Success Doesn't Last

kisstheheavens

i dont think success is a destination. i think each day we have opportunities to have successful moments. whether you are just starting your fitness plan or have been doing it for a few years... we have the chance to create successful moments... its always about picking yourself back up!!!!!!!!!!

beamer0821

so far so good...this is the one and only time I've ever really seriously tried losing weight (couple of half *kitten* attempts at Adkins and South Beach). I'm about 3 months away from the two year mark for all of this good livin' and I've been maintaining for 13 months without logging, etc.

I really made it a point to learn how to live a healthful life during my weight loss process...for me, it was a lot more than just losing weight that I was after. I dove head first into the study of nutrition and embraced my fitness with the understanding that these things would be essential to my long term success.

There truly is no finish line...achieving a healthy weight is just the beginning...the process of losing the weight is simply the training ground for the much longer race ahead...you have not arrived at the finish line once you've reached a healthy weight, you have just arrived at the starting line.

^^^this this this this!!!. could not have said it better. i love the analogy of "Training"

martinel2099

I can't be the only one that has experienced this - lose the weight by eating proportionally, exercising, and just being committed - only to regain the weight later.
Stories?

I did the get thin quick thing and gained all the weight back once, here's what I learned.

You can't go on a diet, lose weight, and then expect to go back to how you ate before "normal" and expect not to gain the weight back. The best approach to weight loss and weight loss for life. If and when I need a break I'll eat at maintenance and that'll help me keep my results.

Get back on the horse and forget about any diets that promise fast results. Count your calories and hit your MACROS for life while eating all of the foods you love. Once you develop a positive relationship with food you'll realize it's not your enemy.

Sabine_Stroehm

so far so good...this is the one and only time I've ever really seriously tried losing weight (couple of half *kitten* attempts at Adkins and South Beach). I'm about 3 months away from the two year mark for all of this good livin' and I've been maintaining for 13 months without logging, etc.

I really made it a point to learn how to live a healthful life during my weight loss process...for me, it was a lot more than just losing weight that I was after. I dove head first into the study of nutrition and embraced my fitness with the understanding that these things would be essential to my long term success.

There truly is no finish line...achieving a healthy weight is just the beginning...the process of losing the weight is simply the training ground for the much longer race ahead...you have not arrived at the finish line once you've reached a healthy weight, you have just arrived at the starting line.

I've only lost the one time too. And like you I learned to eat and live in a more healthful way during the process. Twelve years later, I'm still following those same basic principles, with a few new tweaks with menopause. I really revolutionized how I thought about eating 12years ago. I made many substantial changes in how I eat on a regular basis based on what I studied and learned. For me, that was the key. I was already working out, and always had been. But I ate like crap.

And yes. I agree completely with everything you've said.

We've had a few threads about gaining it back, but not many threads highlighting true long term successes like yours. We need more of those threads.

sparkly_blonde

Thankfully I have only done that once, but sadly the one time was a big one! I went from a size 24 in high school, down to a size 14/16, and then due to stress from a medical emergency followed by my divorce and job reassignment I ballooned up to a size 28. Back to a size 24 and working hard to get it off and keep it off!

ValeriePlz

I think it is much easier to lose because (1) you have a firm goal in mind, which is motivating, and (2) it is easy to do almost anything on a temporary basis.

I am getting into maintenance now and it is really hard. I crave food all the time and want to reward myself for staying under my original goal. I think that's how I must have regained 15 of the 40 I lost two years ago.

I agree with what other people have said about making sustainable, permanent changes and would add that being honest with yourself is important, too. This time I am weighing myself at least once a week, even if I am afraid, to make sure I stay under my goal weight.

fallingtrees

When my BF and I first got together two years ago, I had just lost a lot of weight and was within sight of my goal.

Alas, he is English, and makes the best fish and chips I've ever tasted. He loves to cook. He also introduced me to home-brew.

I gained 20 pounds.

So I'm back on the wagon...

NicoleLFifield

I have NEVER been thin but have been on a weight yo yo my entire life. That is why this time, I am trying to teach myself a new lifestyle when it comes to eating, something I can stick to for the long haul except that maybe one day, I will be able to have a little larger portions.

stateofzen

i dont think success is a destination. i think each day we have opportunities to have successful moments. whether you are just starting your fitness plan or have been doing it for a few years... we have the chance to create successful moments... its always about picking yourself back up!!!!!!!!!!

This I like.

I have a love/hate reaction when I see the term "lifestyle change" bandied about in these conversations. Love -- because it's true. If you have serious struggles with weight then there is nothing short of a drastic long-term change in your relationship with food ( and possibly fitness, especially for maintenance) that is going to work. Hate-- because it's tossed around as though that change is easy and always rewarding and not without its own costs.

Oh don't diet, silly impatient one. Just change your entire life!

:frown:

Oh, well, no problem.

