Question:
Is the term 'diet resistant' a myth or fact?
I've heard that some people have dieted so much in their life that their body is screwed up and cannot lose weight like other people. Is this true and does it affect WLS people? — Linda E. (posted on August 20, 2002)
August 20, 2002
I would say that mentally yeah. I mean before surgery I tried so many damn
diets that thinking about trying the next one was totally depressing. I
would go ahead and try it, but my heart was never in it because I KNEW i
was going to fail. The truth is I believe a lot of it is in your head with
this surgery too. IF you go in there believing you are going to
fail...well then you will have a harder time with it. I dunno about
others, but I was a diet machine, I tried everything and this surgery is
working about awesome for me. As a matter of fact my surgeon is trying to
put on the breaks to slow me down!!
— smedley200
August 20, 2002
I've been told that the yo-yo of dieting, losing & gaining, dieting
& gluteny, screws up your metabolism which does make it harder to lose.
Personally I know its MUCH harder to lose weight now at 30 than when I was
20. And just last weekend my mom was telling me how she used to be able to
easily lose a lot of weight back when she was in her early 20s just by
eating salads and not drinking pop, etc, now she could starve herself to
death and die the same weight. Her body just won't let her lose any
significant amounts of weight, even when both diet and physical activity
are modified.
— Shelly S.
August 21, 2002
This was addressed during the seminar I was required to attend prior to my
surgery... here's the way that they explained it... For many many years
you've probably been "Yo-Yo" dieting... Which means you've been
dieting and then going off the diet and eating excessively back and forth
many many times over the years. Your body naturally becomes accustomed to
periods of starvation. During the "eating" phase(s) of your life
your body produces excess fat stores for just those occasions when it's
needed - During your dieting phase. (We'll call this the starvation phase).
During the eating phase your body naturally has become accustomed to stock
piling all the excess fat and wants to hold on to it with all it's might
because it knows that a few months down the road there's going to be yet
another starvation phase.
When, you want to start loosing weight it resists getting rid of the fat
stockpile BIG TIME (hince the term "diet resistant") and refuses
to let go of those fat cells. This is what we call a plateau for the
post-ops. The more you've yo-yo'd in the past the more plateaus you'll hit
as you loose your weight. Hope this helps clarify it all for you.
— lindajenkins
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