Why do people gain all their weight back so often?

Jestinia

Speaking for myself, the skinnier I am, the hungrier I am. I can trace it back to at least my first ill-conceived spree of teenage yo-yo dieting.

Article about a study on the issue:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

"A full year after significant weight loss, these men and women remained in what could be described as a biologically altered state. Their still-plump bodies were acting as if they were starving and were working overtime to regain the pounds they lost. For instance, a gastric hormone called ghrelin, often dubbed the “hunger hormone,” was about 20 percent higher than at the start of the study. Another hormone associated with suppressing hunger, peptide YY, was also abnormally low. Levels of leptin, a hormone that suppresses hunger and increases metabolism, also remained lower than expected. A cocktail of other hormones associated with hunger and metabolism all remained significantly changed compared to pre-dieting levels. It was almost as if weight loss had put their bodies into a unique metabolic state, a sort of post-dieting syndrome that set them apart from people who hadn’t tried to lose weight in the first place."


I'm resigned to fighting excess hunger one way or the other for the rest of my life, but I'm determined not to give in to it again.

parkscs

And obviously this is reflected in the statistics that 95% of people will regain all weight lost (often more) within five years of the initial loss. I assume this percentage gets closer to 100% the longer you are monitoring people for.

More recent studies I've read suggest it's more like 80% failure in long-term weight loss, not 95% and approaching 100% over time. You aren't looking at great odds with a 1 in 5 success rate, but it's not nearly as bleak as you're making it out to be. Regardless of what the statistics indicate though, there is no hard limit on how many people can succeed and it's 100% up to you as an individual whether you succeed or fail.

FindingAmy77

i think the number one reason i gained weight after losing is because i stopped paying attention to the scale, my portions, my food choices and my daily activity. Its a lifetime thing but most treat it as temporary.

bcattoes

Speaking for myself, the skinnier I am, the hungrier I am. I can trace it back to at least my first ill-conceived spree of teenage yo-yo dieting.

Article about a study on the issue:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

"A full year after significant weight loss, these men and women remained in what could be described as a biologically altered state. Their still-plump bodies were acting as if they were starving and were working overtime to regain the pounds they lost. For instance, a gastric hormone called ghrelin, often dubbed the “hunger hormone,” was about 20 percent higher than at the start of the study. Another hormone associated with suppressing hunger, peptide YY, was also abnormally low. Levels of leptin, a hormone that suppresses hunger and increases metabolism, also remained lower than expected. A cocktail of other hormones associated with hunger and metabolism all remained significantly changed compared to pre-dieting levels. It was almost as if weight loss had put their bodies into a unique metabolic state, a sort of post-dieting syndrome that set them apart from people who hadn’t tried to lose weight in the first place."


I'm resigned to fighting excess hunger one way or the other for the rest of my life, but I'm determined not to give in to it again.

I think this is why exercise is so important for weight loss and weight control after weight loss. Exercise reduces hunger temporarily and it burns calories so you can eat more without gaining.

TayNLansNGraysDad

My advice would be never stop exercising. Hit my goal weight six weeks ago. Eating what I want but in moderation and actually lost a few more pounds.

Congrats!

cebreisch

It seems to me that when people get to their goal on weight loss, they think all is well, and revert to their old habits. Like they forgot everything they'd learned to that point - now that they're where they want to be, they don't have to "diet" anymore and go back to their old ways.

I'm not at my goal weight, but in the last year, life had other plans, I got complacent, and focused more on 'poor pitiful me' than on wanting to lose weight.

I now know more than ever that I'm never going to be able to just "quit logging". Once I get to where I want to be, I'll still need to log my food and do other things to maintain that weight loss so I won't gain it back.

greenmonstergirl

It has nothing to do with "restrictions" in my opinion and rather has to do with a lack of focus on the long-term. People hit their goal and then rest on their laurels. They stop doing what they did to lose weight and instead fall back into their old habits. If you previously gained weight with those old habits, odds are you will gain weight again when you revert to your old ways. It's really as simple as that. It doesn't matter whether you ate pop tarts while losing weight or whether you ate whole foods while losing weight; it comes down to what you do at maintenance.

i totally agree with this! i think a lot of people view weight loss as a temporary diet instead of a lifestyle change. i'm guilty of it myself! i lost a good deal of weight a few years back, was super happy with myself, and then just went back to my old habits. for me, i think maintenance will be harder than the weight loss!

