How many times have you failed (gain weight back) and had to start again?

Iwantahealthierme30

I lost 35 pounds in 2010 from hypothyroidism (couldn't eat without feeling sick) and thought I was too skinny for my breast size at 180 (my back hurt) so I tried to gain 10 pounds and it all came back.

Trying to go down to 160 now (slowly), once there I'll reassess

fatnutjob

I've been on mfp since 2011. I'm only 20lbs down from where I started. I've gained back the weight so many times I suffer binge eating disorder.

lois1231

Too many times to count. I lost over 100 pounds on my own. Gained it back. Had surgery lost 70 pounds. Gained it back with reinforcements. Lost 60 gained back 50. Currently on my umpteeth time.

ElC_76

lost count.. haha .. i fight the with my confidence now

kiela64

3 or so times I’ve lost ~15lbs and gained it back and then some. First time was just due to activity and not intentionally, but I liked it and didn’t keep up with the activeness. Another time I just tried going for runs as well. Didn’t know how else to lose weight.

I got mfp in 2016, and lost 15-20 and gained it back. It worked for a while but my cals kept creeping up and then I gave up entirely. Like another poster I got distracted by life: injury, school, etc. In 2017 I tried IF 5:2 for a bit and then just cal counting again. Similar loss. But what’d ya know I gained it back and I was at my highest ever weight by 2018.

Now I’ve lost a similar amount and I’m so scared because I see my calories going up a little. I don’t want it to be another failed attempt.

garystrickland357

I'm on my third and last round. I did it once in my late 20's, once in my early 40's, and now again at 56. I think I understand my mistakes this time around. Each time I'm talking about losing more than 65 pounds.

CarvedTones

I have lost 63 pounds. This is the second time I have lost over 60 and the first time it was a low spike and only once did I see a weight that was over 60 from starting weight. This time i have been 63 pounds down for about 2 months and I am more committed to keeping it off and I am continuing to track and treating maintenance much like losing, which I didn't do before. I ate the things I like to eat while losing and track calories to know to limit portions and know when to stop. I didn't do that before; I ate differently while losing and then went back to old habits.

One other time, about 35 years ago, I lost close to 50 pounds. That was the first time I put on serious weight as an adult and it spooked me me. I kept most of it off for close to 20 years. In the past 15 years, I have lost track of how many times I lost 5-15 pounds only to gain it back. I always did it with restrictive diets and I always tried to eat "normal" again and just not overeat. It never worked.

LivingtheLeanDream

In my 20s and 30s I couldn't count the times I lost and regained. Thank goodness I found MFP in 2012, I never looked back and have been in maintenance since 2013. Before when I lost it was due to fad diets or extreme diets that weren't sustainable. Now I eat all the foods but I take in no more than I burn = maintenance.

bikecheryl

I don't know how many times I said to myself "I want to lose weight, I hate being this heavy."

But honestly, I've only ever said "I WILL LOSE WEIGHT" twice.

This is my story:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10658336/one-year-on-mfp/p1

Committing to it is the hardest part !!

Running_and_Coffee

I've varied between a 10 lb range since I was in my early 20s, and am in my mid 40s now. (Except three pregnancies.) I think some people might technically call that "maintenance," but I've tried a variety of approaches when hitting the top of my range to get back down to the bottom.

lyndsfattofit

Way WAAAYY to many times. I used to lose 20/30lbs then gain it back when I got bored of it.

In 2011 I decided to give it a proper go and by 2013 I was down almost 100lbs. From 2015 to now I ended up gaining back around 130lbs. In that time I lost 20lbs or so, gained lost again, gained and gained etc and so this time I'm going for official 'round two' . It might take me a while but I'm in the same frame of mind as before so I'm pretty sure I'm gonna stick to it again this time.

busyPK

Once I decided to lose weight (around 2012), I did it and never got back to my original starting weight BUT I do seem to get in a standstill right where I am now (again) and usually go up and down 10lbs so this time I'm hoping to break through this barrier even if it's at a slow, turtle pace.

thelegendofsakura89

More times than i can count, lol.
Maybe it sounds like an excuse, but my struggles with depression and anxiety made sticking to my weight loss seemingly impossible.
Ever since I've gotten my mental health under control, it's been effortless. 23 lbs down and counting.

CarvedTones

thelegendofsakura89 wrote: »

More times than i can count, lol.
Maybe it sounds like an excuse, but my struggles with depression and anxiety made sticking to my weight loss seemingly impossible.
Ever since I've gotten my mental health under control, it's been effortless. 23 lbs down and counting.

I have a history of going off my meds when I decide I am better (type II bipolar; unless there is some breakthrough, it's not going away) and many of my worst gains track with depression. Losing weight is really easy when hypomanic but down days outnumber up days about 20 to 1. I have lost 63 pounds last summer and have been on meds since late last spring. Coincidence? Probably not.

