Or do we just have a preferred amount of food we like to eat, which keeps our weight at or near a certain number? Generally, medical and extreme cases aside, I think that Americans eat way more than we remember eating over the course of a day and that is why we either don’t lose weight or continually gain weight over the years.
Yeah, feeling a little trollish today. sorry!
Jeff
Preferred amount of food.
Anyone will turn into a skeleton if you eat little enough.
Two things, the first is easy, as you age your metabolism changes and slows. That explains a lot. But as time goes on we (generalisation) have times where we dont exercise as much and eat more. putting on a little hear and there. Then after sometime, months, we decide to get back to our old weight and that brings up point 2 and more about your question.
Your body has a base weight at any given time, but this basal weight changes. How? Well what happens in your body basically gets used to beinga certain weight and essentially decides this is where i am. Well when you diet and change that weight, your body still wants to go back to this stasus. I forget the exact ratio, but i think it is something like for 6 months at a certain weight it would take you 12 months at your goal weight for your body to reset itself as that new basal weight.
I have dumbed down the physiology here, and i am a bit sketchy on the exact time frames, its been a while since i had the books open studying this, but the jist of it is that… for you to set your body a new weight you need to keep it at that weight for a long time or it will naturally want to climb back up again.
cheers
when i get close to a race it doesn’t seem to matter what amount of food i eat and how much i am training…my weight gets to a certain point (well usually). i seem to eat more at times during taper! and yet i still lose weight…67kgs seems to be the optimum weight for me. always seem to be around there for my main races (aside from one where i couldn’t run for 3-4 weeks prior so was a lil bit more).
I have no idea if its true or not but I heard that this was a study:
Took inmates in jail - fed half a very low cal diet. Feed the other half a high cal diet. The low cal guys lost roughly 10 pounds then leveled off. The high cal people gained about 10 pounds and then leveled off. Despite a “caloric deficit” their bodies adjusted to maintain weight and vice versa.
I have no idea about the details re: length of diet…but I think our bodies (for most of us) keep our weight in a narrow range - you can lose/gain a few pounds (say 5%) fairly easily but after that it gets hard. I’m sure the set point goes up as we age (which is likely healthy) and I’m sure you can mess it up by starving yourself and doing weird things with your diet…plus there are obviously genetic factors/problems…
To answer your question: preferred weight. If I work-out a lot (IM training) - I lose a few pounds initially then my appetite jumps - my weight stabilizes - then when I stop - my appetite stays up for a while - I gain a few pounds and then stabilize again. Appetite lags behind my changes in work-out schedule but adjusts to keep my weight fairly stable.
Dave
P.s. don’t beat up americans too much - the english and germans are almost just as fat!
Is it our bodies being “smart” or is it merely the case that it takes less calories to keep us alive at lower weights and higher calories at higher weights. I would be willing to bet that a 200 lb man simply requires more “basal” calories than a 150 lb man. Accordingly, it is easier at first for the 200 lb man to lose weight. As he begins to lose weight, it becomes harder because his body no longer needs as many calories to simply function daily.
ARe we saying the same thing?
i think that what happens is your body readjusts itself to the new caloric intake and that is why you level off. just like anything it now becomes more effecient with less calories. Well that is what i have read. that is why some diets tell you not to diet every day. as your body doesn’t get used to just taking in a reduced number of calories day in and day out. the 1 or 2 days you break your diet and eat more calories will keep your body from becoming used to being on a lower caloric intake. well that is what i read somewhere. But i think there maybe some truth to that. As your body tends to adapt to everything. Diet, workload, stresses, etc.
In that case, does exercise alone with no dieting solve the problem? Now I don’t change the number of calories that I eat, just increase the number of calories that I burn.
well i am not authority that is for sure. But it will solve the problem temporarily. as i stated before. you will exercise more and eat the same and lose weight. but at some point your body will become more efficient and those 5 hour bike rides will burn less calories(same with those long runs and swims) at that point is when your body will no longer lose weight unless you cut back on calories or increase the intensity of the work outs or the duration of the work outs(burn more calories). I am telling you, i am just amazed at how the human body can adapt to stresses(training or caloric restrictions) One thing I have done this year that has allowed me to consistently lose weight is the following: after your big work outs eat a normal sized meal. last year i used to eat huge meals after big work outs, this year just normal meals after big work outs. that has helped to shed lbs. now don’t get me wrong I am not one of these guys that is ripped and can eat all i want and never get fat. I am not lean but i am not fat i feel a can still afford to lose a couple lbs.