Non-first timers -- what happened?

EvilSquirrel

I became obsessed, period. It happens to me with new things, and thinking about nutrition and calorie counting were new to me. I constantly thought about food, counted every last chewing gum, did an insane amount of cardio ( 3h+ daily) on too little calories. Surprise: I was completely exhausted after three months of this. I threw in the towel and ate everything in sight, gaining back all I had lost and then some.

I'm far more relaxed now and try to avoid extremes. Yes, I count calories, but I'm not beating myself up over it. I go with a higher calorie allowance, and cut myself some slack if I can't keep it up on some days. Some things in my life have changed, too, so I have less time to obsess about food - I'm busy with other things now.

kristen6022

August of 2012 I reached goal and surpassed it (goal was 157, ended up at 143). Need to gain a few back, so I treat it like a job and ate, but when the scale said 160 I got back on it. My aim is to get to 150, I was 151.2 Monday morning...

160 is my "ok, time to do something about this weight". It's easier to lose 10 pounds again than it is to lose 45!

cwolfman13

Most people I know who've had this issue, 1) stop working out and 2) go back to old eating habits.

A lot of people talk a good talk about "lifestyle", but that's all it is, talk...their fitness doesn't really become lifestyle...it's something they associate with weight loss...so when they're "done" they stop exercising. Most people, regardless of their "lifestyle" talk, treat their diet as an action verb...and focus far more on some kind of arbitrary "finish line" that doesn't (or shouldn't) really exist.

In my experience, your fitness is actually far more important at maintenance than it is while you're losing. It's actually pretty damned hard to gain weight if you're routinely getting your fitness on and pushing yourself to PRs and new heights all of the time. Your body goes to great lengths to use that excess energy up if you're rockin' your fitness. But people get lazy...they either quit altogether or they stop pushing themselves.

NYCNika

I became obsessed, period. It happens to me with new things, and thinking about nutrition and calorie counting were new to me. I constantly thought about food, counted every last chewing gum, did an insane amount of cardio ( 3h+ daily) on too little calories. Surprise: I was completely exhausted after three months of this. I threw in the towel and ate everything in sight, gaining back all I had lost and then some.

I'm far more relaxed now and try to avoid extremes. Yes, I count calories, but I'm not beating myself up over it. I go with a higher calorie allowance, and cut myself some slack if I can't keep it up on some days. Some things in my life have changed, too, so I have less time to obsess about food - I'm busy with other things now.

That is why when I see people go "I WANT RESULTS NOW!!!!!" and going way to low in calories, saying "it works for them" and convincing themselves they are not hungry after eating 700 cal a day I get frustrated -- because there is just no getting through to them, no matter what you say.

Athijade

I guess in a way I am a non-first timer. I started back in 2012 and was doing really well. Lost 36 or so pounds (first time I had been under 200 in YEARS).

What happened to me? My mom was diagnosed with lung cancer in October 2012. I was her only caregiver. She was in the hospital nearly monthly for a week or more at a time. She passed in May 2013. During this time, I stopped thinking about myself. All my focus was on her and my last two semesters of grad school. I stopped logging, measuring, and exercising. I spent long days sitting in her hospital room (8-12 hours if I did not have a class). I ate multiple meals at the hospital and didn't have many options (though I sometimes tried). By the time I got home at night, I had no energy to cook so I often just picked stuff up. I gained 18 pounds back.

I have since lost 14 pounds since July. Some due to my own medical issues and some due to trying to make better choices again. I am on a very limited diet due to my health problems as many foods can make it worse.

prettyface55

I only have excuses! My current one is.. got lazy and stopped working out.. and got very busy with my kids.
Im back on track and this time im doing it the right way!!

gigglesinthesun

I think sometimes people replace unhealthy food patterns with an unstainable exercise pattern. For example only today someone posted that they only get 5h sleep a night, because 'they make exercise a priority'. Chances are though at some point they'll need more sleep or their health will suffer.

annaowen67

I am back at it but new to this site. I was using another one and I still like that site but this one is a little less busy which is good for me because I am VERY busy.

I had lost 75 lbs and gained most of it back. I had a knee injury. I really did okay at maintaining for quite a while. The better part of 8 months but then I had surgery to repair a torn meniscus, ugh. Also I switched jobs from being on my feet most of the day to a CSR sit at a desk all day job, double ugh. Anyway, stopped logging, stopped working out. Yada, yada, yada.

Just going slow now, logging, and working on getting to the gym.

Things like injuries can derail you. Just be careful and diligent.

bethannien

I'm a first time mfper but a long time "loser." I lost something like 30 lbs in the beginning of 2009 with careful calorie counting and regular cardio/weight lifting. Then I met my husband and I stopped counting, made reasonably good choices and steadily dropped another 30 pounds. By the end of that year, I had stopped working out almost completely and was skinny fat. Then I slowly stopped making reasonable food/portion choices. At first, it was just a little here and there but by the beginning of this year, I was back to regular binges and an all around careless attitude about food.

