I Have Noticed Many People Returning, Having Regained Their Weight ...

Graelwyn75

So, I want to hear your personal stories as to why you regained the weight, and what you would do differently with hindsight.

Would you have stayed on mfp longer, tracking, until you had been in maintenance for a year?
Would you have lost weight less aggressively so that it was easier to adjust to maintenance?
Was your entire focus on the weight loss rather than on changing your entire lifestyle?
Did something health related come up that caused you to 'fall off the proverbial wagon' ?

I, personally, made the mistake of leaving both mfp and the gym and of training at an intensity that was not sustainable in the long term. Leaving this site and that lifestyle lost me a large amount of the fitness and self esteem I had worked so hard to obtain. I was not overweight, but was using mfp to refocus an unhealthy obsession with weight and convert it into a goal of being as fit, lean and strong as I could. So, tell me your stories ...

Purplebunnysarah

Lost some weight. Got pregnant (oops). Stressful first trimester meant that I gained too fast in the beginning, for a total of 67 lbs. Had other concerns than weight loss for a while after my son was born. Got back in the groove and started losing again. Bam! Pregnant! More sensible gain the second time (~30 lbs). Have been losing since my 2.5 year old was 6 months old at varying rates since then including a 5 month break where I maintained for most of the 5 months and started cutting again once I wasn't maintaining anymore.

SafioraLinnea

Was here years ago, lost 40 pounds very fast as I didn't understand that I needed to net 1200 calories, not eat 1200 and exercise and ignore those burned calories. I averaged 500 calories net daily back then, got extremely sick, and gained all the weight back before I started feeling better.

Now I'm back, losing weight in a healthy way. I now am netting 1700 minimum and closer to my goal weight than I was before. It's so much easier to do it the healthy way!!

yweight1969

Treated as a diet and temporary working out, so once I lost 60 lbs I put it back because I totally stopped exercing (majority walked outdoors or on the treadmill a lot and hand weights) and counting for the food I eat by tracking here or on another site, the gain is horrible because now I find it so much harder to get back on the wagon and into the Grove of losing weight and getting toned and fit. I purchased a reasonable price spin bike on line and I'm back here and I've lost almost 20 lbs before coming back but now I'm on a plateau ,so wish me more than luck because I need it. Thanks for asking and best of care to you on your journey.

Forgot to say that loss was 6 years ago and it took me about six months to lose but much quicker to put back on, I ate in a healthy way and calorie range.

jennifer_417

I went a really difficult time and just stopped caring for a while. Tbh, I'm not sure I'd do anything different. But it does suck that I have to do all that work all over again.

Nbaker0909

I lost 62 pounds and was within 3 pounds of my goal weight last time. Then I moved back in with my family for a year while I saved up to buy money for a house. I love my family to death but they have terrible eating habits and pressured me a lot to eat and drink with them, even though we had our own apartment and kitchen in the basement. I gained 30 pounds back in a year. I FInALLY hit my goal weight (today actually ☺️) but I've gotten much better at standing up for myself and eating what I need/want to eat to stay on track.

nowine4me

Once I hit my goal (last time) I was "done" -stopped tracking, stopped exercising and went back to my normal business. Put The 75# back on in under a year.

This time it's a new normal that includes daily activity, logging and a way healthier diet. One year in maintenance and going strong.

rheddmobile

This is my third major weight loss. The first time off the wagon I gradually gave in to my addiction to Coca Cola because my husband drinks it all the time, complicated by lupus and knee problems which made it difficult to exercise. For me, Coke is the keystone to unhealthy eating - I drink it and it causes me to crave salty fatty foods, as well as kicking my blood sugar around and making me crave more sweets. Whenever I have had the strength in the past to stop drinking it, the rest of my eating almost magically falls into place. But I really, really love it - just the sound of a can opening is a trigger.

The second time, I was doing very well when my lupus flared and made it impossible for me to exercise - I was also in a lot of pain and just stopped caring.

It's still possible that health problems will make it impossible for me to exercise in the future, but since I am now diabetic, at least I won't be overdosing on sweet stuff. My husband is also much more supportive now and makes an effort not to eat and drink things in front of me or ask for me to cook things I shouldn't eat.

me0231

Same as others for me. Treated it as a diet not something I could sustain longterm. I followed crazy fad diets and lost weight but it was never sustainable. I'd go on a crazy binge after restricting whole food groups for months and pile the weight back on.
This time is different, I don't have the x years in maintenance to prove it yet, but I know I'm going to get there and maintain. Simple cico, I eat what I want as long as it fits into my goal. Zero binges and not feeling deprived of anything as well as a slower loss is where I am at now.

