Everyday Systems

I've been following the above series on YouTube, and am curious what others think of it.

The series tosses out lots of statistics and figures. I don't know whether to treat them as facts or factoids. For example:

1) Given two people of identical weight, the one who has previously lost 10% of their body weight requires 20% less energy to maintain their weight. Thus if both eat identical meals, one is overeating, and the other is not, despite the fact that they weigh the same.

2) 75% of all people who successfully maintain their weight, weigh themselves regularly. I can't remember the interval - at least once a month?

One thing is clear - taking off extra weight is a huge struggle for most people.

Sixty wrote:One thing is clear - taking off extra weight is a huge struggle for most people.

Oh, it is. Somebody on the boards (KCCC?) posted that they taught their child that they could do difficult things.

We can do difficult things.

I believe it's true about the calories. Some evidence indicates that frequent, severely restricted dieting can slow metabolism (or make it more efficient--which is a more positive way to put it I guess). In the worse case, it can become a vicious cycle of: start to gain --> restrict more--> eat too little, add in more food --> start to gain...

I like the No S plan because I don't want to know how many or how few calories I'm eating. Been there, done that, got very frustrated.

The body needs fewer calories whether the loss is slow or fast. This also helps explain why the stat revealed in the article linked on the "Do the Math, thread: that it takes about THREE YEARS of having decreased calorie intake by 100 calories a day to lose ten pounds. If the body kept burning at the original rate, according to the normal formula of 3,500 calories = one pound, it should take only about a year.

If you look at the check in threads of many successful losers here, you'll see they eat VERY moderately, esp. after several months or a year. I find I'm hungry for less, but it is still a little bit of a problem to just go with that reduced appetite. I don't eat a lot on N days to start! But it's more comfortable than being TOLD I need to eat that much. When you come from it by just realizing you're not as hungry, it's more acceptable. At least that's my explanation.

In my own case, I think I'm still able to eat a pretty decent amount of food, even after losing (and continuing to lose!) over 55 pounds. One thing that I think is a critical factor is that my rate of losing has been "slow" (1st year: 30lbs, 2nd year: 10; 3rd year: 10 lbs; mid 4th: 4-5 lbs.) I know I've read studies that the lack of severe restriction (as is typical of many diets) wreaks much less havoc on one's metabolism rate.