After losing a large amount of weight, the body continues to burn fewer calories at rest than expected based on its new size, and this persistent reduction in energy expenditure may make it harder to keep the weight off over time.

When people lose weight, their bodies sometimes slow down more than expected, burning fewer calories at rest — and this might be why some folks struggle more than others to keep the weight off.

The more your body slows down its calorie burning after weight loss, the more likely you are to eat more than you burn — which makes it easier to gain weight back.

After losing weight, people who eat more and move more may experience a lower biological urge to regain weight because their metabolism stays higher and they feel less hungry, but it is not known whether this prevents long-term weight regain.

After losing weight, the body slows down calorie burning to save energy — but eating more protein stops this slowdown, so the body burns calories at the expected rate again.

After losing weight, obese adults who maintain higher levels of physical activity and food intake have a slightly higher resting metabolic rate than those with lower activity and intake, resulting in an increase of about 79 calories burned per day at rest.