Why do people gain all their weight back so often?
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People need a health coach and accountability. it's like anything else. building those healthy habits and learning how to still have a life while meeting your health and fitness goals. some people just don't have the knowledge and tools yet and it's an awareness and education and someone to help them along the way. another BIG reason, is that diets don't work. YOu " die" on a diet and then you go off it. detoxing is the key to releasing not only the toxins that have been stored in your body for years, but also the fat the emrobes the toxins. once the toxins are mobilized, visceral and subcutuaneous fat are released.0
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It is hard work keeping the weight off. Someone on here mentioned complacency, so true. It is easier for me to sit on the couch and munch than focus and get myself up and go for a walk or go to the gym. You have to be willing to do the work and at times I get lazy. You would think these habits would take hold and you would not have to work hard at it but no, something distracts you and you lose focus and do what is easy. Quote- no one say it would be easy but it will be worth it (has helped me a lot)0
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I often have wondered why I have done this so many times to myself.
I put the two by four down that I would beat myself with, and I came to a few of conclusions.
First... I forgot what an incredible machine our bodies are, mine included. I had made the mistake of making it about reaching a certain size or number and then simply, sadly, whatever, just stopped pushing to see how strong I could get. I forgot about crossfit hero's and that I could be my own hero too! My arrival should have been my new starting point.
Secondly, I had to admit that I had dropped the ball, for another ball. I got distracted. Stopped food journaling. My priorities changed, and I failed to recognise without my health I was really becoming a sitting duck. Fat people get diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and they die younger. I simply stopped playing with the idea that I could be more than I ever had considered. I will not do that again... I said again.
Third, I am always going to have to concentrate... on moving my body. I am naturally lazy to be honest. I love my couch, but it does not love me back. I am convinced my treadmill loves me, I get off that thing knowing I just did my best, and that it is helping me. I love that it allows me to have some self respect! I forgot.
I have just got back into this again... my scale is moving and I feel good. I am a miracle! Is that what I lost sight of when I gained it back? Likely.
So here's the thing... clearly I am not the only one that has done this. I am not alone in the epic fail.... however I have settled into the idea that I am going to have certain people that can call me onto the carpet and hit the BS button whenever they see what I won't see. I am not sure how we become apathetic to our health and wellness, I only know that I have that disturbing ability. Our minds have to stay in the game... gotta keep your eye on the ball. SO much of this is about our minds and our thinking!0 -
I commonly hear that the vast majority of people who lose weight end up gaining it all back again. Why is that?
One possibility of many: Because it is very hard to maintain a restricted-calorie, low-fat diet, with 60 to 90 minutes of daily cardio (which is what "successful losers" on the National Weight Loss Registry do), for the rest of one's life. It requires something close to an obsession with one's food choices and exercise, which gets old for most of us. A low-fat diet is almost by definition a high-carbohydrate diet, as most people tend to keep the amount of protein in the 15% to 20% range. Depending on one's carb choices and genetic susceptibility to diabetes, it's possible to develop insulin resistance and gain weight without changing diet or exercise habits--calories are stored as fat and the body won't release them; calories expended decrease.
There has to be some other way. Many people don't log every calorie they eat or exercise 5 to 10 hours a week, yet they maintain a stable weight. My late father-in-law didn't do formal exercise or "watch what he ate," yet at 5'9", he maintained a healthy 155 lbs. his entire adult life.0 -
also changing the mindset and figuring out why you eat anyway........is it emotional? boredom? fear? sadness? getting into the mindset of eating is so very important when determining the root cause of obesity. changing your mindset , actively making better choices and also feeding the body and mind with good nutrition, will help with this whole process. recognizing the victories, one by one, builds confidence and gets the momentum rolling.0
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Perhaps one reason is because you don't ever lose fat cells once they have been created, the cells just shrink with weight loss. Now, it takes less energy for cells to expand than to conduct mitosis and create new fat cells. So, once the cells have been created, or once you gain a significant amount of weight, you will always have those same fat cells from when you were bigger. The only way that I know of to remove fat cells is by surgery, which is dangerous and can damage your body.
Further reading: http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20080505/fat-cells-slim-up-but-dont-ship-out
Yes!! This, too, is a big part of it.0 -
Well, I think if you're in it for the long haul, a long process of lifestyle change, you're less likely to put it all back on again. Calling it a diet and a temporary change in your life, you're bound to slip back into old ways.0
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I yo-yo. It had nothing to do with health issues, or babies, or not understanding the difference between "diet" and "lifestyle change". I've maintained at a healthy weight for 2, 4, 8 years at a time before gaining again.