Agree...I've lost 100 pounds in 9 months, took 6 months to gain that all back, lost 70 pounds in a year, took about 4 months to gain that all back, lost 50 pounds in a year, took a few months to gain that back, now I've lost nearly 80. I understand the whole idea behind weight loss now and that it's a life long change, not a quick fix. Before I didn't understand that once I got thinner that I couldn't eat anything I wanted (like all my friends could). It's a shame I went up and down the scale that many times as I know it took a toll on my body. I didn't want to put in the constant work. It was my own fault. Now I know this is for life and I"m ok with that. If it was easy, everyone would have a perfect body.

runnerchick69

Here's what I see. People think there is a start and an end. The thing about living a healthier lifestyle is you live a healthier lifestyle for not just a few months but for the rest of your life. In the beginning you make HUGE changes but as you lose the weight it gets harder because you've made those big changes already. Here is where exercise really comes in to play because it helps you manage your weight loss without having to give up more in terms of food. I also find that many don't allow themselves a cheat meal or cheat day so when they finally binge it isn't just one donut their eating, it is 12 and let me just say I speak from personal experience here! The fact is even though I have kept this weight off for several years I will always have struggles, I will always have to watch what I eat and I will always have to exercise; the last one being the easiest because I love to workout :happy:

elgray26

In my case it wasn't so much of going back to my old habits. I started a new job, a desk job that is. I didn't have as much time to work out and stay as active as I used to be. What took me 1 year to get off in a slow but steady weight loss took me 3 months to gain back. Sometimes its as simple as becoming more busy and not being able to maintain the diet and exercise program.

beamer0821

imo, its very simple. b/c people never solved the problem. the problem can be answered by asking ones self why you are overweight in the first place. when you lose the weight without really solving this riddle you are just treating symptoms and not the root cause.

treating symptoms can only go on for so long so people are able to *sometimes* keep it off for a short period but it is inevitable that it will slowly creep back if you havent figured out the mind and body are connected.

mccindy72

My attitude is this is my life style change to eat healthier and maintain exercise.

Any change in diet or exercise habits is a change in lifestyle. But, whether you call it a lifestyle change or a diet, it can still change again. It's rare for anyone not to have several lifestyle changes over the course of their life.

In fact, changes in lifestyle are often what cause people to gain weight. They get married, they have children, they get a sedentary job, they lose a job, they get an injury, etc.

those sound like excuses to me :-)

Excuses are reasons.

no - getting married, having kids - those are EXCUSES

an injury is a REASON

don't confuse the two

Being pregnant,giving birth are huge events in the body that do a lot of damage that takes time to heal as well as hormonal changes that affect you. So....

Actually, they are all excuses. Since the calorie deficit is what is required for weight loss, any excuse to not eat at a deficit is just that, an excuse. Not being able to exercise doesn't mean you have to gain weight, it just means you can't increase your calorie deficit and/or work on fitness. There is a difference between fitness and weight loss.

somefitsomefat

And obviously this is reflected in the statistics that 95% of people will regain all weight lost (often more) within five years of the initial loss. I assume this percentage gets closer to 100% the longer you are monitoring people for.

More recent studies I've read suggest it's more like 80% failure in long-term weight loss, not 95% and approaching 100% over time. You aren't looking at great odds with a 1 in 5 success rate, but it's not nearly as bleak as you're making it out to be. Regardless of what the statistics indicate though, there is no hard limit on how many people can succeed and it's 100% up to you as an individual whether you succeed or fail.

I wonder if this is a bit of a loaded statistic also. Is this percentage based off of all people losing any amount of weight? I'm guessing this number is thrown off by habitual dieters that lose and gain the same 10-20lbs to fit in their bikinis and swim trunks every summer. That's a little different than people who lose larger amounts by learning to be active and eat right.

mccindy72

In my case it wasn't so much of going back to my old habits. I started a new job, a desk job that is. I didn't have as much time to work out and stay as active as I used to be. What took me 1 year to get off in a slow but steady weight loss took me 3 months to gain back. Sometimes its as simple as becoming more busy and not being able to maintain the diet and exercise program.

