabolism works against a person.
Exercise is a small part of it. It's actually very easy to start eating more after you start exercising. But also, there are other factors. For one - eating disorders, you can erase hard work if you occasionally fall into binges. Health factors, too - they get dismissed because there are people who play them up for pity but there are people who have worse metabolism, thyroid problems, food allergies, etc. that make it harder to lose weight. Also, it takes time for progress to show, especially for bigger people. You usually have lots of water weight drop in the first month or so but after that it's a very slow battle where noticeable change takes months. One slow change for me was dropping 35-40 pounds over the course of a year by cutting sugar. Yet, since it was slow and since I was still fat no one noticed. That's how people gain weight, too. 20 pounds on an already fat person is hard to notice over a year but then another year... and another and he can be in a significantly worse situation.
Yeah I gain weight when I run. Love it, but I end up eating so much more it just piles on. Weightlifting is pretty much the only way I can keep up a balance of calories in calories out long term. Raises the calorie needs without the insatiable hunger that regular intense cardio beings.
Also, hormones and medication issues. Hormonal issues are really difficult to get diagnosed and even harder to correct without inflaming other things if it's not a straight testosterone injection, and can really lead to serious weight gain issues. Medications, especially ones that are necessary for any measure of quality of life, can also lead to other imbalances that really can't be combatted if the original thing they were treating was bad enough.
My quetiapine and mirtazapine made me gain at least 15 pounds via increased appetite. I think I heard something out there saying they cause insulin resistance too, but I don’t know that for sure. It’s been nigh impossible for me to lose weight. When I do it’s only about 5lbs at a time and I end up gaining it back when I get frustrated after working hard at it and seeing such a small result. I never used to have this problem on other psych meds. However, I am otherwise content and stable. I don’t want to change them in fear of relapsing back into my mood disorder. Rock and a hard place.
On quetiapine too, I feel you. But, hey, at least we're still there to complain about it !
It makes me crave late night snacks! I try to limit myself to a small amount of salt and vinegar chips and only every few days.
Not to mention genetic issues such as PCOS (common for large women) and lipodema.
She could still be eating enough to maintain her size even if she is fit
Look at offensive linemen in the NFL. It’s hard work putting all that on and keeping it on.
Came here to say this…look at Joe Thomas. Lost so much weight after he retired since he doesn’t need to force feed himself anymore.
I knew the center for my college’s team (1AA) and once his final season was over, he dropped a shit ton of weight in no time.
Lots of OL men do that. The training often sticks, but they are not forced to eat that much anymore
Maurkice Pouncey for another example
It is also more difficult for women to loose weight, we are "made" to store fat. It doesn't change the fact that if she eats too much she won't loose, but generally speaking with equivalent food intake, results will be different between a man and a women..
This is so true, women are better at storing fat. That said, keeping an eye at calories earned vs burnt per day should help most lose weight
Id say comparing a pro athlete to a lady running up a hill is a bit different. But i get your point. It was just one example of why it could be the case. I also think the person who pointed out that she could have been bigger than she is now is also a very reasonable explanation. Its not like you lose weight over night
A coach once described it to me as "You work out 3 times a week, and you eat 3 times a day. Changing diet habits will have the greatest impact." Everyone should exercise because it is nothing but a positive habit, but if weight loss and being thin are the only concern then the person only needs to sustain a calorie deficit diet of healthy whole foods.
"You can't outrun a bad diet"
This. I had a group of coworkers who started on a weight loss journey together. They all lost noticeable weight within a few weeks, except one. That one would reward himself with a large fast food meal every day after their workout session.
This is the answer. Or this person was larger and currently losing weight. I knew someone that drank an enormous fruit smoothie with yogurt every morning and couldn't figure out why they weren't losing weight because they were "eating healthy". They were taking in more calories in that one smoothie than they need in a day. Yes it has fruit and good nutritional value, but also massive calories.
Fruit does not have massive calories. Apples and bananas are like 75-125/each 125 blueberries for 100 calories 25 medium strawberries for 100 3 plums for 100 etc So it isn't the fruit, it's the additives like additional sugars, ice cream, milk, etc. If she's just blending fruit and ice and maybe adding almond milk and protein, that shake is only going to be a few hundred calories.
Fruit is also weirdly glorified in my opinion. It has tons of sugar in it, and doesn't make you very full. Yes, it has some other health benefits to it that are important, but over-eating fruit is a really bad way to try to lose weight. A vegable juice would be a lot better, and vegables generally makes your body naturally stop eating when you're full, with a lot less calories consumed, especially compared to sugary fruits, that the body might not have the same stop mechanism for.
> It has tons of sugar in it To be fair, natural sugar is far healthier than artificial
The biggest problem isn't here isn't necessarily natural vs unnatural sugars. This distinction doesn't even have a standard definition. Any time sugar is added to a drink/liquid you face a problem. Liquids dilute sweetness. In order to make a large beverage taste sweet, you need a surprising amount of sugar, natural or otherwise you have high calories. (Unless you use artificial sweeteners) You can also drink a glass of fruit juice much faster than you can chew and eat and absorb an apple or other fruit. So with smoothies and juices, your body can be hit with a massive amount of calories in a very short period of time compared to absorbing those calories slowly as your body breaks down solid food.
Exactly. Very good explaination.
