Nearly every weight loss commercial I’ve ever seen has promised a certain amount of loss within a given amount of time. Many have inferred that loss would be constant after that point; a certain amount per week until you reach your goal.
My experience has been far removed from that. Sometimes, I lose a surprising amount of weight in just a matter of days; other times, my body stubbornly clings to a certain weight range no matter what methods I try to push beyond that.
When I lost 140 pounds back in my early 40’s, my weight loss was fairly consistent. I quickly saw a pattern develop, and for the year and a half or so that I was in weight loss mode, I could count on that sense of consistency. Well, at least until I stalled out and remained at the same weight (or gradually above) for well over two years. After that point, I gained weight rapidly, and my attempts at losing weight again stubbornly refused to adhere to what I had come to know during my biggest effort to that point.
In the low carb world, some refer to this as the One Golden Shot (http://www.lowcarbluxury.com/goldenshot.html) theory; in short, you get one good effort at losing weight easily on low carb, and after that, any subsequent attempts become a lot more difficult.
As I teeter on the narrow edge of losing a total of 200 pounds (two-tenths of a pound away!), I have my own theory on that, and I think of it often, like now, when my weight loss isn’t necessarily cooperating. It’s several levels deep.
I’m not as young as I used to be. This is a universal thing; the first time any of us try a different method of weight loss, not only will our bodies respond differently, but we’re as young as we’ll ever be. In my early 40’s, my body constitution was different; I wasn’t in menopause, I likely wasn’t as deeply entrenched in metabolic syndrome, and a major one for me: my knees hadn’t completely disintegrated. I’m older, now, and I have faced different challenges, so it’s natural that my body has reacted differently.
It wasn’t a Golden Shot. If anything, I’ve proved that theory wrong; being persistent and being willing to learn and commit to permanent change has resulted in much greater loss — and better health, which is the bigger goal. Unequivocally, all of us are older when we try, again, and all of our bodies change over time. No matter what method you choose, it will not necessarily work the same as it did, before, for that simple reason.
Body Set Points. I’ve found there are weights my body seems to like, and I have to be persistent with my methods to get my body to move beyond them to the next set point. Any time we embark on weight loss methods, we fight our body’s built-in defense mechanisms and predisposition to stay at a certain weight. Until my body understands that I’m not trying to kill it, I can expect that it will trigger mechanisms — like hunger — in an effort to protect itself. Eventually, I firmly believe each set point will reset lower, but it takes the commitment to stick it out.
I have, at this point, .2 pounds to lose to achieve a total loss of 200 pounds. My target range beyond that is to lose another 7 to 10 pounds, but at this point, I have learned that my body will pick its own time to release weight. Until then, I persevere.
Other Factors, like stress. For my body — and likely, just about everyone who deals with a great deal of excess weight to lose — there are factors that have nothing to do with what I eat that affect my weight. These factors must all be in the right ranges for my weight to move downward; they include getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, getting adequate exercise, and alleviating stress, which includes self-care. If any of these factors are lacking, my results suffer.
On top of this, I’ve learned how unpredictable my body is these days, which I think is a result of dealing with the challenges of health risks as well as just getting older. Instead of a nice, steady decline over time, my charted weight loss looks more like a tracking a drunk mule on a rampage than it does an orderly spreadsheet. This is one of many reasons I look for other indicators of success than simply a weight chart; other things are happening within my body that don’t show up on a scale. For instance, I walked the equivalent of a 5K this morning, so my body is holding onto water for muscle repair, as it has been for much of the week. I can feel it, and I know it will release when my body is done with it.
All of this is to say that I think the theory of One Golden Shot is a dangerous mindset to accept; rather, all of us who have extra weight to lose have to consider the entire condition of our bodies and meet each of those challenges without the hindrance of thinking that we blew our chance. The ability to change is a mindset, and anything that challenges that mindset should be thrown out. I refuse to throw away my shot at success because of “theories” that don’t apply to me — or to many of us.