I just posted this in the intro section in response to a person noting that their second time around they are losing more slowly. It seems to be a familiar song.

This is a quote from the Nov 2001 SHAPE magazine. - It's just a filler - there wasn't a whole article

FAT FACT: You develop most of your fat early in life.

The average person is born with 5-6 billion fat cells and research suggests that you acquire most of your fat cells before the age of 20. The average adult has 30-40 billion fat cells, but can add more anytime a significant amount ofweight (at least 20-30 pounds of fat) is gained.

And of course, it is also a fact, that once we have those new fat cells, they never go away - we have them for life. IMO I think this is the reason for slower weight loss in repeat gainers. If repeat gains increases the number of fat cells, it is logical that loss would be slower? Wouldn't it?

If so, that in itself is a real motivator to keep it off.