re: Why is it so hard for most people to lose weight?

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I started the year weighing 235 at 5' 10", As of last week I am 208. The goal is sub 200 by the end of the summer.

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I am 6' and was 230 in May. I never did a lot of sugary things to begin with, but I cut carbs and did keto for a month, then relaxed a bit on the keto and stayed low carb.

Down to 198 now. I drink beer every single day, beer is not the enemy as long as it fits into your macros. I know I will drink beer today, so I eat accordingly so that it fits into my macro numbers.

Losing weight is not easy. If it was, then there would be no overweight people. Everyone's body is not the same. It is as simple as that. Some people have to work their butt off just to lose 5 pounds. Some have to work their butt off just to gain 5 pounds. Some people can eat a large box of pizza to their self and be completely fine. While others could eat a single slice and they're already gaining weight.

It takes dedication, perseverance, and a completely new mindset change. For some, it is a hell of a lot easier than others.

Hell, me personally, I sit at about 242 now. I still carry some football weight ( I still hate my coach for making me get my weight all the way up to 285, yet I barely played any ), but I am also slightly overweight for my liking as well. I would like to be at 220 carrying muscle.

For me, gaining weight is a hell of a lot easier than losing weight. In order for me to lose weight, I have to be on one of those really extreme diets. The issue is, I can't stay on any of those long term. So, its just a short term fix that doesnt last and eventually I would just gain it back.

I do think that I have found what lasts for me now. work out 2-4x a week, depending on how busy I am throughout. I rarely eat fast food, usually the only times I east fast food is when I am on a road trip somewhere. I limit fried foods. I limit desserts such such as cookies, ice cream, etc. I drink water 85% of the time. I do like to drink alcohol sometimes (so what, sue me) but even that is not every week. As it is now, I have been losing about 1-4 pounds a month. I eat pizza once every other week (I cant help it, it is still my favorite food). I also like to eat shite like Tacos or hamburgers sometimes. Overall, It is a slow, slow process. But I actually feel healthy, fit, and active. So I do like where I am at and it feels sustainable. Note: I said I limit all of these things, preferrably I would like to get to a point where I can cut a few of these things out. But I am just not there yet.

Tl;dr Don't worry about anybody else. Do what works for you on your path to being healthy, fit, and happy.

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self discipline

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This is the answer to the entire thread. Being healthy takes effort and requires making good choices.

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However, it is easy if you are determined, and it is damn near impossible if you are weak willed.

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Addiction to sugar and unhealthy carbs is just like any other addiction. Takes will and perseverance to beat it and relapse is almost a given

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i always viewed keto (never been in ketosis as far as i know) as a thing you do every couple months for short periods just to disrupt things a bit. like you should always watch your carbs, but keto is like a short portion of the total nutrition timeline

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If you’ve ever gone about 2 weeks or more (some people who are already fat adapted its 48-72hrs) with <20g of carbs a day there’s a good chance you were in nutritional ketosis. There isn’t any reason you cannot sustain the keto diet long term. Some people can go up to 50g of carbs a day and stay in ketosis. It varies person to person.

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It is not hard to lose weight, it is hard to maintain a lower weight...if that makes any sense.

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Well the issue is people diet and lose the weight then think once they’ve lost 20 pounds, they can’t eat like “normal” again and stay the same weight.

You can’t eat 1200 calories, lose a bunch of weight, then stay the same when you go back to 2500.

Yeah that’s my point. It’s not a quick fix 2 week diet then back to normal.

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is controlled for the most part by our blood glucose.

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And the hormones that sugar makes your body produce. Insulin, leptin, ghrelin

It will get buried here and no one will likely read it, but this article explains how what you eat is more important than how much you eat. What you eat triggers fat burning/fat storing hormones. If you’re eating the right things, you literally can not overeat. You’re body won’t let you. Insulin and cortisol stay down and T and HGH stay normal (there are other hornones, but these 4 are probably most important) muscle is maintained or gained and fat is lost even without exercise. Correct exercise will magnify all of this.

Almost no one needs or wants to lose muscle, so we’re not actually talking about losing weight, per se, just fat (although healthy fat levels in most people would mean weight loss). Although you can build muscle to an unhealthy level, in 99.9% of people weight is mostly irrelevant and only fat needs losing. I started eating an anti-inflammatory diet, got off opiods (for a back broken in 3 places) slowly got pain free enough to start working out and went from a soft 175 to a hard-ish 172. In another year, I won’t look the same but will most likely weigh the same within a couple ponds +\-.