OptaVIA weight rebound!

Artfulmamma

I was so thrilled when I lost 52 lbs in 6 months using Optavia. Problem is I really didn’t change my habits enough, or maybe because I did it during the COVID shutdown, real life returning tested my habits and I backslid. 2 years and almost all of it came back. I’m now using MFP to track my daily intake and exercise with complete honesty and it’s starting to show patterns. Has anyone else gone through the yo-yo of achieving your ideal weight loss, feeling great, and then having the weight creep back on? I know it’s all about intake and output, calorie deficits, but I need creative ways to reward or discipline myself to stay on track. I need to change my lifestyle for real and not with meal replacement products.

sollyn23l2

At the end of the day, you have to find a way to hold yourself responsible... you have to make the choice to track your food intake every day... make the choice to push away the dinner plate when you've had enough. Only you can do that. And no quick tricks or tips will make you do it. When you've finally had enough of the extra weight and make the choice... you will. But until then... you won't. No matter what anyone else says. When will you finally make that choice? No one knows, but when it happens... it just... happens. You get fed up and just do it. Kinda like walking away from a crap boyfriend.

AnnPT77

Artfulmamma wrote: »

I was so thrilled when I lost 52 lbs in 6 months using Optavia. Problem is I really didn’t change my habits enough, or maybe because I did it during the COVID shutdown, real life returning tested my habits and I backslid. 2 years and almost all of it came back. I’m now using MFP to track my daily intake and exercise with complete honesty and it’s starting to show patterns. Has anyone else gone through the yo-yo of achieving your ideal weight loss, feeling great, and then having the weight creep back on? I know it’s all about intake and output, calorie deficits, but I need creative ways to reward or discipline myself to stay on track. I need to change my lifestyle for real and not with meal replacement products.

This may not be true for you, but there is absolutely no way I'm going to continue forever with an eating/activity routine that requires much motivation, discipline or willpower. However, I want to stay at a healthy weight forever, if I can. (I'm in year 7+ of maintenance now . . . .)

To me, that puts a premium on finding relatively pleasant (at least tolerable/practical) new eating and activity habits that I can keep up almost on autopilot long term - a new daily routine. It's the majority of my days that will determine the majority of my results, not one rare day where I over-eat cake or something.

On the eating front, I needed to be eating things I enjoy, and in proportions that keep me full and satisfied most of the time, and that add up to reasonable nutrition on average over a day or few, at appropriate calories. On the activity front, I personally need to find activities that are actually fun for me, ideally. I experimented with that, too, and finally found a good mix.

Trying to lose weight fast is a trap, IMO. I think it's better to think about how to lose weight, then maintain, as easily and pleasantly as possible. That helps with finding new long-term habits, too - in contrast to using some extreme diet or punitive exercise routine to lose fast.

The right methods IMO are personalized or our individual preferences, strengths, challenges, and lifestyle. There is no cookie cutter universally effective diet and exercise program.

Cheering for you to succeed!

bubbeE787

Yes- I lost the same as you also during Covid; my weight started to really creep back last year; at this point I’m still down 20 lbs but need to take that weight gain off. I used this app to track my foods to lose the weight and I’m trying to get back to basics. It’s been a struggle. I’ve been also journaling in the notes section of the log about things going on with me; trying to modify my behavior. I am teetering on the edge but working on it, trying to redevelop those good habits. I’m trying to take it a day at a time. I wish I knew the formula for getting that all-in mindset back- I’m working on it. Good luck!

wizzybeth

Artfulmamma wrote: »

Has anyone else gone through the yo-yo of achieving your ideal weight loss, feeling great, and then having the weight creep back on? I know it’s all about intake and output, calorie deficits, but I need creative ways to reward or discipline myself to stay on track. I need to change my lifestyle for real and not with meal replacement products.

The only time I have ever lost weight and kept it off was when I made it a daily habit to log into MFP and track my calories, track my nutrients, and weigh myself on a regular basis.

As soon as I either cave in to depression and give up or simply become complacent because I think I've got this, I spiral out of control.

