# Is it true that some people just CANNOT lose weight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712 "2012-01-16T17:52:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/61 "2012-01-20T13:12:55Z")
You’re assuming a weight gain is entirely fat, but you’re forgetting water retention, which can make a marked difference to someone’s weight. (Though I admit 50 lbs of water retention is stretching it a bit. You’d be wobbling around like a giant bladder.) ---
**Author:** ![quietob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/a88e4f/32.png) [@quietob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quietob)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/62 "2012-01-20T19:38:02Z")
> [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](#): > > You’ve contradicted yourself. It’s impossible to gain 50 pounds in six weeks without over eating 50 pounds worth of energy. > > It is impossible, by the laws of physics, to create 50 pounds of body fat in 6 weeks without ingesting 50 pounds of extra energy during that 6 weeks - which by any yardstick, is a veritible shitload of over eating for a 24 year old woman who was hitherto 104 pounds. I’ve contradicted myself? That statement makes no sense. What exactly did I contradict? Did I first say I didn’t gain 50 pounds in six weeks and then say I did. That’s what a contradiction is. Anyway… The fact that you think that the 50 pounds was gained by a “veritable shitload of over eating” mean three things: 1. You didn’t read the part (and it was pretty much the entire post) where I described in considerable detail, the disease process of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and how and why it causes obesity. 2. You believe that all fat people are fat because of a “shitload of over eating” and regardless of an evidence to the contrary, you will never yield this position. 3. You didn’t read the list of very healthy foods that I eat and the list of garbage that I don’t eat. I suppose it’s possible to eat enough broccoli to become obese from it. I’m sure you’re working on a thesis about that right now. Despite trying to sound all scientific and brainy in your posts, you are revealing how profoundly ignorant you are of the subject matter, and how prejudice you are towards the obese. You can bash fat people to your heart’s content. It doesn’t change the **FACT** that I am obese because of PCOS, not over-eating and it doesn’t mean that five endocrinologists are quacks. By the way, one of those doctors said, about the obesity part of the disease, “You’ll keep gaining weight, even if the only thing you consume is water.” Perhaps you would like to contact one or all of my endocrinologists and tell them that it’s impossible for someone to gain 50 pounds in six weeks. Maybe they can explain it better than I have. And maybe they would enjoy arguing Newton’s Laws of Physics with you, too. ---
**Author:** ![quietob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/a88e4f/32.png) [@quietob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quietob)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/63 "2012-01-20T19:44:50Z")
> [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](#): > > It’s an insult to any intelligent sane person to suggest otherwise. I’m sorry if my “suggestion” that I am obese because of a medical condition that you are unable to comprehend, and not because of over-eating and lack of exercise is an insult to you. ---
**Author:** ![quietob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/a88e4f/32.png) [@quietob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quietob)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/64 "2012-01-20T20:04:32Z")
To **Boo Boo Foo** : Something I should have included in my second last post. I can only imagine your reaction to a doctor saying that I would continue to gain weight even if I only consumed water. You must be beside yourself! It will start off with something like, “It is scientifically impossible…” blah blah blah :rolleyes: As far as _I_ am concerned, I addressed the OP and the matter is closed. I will be making no further posts about PCOS nor will I check back here to subject myself to any more of your “scientific” insults. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/65 "2012-01-20T20:42:34Z")
I think my body has made up its mind what weight it’s going to be, and no matter what I may do to move my weight up and down, my body will always reset it to its predetermined level. Which in my case is slightly overweight: 26 BMI. But then I like having curves so it’s all good. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/66 "2012-01-20T21:15:04Z")
quietob, did you look different than other obese people? I had a teacher who had a glandular problem and she was morbidly obese, but it was like her fat didn’t have any structure. It looked like she was covered in a wet, heavy blanket. Most traditional overweight people seem to have some firmness to their fat. I’m wondering if fat from glandular problems has more water in it, which means it would be possible to gain weight even though you weren’t eating more calories. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/67 "2012-01-20T22:21:04Z")
> [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](#): > > You’ve contradicted yourself. It’s impossible to gain 50 pounds in six weeks without over eating 50 pounds worth of energy. This is so wrong it’s laughable. In college I could easily add 20 lbs of weight in 24 hours (I would lose it first to make weight, and then add it back through re-hydration). It was all water weight, but then she never said her weight gain wasn’t due to water retention. No violation of Newton’s laws required. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/68 "2012-01-21T03:04:28Z")