MoyMG

I've yo-yo'd my whole life. Finally figured out that it must be a lifestye that I wi maintain my whoe life, and not a short-term diet I can finish, then do what I want. The weight is dropping, I'm increasing my exercise, but everything is in moderation and is sustainable. And I track - all food, all drink, paying attention to grams of protein and ounces of water, and all exercise. And I plan to track for the rest of my life.

docc30

I was doing great, losing weight, working with a trainer, and definitely getting in better shape. Then, my daughter had medical issues that put her in the hospital for a week. I was still okay, but slowed down a little. Two months later, my wife was diagnosed with cancer. Then, my son-in-law was killed in a car crash. Lastly, my other daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer. During it all, I gained all the weight back. I've been back at it for 40 days. I'll get there again.

Orphia

@me0231

me0231 wrote: »

Same as others for me. Treated it as a diet not something I could sustain longterm. I followed crazy fad diets and lost weight but it was never sustainable. I'd go on a crazy binge after restricting whole food groups for months and pile the weight back on.
This time is different, I don't have the x years in maintenance to prove it yet, but I know I'm going to get there and maintain. Simple cico, I eat what I want as long as it fits into my goal. Zero binges and not feeling deprived of anything as well as a slower loss is where I am at now.

I believe you will do well. Great approach.

me0231

Orphia wrote: »

@me0231

I believe you will do well. Great approach.

Thank you!

JeromeBarry1

I thank each and every one of you who return to MFP and state publicly that you are back for the second, third, or nth time to lose that weight again. I really do thank you. This is my first time using MFP, and I've lost 104 lb in 18 months. Part of it was too fast with too small of a net calories and part of it wasn't. Part of it was not eating exercise calories and part of it was eating more to exercise more. It's been a wild ride and each of you continually inspire me to stay, log, and keep a close watch on my energy balance. Again, thank you.

zjpq

My regains have been bc of pregnancy x 2 and then the last time I got quite sick and it took many months to get everything sorted. Here I am again, hopefully it will last this time!!

leejoyce31

docc30 wrote: »

I was doing great, losing weight, working with a trainer, and definitely getting in better shape. Then, my daughter had medical issues that put her in the hospital for a week. I was still okay, but slowed down a little. Two months later, my wife was diagnosed with cancer. Then, my son-in-law was killed in a car crash. Lastly, my other daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer. During it all, I gained all the weight back. I've been back at it for 40 days. I'll get there again.

I hope your wife and daughter fully recover. My condolences on the death of your son in law. That's a lot of tragedy. I would have fallen off under those circumstances.

everher

I just used to be one of those people that believed I could diet my way down to x amount of pounds and then I could go back to eating 'normally'.

Some of this might have come from me being too restrictive when trying to lose weight in the past. I wouldn't allow myself to drink anything but water, I wouldn't eat sweets, I wouldn't eat condiments of any kind (this includes salad dressing), I wouldn't cook with oil at all, I tried not to eat too much bread (sandwiches must be open faced or halved), and of course no fast food, no take out, no food I didn't prepare myself, etc.

If a food was supposedly healthy or good for you I would eat it whether I liked it or not. At one point, I distinctly recall drinking chia seeds in some type of healthy shake I made myself.

The stuff of nightmares people.

So. Eventually I realized all that was stupid and all I really needed to do was consume fewer calories and here we are.

I've made some dietary changes, but nothing radical or that I can't live with forever. Mostly, I have just increased protein and vegetable consumption and tried to eat less treats. I also know that this is a life long commitment now. There is no going back to past habits for me.

suzesvelte

I have lost lots of weight many times, and gradually re-gained some of it over time, everytime. I am not a "crazy" eater gorging on junk food and sweet drinks - never really have been - indeed what I eat is very healthy. It always was mainly based on food I prepped from scratch with lots of fresh ingredients and my intake has been even better quality over the last few years because I was given a terminal cancer diagnosis and decided to use diet and health to extend my life expectancy. I take that very seriously and eat very well.

However we live in a society where food is easily available, and "treats" are piled high almost everywhere we go, so eating within a calorie target takes constant vigilance. I can gain weight by simply eating out once or twice a week, snacking on a few sweet things now and again and adding "too much" oil to my cooking. It's not much but its enough to gradudally pile the pounds back on.