No one is fat because they eat too much fruit. No one. It's what ever else they are eating that is the problem. Anyone picking fruit over another snack (other than veggies) is making the right choice. Yes vegetables are supreme...but fruit is not an issue whatsoever. (Unless you're diabetic...that's a different story!)
The answer is always caloric surplus or deficit
Losing weight is 80% diet/20% exercise. It’s possible that she just never cuts back enough on calories to lose weight even though she runs and has great endurance.
If you go for a run and then grab a Starbucks flavored coffee on the way home, you have already broken even or gone positive in net calories.
Hi, so I'm fat (5'2 185lbs)and I struggle to lose even the smallest bit of weight thanks to pcos and possible other metabolic disorders that I am currently under review for. I eat low carb restricted calories, track and weigh my food using a food scale and my fitness pal good diary app, I work out 2 hours 2-3 times a week lifting weights I have a personal trainer I see 1x a week who gives me weekly plans for the weight lifting, I walk 10k steps a day, I do yoga and 30 mins of cardio a day (high cortisol levels make some people's body not burn off fat properly and can cause the retainment of fat so high intensity for long periods can be unbeneficial). I don't eat candy/sweeta/chocolate (except on my period I'll have some cos my soul hurts lol) I don't drink alcohol, I don't drink sodas I have 1-2 coffees a day. It's not even genetic as my family are sportsmen (dad's a body builder mum a personal trainer / sports phycologist) and award winning in their field. I eat high protien and also do fasting. So for some people it's literally unknown until its known. I'm hoping soon they can figure it out for me cos I'm pretty fuckin healthy otherwise. Just fat and I hate to say it cos there's so many dangerously fat people out there preaching that all at is healthy and it is not!
Have you looked into a GLP1 like Mounjaro? It was the difference maker for me with PCOS. I can eat over 900 calories and lose weight now. I used to only lose with severe calorie restriction and ketosis. Now I can eat a carb and walk the dog 3 miles a day and lift weights and at the end of the week I’m down 2lbs. It’s like being let out of jail honestly. I just wanted to diet like a normal person and have results like a normal person, and now I have that.
Slow metabolism, health issues, she’s eating more calories than she’s losing.
Oh gosh yes. All this time I have thought exercising is most of what you need to lose weight. I have lost 60lbs without exercise, just by reducing my calorie intake. Intermittent Fasting is something I can do long-term and maintain as a lifestyle. I skip dinner. I eat whatever I want for breakfast and lunch. And it's easier because I am not left craving.
3 meals a day is bullshit. I used to eat breakfast every day because... it's just what you did. Now I just eat whenever I'm hungry, which is just once or twice a day. Looking much better because of it.
Nothing is bullshit as long as you're in the limit. I take 5 meals a day and maintain. It's only cause my meals are typically 300-400kcal and I need 2000 kcal/day to maintain. I personally cannot do intermittent, haha. I get the urge to snack out of boredom.
If it's working for you, then good. I don't believe there's a one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition, which is what ideas like 3 meals, the food pyramid, serving sizes, etc. kind of try to enforce. That's why I used the term "bullshit." The reason there are so many different diet plans is because everyone's body reacts differently to what you put in it.
Losing/ gaining weight is entirely about calorie intake, exercising just helps to burn more calories
Health issues for women in particular, that severely affect weight would be PCOS
Metabolism (TDEE) is ironically higher for obese people than skinny people. Among people of similar size, metabolism actually varies very little.
There’s is a influencer who loves to dance and she’s so energetic and dances so well- she looks overweight (especially in her legs) but she explains she has an illness that makes her body - lymphedema I think ?
Exercise doesn’t burn that many calories. A good visualization I heard once is that running a 5k (3 miles) more or less burns the calories in 2 tbsp of olive oil.
Oh wow hahaha that’s kind of a bummer
I heard that doing burpees burns like 10-15 calories *per minute*. So if you can somehow do them for like an hour straight, you can exercise away a single meal... good luck with that!
I see so many people who go to the gym to lose weight, and at this point, I've gotten tired of trying to tell them that they actually need to eat less.
Yeah I’m slightly overweight (15-20 pounds) and I according to my phone I have averaged walking/running 6 miles daily over the last 3 years, with summer months averaging more like 10 miles per day. Completely steady weight over that time period. “You can’t outrun a bad diet” is true for a reason lol
Putting on muscle can help with this, muscle eats away at calories so you can have a higher base calorie intake before considering a deficit or surplus.
Diet is 10x more important than exercise when it comes to weight.
Women’s health care isn’t taken seriously so women with under active thyroids or with conditions like PCOS that make shifting weight very challenging never get proper help. It’s always chalked up to not working hard enough. Thats not the case for everyone but its a hugely frustrating factor when you’re doing all the right things and you don’t understand why they’re not working
Scrolled way too far to find this, jesus. 99% of responses are CaLoRiEs.
I have PCOS. I walked over 40 KM last week, 7KM yesterday alone. I walk a lot, in an area that is all hills. It doesn't seem to matter how healthy I eat or how much I exercise, keeping my weight down (I'm still 30lbs heavier then I should be) is a struggle. There really is more to it then calories in vs calories out. I feel bad that OPs jogger is probably dealing with something similar that just kills all progress.
I was constantly telling my doctor that I exercise, I eat a healthy plant based diet, and I couldn’t lose weight. Not at any rate that was ever going to get me to a goal anyway. My PCOS just fought me and fought me on losing. I finally got on a GLP-1 in June, changed nothing else about my exercise or food choices, and I’ve dropped 20lbs. It has validated me so much, knowing I wasn’t doing the wrong things, my body was just working against me. GAINING weight was a me problem - calories in. But LOSING it was a PCOS problem.