I have always said I'm a pro at losing weight but a failure at maintaining loss over time. And I've never lost that weight doing gimmicky yo-yo stuff-- just your basic calorie deficit action. Learning how to maintain is its own beast and I'm not there yet. I lost 120 lbs and got to 155 in 2011 and vowed to myself that success for me was not going to be defined as "keeping it off forever". Instead, success for me was going to acknowledge that gaining some back is inevitable based on my experience, and the thing that would be different is that I wouldn't avoid the scale and that 170-175 would be my red-alarm range for getting back to basics.

Success for me is my improved health, my improved looks, and my improved fitness. There is objective room for more improvement, but to me the degree of the lifestyle change that optimization would require isn't worth it. And for me, this mindset has allowed me to create a lasting change that has worked FOR ME.

So I'll start calorie deficit and obsessive monitoring and message boarding for a while to give myself more room and I'll succeed, and then I'll be back in 4-5 years to rinse and repeat, and that's success when I play by my own rules in the lifestyle I want.

cathylopez1975

I, too, have lost and gained a number of times over my lifetime. Those times, I was young and reasonably healthy. I just got tired of doing what it took and the weight came back.

This time is different. I have lost 95 pounds - started Sept 1, 2012. I've been basically maintaining since the first of 2014. I've been up and down a couple of pounds, but nothing I'm concerned about. I plan to lose another 10 lbs to my ultimate goal, but I'm learning to maintain right now as well as working on building a little muscle and learning to run.

The thing that's different this time: The stakes are so much higher! Because of family history and obesity I have health challenges. When I was younger I thought I was indestructible - I was healthy, so obesity was no problem. Well, it was. And 3 years ago my mom died from liver disease caused by fatty liver (she had also been obese). Her death was slow and sad, with very poor quality of life for a handful of years. I DON'T WANT TO END THAT WAY! There are no guarantees, but I'm going to do the best I can to improve my chances.

I have learned to enjoy and desire foods that are good for my body. I still like junk, but the good foods taste so good that I don't crave it. Between motivation and getting my head in the game, I hope to be able to maintain well.

jackiebertram65

Been there, Done that ! As soon as we quit the discipline for just a week the body goe, s " GREAT we can pack back on the lbs !" It is how our bodies are build. You just have to make it your life time change, new habits and keep at it. I try to get back on track after a few lbs. come back, and not wait until I'm up 10 or 20 again. This is your new life, that's how it will be.

wapan

I know my excuses but I always seem to forget the consequences of falling for them. What works for me is: tracking my calories, drinking water and working out when I feel like it (rather than extreme 1 to 2 hr runs) and weighing myself several times a week. But I go on these long term (like a month or so) holidays from my good sense and good habits to this deluded dreamworld where I become one of those magical naturally skinny people who do not have to track calories. Then I come back to reality - and see a weight gain.

bullieforme

I too have lost weight in the past and put t back on . . .
But this time it's different ! I have made many other changes in my life this time along with the weight loss and more changes are to come soon. The happiness I feel now at achieving my goal is unbelievable ! I will never let myself slip back to what I used to look like !
I can see a future now !

sculli123

It does if you change your entire lifestyle rather than looking for a quick fix.

Makoce

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i_cmltmQ6A
I found this interesting.

HannahLynn91

I plan to stay on top of it, if you just weigh yourself every morning you can see if you start trending up, then nip it in the bud before it goes too far, that is what I plan to do.

This is exactly what I plan on doing.

Timshel_

The problem is that people don't really give up the old lifestyle - they diet. In their head they think the end results of losing weight is a destination and when they reach it they can just start eating again, but that is just not the case.

It is a permanent change or you temporary results.

PrincessEliNa

The first time I tried to lose weight, I was 147lbs and unhappy.
I lost the first 10lbs fast and worked to get to 130.

I was only there for about a week because life got "crazy" I didn't have internet (didn't log, didn't care)
And so I found myself back at 147. Joy.
I'm doing it right, I'm doing it better now, but man, it's harder. I'm currently at 137.

amyn73

Been there done that. I lost about 60 lbs a few years ago. Looked great but felt awful. I lost it too fast byveating too little. This time I'm losing it slowly and trying to gain muscle as I lose. Can't say how successful I am at this point but I'm on the path! I really fear that day when I've lost all I need to and have to maintain it. I know all the advice about how to stay with it...its applying it that will be a challenge! I'm committed...it will be hard but doable.

wozkaa

I lost 60lb a few years ago, was running every 2nd day. I was the fittest I had ever been, and the lightest I had been as an adult.

Then life changed dramatically, and in about 12mths I had put about 20lb back on. Work was too busy and stressful, long commute, husband working away etc etc.
Then I fell pregnant with twins - after having them I was hanging onto about 30lb. Then about a year later I blinked and had put on more weight, and was almost up to my highest weight again.
By December 2013 I had reached about 235lb. (I am 5'9")

BUT. I have never been as prepared and educated about food choices and exercises as I am today. I have never had the tools that are available to me now. So really, this time it should stick.

Until another drastic change hits me... but hopefully I can stay the course