Before I had this experience, I thought heavy people must be eating more than they should and not exercising enough. However, I know that my diet didn’t drastically change in quantity or quality during those four months I gained all those pounds due to hormonal changes. [Before](http://imgur.com/DLz9D,xsBUK#0) and [after](http://imgur.com/DLz9D,xsBUK#1). Looking at those pictures, I suspect that I gained more than 20 pounds, but I didn’t used to own a scale, so I can’t say for certain. I’m not saying that all obese people have hormonal problems, but people saying that there are no obese people in X time/society are also ignoring the fact that people in X time/society don’t have the amount of hormonal changes most Americans do, especially American women. Weight gain is very common on birth control and there are female hormones in our water supply. It is also importance to understand the overabundance of sugar in our diet, which makes it very difficult to lose weight. For a very long time, Americans have been told to eat low-fat foods. I have a lot of friends that still try to eat low-fat, believing it the best way to lose weight. Unfortunately, low-fat foods tend to be high in sugar. More and more evidence suggests that it is sugar, not fat, that causes weight gain. The huge meta-analysis that caused the food pyramid to change (and go carb heavy) was based on a study that found a correlation between heart disease and fat in the diet. They failed to note that there is also a high correlation between sugar and fat in one’s diet. [This](http://www.whale.to/a/food_pyramid.gif) is a terrible way to eat, as more and more people are discovering. Our cereals, breads, rice, pasta, are FULL of sugar and contain very little fiber. I started cutting out HFCS six years ago and, until recently, it was in everything. Nearly every single loaf of bread had it. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/69 "2012-01-21T04:59:52Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Agreed. Assuming 42 days (6 weeks) and each pound of fat requiring 3,500 calories, my ciphering shows a DAILY calorie surplus of 4166.67 calories. Assuming your metabolism slowed your bodily functions, including heartbeat and breathing, to zero, that is still an ingestion of 4,100 calories per day, an enormous amount. Seriously? I don’t know how large a person you are, but eating 4,100 calories a day is in no way, shape, or form all that difficult. It doesn’t even have to be a particularly large volume of food as long as it is calorie dense. A pancake house pancake, sausage and egg breakfast and a 1/2 mushroom cheese steak sub with fries and a coke lunch will easily get you there (and beyond) without even eating dinner. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/70 "2012-01-21T05:10:00Z")
**kimera** , the ‘after’ pic is just fine. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/71 "2012-01-21T05:14:29Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > **kimera** , the ‘after’ pic is just fine. 😉 Yeah, she went from scarecrow skinny to nice and svelte. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/72 "2012-01-21T05:16:45Z")
> [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](#): > > It **IS** thermodynamically impossible. Body fat, like fossil fuel, is a form of energy storage in the form of highly complex hydrocarbons. Millions of them in every fat cell. They get built, they store energy. They break down, they release energy. It’s impossible to create them without eating the excess energy in the first place, because energy CANNOT be created. > > It’s an insult to any intelligent sane person to suggest otherwise. > > As for the OP, yes, inarguably some people struggle more than others to maintain weight loss - and the evidence does indeed indicate that our genetic body fat minimum slides upward with age. And also, the body fat minimum, once set at a high level through years of being overweight, is exceedingly hard to bring back down. You’re misunderstanding a few things. The claim from this woman was that her metabolic burn rate was running at (essentially) one half normal speed. Nor was she claiming she was bundle of energy at this burn rate. She was able to attend to everyday life requirements, but she wasn’t running marathons or turning cartwheels. My measured burn rate is about 25% off normal rates, and I do have lack of energy issues. This is simply due to my body conditioning itself over time, through dieting and a few large weight losses, to fight for calories by any means possible including changing my base metabolism. And I am otherwise relatively healthy and without glandular issues. Why is her tale of a 50% crunchdown WITH glandular issues so difficult to believe? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/73 "2012-01-21T06:02:26Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Seriously? I don’t know how large a person you are, but eating 4,100 calories a day is in no way, shape, or form all that difficult. It doesn’t even have to be a particularly large volume of food as long as it is calorie dense. A pancake house pancake, sausage and egg breakfast and a 1/2 mushroom cheese steak sub with fries and a coke lunch will easily get you there (and beyond) without even eating dinner. There is a disconnect happening right here. Who eats a big greasy breakfast and then turns around and has a big greasy lunch a few hours later? A Chipotle burrito will probably run around 1,000 calories. Eating one of those is going to make me feel uncomfortably stuffed. I can’t imagine a world in which I’d be able to eat four of them, much less feel like that’s somehow normal. I’ll grant you that if you drink soda, it’s extremely easy to overload on calories. But anyone who is consuming that many calories through ordinary meals has a crazy idea of what an ordinary meal is. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/74 "2012-01-21T08:42:05Z")