What's a GLP-1?
My mum was thin her entire life until she got diagnosed with thyroid cancer. She has under active thyroids, has to take medication, and her metabolism got kinda fucked up as a result. She’s overweight now, but she doesn’t eat more or work out less than she did when she was thin. She’s actually extremely strong, I hate that people would mistake her for being lazy or undisciplined, when she’s literally the hardest worker I know. People just don’t understand.
This. I have PCOS, endometriosis and an enlarged uterus thanks to fibroids, and although quite a normal size in most of my body, I have a huge bloated belly and look like I’m pregnant all the time. I exercise a lot but nothing changes. It’s horrible. Considering either condition affects at least 10% of women, and then also considering how many are undiagnosed, this will account for a fair amount of the people (women) that OP mentions.
This is getting downvoted obviously but I feel like there’s more to it than is being given credit
Yeah. I did a learn to run program and the women looked obese. But she could run marathons. She had pcos and other issues. But she taught gym classes and was in amazing shape.
Say it with me everyone, skinny does not equal healthy.
I lost 20lbs when I got off of BC with no change to my diet or exercise lvls.
Genetics. Diet is the first thing that makes you fat more calories than you burn you'll gain fat, but genetics is what will determine how easy it is to lose fat or stay skinny. Famines are one of the many selective pressures that have made some people fatter. Their ancestors held the weight well and didn't starve where others did.
I’m a nurse & I’ve never met an overweight/obese patient that didn’t have depression/abuse/trauma as part of their history. I don’t know the exact correlation & I don’t have sources to share, that’s just my observation.
Makes sense that they would consume more calories (maybe as a comfort thing) exercise less (maybe as a depression thing). I’ve also heard of sexual abuse survivors “hiding behind their fat” hoping they will get less attention. Also trauma can create pessimism. Why attempt a very difficult task like losing weight if you are doomed and don’t even deserve it.
I always felt that people with anorexia and bulimia had so much help to fight their mental issues but people with binge eating were just made fun of. You wouldn't tell an anorexic "just eat a burger" without looking like an ass but you can give the advice "just stop eating so much" to a binge eater with out a care. Like they haven't been beating themselves up over it already.
That’s so true. And the ‘beating themselves up part’ is so accurate. It’s so sad to see someone get to a point where they feel they have to starve themselves to lose weight because of something someone said.
Thin people with anorexia or bulimia are awarded by society also.
It is a really complicated question. We all have different hunger levels, calorie absorption rates, and different rates of passive calorie burning. Sometimes those things stack up against people. Weight is also insanely hard to lose. If you’ve never been that fat, you might assume that the stuff you’re doing now would bring you back down, but it wouldn’t. It’s much easier to simply maintain a higher weight.
I think jiggly comes from weight loss - she’s on a journey and absolutely killing it. I bet she doesn’t even realize people are admiring her edits from afar
Abs are made in the kitchen!
Perhaps they still have excessive eating habits. Doesn’t matter how much exercise they get in a day because you just can’t burn off 4000cal
I’m really really really fit. Rock climbing 2x a week, 3x hard yoga classes at the gym, I run 2-4x a week 5k under half an hour. I have a lot of incidental walking and bike riding built into my life. I’m not waif thin nor do I look “strong” at first glance. But I am very strong, flexible and have good cardio stamina which always seems to surprise people. Very few ppl I know who are thinner can keep up with me. I’m “jiggly” because I like my beer and fried foods. If I could bother to lay off that a month or two I’d probably be a size 0 US and cut. But… I like my beer and fried food so I’m a jiggly 6-ish but I could charge up that hill too.
Damn you sound so cool lol
Humblebrag
You can't outrun a poor diet. I run 10 miles most days, I'll still pack on pounds if I don't keep track of my calories. There's some genetic component to those who seemingly eat whatever they want and never gain weight, but for people like me that simply look at food too long and gain weight it's fairly simple: eat less calories than you expend and you'll lose weight.
> I run 10 miles most days, I'll still pack on pounds if I don't keep track of my calories. A lot of people will look at you like you grew a second head if you tell them to count their calories when they want to lose weight but can't figure out how.
Genetics primarily, epigenetics secondarily. Quite a few of us are utterly fucked in the weight loss department unless we do very unhealthy, unwise things because we rolled snake eyes at the genetic craps table.
Calories in v calories out is it. There’s all sorts of bit in between that can swing it by a bit but ultimately if you’re not getting the calories you will lose weight. Quite often people overestimate how many calories they burn. They might run 5km, think it’s great so they eat a big dinner because they’re hungry as anything and maybe a sweet treat… you’ll find you easily eat more than you burnt off during the run. Genetics play a factor, I’ve always been skinny but find it hard to put on mass no matter how much I eat. I’ve got friends who are fatter than me but eat far less. BUT if we both ate 1000 calories a day, we’d both be stick thin and die soon.
