How many times did you 'start again' until you finally put your all into loosing the weight?

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  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
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    Every time I've seriously decided to lose weight and decided to count calories it took 1 try. I've counted calories twice. Once 6 years ago (it took ~5 years to put all the weight back on).

    Every other time to lose weight using some random diet (that I probably didn't really want to do anyways) or just exercising more was a complete failure. I don't know how many times though, but plenty.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    bmayes2014 wrote: »
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    30 years of yo yo dieting following one fad after another, signing up for one programme after another until my head was so full of rules and tips and tricks that I finally said STOP

    So I changed my focus, decided to try to get fit, booked a personal trainer who said sign up to MFP

    So I did ...well actually it had been one of my temporary fads 2 years before ..but this time I threw away everything I knew and just went on calories

    And saw my trainer

    And steadily lost, and read discussions and listened to the mean people and read the science, screwed up my face trying to understand it...failed more often than not ...kept reading...got a little offended, got over myself

    Focused on CICO

    Got into my fitness gains, started moving more and going to gym on my own as well as with trainer

    Kept losing

    Started to get macros ...

    Hit goal, 52lbs down, kept logging, kept my PT, got stronger, got injured, kept going, recovered eventually, getting stronger still and certainly fitter

    Here I am ..still logging a year into maintenance, still reading about fads and quick fixes on here and sighing

    It's till CICO and not a fad in sight

    @rabbitjb Very good to hear. I troll daily (comment infrequently) and you offer great advice. Good to hear where it all came from. thanks!

    :) and thank you for the compliment @bmayes2014
  • NATURE_OUTDOOR_GIRL
    NATURE_OUTDOOR_GIRL Posts: 14 Member
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    I have kept my weight loss off for a year! am using meal replacement system along with doing a 'cleanse day' every 30 to 60 days. They have worked so well for me. I had some stubborn fat that just wouldn't budge and it seemed every year I put on an extra pound or two regardless of trying to eat right and exercising. I'm so busy and I don't have a lot of time to plan healthy meals and cook. I seemed to always be sacrificing nutrition for the sake of counting calories. This program just works for me. My body has really responded to the nutrition.
  • missblondi2u
    missblondi2u Posts: 851 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    missblondi2u wrote: »
    This is the only time I've ever made any effort to lose weight (other than just talking about it). I've lost a little over 50 pounds in about 8 months, and I'm looking to drop another 20 or so before I'm done. I feel 99.9% confident that I will not gain the weight back, but the crazy low statistics for people who actually keep the weight off for good give me pause.

    I'm curious. For those that said this was not their first time to the rodeo, do you think that if you had started with MFP the first time, you would have needed a second or third time?

    I lost weight in 2012 with MFP, but stopped logging during a move, and during a new relationship gained most of it back. I didn't participate in the forums then. I would totally have become complacent when I reach maintenance if not for posts from people like @rabbitjb

    Yes, participating in the forums definitely helps keep me interested and motivated.
  • missblondi2u
    missblondi2u Posts: 851 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    missblondi2u wrote: »
    This is the only time I've ever made any effort to lose weight (other than just talking about it). I've lost a little over 50 pounds in about 8 months, and I'm looking to drop another 20 or so before I'm done. I feel 99.9% confident that I will not gain the weight back, but the crazy low statistics for people who actually keep the weight off for good give me pause.

    I'm curious. For those that said this was not their first time to the rodeo, do you think that if you had started with MFP the first time, you would have needed a second or third time?

    This was my first "rodeo" as I never really had any kind of weight issues until I graduated college and took a desk job working a gazillion hours and went from being very active to sedentary...but I'll answer anyway as I have successfully maintained going on three years now.

    If you look at it statistically, the tool or methodology used to lose weight doesn't seem to matter much...regardless, only about 5% of people or so successfully maintain their weight long term. The reason for this is pretty simple really...most people don't view their weight issues as a symptom of a systemic problem but rather tend to view it as an isolated issue for which the solution is to just go on diet.

