Why you don't lose weight

Are you like me, overweight, trying to lose weight, but it never lasts?

You lose a few kilos, or if you work hard, many kilos. But a half year later, you're back on the exact weight again, and sometimes a few kilos more.

Like a yoyo, you lose weight, and then your back again. You have tried every tip and trick you read about with no lasting result.

Down and up again, down and up again.

Every time you meet a doctor, they say, "you have to lose weight."

Wow, that's the problem; I haven't thought about that.

If you have a weight problem, you think of it almost every day.

That isn't the problem.

You have perhaps seen Biggest Loser, and the participants struggle hard to lose weight. Almost none of them had kept their loss after the program and even gained more weight than they had when they started to lose weight.

I have constantly been training, primarily running, about 30-40 km a week. I didn't run fast, but I ran continuously every week. Fifteen years ago, they found an aneurysm at my aorta close to the heart. To keep my blood pressure low, I had to eat a lot of beta-blockers, making it impossible to run. I had to wait for my surgery for almost a year, and I put on a lot of kilos during that time. I had a stressful job, and running was my stress reducer; without my running, I drank too much wine to reduce the stress in my body. After the surgery, I was alright but a lot of kilos heavier than before. I still had to eat my beta-blocker, so running wasn't fun. With a beta-blocker, it is like running uphill all the time; you never reach the top. But I wanted to lose the baggage I had to carry. So I tried to lose the burden back to the weight I had before. It worked sometimes. But I always went back to the same high level again, and often higher. I stopped drinking alcohol one and a half years ago mainly because it had become a bad habit, but also with a hope of losing weight. I worked out instead of running, lost a couple of kilos, and then up again. I am a vegetarian, so healthy food has always been an interest. I have always eaten a lot of vegetables and been thinking about what I put in my mouth. But I couldn't lose weight.

Why?

Your body is a survival machine. When your fat cells are filled with fat, they signal that it is ok, your energy reserves are filled up and you are alright. Your fat cells keep the hormone leptin at high levels. When you lose weight, the fat cells lose fat; you never lose fat cells, they are the same all the time, but you lose fat in your cells.

That makes the hormone leptin lower, which signals to the brain that you are starving. You have to fill up your energy depot. If you don't fill up your fat cells with fat, your metabolism lowers to compensate for your "starving."That makes it possible to raise your leptin levels with less food. So losing weight is a fight against your body's survival instinct.

And the metabolism could even keep the lower level if you gain weight again. That's why you often get fatter after a period of weight loss. It is a no-ending fight. And you will permanently lose. Again, and again.

How sad isn't that, and what can you do?

Not much, have you gained weight, you are already there. Don't become fat is the best way to explain it. For me, it is too late; I am already there.

The question is why some people get fatter than others, look at your family, how your mother and father look, and your grandparents. Sometimes you have had bad luck with genes.

It could be an unhealthy lifestyle, but not always.

I heard from an obesity specialist he said for some people, the only way is gastric bypass. It helps your body to maintain a better hormone balance. But that is not possible for everyone with a weight problem. In Sweden, where I live, you can get free help if it is a big problem, But if it's not, you have to pay for it, which can be expensive.

In my case, I have accepted my body, or I am working on acceptance; I still train and go for long walks to keep myself healthy. I drink no alcohol, and I eat healthily. But I think I have to accept my fat belly. That's so it is. Sad but a fact.

The annoying thing is people who point out my overweight. I know it. And you know yours.

That has become a problem instead