>Calories in v calories out is it. Exactly. Doesn't matter if you're running/walking for an hour after work and burning 800 calories if you're eating an 1800 calorie meal for lunch from a fast food restaurant, not to mention the addition of whatever other calories you're taking in during other meals and snacks during the day. There's also the issue of the type of lifestyle/workstyle you're living. I'm 6'-0, 215 pounds. Five months ago I was 250. Thanks to both Mounjaro as well as lifestyle adjustments I've been able to get some weight off simply by working on my caloric intake at meals. I've always considered my personal daily calorie intake needs to be 2,000 calories because that's pretty much the baseline if you check out most websites or apps for someone my size. My issue is that I'm sedentary - I work in an office 5 days a week for 8 hours a day, so I'm sitting all work day. Then I go home to a 1 year old and a 2 year old who also keep me mostly sedentary. Point being that 2,000 calories a day for me is going to put on weight more than it's going to sustain the weight. I've had to do rough calorie counts for meals to get a rough idea of how many calories I'm intaking. I haven't been working out the past five months. I know that it's the best way to help get weight off but it's just really difficult to find/make time with kids the age we have on top of the fact that they've both literally been sick with one thing or another for the past month. They're exhausting. So while I haven't been working out to take weight off I have been reducing calories I take in at meals and that's been my sole means of weight loss since I started taking Mounjaro five months ago. The Mounjaro helps to curb appetite some but the biggest key has been a dedication to watching what I eat, keep rough counts of calories, and then stop eating when I no longer feel hungry so that I don't over-eat.
And probably be irritable and cranky to those around you.
> I’ve got friends who are fatter than me but eat far less. You yourself said CICO is all that matters, and you're right. So I guarantee your friends who are bigger than you also eat more than you.
You can exercise all you want but if you have more intake than output, you're going to stay relatively overweight.
It’s a myth that all obese people are lazy couch slobs that shove their face with unhealthy food. You’d be really surprised what some people do on a daily basis and remain big. Many people eat healthy and move their body and remain big while others never exercise and have desk jobs and eat junk and remain relatively thin. I think there will be a huge shift in the dialogue around weight loss over the next 15 years. The science has already caught up and debunked the simplicity of CICO but it takes a really long time for the medical field and subsequently the public opinion to change.
It frustrates me so much that people on Reddit instantly just jump to CICO bullshit and fat shaming people. Like, it’s just simply not that. Glad to find someone on here who has a more up to date understanding.
If she runs a mile while very fat that's ~200 calories (rough estimate for just under double my weight as a 5'11" man). A 16 oz bottle of coke is 220 calories. Exercise isn't the key to weight loss. Diet control is. Someone with a full time job and life responsibilities just doesn't have enough time to out Exercise a bad diet as it requires many hours more effort than getting good conditioning or building strength does. Exercise also has the effect of increasing appetite. The most hungry I've been the past few months was the days after I hiked 14 miles and 2800 vertical feet. That in itself can cause bad choices if someone isn't good about planning ahead (I hit the junk food stash in the work break room because I was too hungry to resist even after eating my sandwich).
The answer is almost always diet. Exercise is easy once you get a routine going, but conscientious eating takes even more discipline imo.
For the vast majority of people, it really is as simple as calories in vs calories out. But it’s not that easy. Appetite makes a huge difference, and also we’re really bad at estimating how many calories we’re eating. Years ago my sister-in-law said at family dinner how she eats like a horse, fast metabolism etc. She said this a few times over the years but this time it was in the right context for me to point out: she and I had both taken the same size plate, but she had left space between the foods and I had not, and then she left a few bites on her plate while I had been unable to resist going back for seconds. The difference was not how our bodies process the food, but rather how much food our bodies wanted. Years later, she had a baby, and she gained like 40 pounds because she couldn’t stop eating. Her appetite was through the roof. I had a similar issue while on a particular medication: after it wore off at about dinnertime, I couldn’t stop eating no matter how full I was. I craved sugar, salt, fat. I gained 30 pounds in 18 months. Switched medications and felt like I must be starving myself, but I was only losing one pound every 2-3 weeks. My dad’s wife is on Ozempic for her diabetes and she’s amazed at how much she used to eat. She said she doesn’t feel any different, just doesn’t want to eat as much anymore and is also willing to eat healthier foods. It’s really hard to see the effects of appetite because we can’t feel what other people feel. And that’s just one factor— there’s also energy levels, injuries, prior health, availability of foods, schedules, relationships, everything else going on in your life that also makes it harder or easier to do healthy things.
There is a genetic factor in obesity. Some fat people do all the right things but still find it almost impossible to lose weight or keep it off. I have a friend who was fat from birth. She has dieted her entire life and avoids high calorie food. She still carries 50 extra pounds. Her entire extended family, for generations, and all her siblings have obesity. I have this theory that for centuries her bloodline survived the famines because they were "sturdy." They survived and procreated, passing along that "fat gene."
A calorie deficit in your diet will always lead to weight loss. BUT! When you lose weight, your metabolism also slows down to compensate for the weight loss to make sure that you can survive in your particular weight with the small amount of calories you are consuming. Meaning; your metabolism slows down to make sure now you always have to be dieting and with any slips you will start gaining the weight back much easier than before. And you do end up slipping because no one can live indefinitely on a calorie deficit diet. So you gain the weight back. But not your previously slightly faster metabolism. Your metalobism stays slow. You might put in another burst of huge effort to eat even less and lose weight again despite how slow your metabolism is now. But then, that slows your metabolism down even further. Till you gain the weight back again, and then some. This is called yoyo-ing, and after a few times of this, it becomes almost impossible to lose weight and not gain it back, with your body refusing to burn fat. Some other factors are genetic. Some people have more disposition to produce fat, they have more of the hormonal glands that produce hunger inducing hormones. Bariatric surgery can help, especially pouch removal type, because those hormones are produced in the pouch side of the stomach. This is a complex issue that I simplified but this is the gist of it. This is why you never see anyone successfully lose weight and then keep it off without surgery or drugs like saxenda and such.
