What happens if you "turn your back" on weight loss?

minimyzeme

Freeze!

Where are you on your journey? Whether you're a newbie or an old-timer, I'm curious how you think things would go if you turned your back on your weight loss plan. I don't mean forgetting everything you know, I mean living your life with what you do know but without all the tools we often use--weighing, measuring, tracking, etc.

How is your lifestyle now compared to when you started? Have you learned and practiced enough that you have developed sufficient adjustments that it would just come naturally? Alternatively, do you think you'd slip and slide your way back to your starting weight or more (or somewhere between)?

Just curious about where you are (and me too)...

minimyzeme

I like to think I've learned to make the necessary adjustments so I can continue living in this smaller body. However, this smaller body has gotten just a little bit bigger over the last four months and I think part of it is because I'm taking a few shortcuts because ya know, 'I know what to do' (but don't always do it).

If I stopped weighing, measuring and tracking my food honestly, I think I'd lose the accountability and I would slip and slide my weight up significantly. I don't THINK I'd go all the way back to my starting weight, but I can't rule that out either. @crewahl Charlie's words still guide and haunt me--"Remember you're not cured, you're just a fat guy in remission." Really?? I would just go back?? It's possible. Not likely I like to think, but possible.

I'm complaining a lot these days about the daily grind but I know it definitely helps keep me between the ditches and allows me the benefits of living in a smaller body. While I'm tempted to stop the more mechanical aspects, I know they're not really that tough and are just the 'price of participation' as a friend of mine used to say.

For the time being, I'll stay the course, at least for another day. How about you?

gadgetgirlIL

I'm such a creature of habit that I can't ever imagine not tracking my food, using my kitchen scale, and using the people scale.

Daily activity is my escape from all the craziness so that habit isn't going anywhere either.

I'd be happy to give up going to work, however! Well, there are some parts of my job I enjoy, but the atmosphere at work has been pretty glum for a while now and we are likely to face more cutbacks in the first quarter of next year.

Al_Howard

What happens if you "turn your back" on weight loss?
You get fat again!

88olds

Ok. I live in Key West. Except for 1 pair of jeans and my "good" khakis" I wear shorts and pants with elastic waists. My shirt collection is a hodgepodge of medium and too big large Ts.

So if I just pitch my scale and I don't have to squeeze into a suit. I bet I start putting on 1lb per month until I'm back to my old 215 happy weight.

Good bye Pickleball. Hello bad feet and knees.

My life compared to before, 2 answers.
Me @ 285 lbs- I'd be dead.
Me @ 215. Not as active? Would be easy to get from 215 to 230. Diabetes? My dad had it starting about 55.

Now that I think about it, without my WW lessons and tools and without butt busting gym workouts, 215 lbs would be tough to maintain.

Last- When I started WW meetings, first thing I noticed was the revolving door. So I never left my meeting until I moved away. I was there 11 yrs and would have lost out to point creep without that meeting and GOAD.

I lied, this will be last. I recall an actual goad post from a newbie trying to get an idea of how long he should expect to do the program before he could "get back to normal eating."
A laugh riot.

Calvin2008Brian

I don't have to wonder. If I am not conscientious about working the plan, I gain weight. Not all at once, usually not very quickly, but the overall trend will be onward and upward. This is basically my life over the past 8 plus years, until I am within sniffing distance of my WW starting weight from 2007.

Rachel0778

If I couldn't track I would 100% gain the weight back. I have yet to develop a reasonable "off" switch and I'm terrible at estimating portions.

misterhub

I am another who gains weight if I turn my back on the foundations of weight loss. Proven a couple of times.

Jerdtrmndone

I really don't know where I would be before I decided to lose weight. I was 298lbs. and probably getting bigger. Breathing was heavy, back killed me, knee's hurt like heck, couldn't do steps,walk more than 50 yrds. and was tired. Blood pressure was off the wall , pre-diabetic. Today everything thing is so much better and easier to do and handle. I am grateful for the change in my life because I may not be here to day which is 12yrs. more.

susan092907

I turned my back on weight management and regained lost weight many times. It took me 40+ years of on and off WW and getting to goal 4 times before I finally figured out that I had to keep doing everything that I did to lose weight if I wanted to maintain.

goldenfrisbee

What happens if you "turn your back" on weight loss?
You end up like me. I've lost twice now since starting WW in 2014. And I'm back to not tracking and gaining. Evenings are killing me.
This morning I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep so I did something very unusual. I took a walk. That really helped start my day off well. Maybe I could continue to do this and pick up tracking again. That would certainly put me back on track.

Jimb376mfp

Every time I quit WW I gained back what I lost, plus more.

Now for the past 5 years I have never quit and therefore not gained back any weight. I know how hard and slow it is to lose weight by just eating OP and doing some minor exercise (aqua aerobics, swimming and walking the dog).

I know I can gain one week and lose the next being OP! If I was OFF Plan I’m sure the weight would come back even if Zi tried to “eat right”.

@minimyzeme Once I accepted the “There is No Finish Line” philosophy the thought of turning my back on WL hasn’t been an issue. After many many years of being in a gaining mode I prefer the slow losing mode.

minimyzeme

Thanks all for your insightful answers. I'm not contemplating quitting. With whatever whining I do I know I prefer this life to my previous one.

My question was more about if you froze your knowledge and behaviors at this point, how would you do with what you've learned? It was a complete hypothetical but based on having done this for a few years now, have I learned enough to have it come naturally without the weighing, measuring and tracking? Maybe, but when our internet went down yesterday (surprised it's working this morning) I quickly transitioned to paper and pencil to track.

I make the decision to stay engaged one day at a time. Not that I was really thinking of stopping but your answers just confirmed for me that staying the course is a better choice than not. Thanks again.

Out_of_Bubblegum

The last time I thought "I got this" and stopped tracking.. I went back to within 3 lb of my heaviest in about 2 years, all the while thinking I had maybe gained 5lb at most.

I don't think I can freeze here... because for me, I'm never still - I am either moving forward (downward), or backward (upward), but it takes an effort... and it's just part of who I am now.

imastar2

Where are you on your journey? Whether you're a newbie or an old-timer, I'm curious how you think things would go if you turned your back on your weight loss plan. I don't mean forgetting everything you know, I mean living your life with what you do know but without all the tools we often use--weighing, measuring, tracking, etc.

I think after being so intense on a meal to meal, day to day basis I would with natural instinct keep going even if I froze everything I'm doing. It's part of my dna at this point.

How is your lifestyle now compared to when you started? Have you learned and practiced enough that you have developed sufficient adjustments that it would just come naturally? Alternatively, do you think you'd slip and slide your way back to your starting weight or more (or somewhere between)?

Well I'm up 27 lbs from my all time low but at the same time I'm miserable about it also.

Just curious about where you are (and me too)...

I am at my new start over weight. It's just 81 lbs lower than where I first started. I feel better by any measure but hit the 100 lb loss then off and on kept going up then back down and over and over again. So I just need to stay focused.

SW 400.8
CW 319.4
GW 185.0

81.4 lbs lost current

podkey

Daily weighing helps keep me in my style. I have the program and portions memorized. Have done daily activity for over 40 years and would be depressed and insane without something so I combine it with what I have to do and am not a gym rat or video junkie. Need outdoors.
In my case after a year tracking at goal I found I do ok without formal journaling. It is not really "intjitive" but memorized. I have done tracking for a week or two with the each new programs to see how they fit. They all seem fine for me although I use more weekly and some APs to make up for more draconian carb penalties.