    Just going on a diet is a temporary solution to a systemic problem...it will address the immediate symptom in isolation, but generally doesn't result in a long term fix of the actual problem. For some people, the systemic problem is as simple as a poor diet and lack of movement...this can be addressed pretty easily, but the individual also has to realize that for long term success, sustainable habits must be developed and taken into perpetuity...there has to be a new normal. This is the crux of the issue for many...they just view what they're doing as temporary...they can't wait to be done so they can just get back to normal...which will of course result in putting the weight back on and having to start over again...and again...and again. They're failing to address the systemic issue of their overall poor diet and sedentary lifestyles long term.

    For others, it can get even more complicated...emotional eating issues, compulsive eating, binge eating disorders, etc all complicate the issue because the systemic issues run much deeper and more often than not will really require some kind of professional help to get at the roots.

    I was asked recently if I would keep logging after I was done losing. Originally I would have said no, but reading the stories of people who stopped logging and gained the weight back makes me think differently now.

    I equate calorie counting to a budget process. If you are upside down in your finances, you make a budget plan on how to get on the right track. If your budget works and you are able to set things right, does that mean you can throw your budget out the window? Of course not. You may be able to loosen it a bit if you now have more disposable income, but if you don't keep budgeting you will probably find yourself upside down again.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    missblondi2u wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    missblondi2u wrote: »
    This is the only time I've ever made any effort to lose weight (other than just talking about it). I've lost a little over 50 pounds in about 8 months, and I'm looking to drop another 20 or so before I'm done. I feel 99.9% confident that I will not gain the weight back, but the crazy low statistics for people who actually keep the weight off for good give me pause.

    I'm curious. For those that said this was not their first time to the rodeo, do you think that if you had started with MFP the first time, you would have needed a second or third time?

    This was my first "rodeo" as I never really had any kind of weight issues until I graduated college and took a desk job working a gazillion hours and went from being very active to sedentary...but I'll answer anyway as I have successfully maintained going on three years now.

    If you look at it statistically, the tool or methodology used to lose weight doesn't seem to matter much...regardless, only about 5% of people or so successfully maintain their weight long term. The reason for this is pretty simple really...most people don't view their weight issues as a symptom of a systemic problem but rather tend to view it as an isolated issue for which the solution is to just go on diet.

    Just going on a diet is a temporary solution to a systemic problem...it will address the immediate symptom in isolation, but generally doesn't result in a long term fix of the actual problem. For some people, the systemic problem is as simple as a poor diet and lack of movement...this can be addressed pretty easily, but the individual also has to realize that for long term success, sustainable habits must be developed and taken into perpetuity...there has to be a new normal. This is the crux of the issue for many...they just view what they're doing as temporary...they can't wait to be done so they can just get back to normal...which will of course result in putting the weight back on and having to start over again...and again...and again. They're failing to address the systemic issue of their overall poor diet and sedentary lifestyles long term.

    For others, it can get even more complicated...emotional eating issues, compulsive eating, binge eating disorders, etc all complicate the issue because the systemic issues run much deeper and more often than not will really require some kind of professional help to get at the roots.

    I was asked recently if I would keep logging after I was done losing. Originally I would have said no, but reading the stories of people who stopped logging and gained the weight back makes me think differently now.

    I equate calorie counting to a budget process. If you are upside down in your finances, you make a budget plan on how to get on the right track. If your budget works and you are able to set things right, does that mean you can throw your budget out the window? Of course not. You may be able to loosen it a bit if you now have more disposable income, but if you don't keep budgeting you will probably find yourself upside down again.

    Personally, I don't think logging is really the "lifestyle"...I haven't logged a single thing in going on three years of my maintenance. Don't get me wrong...a lot of people I guess need it to be accountable to themselves...I personally don't. Logging was a great tool for helping me understand the areas that I needed to address...but the long term solution for me was simply a healthier diet and more active lifestyle...logging helped me find out what that was, but I liken it to training wheels...eventually I took them off and now I just ride.