JeromeBarry1

I lost 50 lb when I was 15, gained it all back and 150 more, then started losing weight haphazardly 18 years ago then with deliberate knowledge 2 years ago. In the recent 2 years, I've had one pronounced episode of gain which I'm presently still working my way back down through.

happytree923

I’ve only lost a significant amount of weight once. I lost 40 pounds without even trying when I first went vegan about five years ago. Then I discovered vegan butter and it was all over. Not vegan anymore and hoping conscious intentions will stick much longer than accidentally eating lower-cal.

robot_potato

This is round 3. Went from 231-145, then 210 to 150, now at 196 . I stop tracking my food, get busy and start making excuses. So it seems i need to be a permanent tracker. And i think i'm ok with that.

Bluntmomma

I was severely overweight in 2010 and finally decided I'd had enough and walked off 120 lbs in about 8 months. I then started working in the culinary industry and the hours on my feet made it damned near impossible to do any walking because my feet were so sore. I also moved to an area where there were loads of bears, which I have a major fear of, so I didn't do my regular 2 hour a day walk anymore. Over the course of 7 years, I've gained all that weight back, and then some. Most of the gain was in the last 4 due to overuse of alcohol after work and on weekends. I also lost my job because I couldn't do it anymore due to the weight and the health issues that it brought with it.

So, here I am starting over again. I didn't have a starting weight to go by but just started going to the pool 3 days per week. About 1 1/2 months in, I decided that wasn't enough so for the past 2 weeks I've gone 5 days per week, doing several exercises/aerobics for about an hour a day. I weighed in at the beginning of the two week period and I was 434 lbs. I lost 4 lbs last week and apparently nothing this week. I know I've gained a lot of muscle and I see droopy skin where it was full of fat before, so I know I'm still losing fat, but I think the muscle is making it not really show up on the scale.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that you can't always go by the scale since muscle weighs more than fat and your body holds different amounts of water as well from day to day. Don't get discouraged. Go by how you feel and how your clothes fit and don't beat yourself up for a little failure. We're all human and nobody is perfect. Just keep trekkin!

cwolfman13

Other than putting on 8-10 Lbs in the winter, I've only had one rodeo of significant weight loss.

ITUSGirl51

This is my 9th time to lose 50+ lbs in my life. Started when I was 15. I lost 72 lbs this time and am in maintenance. I continue to log and count calories and weigh most every day. I have learned a lot about moderation and it’s not all or nothing when it comes to losing and maintaining weight using MFP.

I take it one day at a time.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

I've been bouncing around 155 to 170 for 6 years now. Goal weight is 150.

If I try to count based on my chart, I can see EIGHT different loss and gain cycles.

jefamer2017

So many times. I have never completely lost all the weight needed. I am a few pounds heavier than I was when I stopped last time. This time I am taking a diet break on purpose with a start and end date. I wish I had known about diet breaks last time. Just hope I can come back to a deficit after next week when my diet break is complete.

indiacaitlin

Quite a few times, I lost about 40lb and then put 30lb back on and it sucked. I still really struggle not to beat myself up about it. But such is life, I know what works and I'm enjoying the process of getting the weight off. In fact I think it's better this time as I know what it feels like to hit my goals, and that it feels better than not caring about my diet/fitness, which is motivating me even more

Mandylou19912014

I feel your pain! It’s so hard to keep on track! I follow lots of fitness models on Instagram so everyday I feel motivated, I find new workouts to try in the gym to keep me excited and look up nice new healthy recipes etc. You have to really picture yourself at the weight you want to be and tell yourself you can do it x

SCoil123

Once. I became overweight when pregnant. I gained 90lb, although I was a little under weight when I first became pregnant I still gained a lot. I lost just over 80lb when my son started school to get back to a healthy weight and maintained for 3 years. Then I switched jobs and my relationship, as a result of lifestyle changes I gained 30lb back. My activity decreased a lot and we were eating a lot more big family dinners so my intake increased.

This time losing the weight was harder and slower. Last time I didn’t count or log. I lost the weight by becoming active. I hadn’t learned how to manage my eating. I have brought my activity back up with working out again but my regular daily activity isn’t what it was. I have a commute and desk job now. I used to work at a YMCA camp and participate in the Insanity classes offered there at work for free. Learning to lose the weight focusing more on diet this time has been hard for me. It took two years to lose the 30lb Is gained back...it took just under 2 years for me to lose more than double that the first time.

kq1981

Too many to bore you with. I Tried alllllll the weight loss fads over the years, HFLC, weight watchers ect, medications, even brought weight loss pills online once then got scared of what might actually be in them and didn’t take them lol I’ve successfully lost 15.2kg on MFP. This has been the ONLY thing that has helped me lose and keep off the weight. I’m halfway to my goal. I got lazy for about 3-4 months and didn’t log accurately or honestly, but because I browsed forums, learned so much and logged regardless and kept up my streak (466 days) I stayed within 1-2kg of my lowest recorded weight. Goodluck!!!

Mini_Medic

Three times. First time lost 40 at age 21. Second time I was 24 and lost 50. Now I’m 27 and in the process of taking off 25, down 5 so far. Thankfully I caught myself at only 25 this time. It has previously been so much worse. I’m not sure why maintaining is so much harder than losing. I need to find a way to keep myself in loss mode and then just occasionally allow treats to bump it back to maintenance range. But no matter what I’ve tried the weight does creep on it piles. It’s like I have perfect control and then I have zero. I maintained for a couple years and then bam back where I started. The only solace is knowing you can do it because you have done it before.