People who lost weight and then gained it back

dentedearmuffs1

Hello, I'm on week six of the first weight loss journey that I've actually ever taken seriously aside from all the yo-yo and fad dieting that have been unsuccessful. So this is the first time I can actually say I've lost weight in a healthy and real manner (12 pounds down, 40 to go). This is the longest I've ever stuck with this lifestyle change and also the most I've ever lost and so I'm starting to really understand how difficult and long of a process this can be.

So my question for the people who got down to their goal weights or lost a significant amount but gained some or most of it back is - why did that happen? I'm asking just because I want to be mentally prepared the closer I get because going through this process now makes me want to never have to start at having to lose 50+ pounds again.

Thanks!

michellekicks

I lost about 60 lbs in 2002/03 and maintained until I got pregnant the first time in 2005. I put on 70 lbs with that pregnancy and only took off about 35 after. I then had another baby and only gained 26 lbs the second time and then got down to 25 lbs or so over my goal weight and maintained there for a while. Got remarried last year and put on 10 lbs leaving me with the same 35 I should have just not gained in the first place with my first pregnancy lol.

I was maintaining normally for 2 years though, there's no real reason to believe I would have fluctuated more than about 7-10lbs from my goal weight if it weren't for the pregnancies.

Learning to maintain your weight should be given just as much attention as learning to lose. Just my opinion.

D446

Congrats! You are doing an awesome job so far. This has happened to me in the past, there are a few reasons. One would be that I may have been on a diet that was too restrictive, which I then lost control. The second reason would be lifestyle changes, going from working in a bar, drinking/partying and not eating all that much, to sitting on my butt all day in an office and eating too much crap. The third would be, just generally 'letting myself go'. Basically making bad eating habits knowingly, but not really worrying about it. Not really noticing the weight coming back on, and then BOOM your fat again!

Basically, you need to change your lifestyle. And it needs to be sustainable. It's always going to be calories in vs calories out, so you just need to make sure you are sensible with your eating habits.

farahsaleem

make your workout and eating as part of your lifestyle.. then you wont gain it all back. but if u leave it all after reaching your goal weight then you wont be able to keep it off

ninerbuff

IMO, and from client confessions, the reason people gain back weight is because whatever system they were doing to lose weight, isn't going to be a lifestyle that they can live with. If certain foods that they enjoyed were restricted or they had to abstain from them, then the chances of indulging in them once they meet their goal is pretty high. Diets are temporary in the majority of cases.
This is why I don't encourage any kind of dieting for clients. I encourage calorie control and making sure that they ensure that they meet their daily macros and micros. These clients don't have issues with weight regain.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Emili03

1 of my probs in the past was completing depriving myself of my fave foods, then when I "quit dieting" I just went crazy eating everything...moderation is key. When I reach my goal this time, I plan to continue logging to make sure that I am not eating above my maintenance cals. I also allow myself to have treats and then make myself do an extra workout to burn off some of the extra calories I consume.

olivetree_

I think I lost 21 lbs in total in May 2011, when my cousins and aunt from Hong Kong and Hawaii came to visit for another aunt's wedding and I stopped watching what I ate. And then another aunt came so I ate like **** with her around, too. And then my grandparents came, and well... you know. But I maintained, floating around 21-24 lbs lost.... until like last month when I think I gained 10 of it back. And now I'm only at 15 lbs lost... It's so sad. But I've been eating like crap lately with such a crap diet. It just sucks because I maintained for a year and just started gaining it back and seriously struggling to start losing again! ugh.

Just keep up with your diet and don't let people around you influence how you eat. Because that's honestly what set me off track and I have a strong feeling that if they hadn't come over or if I had still stuck to my diet even with them here, I'd be at or a lot closer to my goal weight.

SalishSea

This is such a great question. I am with you on the fear of gaining the weight back. This is also the FIRST time I have ever lost weight. And I've lost 38 pounds! I need to lose 12 more pounds to be at my goal weight. Then comes the REAL hard work of maintenance.

I am so scared of my risk of losing focus. I may let my will, focus, persistence, determination, planning, and everything just slip away. I could be my old double-chinned, sluggish girl again. I do not want that to happen.

Weight loss is easy in comparison to weight maintenance. The key must be to never let up on your white-knuckled grip on fitness, slenderness and good eating. Ever. For life.

bradphil87

IMO, and from client confessions, the reason people gain back weight is because whatever system they were doing to lose weight, isn't going to be a lifestyle that they can live with. If certain foods that they enjoyed were restricted or they had to abstain from them, then the chances of indulging in them once they meet their goal is pretty high. Diets are temporary in the majority of cases.
This is why I don't encourage any kind of dieting for clients. I encourage calorie control and making sure that they ensure that they meet their daily macros and micros. These clients don't have issues with weight regain.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Sounds like a good plan. When you finally reach goal and increase your cals to maintain, will you gain some back or will you stay at that weight more or less? (assuming you stay in your cal goal for maintain)

Mollyirl

In 2006 I started crash dieting and whereas I lost about 50 pounds, I put it all back on plus interest when I resumed eating normally. Now I'm incorporating exercise and tons of fresh fruits and veggies as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Cait_Sidhe

I've gained back 15 lb out of 42 lb lost. What happened? I quit smoking. I'm not really sure why that caused me to plateau, but it did. I was trying so hard at the time not to let it affect my weightloss, but it did. I became ravenous and my body mistook nicotine cravings for hunger. The hunger was insatiable. But honestly, I really didn't give in to it enough to have caused the plateau. I ended up gaining back 5 lb. and I stayed there for months and months

Then I sprained my ankle and then had to have surgery on my jaw with 3 extractions (all molars). That's when I gained back the other 10 lb. I just sort of gave up for awhile. I got completely and totally derailed.