Why do I regain? Because Every. Single. Goddamn. Day. is a struggle. Every day, I want homemade buttermilk waffles with fresh butter and syrup. Every day, I want a cheeseburger, 2 beers, and some cookies. Every single day, every single workout, I would rather be sitting on the couch watching a movie. It just gets exhausting after a while, driving home from work, thinking about the sad little healthy meal I have prepared. No matter how tasty it is, it is NOT fried chicken and cornbread. It is NOT a Peanut Buster Parfait(TM). Every meal, every snack is a battle I have with myself. Every visit to the gym happens because I've spent 15 minutes arguing with myself about why I should go instead of hanging out with my husband and pets, or instead of going out with friends, or instead of practicing guitar or playing games or any one of the zillion things I'd rather do than go get sweaty.
I often debate - is being unhappy because I'm overweight better or worse than being unhappy because I'm not really enjoying food and alcohol except for once a week? (If I didn't have a weekly cheat meal, I'd lose my mind).
It's completely exhausting. I've been in maintenance for 8 months this time through. How long will I make it before I just say, "$%^# it, this sucks", and start enjoying the rest of my life again? Time will tell.0 -
I can't speak for anyone else, but I will speak for myself. Forgive me, but I haven't read through all of the responses so far. I tried, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it as it's too painful for me to think about right now. I know there are so many reasons as to why people gain the weight back, but here is my reason...
I lost 64 pounds in 2012. I was getting my life back and for once I was starting to be happy with myself. I was half way to my goal. Then my father passed away from a long battle with cancer. I was shaken to the core. I maintained my weight loss for 6 months but my grip started to slip. I stopped caring. I stopped counting calories. I stopped exercising. It wasn't a full stop; it was more of a slow fade. That's what grief can do to you...if you let it.
Don't let it happen to you. Whatever life throws at you, hold onto your fitness like your life depends on it because it does. Don't throw it away like I did. Once you let it get so far gone, it's hard as hell to regain your momentum. I know my father wouldn't have wanted this for me and that's why I'm trying again....except this time I'm never letting it go no matter what.0 -
People who keep the weight off are "learners."
People who gain it back are short-sighted "followers," not concerned to learn through the process. It's easy to follow a simple principle (say, 1200 calorie diet) for a time. It will work, weight will come off, but people who do this haven't learned anything in the process that will help them long term. And so, the weight will return.
Take pleasure in what you are learning about food, your body, and exercise through your weight loss journey. When you are really invested in learning, it's easy to keep the weight off!0 -
You should never "go on a diet", but rather "change your diet".0
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The main reason is simple. Weight is a lot easier to shed than bad habits. One slows, and the other resurfaces.0
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I think that for every person it is different. And for the most part, what matters is that the person quits doing what they done before. I can't speak for everyone else, but for me I had this happen. I lost 115lbs doing everything what I consider to be healthy. I ate right and I exercised. I never restricted anything, but ate in moderation. However, at this time in my life, I did exercise 2-3 hours, 5 days a week. I then had a life change that affected me. I went through a divorce after being married 18 years, had to move to another state for a job, leaving my teenage son with his father so he could finish high school. I lost focus for a couple of years. I was depressed at having to start over at my age. I finally woke up and started taking responsibility for gaining a lot of my weight back. Not all of it, but If I didn't take charge, I would have. I don't have the time to exercise as long as I did before, but I stopped making the excuse that I had "no time". I can fit a hour of exercise in my evenings, and I do so now. Life is about choices. Sometimes things happen in our lives that we can't control, but we shouldn't let those things control us. I think for myself, I had to start loving me and taking care of myself.0
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I am one of the people that lost a lot of weight and then gained it all back again and now losing it again. Back in 2005 my SW was 232. I got down to 165 by exercising twice a day and eating 1500 calories a day but those calories still consisted of Diet Pepsi and Krispy Cremes. I exercised a lot and then I got burned out from exercising. Instead of finding something different to do, I just quit. Then I quit counting calories too and the pounds started to pile back on. As the pounds starting coming back on, I got depressed. The more depressed I got, the more I ate unhealthy foods to make me feel better until finally in August of 2012 I am sitting in a doctor's office weighing 284 lbs and being told I am pre-diabetic.
That was a year and half ago. I am down 75 lbs in that time and no longer pre-diabetic but my CW is still 209. I have learned a lot in the last year and a half. Exercise is a part of my life. It has to be because it keep my depression in check. Even if it's just a short walk vs a 5 mile run, I have to exercise. I should be down more than 75 lbs now because I don't have my eating totally controlled yet, but I'm working on it. I have good days and bad days, good weeks and bad weeks but it's always a work in progress. .
I also believe that society today does not taylor to a healthy lifestyle. We are on the go, grab something quick and easy people and we have been raised that way since we were kids. We spend hours sitting in a car, then more hours sitting at a desk and then take home pizza or take out for supper to the kids who are playing their video games. Of course not everyone does that, and most people here on MFP won't do that because we are here to make our lives healthier but many people have not made the choice to make the change. Heck, I'm doing that tonight. My daughter has an eye apt after school and I'm bringing pizza home for supper because it will be late. The difference is that I have been home and cooked supper every other night this week and I have planned for this in my calories allowance.
