Why do people gain all their weight back so often?

arlenem1974

1. when people diet they lose the weight but gain it back because they think they way they have been eating can be maintained for long term but it can't.

2. people think that once they leave here they can do it on there own. If we couldn't lose the weight without the help of this site why would we think we can maintain without it.

When I get to my goal weight I will just do the same as I am now. Log my food and exercise the only thing that would change is my calories. I will be able to eat a little more but that's it.

I know if I don't log I will put the weight back on and that's the last think I want.

LinDiSm26262

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!

Our minds are very powerful and will always slip back to what is familiar. If we don't stay aware and in control it will take over.

fultimers

I don't know all the reasons why people gain their weight back. I've done it several times and the reason is not wanting to worry about what I eat anymore.

The dirty little secret about losing weight, however, is that the majority of people gain their weight back and often more.

That is a statistic though it may not be as bad on this website since everybody is more conscious than most about not gaining the weight back.

LissaK1981

I regained mine because I quit. I gave up working out and logging food. Simply laziness. Don't quit

Lindabummy1

I think we tend to get complacent when we get to goal, maybe less focused. Though I have not met goal yet, I find that when I do well for a while, I tend to slough off, maybe even a little lazy with logging and portion control. I know that is what happens to me sometimes. I am better about getting back on track and trying to be more diligent. I am about 23 lbs from goal, and it is getting harder to lose, so I have to be more aware if I am going to get there.

Brabbitt72

I agree with this. I lost weight and then something happened in my life that made me give up on getting healthy. So when the weight came back gradually it made me have less energy and therefore less motivation. So I am trying to get my motivation back through this website.

FindingAmy77

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!

I am guilty of this too. I am good at losing weight the healthy way. I get to my goal then let life get in the way and eat like its a party everyday then all of a sudden oops I gained it all back plus some. I am not getting any younger. Its the maintenance part that I have never got right but its my ultimate goal this time to do just that. It really does have to be a lifestyle change that you can sustain for the rest of your life

MrsFlip7

From what I've been able to see, there are a few different reasons that people gain the weight back fairly quickly. The biggest reason that comes to mind and the one I've seen a lot of, is that the person was following a restrictive diet without paying much attention to calories or macronutrients, they essentially ended up starving themselves until they lost the weight they wanted, then didn't have a clue as to how to proceed after that. Since they didn't learn much about portion sizes, eating certain foods in moderation, etc. on a self-imposed, heavily-restricted diet, they soon return to their old eating habits, which led to them needing to lose weight in the first place. Rinse and repeat, some people go through that cycle for years and years without getting anywhere.

^ yes...This is/was me. I got on a very restriced diet, lost a bunch of weight to the point I was too little and caused some medical problems...got caught up in cheat nights when my husband came home from military training, and I have gained 12 lbs in 3 months already because I started to binge...lose weight slow, take your time and find a common median, don't over do it!

mars735

Whoops, no delete button!

bethkeysear

I swore I would never gain my weight back, but I have gained half of it back.

For me, it was hectic hard times that caused me to let my guard down.

I moved 2000 miles from home
I got married
I added 2 step children to my family
My father got sick and was in the hospital for a long time before he died and I lived at his bedside.
I have done a lot of traveling and it is hardest for me to control myself when eating on the go.
My new family does not eat vegetables.
My daughter is going through a hard time and I am an emotional eater.


Those are not excuses for my mistakes but…I feel like I am starting over.

Dewymorning

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.

catchtheislands

Bingeing which is what happened when you don't change your lifestyle and only restrict yourself.

most people do not know what a balanced meal is or how often you should feed.

Jesusfan54

I cant seem to crack the emotional part I am losing but will have a day or two that I get down and just eat every thing and cant bring my self to get out of bed to go to the gym ! And then I get back on track but I write every thing in here no cheating and I see the calories in my food that I need to give up and learn to love healthier foods so that I dont put back on the weight!

themedalist

I think it boils down to needing a plan for maintence, just as we had a plan to lose weight:


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/themedalist/view/what-s-your-maintenance-plan-624676

60x60

I still think sometimes a weight gain in maintenance mode is just a lack of being mindful of changes in overall lifestyle, incorporating in the changes and tweaking diet and exercise. For instance, because I spent 2013 with a two hour daily commute instead of 20, my life became more sedentary. However, I was still eating and exercising in accordance with the maintenance plan I established several years earlier after losing 100 lbs . In 2014, I continued improving in strength, balance and endurance, but to my great frustration I gained 10 pounds. I was coming home from the commute exhausted and flopped in front of the beautiful TV our son had given us as a gift. With the help of my internist, oncologist and nutritionist I have tweaked my macros and I have made some simple changes in activity levels, I am back on course.

I emphasize that sometimes, the gaining of weight during maintenance is not some blameworthy slippage of discipline, laziness or lack of willpower or an inability to make a lifestyle change, but rather a lack of mindfulness when life changes. To me, the lesson learned is to stay mindful during maintenance and to start re-evaluating at about the 5 lb gain mark.

shaneanigans1

A lot of people bulk to put on more muscle then cut afterwards to get shredded

Sabine_Stroehm

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 agree with this, except that restrictions do play a part in some cases. They think if they give up sugar or something, they will lose weight, and then once they get there, they start eating sugar again. What people fail to realize is that there is no before and after. It's a before and during. Figure out how to eat for the rest of your life, and you can keep the weight off.

If they eat sugar again, but eat at maintenance level there should be no problem. People gain weight back because they eat too many calories.

Sabine_Stroehm

I totally agree. Because they DIET or try the new "fad weight loss". If it's not something you're going to do for the rest of your life dont do it! It'll be just a quick fix and then you'll be right back into your old issue because you never changed your habits. Diets DONT WORK.

Is counting, weighing and measuring a diet?

Sabine_Stroehm

I think it boils down to needing a plan for maintence, just as we had a plan to lose weight:


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/themedalist/view/what-s-your-maintenance-plan-624676

THIS Is the key. It honestly doesn't matter how you lose weight as long as you have a plan for losing and a plan for maintaining. And BOTH plans have to work for YOU.

I've been at maintenance (with some on again, off again tweaking) for 12 years. Having a plan was the key for me.

missymillspaugh

That was me too, twice! If you go back to the things that made you heavy before, you will be heavy again.