Why does being busy mean you can't maintain the eating program? I can understand the exercise but not the eating. It's still about choices.

bcattoes

My attitude is this is my life style change to eat healthier and maintain exercise.

Any change in diet or exercise habits is a change in lifestyle. But, whether you call it a lifestyle change or a diet, it can still change again. It's rare for anyone not to have several lifestyle changes over the course of their life.

In fact, changes in lifestyle are often what cause people to gain weight. They get married, they have children, they get a sedentary job, they lose a job, they get an injury, etc.

those sound like excuses to me :-)

Excuses are reasons.

no - getting married, having kids - those are EXCUSES

an injury is a REASON

don't confuse the two

Being pregnant,giving birth are huge events in the body that do a lot of damage that takes time to heal as well as hormonal changes that affect you. So....

Actually, they are all excuses. Since the calorie deficit is what is required for weight loss, any excuse to not eat at a deficit is just that, an excuse. Not being able to exercise doesn't mean you have to gain weight, it just means you can't increase your calorie deficit and/or work on fitness. There is a difference between fitness and weight loss.

What is the difference between an excuse not to control weight and a reason not to control weight?

somefitsomefat

My attitude is this is my life style change to eat healthier and maintain exercise.

Any change in diet or exercise habits is a change in lifestyle. But, whether you call it a lifestyle change or a diet, it can still change again. It's rare for anyone not to have several lifestyle changes over the course of their life.

In fact, changes in lifestyle are often what cause people to gain weight. They get married, they have children, they get a sedentary job, they lose a job, they get an injury, etc.

those sound like excuses to me :-)

Excuses are reasons.

no - getting married, having kids - those are EXCUSES

an injury is a REASON

don't confuse the two

Being pregnant,giving birth are huge events in the body that do a lot of damage that takes time to heal as well as hormonal changes that affect you. So....

Actually, they are all excuses. Since the calorie deficit is what is required for weight loss, any excuse to not eat at a deficit is just that, an excuse. Not being able to exercise doesn't mean you have to gain weight, it just means you can't increase your calorie deficit and/or work on fitness. There is a difference between fitness and weight loss.

What is the difference between an excuse not to control weight and a reason not to control weight?

An excuse makes it ok for a person to look down on you without feeling like they're a bad person. Basically.

sbrownallison

Great thread going on here, so thanks for starting people thinking! On regaining weight: I've done this, having reached my Weight Watcher goal about 8 years ago, then within 5 years had put 40 lbs back on. Despite knowing intellectually that maintenance is really the hardest part of the whole thing, I began to cut a corner here and a corner there in terms of what I was eating. After all, I was cured, wasn't I? I also had an Achilles' tendon issue that restricted exercise for a surprisingly long time. But it was mostly the over-eating. Two years ago, I got serious (again) and started back to WW. Then I got serious about exercise, which really produced the results I was hoping for. Finding MFP a year or so ago has helped me be more accepting of the connection between what I eat and how much I move (also got a Fitbit One to reinforce this idea). On days when, for whatever reason, I can't go to the gym or get outside for long walks, I eat less. I don't keep trigger foods in my house, as I've found that controlling my environment is important; many of you, I'm sure, can buy a quart of ice cream and eat it in 1/2 cup portions over weeks: I am not that person!

bcattoes

What is the difference between an excuse not to control weight and a reason not to control weight?

An excuse makes it ok for a person to look down on you without feeling like they're a bad person. Basically.

That does seem to be true. Neither implies lack of personal responsibility.

The reason I gained weight this time was marriage. I chose to spend my free time hanging out with my husband eating and drinking too much instead of exercising or eating less because it made me happy. It's not an excuse, because I don't need to be excused or forgiven, and it doesn't mean I didn't make a choice. But, this wonderful change in my lifestyle was the reason for my choice and consequently the reason I gained weight.

amberlilies

In part--hormones. Once you lose 10% of your body weight your leptin (hunger hormone) shoots up and other hormones work to slow down your metabolism, an evolutionary tool to keep you from starving in the jungle.