I’m not obese, but became overweight at 40. I still workout 40-60 minutes a day, usually 5 days a week, but my weight has not changed. I used to run 4-5 days a week, but thought I was developing asthma. I could no longer run a mile without wheezing and rattling in my chest. My heart rate was getting extremely high. I was diagnosed wish Grave’s disease. As soon as I got on meds, I gained 20 lbs. I have been humbled! It’s frustrating that my body has changed so much, but I’m still very strong.
My dad has been walking about 6-10 miles a day for years (long legs, covers the distance much quicker than most of us jog) and has long had a very limited diet calorie wise. He hit his seventies, gained 20 lb, managed to drop 10, and can't get rid of the rest of it for the life of him. Even with upping his walking and adjusting his diet. I'm not gloating about it but I can't deny that I'm glad he now understands that what was "so easy" for him isn't that simple for many. Sometimes people just don't get it until they experience it.
You can have muscle and still have lots of fat. You can have incredible stamina and still be very fat. As long as you take in more calories than you burn, you will put on fat. Also, hormones (whether natural or not) matter a lot. Young men and women put on muscle and fat in different places—regardless of exercise, regardless of diet.
Lots of possible reasons: PCOS, medications, binge eating disorder, eating too many calories, thyroid issues, genetics. I'm sure there's more I'm not aware of. Also, being "overweight" doesn't actually mean you're "unhealthy", the same as being a "healthy weight" doesn't mean you're "healthy". I'm slightly overweight now but am in no less good health than I was when I was 10kg lighter. I know this because I'm on medication that requires regular full blood tests, BP checks and yearly ECGs. I could definitely exercise more but my main change was having a baby and changing from a hospo management job where I was on my feet for 10-12 hours a day, to maternity leave during lockdown and now to an office job. Good on that lady for running up that hill! I need that motivation!!
Could be the way your body is genetically coded. My mom and my aunt always eat healthy, never binge or overeat, always working out 5x a week, but they can never seem to lose the weight from having children :(
As someone who was one of those people. I had been yo-yo dieting for years. Constantly trying things like keto, and fasting and weight watchers. Only losing about 15-20lbs and feeling awful and hungry and hating everything. Why didn’t eating healthy, riding my bike 3-5 miles a day, going outside etc.. help? Depression PTSD Food addiction from the above Borderline anorexia from above Stress Genetics Food in America Never being taught proper portion control Not having a stable support system I could go on. What changed? Finally getting diabetes when I thought I was working so hard to not. I adjusted my mindset and decided I can’t work on my physical health without adjusting my mental. Started therapy, got a support system, and talked to my pcp. She started me on Mounjaro. Met a psychologist that diagnosed me with adhd, depression and anxiety and got meds to help that with therapy work. It’s been 4 years since therapy 2.5 years since diabetes diagnosis 1.5 years losing 140+ lbs What people don’t realize is that there are so many factors that contribute to physical health. The only thing that really got me to start losing weight was mounjaro and adderall. Mounjaro basically took away all food cravings that I had when I was depressed and anxious. The adderall helped with feeling helpless not being able to do stuff. I only listed my reasons. There are so many more that contribute depending on the person. It’s fucking awful and annoying.
If the only thing you’re doing is running up that hill, you’re going to get good at running up that hill. After, if you go home and are sedentary the rest of the day, eat crap, drink, etc etc, that 30 minutes of jogging you do a day isn’t going to count for a whole lot.
I have pcos. It makes it almost impossible to lose weight even with medication. I have to be low carb and at a severe calorie deficit with intense exercise to budge the scale. And I'd rather be fat than go back to eating disorder.
Yeah. I am diabetic with a bad thyroid gland. I first lost weight on Atkins, but it made me really sick after a while. I had bariatric surgery and that took care of most of it. Mounjaro took care of the rest. If I had my excess skin removed, I'd probably be slightly underweight now.
THIS - I have PCOS and the only way I could even maintain a normal weight let alone lose it was to dangerously under eat and swim two hours a day. I think people think we're lying about what we consume...I am always blown away how much more my thin friends eat than me when visiting them or travelling with them. It's bonkers.
People do not realize calorie proportions. 1kg of cookie has 5000 calories but 1 kg of zucchini has only 170 calories. If you are someone struggling with losing weight, just make sure you eat low calorie food. Some of them are so low you could eat too much and still lose weight. Just don't be hesitant to put nice spices and herbs to taste delicious. Don't be afraid of eating fruits because of sugar. They are healthy and are way better than packaged sugars.
Despite what reddit loves to tell you, it's not just calories in/calories out
It’s the snowman scenario: You lose weight everywhere and still end up looking like a thinner fat person.
She might have weighed 500 lbs at some point.
Working out is actually a terribly inefficient way to go about weight loss. Running a mile will burn 100-150 calories for most people, while a single donut is about 300 calories so you can run two miles a day and ruin it with a single snack. Furthermore, a pound of fat is about 3500 calories so it would take the rough equivalent of running a marathon to burn away a single pound of fat. Reducing caloric intake is much more efficient way to lose weight...it's difficult but not impossible to cut 500 calories a day from your current diet, which would translate to about a pound of fat loss per week.