Using MFP to re-focus awareness of portion control and how small a protion of fat has to be to keep calories under control is working for me again. I really WANT this to be the last time, so I am being very serious about learning how maintainers manage to maintain. What the "best" maintainers in here seem to do is KEEP ON IT -> keep weighing yourself regularly and keep monitoring your intake and crank it up if you gain a few pounds to keep on target far more easily than gaining huge amounts before you start again. Basically you cannot stop.

Now that seems like a shock, and rather tedious, but I reckon we have to do that, and realise that THIN people actually do that too. They may not talk about it, but they will have little techniques they use to moderate their intake and compensate for over-indulgence. They might even lie about it, they might say "they can eat anything" - but that is nor true for many people. There might be a few outliers with faster metabolism, etc. Same as some of us maybe have slower metabolisms, but basically in our culture of abundance, being slim requires constant effort.

I have also been reading the Beck Diet Solution which was recommended in these forums. This author is a doctor who helps many fat people. She really gets into the head of a fat person and shows you how "thin" people think and manage to stay slim. I strongly recommend this book if you want to change the way you THINK about food and eating as a maintenance as well as a loss thing. It is very helpful to realise that THIN people DO exert vigilance, even if you don't notice that they do. This book is teaching me to "think like a thin person" .. and it is very enpowering. Most of my "bad" habits are based on faulty logic and a sense of "unfairness" about how hard it is to stay slim. Giving up that sense of injustice might be my biggest step to successful loss and maintenance.

I hope so!

yirara

Quite honestly, I'd list more than was probably good for me. Maintained at that weight for over two years with occ. tracking. No problems with long vacation and international move. Then everything went wrong in my life and I got depressed, bought too many crisps and candy and regained some. Nearly down now where I want to be. No problem. Sometimes *kitten* happens in life.

kitzykarly

I was hospitalized for 3 months, and my dieticians were definitely pushing calories and a very specific (renal) diet, which went against everything I had been doing. It's what I needed at the time, so not condemning it, but didn't help with my figure! Then I spent a month in a nursing home where the food was terrible and I'd go days without eating, thus I lost weight, but my skin was all flabby and hanging on my bones.
With my illness, I found my taste in foods changed a lot! I used to be barely able to tolerate sweets, but suddenly I craved soda where I used to drink only water. I would see candy at the store and grab it! Asian food is not appealing anymore (my first approved meal was a stir-fry, which I really wanted and tried to eat, but it came up and was unpleasant). Things I loved I dislike, and things I disliked I seek.
My takeaway - a major life upset can definitely return you to bad eating patterns. I'm working on it... cut out sugary beverages very easily, and even though I want sweet, I can only tolerate a couple bites and then put the rest away for later. I'm going back to vegan eating, with doctor clearance. There's many ways to eat healthy, but that's what makes me feel good mentally and physically.

This is long winded, so to get to the point, keep your health as best you can, eat for health, and even if tastes change, you can redirect them. It doesn't take that long to adjust, and after a while, you may develop a taste for "healthier" options and versions of meals!

Angied725

docc30 wrote: »

I was doing great, losing weight, working with a trainer, and definitely getting in better shape. Then, my daughter had medical issues that put her in the hospital for a week. I was still okay, but slowed down a little. Two months later, my wife was diagnosed with cancer. Then, my son-in-law was killed in a car crash. Lastly, my other daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer. During it all, I gained all the weight back. I've been back at it for 40 days. I'll get there again.

So sorry to hear about your loss! Prayers for healing and recession for your wife and daughter.
Under the circumstances you've been enduring, it's no wonder the weight was gained back.
Glad to see you are back at it.
Hope to see more positive posts on your journey in the future!

Angied725

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

I thank each and every one of you who return to MFP and state publicly that you are back for the second, third, or nth time to lose that weight again. I really do thank you. This is my first time using MFP, and I've lost 104 lb in 18 months. Part of it was too fast with too small of a net calories and part of it wasn't. Part of it was not eating exercise calories and part of it was eating more to exercise more. It's been a wild ride and each of you continually inspire me to stay, log, and keep a close watch on my energy balance. Again, thank you.

It's always great to see success stories! You seem to be doing awesome! Keep up the great work, and keep inspiring!!!!

Angied725

suzesvelte wrote: »

I have lost lots of weight many times, and gradually re-gained some of it over time, everytime. I am not a "crazy" eater gorging on junk food and sweet drinks - never really have been - indeed what I eat is very healthy. It always was mainly based on food I prepped from scratch with lots of fresh ingredients and my intake has been even better quality over the last few years because I was given a terminal cancer diagnosis and decided to use diet and health to extend my life expectancy. I take that very seriously and eat very well.

