Originally Posted by noam

I'll bite.

I used to be about 40 pounds over my ideal weight, and since I'm not very tall (5"10) that's a lot.

I then joined the Israeli military, and naturally that fixed my weight problem, at least for the three years I served.

Since then, I've been shifting between my ideal weight and 30-35 pounds over. And let me tell you what I've discovered:

The fatter you get, the harder it is to lose weight. Not physically, but mentally. It takes me tremendous will power to start taking care of myself when I am 30 pounds over because I know I wont see satisfying results for several months, and you'll have to stick with it for several months.

Now, when I get 10-15 pounds over that triggers a red light and I quickly get back to my ideal weight in a few weeks. God help me if I ever slip and get 50 pounds over - I may never be able to take it off. I know I couldn't take off my original 40 pounds until I joined the army and I had to.

After the army, it became slightly easier to lose weight because:

A. I knew I could do it.
B. I knew how great it feels to be in good shape and at your ideal weight.

But still, the farther you are from where you want to be, the harder it is to get there. Some people think being 100 pounds overweight would motiviate the shit out of you. It just doesn't work that way.