Weight Loss -easy to put on, not easy to take off

I travel and therefore I eat. I lost the 5 lbs I put on after my Egypt trip but with my knee surgery and my eating patterns, I went up a whole dress size. I am back at the gym now and easing back into my usual routine I am kind of petite. I can't afford to be heavy. I made all kinds of dietary changes but i could not budge the weight.

My high school reunion is coming next year and i intend on looking good. With that being said, I went to a doctor supervised weight loss program. He told me this should go fast (if I don't kill someone) since i only need to go down a size. He said he can take me to a size 6 but I am not interested.

This is no walk in the park. For one week, I can only eat lean protein and water. Nothing else. Yesterday I got weepy and depressed and i was only on Day 1. I would have killed for a Happy Meal. I can no longer stop at Costco for my hotdog or Dunkin Donuts.

If i snap at you, just know that I am suffering bigly.

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Heartlander · 80-89, M

Do the math .... for the average adult, for every 3,500+/- calories of consumption that isn't matched with 3,500 calories of expenditure, we gain about a pound of weight. So ... with just 100 extra calories a day that we don't need, we'd gain about a pound over the course of a month. And, 100 extra calories a day would translate to about 12 extra pounds in 12 months.

To then lose that 12 pound would take double what it took to gain it. Cutting back just 100 calories a day would cut the gain, and a month or a year later we'd still be 12 pounds heavier. So to lose that 12 pounds and get back to were we started would take a reduction of another 100 calorie a day.

Most of us think of weight loss as something we'd want to it faster than 12 pounds over a year. So a drop of 12 pounds in 6 months would require an intake reduction of about 300 calories a day (or burn 300 calories at the gym or in the garden). Also, for most of us, our goal is probably a loss greater than 12 pounds, maybe as much as 24 pounds in a 6 month period? That would require a reduction of about 500 to 600 calories per day.

The math is the easy part. But applied math is a bit more complicated than the theoretical side because we really can't tell whether we're consuming or expending 100 more or less calories a day. The only clue is from getting on a scale and seeing the result. And then again. if you don't weigh yourself under similar conditions from one time to the next, it's difficult to tell whether or not you gained or loss a pound or two.

akindheart · 61-69, F

@Heartlander that is exactly the explanation the doctor gave me.

Heartlander · 80-89, M

@akindheart Another piece of the math is US agriculture production. About 4,000 calories per day for every man, woman and child in America. More than enough to make us all obese