I have been gaining and losing weight and gaining and losing weight and gaining and losing weight since 1998.

MyFitnessPal has been the only consistent thing. I've tried so many things. I tried weight watchers. I tried nutrisystem. I now have about $1,000 of OPTAVIA food stockpiled in my house. At the end of the day, I have to stay motivated to stay on track. I have to make intentional decisions to eat smartly. I have to do this.

I don't have any advice because if I gave it it's just bs because I don't take it myself. Lol. Right now I have a fantastic group of friends and we are motivating one another to log on myfitness pal and to commit to eating healthy. Maybe this will work.

Well there's no maybe about it. Either it will or it won't but it's up to me at the end of the day.

frhaberl

I agree with what’s already been stated. I know life can throw some curves in my plan, but I’ve been very intentional this time around with only making changes that I feel can be sustainable for a lifetime. I’ve definitely tried things in this journey that I thought would help me cut more calories, but if I didn’t enjoy them (Egglife wraps) or they took more time/energy than I could justify long term (making my own high protein wraps), I dropped them. Finding foods and activities that you look forward to should minimize the need for continued motivation. The tools I use to supply what little continued motivation I need mostly fall in the routine/habit category:
MFP - logging in multiple times a day to log my food, but also to check in on MFP friends.
Apple Watch - tracks my activity and syncs with MFP. Also nudges me to stand up and get more activity.
Kitchen scale - much to the chagrin of my tidy hubby, it’s always out on the counter.
Bathroom scale - also always out and used daily so I get to see more trend data and don’t have to think about what day of the week it is.
Meal planning/shopping list app - I use Plan to Eat. It allows me to store my favorite recipes, make a weekly meal plan and compiles my shopping list for me. My only complaint is that I also have to build my recipes in MFP, but since I’ve been doing this for about 9 months, most of my recipes are now loaded.
My dogs - If I’m ever lacking motivation to get out and walk, they provide it.
My treadmill - life saver during the coldest or hottest days when it’s not safe to be out with my dogs.
Good podcasts/tv shows - I save the best of them to be exclusively enjoyed when I’m walking.

Hope this helps. I’ve definitely shifted my focus from “how quickly can I get this weight off” to “what does a healthy weight lifestyle look like for me?” and I think that’s a key to ending the yo-yo cycle.

Dreamroper

I quit smoking 29 years ago at the age of 40. I have been losing and gaining back the weight since then. I'm probably on track for losing again for the 6th time (maybe more, but I don't really want to know). I lose the weight and then go right back to eating whatever I want and it comes back. Stupid, I know. Even the last time I lost, I told myself, don't gain it back and here I am. Luckily, it is a small amount of weight, so I can get to my goal within a few months, but I'm telling myself again, never again will I put it back on. It's so hard to get it off, I'm 69. I feel like an idiot for not keeping it off.

shel80kg

I remember one of my favourite mentors at university explain that the skills required to lose weight are completely different to those involved with maintaining the weight we have achieved. Two different goals likely require separate and well thought out approaches.The first is about breaking the patterns, building momentum and confidence and noticing results which reinforce the changed eating routines. The second, FAR MORE DIFFICULT. The second, life-style changes and a responsible approach to food and the impact(s) on our bodies over time. Understanding the relationship between mind and body and how we treat ourselves may as important from a psychological perspective as a physical. We are what we eat and often we may find ourselves not just eating to live.....but living to eat.

mtaratoot

I don't agree with everything your professor suggests. Many people lose weight. Many of those people gain back the weight they lost. The National Weight Control Registry has data to show this is extremely common, and it happens within three years.

Losing and regaining weight is possibly worse than not losing at all even if you don't gain back more than you started with. In a loss phase, we lose fat AND muscle. In a gain phase without strength training, we get back fat. The person who loses and gains back to the same weight likely is at a higher body fat than before due to muscle loss. Pretty sad.

That said, losing weight (fat) and maintaining weight (fat) loss are the same process and use the same skills. My process for losing weight (fat) is: find a calorie goal and try to meet that calorie goal. My process for sustaining fat loss is: find a calorie goal and try to meet that calorie goal. It's exactly the same process. The difference is that going from a goal to lose a half pound a week to maintaining fat loss is I get an extra two ounces of cheese per day.