    I logged solidly for 9 months or so while dropping most of my weight...it taught me a lot...but really, I figured at that point I knew what I needed to be doing and how to do it. I eat the same way in maintenance as I do when cutting...just a handful more calories. For me, a diet rich in whole food nutrition is where it's at...I focus on that and regular exercise and I am very self aware as I monitor what's going on all of the time. I'm in a small cut right now because I always put on a little weight in the winter and I'm just as easily able to cut without logging now as I am maintaining...and by maintaining, I mean maintaining my level of leanness more so than my weight. Three years ago I was about 180 Lbs and 12% BF when I stopped "dieting"...three years later I'm 12% BF and 185 Lbs...same BF%, 5 Lbs heavier...right now I'm working on cutting to 180 again which would put me at about 10% BF or so...so I'll be the same weight I was three years ago, but leaner.
  • RUNucbar
    RUNucbar Posts: 160 Member
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    Too many to count!

    17 day diet, 5:2, wraps, slimfast, adios, baby food, maple syrup. I don't even like maple syrup. I've done each several times over, and probably a few others.

    I followed a lot of faddy diets and, as they all focus on weight loss rather than nutrition, I kept giving myself deficiency-induced illnesses. Anaemia happened several times, I once managed to go so long before seeing my GP, he called me in for blood tests a second time as he just could not believe the levels were that low and though the lab was wrong. Potassium levels got too low as well, vitamin D tablets until quite recently, B12 tablets, a referral to an eating disorder specialist as the doctor thought I was probably restricting and / or purging because of my blood results over several months.

    I was ultimately sent to a dietician who gave me a (thankfully figurative) thwack over the head and told me I was going to do some permanent damage if I didn't stop being stupid. She was the one who sent me on the calorie-counting and macros path which, funnily enough, is the only way I've managed to lose weight without doing myself some damage.

    I'm off all the diet-related medication now. I am still on some medication, mostly asthma pills / inhalers, a side-effect of which is lowering potassium levels which is how I managed that in the first place. I also have eczema so there is the odd cream for that but I am still healthier than I have been in years.
  • SpinCyn
    SpinCyn Posts: 94 Member
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    missblondi2u wrote: »
    This is the only time I've ever made any effort to lose weight (other than just talking about it). I've lost a little over 50 pounds in about 8 months, and I'm looking to drop another 20 or so before I'm done. I feel 99.9% confident that I will not gain the weight back, but the crazy low statistics for people who actually keep the weight off for good give me pause.

    I'm curious. For those that said this was not their first time to the rodeo, do you think that if you had started with MFP the first time, you would have needed a second or third time?

    It worked for me when I started, lost a good 20lbs....got married and blew back up. Overall it's been a 10 year battle (married 2) and this is my second try at seriously doing mfp. :) I've never stopped working out though so I get the frustration
  • xaoifex
    xaoifex Posts: 8 Member
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    until I finally realized that if i don't do it now then i am never going to do it.....that was my light bulb moment for me anyway and 43 pounds down later I couldn't be happier!!
  • Cirque95
    Cirque95 Posts: 22 Member
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    This is my fourth attempt. On my first attempt I lost 2 and a half stone and kept it off for quite a while, I then gradually put it all back on, along with another half a stone, over a year or two. I then tried again and lost a stone and a half then ended up putting it all back on again in a month. I then tried again and lost the 2 stone. Then over a few months I went through phases of gaining weight, then maintaining for a while, then gaining. Now I'm back to square one trying again for the fourth time - I have lost 11 pounds so far, with roughly 30 pounds to go.

    I don't want to dwell too much on the failed attempts because there's no point. I have learnt from every attempt and I now have a much healthier diet and do much more effective exercise, which is more sustainable in the long run. I'm a student so I undergo massive lifestyle changes - from having to constantly study and balance university work during the semester on my own to working full time during the summer at home. For me, if this attempt is going to be sucessful I have to make sure I don't fall off the bandwagon at home because that's where I put all the weight back on.

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