However we live in a society where food is easily available, and "treats" are piled high almost everywhere we go, so eating within a calorie target takes constant vigilance. I can gain weight by simply eating out once or twice a week, snacking on a few sweet things now and again and adding "too much" oil to my cooking. It's not much but its enough to gradudally pile the pounds back on.

Using MFP to re-focus awareness of portion control and how small a protion of fat has to be to keep calories under control is working for me again. I really WANT this to be the last time, so I am being very serious about learning how maintainers manage to maintain. What the "best" maintainers in here seem to do is KEEP ON IT -> keep weighing yourself regularly and keep monitoring your intake and crank it up if you gain a few pounds to keep on target far more easily than gaining huge amounts before you start again. Basically you cannot stop.

Now that seems like a shock, and rather tedious, but I reckon we have to do that, and realise that THIN people actually do that too. They may not talk about it, but they will have little techniques they use to moderate their intake and compensate for over-indulgence. They might even lie about it, they might say "they can eat anything" - but that is nor true for many people. There might be a few outliers with faster metabolism, etc. Same as some of us maybe have slower metabolisms, but basically in our culture of abundance, being slim requires constant effort.

I have also been reading the Beck Diet Solution which was recommended in these forums. This author is a doctor who helps many fat people. She really gets into the head of a fat person and shows you how "thin" people think and manage to stay slim. I strongly recommend this book if you want to change the way you THINK about food and eating as a maintenance as well as a loss thing. It is very helpful to realise that THIN people DO exert vigilance, even if you don't notice that they do. This book is teaching me to "think like a thin person" .. and it is very enpowering. Most of my "bad" habits are based on faulty logic and a sense of "unfairness" about how hard it is to stay slim. Giving up that sense of injustice might be my biggest step to successful loss and maintenance.

I hope so!

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I have read many articles on holistic and alternative approaches to cancer treatment. A lot of what they say is all about diet and nutrition....it sounds like you're doing an excellent job of giving your body what it needs. Miracles happen everyday. You're wisdom and courage is truly inspiring! God bless you and thanks for sharing!

RobotMil

I never did crash or fad diets, I lost initial weight (about 22 lbs, which put me in a healthy weight zone) fairly slowly and sensibly.

Nothing really went wrong in my life, but when I stopped tracking what I was eating I went back to some of my unhealthy eating habits - desserts too often, eating takeaways a lot, snacking whenever I liked. My 'natural' eating habits tend towards eating fatty, sweet foods and I gained weight over time. Not all of it back, maybe about 75%.

I've maintained my exercise habits and a lot of healthy habits for some time now, and am pretty sure I know how to maintain. I struggle with holidays and events which tend to revolve around food and have definitely been a block in weight loss this year, but at least I know what to do and know I've done it before!

PotterMrsMFP

I lost just short of 5st quite quickly, I was in the gym everyday, swimming and also jogging. I then got quite ill, couldn't eat/drink everything would come back up and so I stopped eating for the fear of throwing up. I'd get intense pain in my lower ribs too that the only thing that would ease it was me making myself sick - turned out to be a bad case off gallstones with a blocked bile duct! They said it was down to my sudden weight loss. I had surgery, they removed my gallbladder and the blocked stones. I'd gone from weighing 221lbs to weighing 154lbs.

Once home and recovering, cooking healthy was the last thing on my mind, so I just ate whatever! Then realising I could eat without suffering pain or being sick I ate and ate and ate!! Sometimes I think for the sake of it!! Looking back I really regret it but no point dwelling on the past. I'm back again md going at it completely different this time. Not stressing about losing weight so much, more getting my head around better choices I can be making.

Graelwyn75

Thanks for all your responses, I have read each and every one and find them all inspiring and informative. Kudos to everyone for getting back here and climbing back on that horse.

OliveGirl128

Great thread Op! There's so much emphasis in the dieting industry about the weight loss phase, but no one talks about what happens 'after ', and that's where most people end up failing. Hopefully threads like this one will help others see some of the potential pit falls that can happen and they can come up with strategies to avoid them

nowine4me

OliveGirl128 wrote: »

Great thread Op! There's so much emphasis in the dieting industry about the weight loss phase, but no one talks about what happens 'after ', and that's where most people end up failing. Hopefully threads like this one will help others see some of the potential pit falls that can happen and they can come up with strategies to avoid them

The bottom line....the "after" is the exact same as the "diet" with a handful more calories. So make sure to do it in a way you can live with. Forever.

suzesvelte

Angied725 wrote: »

suzesvelte wrote: »

I have lost lots of weight many times, and gradually re-gained some of it over time, everytime. I am not a "crazy" eater gorging on junk food and sweet drinks - never really have been - indeed what I eat is very healthy. It always was mainly based on food I prepped from scratch with lots of fresh ingredients and my intake has been even better quality over the last few years because I was given a terminal cancer diagnosis and decided to use diet and health to extend my life expectancy. I take that very seriously and eat very well.