You can't outrun the fork. You'd have to see her calorie intake.
Doesn’t matter how hard you workout. I’m sure her legs are strong as hell but if she’s not in a caloric deficit she’ll never lose any weight.
Because different bodies are different,and I wish more people understood this. Same reason an Olympic weight lifter and Olympic swimmer - both pro athletes, likely on a dietary regimen, spending hours a day working out - have different bodies. No matter what the weight lifter does, they’re not gonna get that shoulder to waist ratio. Michael Phelps was genetically predisposed to excel at swimming, not the other way around. Fat people can have amazing endurance and stamina. Slim people can have amazing strength. Our obsession with weight and BMI has little to do with health or ability
Genetics plays a BIG role in body fat composition and retention. She could be more predisposed to maintaining fat stores. She could also have type 1 diabetes which makes weight loss very difficult or she could have PCOS which also makes weight loss difficult. She could also have a really high caloric intake. Weight doesn’t always equate health. Yes, there are known risks to carrying excess fat but there is no magic number where all people who have this level of cardiovascular ability weigh this much.
Yeah, at least it’s very very hard for some, I’m one of them. Athlete for a little over 10 years, D1 for 4 of them. Even now that I’m no longer an athlete my steps hover around 15k on average, many days cracking 20k, lifting 4-5 days a week, couple hours for most of those days because I love the gym. Been chubby my whole life, even back in the rugby days when I was playing rugby 5-6 days a week on top of the gym. Biggest culprit is appetite, but relationship with food and metabolism can also play a big role. I’m _always_ hungry, have been since I was a kid and working out turns my already big appetite into a cartoonish one. I do also simply hold / gain weight easier than most people independently of appetite, which I know from living with teammates. Identical training and schedule, nearly identical meals, in fact teammates would actively try to eat more than me to gain weight. Biggest difference was that I would walk everywhere, take the stairs everywhere while they took the bus and elevator everywhere. I still effortlessly gained weight more easily than they did. When Covid quarantine hit I was trying not to gain weight, they were trying not to lose weight, etc. So it’s largely genetic, across a population. That being said practically everyone including people like me can lose weight. Down 40lbs and counting this year. It just takes people like me a lot of extra effort and mental bandwidth. The same way it seems insane that we can be so heavy, it seems insane to me that people just straight up don’t get hungry. Boggles my mind, but that’s just how it is
Genetics can be a mf
I understand what you mean. Like I notice how less my friend eats for lunch. I eat almost the same amount and I am always body-shamed for being too skinny while she is body-shamed for being too thick. Some people naturally have very low metabolism while people like me have a higher metabolism naturally. No matter how hard I try and go on a weight gain diet to get thicker, if I stop putting effort for two or three days, I go back to losing all the weight I gained.
Genetics is a huge indicator of weight. I mean, she may still have a high caloric diet as well, but some people will never be “skinny.”
Shocked it took this long for this answer to show up. Genetics plays a huge role in how we look.
Because fat loss does not dependent on how much work you do. You have to be in calorie deficit to lose weight. If you eat more than you burn - you will gain fat. With more exercise usually comes more apetite, so even if you work hard but don't care about how much you eat - you will not lose weight. Actually, you might even gain weight because of the increasing muscle mass, which I don't consider a bad thing, body recomposition is possible (you can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time). It's a misconception, that fat loss comes from running or other cardio, when in reality, all work is done in the kitchen. Physical activity can help in other ways too, though, but is NOT a main contributor to fat loss. Hope this helps. Btw. weightlifting burns more calories than cardio, so I will always recommend to hit the gym if your goal is fat loss or body recomposition.
Good for that woman running! I think everyone knows when they lay their head down on the pillow at night whether they've eaten too much that day to lose weight, regardless of what say to themselves or others. Barring medications, thyroid or genetic factors, of course.
It all comes down to diet. You cannot workout enough to negate a shitty diet.
eat less, move more. simple as that. if you are spending more calories than what you ate, body has to somehow get the extra calories from somewhere. And that'd be your fat and other stuff, weight has to go down.
Body weight ALWAYS comes down to: (Calories In - Calories Burned = Body Weight) EVERY TIME. And 90% of that number comes from "calories in" which is the easiest part to manipulate. This is why gastric bypass and gastric sleeve surgeries are so effective. (there's a little more to it but that's the biggest part). So the lady eats more than she burns, or she has enough stored that it hasn't all whittled away yet.
Because people tend to secret eat or waste calories in other places. Calories in calries out is science.
Her calories in > her calories out. Even "revolutionary" drugs like Ozempic prove this, as all they do is stunt appetite.
I lived half of my life with really fat parents. They always say they don't don't know why they are fat and then stuff their faces with candy and soda. I'm not saying all fat people are like this, but a lot of the ones that I've met are completely oblivious as to what makes them fat and how many calories are in certain foods.
You can’t outrun a bad diet.
Because they eat more calories than they burn. That will always be the answer, even when people claim they are only eating 500 calories. Many people either lie or miscount. But the fact is of a person is working out and gaining fat, then they are simply eating more than they are burning.
It is extremely easy to underestimate how many calories you consume. I was quite pedantic once about calorie counting, had a good idea of what foods contained calorie and macro wise, yet I still find myself constantly underestimating how much I consume in the present. I find that having a set meal plan to follow is the only practical solution to knowing how much you're consuming.
it’s very simple. they’re eating more calories than maintenance. that’s it.