I was not "taught" how to eat healthy and stay active, but I am learning it and teaching it to my kids now so they hopefully won't go through what I am going through now at almost 40. We have to also be good role models to the next generation so they don't have the battles that we do.0 -
I successfully lost 30 lbs and kept it of for 5 years. And then I met the man I would later marry. His idea of dinner was a 20pc chicken nugget meal with a large fry, large soda, and a Reese's peanut butter cup McFlurry. He was 6'1" and 165 pounds and needed the calories to maintain that weight. I gained 20 lbs in the first two years we dated because it was hard not to eat ice cream when he did. My choices became increasingly unhealthy and I stopped going to Jazzercise. I gained an additional 20lbs when we married and moved to another town. Stress and a more sedentary lifestyle coupled with my now exclusively bad choices were to blame. I tried dieting to lose weight but nothing lasted.
Now I am trying to make healthy choices again and be more active. My menus are helping my husband improve his health as well as my waistline.
Maintaining your weight is about making healthy choices. Enjoy an ice cream every once in a while. But keep active. Find coping mechanisms for stress and a plan that when you do gain a little weight, you lose it right away. Hope that helps.0 -
Perhaps one reason is because you don't ever lose fat cells once they have been created, the cells just shrink with weight loss. Now, it takes less energy for cells to expand than to conduct mitosis and create new fat cells. So, once the cells have been created, or once you gain a significant amount of weight, you will always have those same fat cells from when you were bigger. The only way that I know of to remove fat cells is by surgery, which is dangerous and can damage your body.
Further reading: http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20080505/fat-cells-slim-up-but-dont-ship-out
Yes!! This, too, is a big part of it.
I agree.
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because they don't change their lifestyle - just their eating habits for a little while.... if you want to lose weight and keep it off - do it right and make sure its something you can maintain FOREVER. hate it when people have these 1200 calorie diets and lose all this weight then a few months later "wahhhh I don't understand?!"
When you lose weight, of course part of it is to look better but it should also be to be HEATLHY - people miss that part.0 -
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.
Agreed!
I've been maintaining a year and that's mainly because I've changed almost nothing from when in wt loss apart from eating more at w/e. You HAVE to change for life.0 -
My attitude is this is my life style change to eat healthier and maintain exercise.0
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Perhaps one reason is because you don't ever lose fat cells once they have been created, the cells just shrink with weight loss. Now, it takes less energy for cells to expand than to conduct mitosis and create new fat cells. So, once the cells have been created, or once you gain a significant amount of weight, you will always have those same fat cells from when you were bigger. The only way that I know of to remove fat cells is by surgery, which is dangerous and can damage your body.
Further reading: http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20080505/fat-cells-slim-up-but-dont-ship-out
Yes!! This, too, is a big part of it.
I agree.
i seem to recall somebody posting a few weeks ago that you can actually lose fat cells. cells die and are replaced. this includes fat cells. so, over time, after losing a lot of weight and maintaining the loss, you actually could get rid of the extra fat cells created while overweight. that poster said it took something like 5 years for all of your fat cells to be fully replaced as part of this normal process.0 -
Perhaps one reason is because you don't ever lose fat cells once they have been created, the cells just shrink with weight loss. Now, it takes less energy for cells to expand than to conduct mitosis and create new fat cells. So, once the cells have been created, or once you gain a significant amount of weight, you will always have those same fat cells from when you were bigger. The only way that I know of to remove fat cells is by surgery, which is dangerous and can damage your body.
Further reading: http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20080505/fat-cells-slim-up-but-dont-ship-out
Yes!! This, too, is a big part of it.
I agree.
i seem to recall somebody posting a few weeks ago that you can actually lose fat cells. cells die and are replaced. this includes fat cells. so, over time, after losing a lot of weight and maintaining the loss, you actually could get rid of the extra fat cells created while overweight. that poster said it took something like 5 years for all of your fat cells to be fully replaced as part of this normal process.
