5/9/2016: Twelve Week Challenge, Day 2

Weight:  161.8

If you missed yesterday's blog post you may be wondering what is going on.  Day 2?  What happened to the last three weeks?  Yes, I re-started my challenge.  It's kind of fun when you get to make up the rules.  Carla was doing the challenge with me and she didn't mind at all.  When I told her I was re-starting, she asked if she could restart, too.  There are officially two people doing this particular twelve week challenge, and we both pressed the reset button yesterday.  It's all good!

There was an interesting article in the NY Times about the Biggest Loser Season 8 contestants.  A scientist decided to track the contestants for five years after the season ended to try to better understand what happens after large amounts of weight loss.  The results of the study were fairly disheartening:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html

Basically, the scientists that followed the contestants found that even five years after the end of the show, and even if the contestants gained back a significant amount of weight, the contestants that lost a lot of weight had much slower resting metabolic rates than they did before they lost any weight.  In other words, they needed to eat up to 800 calories per day less than they did before they went on the show in order to not gain any weight.  It's as if their bodies said, "Hey, I am supposed to weigh this much, I am going to gain this weight back."  The scientists also measured the hormone leptin, which is a hormone that suppresses hunger signals, and discovered that five years later leptin levels were lower than they were prior to weight loss, explaining why the contestants were perpetually hungry.

All of us that have lost a lot of weight know how hard it is go keep it off.  We really do have to eat less than everyone else.  It is not our imagination.  It is a biological fact.  Our bodies seem to have a set point that they are trying to get back to, and that set point seems to creep up with age.

I have been tracking my weight regularly for about 4 years and I see something both fascinating and encouraging in that data.  First of all, I weigh much less than I did 4 years ago.  Obviously, I am pleased by that.  But even more interesting and important is the peaks in the graph over the years.  Yes, I've gained weight back, but each time I've gained weight, I've gained less weight, so the peak is getting lower and lower.  It really looks as if my set point is getting lower and lower over the years.  This is not a scientific study, I know that, but I feel like I am effectively resetting my body's metabolism.  When I gain weight, I start to get uncomfortable at a much lower weight than before.  Before, I'd get really uncomfortable if I got over 220 pounds.  Then it was 180, when I started to get close to 180 I felt terrible.  This last time it was 165.  It takes fewer and fewer "extra pounds" for me to say, "Whoa, Nellie!  Let's take care of this!"  My goal is to make my "set weight" 150.  I am confident that I can do this.  I know it's not easy, but it's worth it to me.

Diet vs. Program:  This isn't about being on or off a diet.  This is about being on or off Program.  Today I am On Program.  It feels good.

I hope you are feeling good today, too!!