However we live in a society where food is easily available, and "treats" are piled high almost everywhere we go, so eating within a calorie target takes constant vigilance. I can gain weight by simply eating out once or twice a week, snacking on a few sweet things now and again and adding "too much" oil to my cooking. It's not much but its enough to gradudally pile the pounds back on.

Using MFP to re-focus awareness of portion control and how small a protion of fat has to be to keep calories under control is working for me again. I really WANT this to be the last time, so I am being very serious about learning how maintainers manage to maintain. What the "best" maintainers in here seem to do is KEEP ON IT -> keep weighing yourself regularly and keep monitoring your intake and crank it up if you gain a few pounds to keep on target far more easily than gaining huge amounts before you start again. Basically you cannot stop.

Now that seems like a shock, and rather tedious, but I reckon we have to do that, and realise that THIN people actually do that too. They may not talk about it, but they will have little techniques they use to moderate their intake and compensate for over-indulgence. They might even lie about it, they might say "they can eat anything" - but that is nor true for many people. There might be a few outliers with faster metabolism, etc. Same as some of us maybe have slower metabolisms, but basically in our culture of abundance, being slim requires constant effort.

I have also been reading the Beck Diet Solution which was recommended in these forums. This author is a doctor who helps many fat people. She really gets into the head of a fat person and shows you how "thin" people think and manage to stay slim. I strongly recommend this book if you want to change the way you THINK about food and eating as a maintenance as well as a loss thing. It is very helpful to realise that THIN people DO exert vigilance, even if you don't notice that they do. This book is teaching me to "think like a thin person" .. and it is very enpowering. Most of my "bad" habits are based on faulty logic and a sense of "unfairness" about how hard it is to stay slim. Giving up that sense of injustice might be my biggest step to successful loss and maintenance.

I hope so!

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I have read many articles on holistic and alternative approaches to cancer treatment. A lot of what they say is all about diet and nutrition....it sounds like you're doing an excellent job of giving your body what it needs. Miracles happen everyday. You're wisdom and courage is truly inspiring! God bless you and thanks for sharing!

Thanks for your kindness, but only fair to say -
my terminal diagnosis is a thing of the past, because my secondaries grew so slowly (I think helped by my holisitic self-care stuff) that they later offered my more surgery that they initially wouldn't consider because I had secondary tumours on both lungs at that time .. in the end one of them didn't grow at all - now assumed to have been killed off by chemo and I have had lung surgery on the one that did keep slowly growing and I am actually cancer-free atm, and keep on the programme to stay that way.

OliveGirl128

nowine4me wrote: »

OliveGirl128 wrote: »

Great thread Op! There's so much emphasis in the dieting industry about the weight loss phase, but no one talks about what happens 'after ', and that's where most people end up failing. Hopefully threads like this one will help others see some of the potential pit falls that can happen and they can come up with strategies to avoid them

The bottom line....the "after" is the exact same as the "diet" with a handful more calories. So make sure to do it in a way you can live with. Forever.

Yep, the forever part is the biggie-the maintenance phase is for 20, 30, 40+ years vs the weight loss phase, which is a few months to a couple years usually. People don't mentally prepare themselves for what that actually means and only focus on the short term.

mmapags

nowine4me wrote: »

OliveGirl128 wrote: »

Great thread Op! There's so much emphasis in the dieting industry about the weight loss phase, but no one talks about what happens 'after ', and that's where most people end up failing. Hopefully threads like this one will help others see some of the potential pit falls that can happen and they can come up with strategies to avoid them

The bottom line....the "after" is the exact same as the "diet" with a handful more calories. So make sure to do it in a way you can live with. Forever.

Exactly!! There are some people that are lucky enough to be able to eat intuitively and not gain over time. There are many of us that can't. If I don't log and measure, I slowly gain. Although I've never really YoYo'd beyond 5 lbs or so after the initial loss of 15lbs. It's like an alarm in my head when I'm consistently getting weights 5 lbs higher, then I get back to logging. Unmanaged diet for me is exactly what that name implies.

If you don't learn to eat properly at maintenance after losing, you will regain. It is as simple as that. The weight loss phase is only part of the equation. I would say that is the biggest single reason people lose, regain and return.