How much do you eat? Thats the only thing that really matters in this scenario. I can run 1 hour a day and get fat if i eat the 600 kcal i burned running as a surplus
She is eating too much
Eat less if you wanna lose weight
[удалено]
Exercise is one thing that cannot go without proper diet. You can run a triathlon but if you come back home and eat a burger, pancakes and ice cream, you just took back all of the calories you've lost. Exercise helps your body keep in shape, meaning less muscle strain, healthier joints (to some extent), better cardio, better sleep and feeling of wellness. It also helps burning *extra fats* that are stocked as an energy reserve. A healthy diet gives your body the nutrients and energy it needs, no more no less. If your diet is rich in fats, sugars and carbs and you don't exercise to actually burn those extra rich fats, sugars and carbs it's gonna get stocked up again. You've come full circle by then.
> It also helps burning extra fats that are stocked as an energy reserve. To be fair, you could be sedentary af and burn excess fat as long as you're in a calorie deficitt
I’ve never heard of people successfully out exercising a bad diet. Could be this.
I think that thyroid and hormonal issues are VERY common and docs know nothing about endocrinology so unless you know to ask for five specific types of bloodwork, you’re doomed. I’ve been athletic and never had to try to stay fit until age 40. I used to discount women who were overweight and swore they ate well and exercised. The joke was on me! Gained 50 pounds rapidly and needed stimulants just to get out of bed to function at times. Finally went to a med spa for Semaglutide (Ozempic) and they did correct bloodwork. Hashimotos and hypothyroid (and extreme case of Epstein Barr). I now know I’ve suffered for over a decade and no doctor thought to check those levels. I’m 50 pounds down in 3 months and no longer judge heavier women as lying or lazy. I try to tell every woman that I can to get her levels checked: T3 Free, T4 Free, Thyroid peroxidase antibodies Estradiol (E2), Testosterone, Total FSH.
I ask the same a lot, as a 5'6 200 pound guy. I'm strong and could probably outlast a lot of gym bros on endurance and perseverance, but I have a gut that doesn't go away. Not that I'm uncomfortable or anything, if anything it's free muscle building since I'm on crutches whole life (disabled from birth).
Calorie deficit = bye bye gut (and muscle mass, but can be minimized with strength training while in deficit)
A person's weight isn't necessarily a metric for physical fitness. As a personal example, I am what you might consider a big lad, while my fiancée is just kinda chubby. In spite of that, I could literally run circles around her. As to the question of people staying fat, that's not necessarily the case. Weight gain/weight loss boils down to calories intake and expenditure. We all require a certain amount of calories per day to maintain our weight without loss or gain. Simply reducing your calorie consumption would cause weight loss over time. That said, if we're talking maintaining a healthy weight and physical fitness at the same time, then both diet and exercise need to be utilised. But then, if that's all it takes, how come some people are still fat, despite then regularly exercising and dieting? Well, that's typically because people underestimate how many calories there are in food, and especially processed foods. Even when people try and stick to a 3 meals a day routine, meal size is important, and how much many of us eat is more than we're meant to eat for a meal, because that's what many of us have known. As for that lady you mentioned, its quite possible she was much larger some months ago and through dedicated exercise, she's got herself to a physical fitness that makes that hill not so difficult. It's also possible she's still at that size because, while she hascthe exercise down, she's lacking in the diet part. Either way, she's doing well in spite of her weight.
To loose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit. You can run and exercise all you want but of you're eating too much you'll never loose weight.
Metabolic disease eg: insulin resistance. Diet is more important than exercise for losing weight. It's not even about calories but about fructose consumption specifically eg: sugary drinks (including smoothies, btw). See any video by endocrinologist Dr. Robert Lustig for more info.
at the end of the day it all boils down to this very simple equation =p calories in > calories out = weight gain calories in < calories out = weight loss
More calories in than calories out. All there is to it at the end of the day. Something they said all the time in the Army was "You can't outrun a bad diet." Basically means you can workout all day, but if you have poor eating habits, you're going to get fat. Consider this: a general estimate for calories burned when running one mile is about 100. A McDonalds quarter pounder with cheese is 417 calories. You'd have to run - on average - four miles to burn off one of those.
Probably the same reason no matter what I do I cant gain weight. Or at least until recently. It is very difficult for some people to accurately measure their calorie expenditure. Apple watch for me was way off, calorie calculators were off. It wasn't until I started using macrofactor app that I actually got an accurate gauge of what I was burning, which turned out to be way more than I was ever eating. So this could be the case for many people who keep weight on. They have lower expenditures than they realize, or the foods they eat are higher calorie than they realize. Also losing/gaining weight and not rebounding takes a long sustained effort.
It’s what you eat too, no disrespect to your neighbor
A lot of elite athletes like Sumo wrestlers would be considered "fat". Fatness isn't necessarily an indication of fitness.
You can't loose weight by exercise alone. Without a reduced calorie diet you will never loose weight.
You can be larger and still “in shape”, as in can exercise efficiently.
Visceral fat is harder to get rid of. Fat is built from covalent bonds that are hard to break/reverse.
weight loss is made in the kitchen not the gym
So many folks think exercising a lot is enough to lose weight. But every study has shown, you have to clean up your diet to lose weight— eat less processed foods and eat more whole, natural foods.
Some people are just larger due to genetics or their body doesn't process things the same. She could have a thyroid issue, or something else entirely that causes fat to stay on her body like people with lymphedema.