Interesting read: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

55Megamus

Because life is not static.

I am very aware that getting to my goal is half the battle. Maybe I will be able to maintain with ease for the first year afterwards. But what happens once other life events happen, will I be able to maintain when I have kids? What about after a death? Illness?

I don't think it is either easy, and somehow working towards something is easier than working to maintain something.

EDIT: I just wanted to add that the possibility of gaining weight back in the future does not make this weight gain now less worth it. I was gaining weight before I changed my habits. We only have one day, and that is today. So what we do today is what counts.

I loved this post.

I hope I don't gain anything back, but life will happen, and I'll do the best I can.

The thing about losing or watching our weight is that we are living in the moment and making the best of it. I feel so amazing right now, and I wouldn't feel that way if I hadn't worked for it.

For me it was that another lifestyle change overrode the initial lifestyle change...

A lot of people on this thread have said "lifestyle change" is the answer but since there are many stories of people who change their lifestyle and subsequently change back, this indicates a lifestyle change isn't a complete answer. I think the comments quoted above come closest to the truth. Humans are very skilled at adapting, and one of the ways we adapt to changing circumstances is by gaining and losing weight. Combine this with the unchangeable fact that life is varied and unpredictable (that is, we are unable to learn ahead of time how to cope with every situation life is going to throw at us)...it doesn't bode well. And obviously this is reflected in the statistics that 95% of people will regain all weight lost (often more) within five years of the initial loss. I assume this percentage gets closer to 100% the longer you are monitoring people for.

Which also brings me to my main question which is how do you measure successful maintenance? Does keeping weight off for ten years count? How about twenty? Can you only know if you are "successful" once you die? The outcome will also depend on initial circumstances as well. I dunno...I don't even think there is an answer to this question other than to say we are all human and therefore in a constant state of flux. Nothing is stable and that includes weight, so I guess the best we can hope for it to be moderately healthy to the best of our abilities for as long as we can. And I guess the infinite number of variables involved in that means success is so subjective anyway....

This was a good post. I work in the obesity research field. To be honest with you, there are a lot of theories out there about why this regain happens but no concrete answer, if we knew it wouldn't be such a problem. Truth be told, obesity is far more complicated than most make it out to be. It does not boil down to "eat less move more" our society is not suffering from a catastrophic lack of will power. This is an issue that has many different causes, many different influences and individualized outcomes. For one, if calories are the currency of weight, we need to keep in mind that every person has a different exchange rate. it is not one size fits all.

We also need to understand that human bodies have evolved into spectacular energy storage machines. Food wasn't always so plentiful and nutrient dense, we are very efficient at storing energy as a means to survive. Add that to the fact that in general we live in obesinogenic societies. Everything around us from the food available, to the neighborhoods we live in and the jobs we do push us towards obesity.

This is one of those questions that right now has no answer, I simply wish people would stop spouting anecdotal evidence and misinformed opinions about how all people who gain back are lazy and simply not strong enough to follow through. This attitude only serves to perpetuate weight bias, which in turn adds to the cycle.

Just acknowledge that weight loss and regain is very complicated, everyone will have their own outcome, we all face an uphill battle. Support each other and do your best to beat the odds.

Nothungry585

"My father got sick and was in the hospital for a long time before he died and I lived at his bedside."

As others have said so well, long term weight loss is not a matter or diet but of lifestyle change. However, there will be circumstances that take a toll on even the best eating and exercise habits and discipline....

We all have to cut ourselves some slack for family illnesses, loss and crisis--circumstances which will impact all of us sooner of later. The anxiety, grief, disruption and exhaustion that are inherent in the illness and/or loss of loved will often result in irregular eating and the consumption of convenient or comfort foods we would not normally eat, let alone messed up exercise routines. This is human and just as true for those who may have always been fit all as for those who have worked to lose weight and change lifestyle. It's not a sign of weakness or failure, but a normal temporary response to major life crises.