Still trying to deal with a little binge problem I developed after I quit smoking. Trying to get back on track. I've done the research, I know what I'm doing now. But it's still really discouraging. I don't weigh myself very much anymore.

saraht131

I crash dieted a few years ago. I did everything you are not supposed to do and I lost 100lbs. I was underweight, bones sticking out and very very unhealthy. I put on another 20lbs through being healthy and active that was cool for a year or two.

Then I put on another 100lbs when I lost my job and got depressed and did nothing but eat rubbish. I was kinda too scared to diet because I didn't want to be unhealthy again - thing is, I ended up being just as unhealthy in the other direction! I was in denial.

Now that I'm trying to be active and lose the weight again, but the right way this time. I ran for 10 minutes during a cardio workout and got a couple of stress fractures. I've had stress fractures in my ankle, foot and shins. I probably have rubbish bones due to the year of starving myself, eating less than 1000 cals a day and purging.

The lesson here is, don't crash diet EVER. You'll regret it in years to come, if you don't put on weight stupidly easily, you'll do other health damage to your bones or your heart or whatever, which will make it hard to lose all the weight AGAIN that you put on with interest when you eat normally, or badly again.

Brinasacat

Wrecked my knee, had surgery, slow year long recovery and still ate like I was exercising regularly.

ClarkeEJ

I always viewed dieting as a chore in the past and have yo-yo'ed for years. Lost lots then put it all back on. This time I am enjoying it and MFP has become part of my everyday life. I am constantly on it throughout the day and two family members are also using and benefitting from it.

Aperture_Science

Congrats! You are doing an awesome job so far. This has happened to me in the past, there are a few reasons. One would be that I may have been on a diet that was too restrictive, which I then lost control. The second reason would be lifestyle changes, going from working in a bar, drinking/partying and not eating all that much, to sitting on my butt all day in an office and eating too much crap. The third would be, just generally 'letting myself go'. Basically making bad eating habits knowingly, but not really worrying about it. Not really noticing the weight coming back on, and then BOOM your fat again!

Basically, you need to change your lifestyle. And it needs to be sustainable. It's always going to be calories in vs calories out, so you just need to make sure you are sensible with your eating habits.

^^this

plus: I'm an all or nothing type guy. So I have to be careful if injured because this can mean that when I can't exercise I am likely to add crappy eating to the list of problems. This behaviour also means that if I have a poor quality lunch I am much more likely to say "to hell with it" and have a poor quality dinner.

BrownEyedDiva

Bump

Nicolee_2014

1 reason was because I moved in with my partner & we became complacent - then I got a Mon-Fri 9 to 5 job which wasn't my norm (I'm a shift worker, didn't realise how much freedom it gave me) & then all in this time I got some life changing news & that was the straw that broke the camels back. I gained approx 25kgs - then I fell pregnant.

It can be hard - life gets in the way - still it's just excuses that I've made.

k2charmed4u

Hi

I lost 56lbs in 2010 and was really proud that i'd come so far it was my first proper dieting I never had the motivation before then but i moved out of my parents that year and got my own place. I could control the food in the house and what I cooked it was brilliant!
I stopped losing weight in Jan 2011 when I first started to date my now husband. I stopped focusing on weight loss and spent all my time enjoying myself with my husband i.e. romantic meals, going places like cinema, bowling etc not really excerise things. I put 48lbs back on over 16 months and have started dieting and losing again this week. Lost 3lbs this week :happy:

My husband was diagnosed with COPD last week (just 8 weeks after getting married) and it's made us realise life is too short and we need to make a change so we can have as much time together as possible. He is 34 years older than me so 60 years of healthy bodies for a long happy marriage isn't possible lol. So we're taking the COPD diagnosis as a kick in the butt. His illness motivates both of us to diet and lose weight and I motivate him by nagging about his chocolate addiction, haha! :laugh:

chevy88grl

Learning to maintain your weight should be given just as much attention as learning to lose. Just my opinion.

I totally agree with this. Part of a weight loss journey is learning to maintain at the end. Achieving your goal weight is awesome, but you have to figure out what to do from there. It is a HUGE part of weight loss and I see so many people so focused on losing that they hit their goal weight and don't know how to keep going.

harebearva

As everyone eludes to, it's more changing your eating on the whole and making it a permanent change not a diet. IMO cheat meals are your buffer to the way you used to eat. you really can eat just about anything you want for these cheat meals as long as you watch amounts. A long time ago I dieted and lost about 60 and gain it back through lack of nutrition education. now I've lost 100 pounds and kept it off for almost 2 years and I can now say without a doubt, I'll never be big again because I eat healthy in proper amounts and I like eating this way. No magic, it really is about how much you eat. discipline is one of successes greatest allies. Good luck, You're doing great!

clareeast

Although I have only ever had a modest amount to lose (20 - 30 lbs), I have lost it, regained (most of) it, and am now losing it again.

Why did I gain the weight back? My old fitness instructor moved to pastures new, so I didn't have that friendly "kick in the tail" to persuade me to exercise, and I got complacent about what I was eating. Add this to a reasonable sized dose of stress, anxiety and depression, and I don't think it's surprising that my diet was full of rubbish.

This time I am determined that I will be leaner and stronger, that I will get to like exercise and that I will sow the seeds for a way of life. I am not "on a diet" - I am pursuing a healthy lifestyle. I already feel better for it!