> [@kimera](#): > > Before I had this experience, I thought heavy people must be eating more than they should and not exercising enough. However, I know that my diet didn’t drastically change in quantity or quality during those four months **I gained all those pounds due to hormonal changes.** This is where the bullshit starts. You gained weight because you were eating more than you were burning off. I know that’s blunt but I mean what I say and I say what I mean. If you tell me you’ve got a condition which prevents you from exercising? You’ve got my empathy every day of the week. I’ll do everything in my power to help you and aid you in your everyday life. But if you tell me you’ve got a hormone problem which prevents you from eating the right amount of food on a daily basis? Pffft… Body fat is an excess energy storage system to aid the human body to cope in times of famine. I have no doubt you, and all the other folks who are coming in here piping up with claims that “my hormones made me do it” have actually seen doctors who have diagnosed various issues. No doubt about that at all, and I hope it gets sorted for you. But at the end of the day, the body fat itself is caused by a surplus of inbound calories mixed with a lack of energy expenditure, so the excess energy in the food gets turned into your reserve fuel tank - aka body fat. And in the context of the Opening Post, no it’s not impossible for anyone to lose weight - but it is if you keep coming up with excuses and reasons to wallow in resignation. Losing weight, and keeping it off, is all about hard work. Some people thrive on hard work, some people have never been fit in their life. But let’s not hide behind this glandular/thyroid/hormone crap. There is such an epidemic of global obesity nowadays that it actually has a new name - that is… “globesity”. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/75 "2012-01-21T08:48:28Z")
> [@astro](#): > > You’re misunderstanding a few things. > > \ > > Why is her tale of a 50% crunchdown WITH glandular issues so difficult to believe? She claimed she gained 50 pounds in 6 weeks without changing her diet. I call bullshit. Or alternatively, she previously had a monster tape worm and unknowingly killed it. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/76 "2012-01-21T09:00:23Z")
> [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](#): > > This is where the bullshit starts. I think you’re quoting the wrong poster. > [@Boo Boo Foo](#): > > If you tell me you’ve got a condition which prevents you from exercising? You’ve got my empathy every day of the week. I believe the poster you _should_ have been addressing is in a wheelchair. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/77 "2012-01-21T14:23:32Z")
I can totally understand how hormones can trigger changes in the body which changes metabolism or encourages the body to store fat. Sometimes it could be a drastic change or sometimes it will be more gradual, as happens as people age. The problem is that most people don’t recognize the weight gain until it’s gone on for a while and by then they’ve gained 20+ pounds. Losing weight is hard, so it may seem impossible for people to lose the weight they gained. People need to step on a scale on a regular basis. I weigh myself a few times a week and it really helps maintain my weight. If I see my weight going up, it tells me I need to watch what I eat more carefully and make sure I’m staying active. This way I can make small corrections to maintain my weight instead of one day realizing I need to lose 20 pounds. > [@kimera](#): > > [Before](http://imgur.com/DLz9D,xsBUK#0) and [after](http://imgur.com/DLz9D,xsBUK#1). I think I see how you gained the weight. In the before pic, are you holding a plate of potatoes and a plate of cookies? Hmmm… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/78 "2012-01-21T14:58:25Z")
> [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](#): > > This is where the bullshit starts. > > You gained weight because you were eating more than you were burning off. I know that’s blunt but I mean what I say and I say what I mean. If you tell me you’ve got a condition which prevents you from exercising? You’ve got my empathy every day of the week. I’ll do everything in my power to help you and aid you in your everyday life. But if you tell me you’ve got a hormone problem which prevents you from eating the right amount of food on a daily basis? Pffft… Again, I made no change to my diet and exercise during that period of sudden weight gain. My food bills didn’t go up. I also exercise **more** and I eat healthier now than I did when I regularly remained at an underweight BMI, but I’m maintaining a higher BMI. I haven’t seen a doctor about my weight gain because I _love_ my new body and hope I keep it (I’ve always wanted to be curvy), but I was lucky in that I was thin before I gained those pounds. I have a lot of female friends who became overweight on birth control. **filmore** , it was worse than that because those weren’t potatoes, but [Irish Potato Candies](http://allrecipes.com/recipe/irish-potatoes/detail.aspx) as part of a Patty’s day celebration. Although, to be fair, I cropped out the healthy appetizers we had as part of that meal, which included a veggie tray done as the Irish flag, and the casual observer would not be aware of the fact that those were homemade and constructed from ingredients purchased in a country where everything is organic and locally produced. The sugar was unnecessary, but you need fat when you work a very physical demanding job or otherwise get a lot of exercise, especially when you’re a vegetarian and cheese is hella expensive and doesn’t last when the fridge keeps cutting out. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/79 "2012-01-21T16:12:15Z")
I knew a bloke, went on a diet, lost 140 lbs. Ate one Mars Bar, put it all back on again. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712/80 "2012-01-21T18:15:24Z")
> [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](#): > > She claimed she gained 50 pounds in 6 weeks without changing her diet. I call bullshit. > > Or alternatively, she previously had a monster tape worm and unknowingly killed it. I’m referring to the long time SDMB poster I originally refererenced to as someone who needed very few calories to maintain her normal weight, NOT the poster you are referencing. Obviously there would be a lot of water weight in the 50 lb gain in the poster you are referencing, but the total weight claimed is not unbelievable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-true-that-some-people-just-cannot-lose-weight/609712.md?page=5)