How do people gain weight back?

24

Replies

  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    This is one of the reasons I wonder if maintaining a small deficit during the week to eat more on the weekend might be a good idea for me. It is what I do now anyway and it keeps me from ever getting out of this mode completely. I don't know until I get there and try it though (assuming that is still my plan).

    That's exactly what I do, and I've been able to maintain for several years. Slight deficit during the week so I can go a little over maintenance calories on the weekend. I maintain in exactly the same way I lost weight, just with a few hundred extra calories available to me. That's been the key for me...nothing much changed when I hit my goal weight.

    The only pitfall I see with me is that on weeks I don't earn enough calories for a full day at maintenance I still take it because I don't usually care if it slows my loss by a little. I have more than a year to go before I have to worry about it but I have seen enough people regain that I will not back-burner at least some contemplation even now. Much will happen in the next year though with my rate of loss falling and getting even more active.
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
    edited May 2019
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    SeanD2407 wrote: »
    I appreciate all the feedback. BTW im by no means throwing shade at people for not sticking to their weight management. Im just trying to prepare myself mentally by learning from mistakes that other people make. I only had about 50 to lose and have done fairly good of keeping it below a certain point the past 2 years. Also being in a deficit constantly makes me more conscious of what I am taking in.. I just know after goung down several sizes I never want to let myself go up.. so I'll have awareness.. but maybe I have to see myself 3 or 4 years from now.. im still in late 20s so not a whole lot of life experience

    All the people who regained weight probably thought that too.

    QFT, I'm one of them.

    Adding, I've been in maintenance for a year now after losing about 50 pounds. I'm no longer "terrified" of re-gaining as so many of us are after reaching our goal, but I'm well aware that the focus I'm putting into maintaining right now could easly be switched to self-medicating with food if/when an emotional crisis happens. I've had a couple of mini-episodes, and with all my attempts to stratagize around the possibility, I truly don't know what would happen in an ongoing situation.
  • mjglantz
    mjglantz Posts: 508 Member
    Boy is that a loaded question. Speaking from experience and years of yo yo dieting the big reason I gained back the weight (as do SO many others) is that I looked at the diet as a finite thing. I'd go on it, lose the weight and go off it. Finally I realized that I had to make changes that I could and would stick with for life. Seems that many don't "get that."
    There are other reasons; e.g., at a lower weight you need fewer calories and that might be hard for some. I'm in the National Weight Control Registry and one thing many have in common is that they get at least 60 minutes/day of exercise. When losing weight some will commit to that level of exercise but slip once the weight is lost.

    And there are probably as many reasons why people gain back the weight as there are people who have gained back the weight.
  • zeejane4
    zeejane4 Posts: 230 Member
    edited May 2019
    WARNING: My post below might be triggering for some.

    George was safe and easy to live with. He was a professor at the University of Texas. Super smart and kept to himself, but friendly and quirky. He was okay, I thought. My foster dog had a yard! I had the whole 4/3 house to myself minus the master bedroom, which was a self contained studio with a separate entrance. George and I got along fine. The dog bonded with him. All was well. UNTIL...he committed suicide in MY portion of the house in a bedroom I used for storage. I lived with the body for several days because I didn't know. I didn't know.... I didn't know why the dog suddenly regressed and started attacking me. I didn't know where George was. I didn't know why my house was starting to smell. After I found out, I had to live in the house for the rest of my lease (10 months)! The landlord/co-worker would not let me out of the lease.That room was a disaster. All my possessions stored in there were ruined. It was not a nice, tidy death. The dog regularly attacked me after that because he was so traumatized. I was traumatized. The room had to have a "crime scene" clean. The landlord did not want to do it because it's expensive, so she closed the room and ignored it. I ate, and ate, and ate. I wanted to die along with George.

    I finally saved enough money to get out of that <now> haunted hell hole and buy my own brand new, never been lived in house. No dead bodies. George did his deed in 10/2016. I moved out in 8/2017. I'm just now starting to get over it. The dog is now my dog! I'm just now feeling ready to tackle my weight. I was not a priority for a number of years. Escaping George's demons and healing myself and my dog were my top priorities.

    Life. Happened. In a big, ugly way.

    My grandma rented out her basement to a nice older guy, who also did something similar, except he had the courtesy of doing it in the driveway :p I was just a kid and was only involved peripherally, but it still had an impact-I can't imagine what you went through -hugs-
  • reddwarf63
    reddwarf63 Posts: 24 Member
    I have had this problem in the past , in what can only be described as yoyo dieting. I think the hardest thing for me has always been losing the right amount of weight, but then not keeping a firm hand on it, by going to maintenance, instead saying today i can have a cheat meal and that 1 meal then turns into days and weeks and then im back again. Its breaking the habit and keeping at a deficit for a while after getting to GW.
  • echmain3
    echmain3 Posts: 231 Member
    I reached my goal weight 3 years ago and have kept it off. But last year I was on a vacation for a week and upon returning was horrified to see I had gained 6 pounds!

    I kinda snapped and made sure I lost those 6 pounds right away (took about 3 weeks).

    So now I’m extra vigilant about my weight because it’s staggering how fast it can return.
  • kbmnurse1
    kbmnurse1 Posts: 316 Member
    No comment.
  • vanityy99
    vanityy99 Posts: 2,583 Member
    As soon as I notice my weight going up five pounds I’m like f that and check myself before 5lbs leads to 10lbs and so on.

    Peoples lives get busy, other priorities... their health not one.
  • ekim2016
    ekim2016 Posts: 1,199 Member
    I quit losing weight staying faithfully on the same calorie amounts daily / weekly... The past year I have even gained a few pounds and keep swinging between 245 - 248 every few days. I have resigned that I must be on maintenance levels now. I am following the settings and have logged daily since May 2016!! I initially got down to 235 and was like in heaven with the results then slowly my body started gaining again.. very perplexing as I never go over my calories!! EVER!
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,610 Member
    edited May 2019
    SeanD2407 wrote: »
    Im confused why so many people once they get to goal weight, somehow gain the weight back?
    I am close to goal weight now so I'll occasionally slip gain a couple pounds but start again.
    Im just confused at people who drop several sizes, just let themselves gain it back "without noticing".

    For me if I were to go back to old habbits, once Id notice I am up say 10 pounds (really 5 but that could just be a chinese buffet meal the day after) I'd make a plan to get back on track ASAP.. but i see threads about people who lose 50 plus lbs but return with all that weight and then some back.
    Im terrified to have that happen to me so I'd love insight into why we think those types of people struggle or let it happen. Thanks

    Life happens.

    All of a sudden you find yourself in a position where watching what you eat and exercising is either very difficult or impossible.

    I have been slender for the vast majority of my life, but when there's a combination of a health issue and a household move, I tend to gain weight because I'm not as active and because I'm focusing on other things.

    Also some of us can gain and lose 2 or 3 kg due to water retention. So if I happen to go up 2 kg, it's easy to say, "Ah but that's just water retention, I'll lose that next week.", and maybe I drop 1.5 kg and think, "OK good, the weight is coming down". But it doesn't come all the way down to where it was ...
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    @SeanD2407 Last year as I got within 5 lb of my arbitrary weight goal, I decided to increase my calories slightly and lose weight slowly. That seemed like a sensible plan, but by the time I came to my senses I'd gained 50 lb.

    Goal is not a number. Goal is a life. When you lose sight of the fact that you are living to live healthy and fit, you lose sight of good health and fitness. Yes, it is a tautology, but it's the truth.

  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 935 Member
    The only way for me to not gain weight back and lose track, is to weigh myself every day. That will keep me in check.