Somehow gained weight.

ajc1309

So 2 years ago I started losing weight. I lost 3 and a half stone in 6 months and then another half a stone gradually come off during the next few months. I went from 13 stone to 9 stone and I stayed that way for over a year.

In the last month though I've somehow managed to put on nearly half a stone and I don't know how, so now I'm nearly 9 and a half stone. I've eaten how I usually eat and in all that time I never put on a single pound until now! I've gained an inch on my waist which bothers me and I'm just feeling really down about the whole thing. I know a lot of people gain back some weight but I did so well at not doing that and suddenly I've gained some back.

kimny72

Are you logging your food? Using a food scale? Has your activity level changed?

tulips_and_tea

Have you changed the types of food you're eating? Any health issues or new medication?

For me personally, I constantly make dietary and fitness changes as I progress. Just because a method was successful when we did it the first time does not necessarily mean it will continue to be. Your body has changed. It may have different needs now.

SLHysell

I wish I had more advice, but I don't speak "stone". It confuses me. But I think maybe you need to do a little time logging your food and exercise and get a good handle on how things might have changed that you didn't even notice.

ithrowconfetti

Are you:

Weighing food?
Moving around less than before?
Consuming any medication?

ajc1309

I no longer log or weigh my food, I haven't done that since I stopped my diet over a year ago though. I'm not really eating very differently, I have 2-3 small meals with very rare snacking.

I am on birth control pills but have been taking them for almost 2 years with no weight gain.

marinabreeze

ajc1309 wrote: »

I no longer log or weigh my food, I haven't done that since I stopped my diet over a year ago though. I'm not really eating very differently, I have 2-3 small meals with very rare snacking.

I am on birth control pills but have been taking them for almost 2 years with no weight gain.

If you're not tracking and weighing your food, then how do you know that you haven't started eating more? When you don't pay attention to what you're eating and you're eyeballing things it's very easy to start overestimating your portions. It doesn't mean you're eating a ton of food either, but just enough that you are no longer at maintenance and are at a calorie surplus.

If you approach your eating habits as a diet with an end date, then you're not going to be able to maintain the weight loss.

You've lost the weight before, so you can do it again. Track and measure your food like you did before for a calorie deficit. Once you get back to goal weight - if you don't want to track food, that's fine. But you may want to still measure - if not everything, you may want to do so every so often to keep perspective on your portion sizes. If you see your weight creeping up again, you know what to do. It's a lifestyle, not a temporary thing.

kimny72

marinabreeze wrote: »

If you're not tracking and weighing your food, then how do you know that you haven't started eating more? When you don't pay attention to what you're eating and you're eyeballing things it's very easy to start overestimating your portions. It doesn't mean you're eating a ton of food either, but just enough that you are no longer at maintenance and are at a calorie surplus.

If you approach your eating habits as a diet with an end date, then you're not going to be able to maintain the weight loss.

You've lost the weight before, so you can do it again. Track and measure your food like you did before for a calorie deficit. Once you get back to goal weight - if you don't want to track food, that's fine. But you may want to still measure - if not everything, you may want to do so every so often to keep perspective on your portion sizes. If you see your weight creeping up again, you know what to do. It's a lifestyle, not a temporary thing.

This! Once you are maintaining, any time you start to see a pattern of weight gain, you should start logging again for a little while to see what is going on. There are so many things that can cause you to eat a little more than you think you are. Some people keep logging permanently, but if you stop, it is a great exercise to log for a few weeks every once in a while to have an accurate perception of what you are eating.