Energy balance
Metabolic adaptation (suppressed resting metabolic rate beyond what is predicted by body composition changes) persists for at least 6 years after massive weight loss, acting as a persistent biological barrier to weight maintenance.
If you have lost a significant amount of weight, your body will likely fight to regain it by lowering your metabolic rate, even years later. This is not a failure of willpower but a biological response. To maintain your weight, you must accept that your energy requirements are now lower than they were before you were heavier, and you may need to be more vigilant about energy balance than someone who has never been obese.
Metabolic adaptation persists over time and is likely a proportional, but incomplete, response to contemporaneous efforts to reduce body weight.
Why this rating
Longitudinal follow-up of a specific, extreme cohort (n=14) with rigorous metabolic measurements (indirect calorimetry, DEXA, DLW), though limited by small sample size and lack of a control group.
Source
Persistent metabolic adaptation 6 years after “The Biggest Loser” competition
Erin Fothergill et al. · Obesity · 2016
DOI 10.1002/oby.21538
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