I believe the reason that people gain back is that they don't stick with the process. They view weight loss as a "one and done" kind of thing, and then they go back to the old ways. One thing people can (and I say should) do during fat loss is develop good habits. These habits shouldn't be punishment. They should be habits that the person can continue indefinitely. Then when the fat is gone, the person can just keep on chugging, but they can have that extra two ounces of cheese, twelve ounces of beer, or cup of cooked brown rice.

It's the same process.

The problem is when people stop using the process. If you do what you've done in the past but expect a different result is what Albert Einstein suggested was the definition of insanity.

liwo81

Maybe it isn’t too creative but I find that weighing DAILY has really helped, and planning most meals a day ahead of time. The daily weight just confirms for me that there are always fluctuations but I can see that consistent downward trend. It isn’t a fast weight loss but it is consistent and I see that this slow roll is likely to result in a loss I can maintain for the long term. You won’t have to rely on someone’s “program” to get you to your goal but will have been making consistent, achievable changes that will carry you to the finish line and then you will be better prepared to sustain those changes along with your loss

xbowhunter

I am on my 3rd successful weight loss journey.

The #1 reason I gained it back before was I stopped weighing myself and ate and drank excessive calories. I had no one to blame but me!

I find it not overly difficult to lose the weight. The real challenge is keeping it off.

This time I weigh in daily and cut way back on alcohol.

Today I am still at goal weight but feel a bit bloated. Time to cut again to flush my system.

CrazyMermaid1

For me the skill set is way different for maintaining than losing. There is no outside award for maintaining. Nobody notices, nobody says anything encouraging, the scale doesn’t move. No changed data. Not the same reward system as losing for me. Much harder.

Artfulmamma

This is all a lot of food for thought! Thank you for sharing your insights and inspiring me.

FibroHiker

I did weight loss during covid. I lost 20 lbs. between March and October of 2020. We had no social engagements to go to, I would walk the hills around my neighborhood daily just to get out of my house and move, and we were doing a specialized diet for my hubby as he was experiencing gastrointestinal difficulties at the time.

As soon as the restrictions for eating at restaurants lifted and people started getting together again for parties, I slowly started putting it back on, very slowly. Then the big setback came when I began having intense pain in my back and hips. It got to a point where I couldn't walk continuously for more than 20 minutes straight without being in pain and having to stop. Feeling awful, I would often settle for quick foods like ordering a pizza. When I couldn't sleep, I'd have wine. The bad food choices coupled with the lack of exercise put all the weight back.

I started 2022 to work to just be healthy and functioning. I had to step back my activity levels. I used to be a person that did spin classes, lifted weights, hiked, did road cycling, ran, and did indoor climbing. I loved being physical. Now my body hurts so often than I'm lucky if I go through a whole day without pain just functioning at my job. I now see a chiropractor regularly and do light exercise that doesn't aggravate my body.

As you can inagine, when feeling awful on a regular basis it's easy to want to soothe with food. Over the last two years I have slowly adjusted my diet in what I prepare and the amounts. I have gradually lowered my calories to where I am losing weight and maintaining it without resorting to food to help me feel better.

As for treats and rewards, there was a body builder years ago who had a plan of having one meal a week where he ate whatever he wanted as long as the rest if the week was on target. When I was in my 30s I used to do this. Now at nearly 50, I found that my choices during that meal were really setting off my overall calorie goals for the week too much and preventing me from losing. I have new reward goals that I set for myself now. There are a lot of high end steakhouses in Las Vegas that are expensive. I have a weight loss goal right now that when I meet it I will be able to wear a sequin dress, that previously didn't fit, and I plan to reward myself with dinner at my goal steakhouse.

Another reward goal I set for myself is being able to wear a bikini again. Having my flesh roll over the bikini bottom isn't flattering. I am going to CA for.a week towards the end of July and plan to have some pool time with friends. I am working to wear a bikini instead of my one-pieces.