But, did the poster know what they were talking about? Not being snarky, that's a serious question. I guess I need to do some research, because I too have always read/heard that fat cells do not go away (except with liposuction).0 -
I'm speaking for complete experience here. I think asking someone who has actually been in the situation is best suited here. In MY case it's sometimes there's a trigger behind WHY weight is gained. I lost 110 pounds about 9 years ago. it took me 15 months to get it off. I watched what I ate, I worked out and managed to keep it off for about 3 years. I did give myself a little slack back then. However, my grandfather passed away when that 3 years came around. The whole mind set of not caring anymore. I managed in 3 months time, 40 pounds. Overall, I ended up gaining 130 pounds. I ended up going back to the original mindset I was 9 years ago where even tho my health was being compromised because of the weight, I didn't care. About 2 years ago, that all changed. I've lost 110 pounds, would like to lose 10 more pounds, but I'm also happy where I'm at. I feel healthier. For a lot of people, its the mindset of where they are at when they gain the weight. (Believe me, I've also asked others who've gained the weight)0
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Perhaps one reason is because you don't ever lose fat cells once they have been created, the cells just shrink with weight loss. Now, it takes less energy for cells to expand than to conduct mitosis and create new fat cells. So, once the cells have been created, or once you gain a significant amount of weight, you will always have those same fat cells from when you were bigger. The only way that I know of to remove fat cells is by surgery, which is dangerous and can damage your body.
Further reading: http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20080505/fat-cells-slim-up-but-dont-ship-out
Yes!! This, too, is a big part of it.
I agree.
i seem to recall somebody posting a few weeks ago that you can actually lose fat cells. cells die and are replaced. this includes fat cells. so, over time, after losing a lot of weight and maintaining the loss, you actually could get rid of the extra fat cells created while overweight. that poster said it took something like 5 years for all of your fat cells to be fully replaced as part of this normal process.
But, did the poster know what they were talking about? Not being snarky, that's a serious question. I guess I need to do some research, because I too have always read/heard that fat cells do not go away (except with liposuction).
i think the jury is out. there are a bunch of links if you google this. it was the first time i'd heard this also.0 -
I think whoever can successfully come up with the answer to the thread question could become a millionaire...
The answer to that has as many reasons as does the weight gain to begin with. It's different for everyone.
I took 6 years to lose 100 pounds and 6 1/2 years to get to my weight goal. I was able to maintain that for three years, but in the last year my weight has been slowly creeping up. Why? A lot of reasons, but what it mainly comes down to is that even after 10 years on this weight loss/maintenance journey, I am still dealing with the issues that got me to be morbidly obese in the first place, emotional eating. I can do well for awhile, but something happens in my life and I find myself reverting back to my old habits. This year has been especially stressful, so I'm fighting those bad habits harder than ever, but losing the battle more than winning.
What keeps me going is the fact I do not want to be part of the statistic of people who gain all (or more) of the weight back. I keep fighting the battle. As someone once told me, "As long as you are struggling with your weight loss, that means you haven't give up."0 -
Perhaps one reason is because you don't ever lose fat cells once they have been created, the cells just shrink with weight loss. Now, it takes less energy for cells to expand than to conduct mitosis and create new fat cells. So, once the cells have been created, or once you gain a significant amount of weight, you will always have those same fat cells from when you were bigger. The only way that I know of to remove fat cells is by surgery, which is dangerous and can damage your body.
Further reading: http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20080505/fat-cells-slim-up-but-dont-ship-out
Yes!! This, too, is a big part of it.
I agree.
i seem to recall somebody posting a few weeks ago that you can actually lose fat cells. cells die and are replaced. this includes fat cells. so, over time, after losing a lot of weight and maintaining the loss, you actually could get rid of the extra fat cells created while overweight. that poster said it took something like 5 years for all of your fat cells to be fully replaced as part of this normal process.
But, did the poster know what they were talking about? Not being snarky, that's a serious question. I guess I need to do some research, because I too have always read/heard that fat cells do not go away (except with liposuction).
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/health/research/05fat.html
"The result is that the total number of fat cells in the body remains the same, year after year throughout adulthood. Losing or gaining weight affects only the amount of fat stored in the cells, not the number of cells."0 -
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.0 -
I haven't read the threads but I can bank on someone saying the same thing i'm going to say... whatever you do, it must be the way of life and you have to be happy with it. I mean that you don't want to think of your eating as "a diet" because once you get to your "goal weight" YOU THEN start eating all the crap that you used to eat which makes the weight come back. same thing with exercise. you stop, slack off so the weight comes back... makes sense when you think about it...0
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because they go on a diet instead of a lifestyle change , diets don't last0
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The leading obesity doctor here in Alberta, Dr. Arya Sharma, said at a lecture he gave, that once your body gets to a certain weight, it will always for the rest of your life want to go back to that weight! So if your highest was 150, and you lose until 120, your body will always be fighting to get back to 150. Same goes for 300, lose a bunch and get down to 150, and you will always have to work a lot harder to keep your body from going back to 300 as that is what it wants to do. Once you go higher than your previous highest, your body will realize this and reset the new high number as its preference. It's sad, and means we will forever need to be disciplined and have control in order to keep the weight off. No one is perfect in that aspect. This is why bariatric surgery is a valid option as a tool for many as it helps the control aspect, and with proper effort/assistance on the psychological side, it works permanently.0
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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 :-)0
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