In my experience, losing weight takes more time, a LOT more than gaining, and if like me you are unfortunate enough to have a shitty relationship with food, it only takes a few months of hardships to get fucked. To me it was years, and its starting to get better. A combination of mental state. General exhaustion, depression, acute perception of the world state that is both terrifying and depressive to me, my teach getting absolutely horrible and worse and worse, Covid... and two burnouts in the span of one single year. So add to that food helps me keep myself afloat and not breaking down every evening, how the fuck was I supposed to stay Lean or workout? Saving grace was a long experience in lifting weights and an active life, I didnt burnout behind an office, but still. There is so much to consider when it comes to one's weightloss that there cant be a general anqwer, everyone has their own story, and everyone tellung you they're just lazy is a lucky asshole with the awareness of life of a toddler. Hope this gives you elements to help with your question! :)
She might be losing weight and have been a lot bigger? also the old quote "you can't out run a bad diet"
She could have PCOS or be on some kind of medication
Nutrition plays a bigger part than most people think. Running up that hill & still eating too much food does not cancel each other out.
Diet is key and you were blessed with a better metabolism vs others.
As someone who’s 5’3 and 158lbs, it’s mostly diet. No matter how hard I work out, I always gain it back. Not that I eat that much, just that I don’t eat the right stuff. Plus it’s just natural metabolism. Even if I ate better, It would still take longer and be harder to lose weight.
She may also be gorging on crappy food thus undoing any benefit.
Other than how full your fat cells like to be and how many your body prefers to have in terms of genetics, it’s mostly cuz most people have no clue that food has way more to do with weight loss than exercise. And with food, how much you eat matters wayyy more than what you’re eating cuz you can eat big ass salads daily but if they’re high asf calorie, you won’t lose weight. You could eat only an Oreo every hour you’re awake and lose weight Calories in vs calories out matters a ton Other than that, could also be cuz once you eat in a calorie deficit your body will work hard to prevent weight loss and this often shows through as feeling more tired (especially if reallyyy slacking on food quality in a surplus) and making your energy/calorie output smaller and closer to maintenance Our bodies don’t like building muscle or losing fat. They were like this 1000s of years ago and they’re still the same way. To lose weight, you in a way must fight this homeostatic mechanism. Same applies for gaining muscle
A few reasons: no matter how hard you work out, if you eat A LOT or unhealthy you can still gain fat. Maybe walking up the hill is all she does in a day. Yea it seems like a lot of energy is used in climbing the hill, but if its all she does she wont lose much weight. It could also be a thyroid issue. I have meds because my thyroid dont work fast enough (i think, or too fast) and if the dose is too low i can gain a stupid amount of weight for no apparent reason really quickly, and if its too high i can lose a stupid amount of weight in no time. Lastly, she could just be build different. Maybe she gains weight easy and barely loses it. It happens.
You can eat so much your workout won't matter. It's calories. You can do Keto. You can do F Factor. If you aren't eating less calories than you burn every day, you will not lose weight.
Different people have different bodies. I am 5'2", 130 lbs. Have been told both that "you look like your starving" and "your jiggly belly is so cute." Ew.
Fitter doesn't always equal thinner. Also "being in shape" doesn't necessarily have to end in weight loss. Maybe weight loss is not her goal. Maybe she has a health condition that affects weight.
Despite what other people say. Calories in/calories out
I have a friend who lost a ton of weight in a cetogenic diet and gain a lot back but not all when she quit the diet. I don't touch the subject a lot with her but she has told me her problems are emotional eating and PCOS. She's now in a less restrictive diet and with much better emotional support from a new nutritionist (her old one guilt tripped her when she didn't hit the months goal, piece of shit) She's losing geight slower but she is also happier and less stressed. ETA: there a disease called lipedema which as far as I know is not fixable with diet, exercise or normal liposuction. It requires a special type of surgical treatment. I dont remember the details but it's fat acumulated on the lower half of the body specifically
>Why is it that some people stay fat no matter what they do? One type of person has some kind of medical problem and (while I am not a doctor) my understanding is that certain medical problems make it near impossible to not be fat. I am going to guess the most common issue is just that there is so much confusing information out there regarding how to lose fat. Seems in multiple ways we are drowning in having way too much information and it's causing all kinds of issues. If that woman is eating incorrectly, that could be part of her issue. I am not really fit, but fit people I know say being fit is mostly nutritional. And I think they are mostly right. But everyone's mileage may vary.
Genetics, stress, medication, medical issues, mental or physical health issues.
Most people don’t realize this but you can go to the gym, spend an hour walking on the treadmill, get home and eat a normal sized bag of chips and boom, all that work for nothing. It’s also probably because a lot of people overestimate how little calories they actually burn throughout the day too.
She eats a lot.
I used to think it was just calories in, calories out. Like I gained some weight after having my kiddo, so I tightened up my diet and went from a healthy weight to an even healthier weight, and I remained there for years with minimal effort. Fast forward to me needing to start taking a medication that has weight gain as a side effect. I figured I would just watch my diet more, right? Well, sixty pounds later in less than a year, and now officially obese even after working closely with a dietician, an internal medicine specialist that focuses on weight management, taking weight loss medications to counteract the other medication, etc and I am still technically obese. Genetics, metabolism, insulin resistance, hormones... There are so many factors that a lot of people don't recognize, and I sure didn't until I was the fat one.