During this 4 year period, I had a baby. But I ate incredibly well during my pregnancy and gained the normal 20-25 pounds and had lost most of that within 2 months of giving birth. A lot of times, babies are an excuse but, if anything, having a baby kept me from gaining even more weight.

I have learned that logging is essential in weight loss AND maintenance.

JTick

For me, I missed one day of logging. The next thing I new, it had been a month. Then a year. And then I came back, 40 pounds heavier.

I have now logged in for 415 days in a row. I log in first thing every morning, even on days I don't plan on entering my food (Christmas Day, Thanksgiving, etc.). If I miss a day of logging in, I know I will quickly slip back to my old ways. Even on days I'm not perfect, I at least show up.

guppygirl322

I got really sick and ended up on all sorts of medications, including steroids that made me eat everything that wasn't nailed down. This happened to me twice.

rlotze

First time it took me 3 months to lose 60 pounds.
I liked where I was, and riding my bike for an hour and a half in winter seattle weather (aka non-stop rain) sucked, so I just stopped and started living normally.

It took 5 years to gain back those 60 pounds - and so here I am losing them again! Though I'm going for a slower weight loss this time because the first time was seriously hard work to get it off so fast. I don't mind working for it, just not *that* hard.

But this time I want to lose 100 pounds, gain some muscles so I can 'oooo' and 'ahhh' over myself in the mirror, and ride a skateboard with my kids. So I plan on making it a lifestyle change. Which really hasn't been that tough so far, and I don't see why I couldn't keep it up permanently.

smithed812

First time, I ate about 1000 calories a day until I got down to a pretty low weight. Then I was so pleased with my accomplishment I just kept on binge-eating forever. Gained 30 lbs back and then more.

I tried getting back on track and had a real life gym/MFP buddy. Then they stopped caring and I found it hard to motivate myself so I gained some more weight back.

Now I have a wonderful MFP support group (that's helped a lot) and I've realized I can eat more than 1000 calories to lose weight, so what I'm doing now is more sustainable.

A lot of times I would have a depressive episode and stop caring, eat all the food, and lay in bed all day doing nothing. That hasn't happened in a long time and I hope it will never happen again.

susannamarie

I didn't gain it all back, but I lost 30 lbs and gained about half of it back. I was under a lot of stress, extremely depressed. I stopped tracking and ate a lot of popcorn.

Things are going better now and I'm back tracking.

stumblinthrulife

I am a first timer, but one year in.

Here's what I see - people go on extreme diets, classify foods as good/bad and cut all the 'bad' ones out of their diet. They then either reach their goals and go back to their old way of eating, or fail to abstain from the 'bad' foods (because they are usually the tastiest).

Either way, because they never learned to properly incorporate those foods into their everyday diet, they end up putting the weight back on.

Personally subscribe to the IIFYM philosophy, and if you are worried about being able to stick to this long term, I believe the best way is to adopt in stages. I wrote a post about it recently -

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1101562-a-tiered-approach-to-lifestyle-change?hl=a+tiered+approach'#posts-17004975

In short my approach involves adopting the habits that give the greatest benefit first (calorie restriction) and then building on that. In that way, if you fail at any point, you don't go right back to how you were eating originally. It's not for everyone - I suggest it for people that struggle to stick with the 'all or nothing' approaches I've seen others pushing.

almomnc

I am not even sure when I started but I know I would get down to where I was getting compliments and then I stopped caring. I would "treat" myself one day a week, then 2 days a week and soon I had all my old bad habits back. I stopped tracking my food and did't really care what the scale said. I had a scare from a physician who put the onus on me to lose weight to feel better. It wasn't my regular doctor and she was blunt. It took me 24 hours to get over the shock and outrage and now 5 months later I am at least 1/3 of the way to my goal. I needed to hear the message; not be killed with kindness!!

0somuchbetter0

My problems with food are closely tied with emotions. In the past I would get serious and lose weight by restricting calories, working out diligently, etc., but whenever life threw me a curve ball, as life is wont to do, I would cope with the stress/sadness/boredom/anxiety by overeating....then I would feel guilty, punish myself by eating more, get depressed, stop trying, and the cycle would repeat itself. I HOPE I'm doing it right this time by working with a therapist, learning better coping skills, and realizing that sometimes life just sucks sweaty balls.

apedeb09

I got pregnant with my 4th baby and figured since I was pregnant I could eat whatever I wanted. I was thrilled not to have to count calories for awhile lol.. but I wish I would've stayed in the habit of eating healthy because it has been a struggle getting myself back in the mind set, so to speak.

Leah_Brooke

Got cocky, i guess.

RaggedyPond

Stopped logging third trimester of pregnancy. After baby I couldn't work out for a few months because of some tearing and I just didn't get back into it. I didn't care because my husband was deployed for a year and wouldn't see me anyways.