Why did/didn't you regain weight?

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Most of the changes in my weight have been really gradual. When I was fresh out of college I started to gain 2 pounds a year. I was mainly just lazy-- my job was taking up all of my attention and I didn't pay attention to what I was eating. Then I got divorced and lost some due to depression. Then I met my husband and we gained weight together because we were always cooking big meals or going out to eat, and we were so wrapped up in being happy together that we didn't notice. We both started losing weight when he decided to join the Navy. I lost 10 lbs on my own and then joined MFP. After I lost about 25 lbs I went to maintenance but I stopped logging. I didn't gain back a lot but I crept up about 5 lbs. As soon as I realized it I came back here and decided to lose a little more this time because we're about to try for a baby and I want to be on the low end of healthy for that.

It seems to me that weight creeps up on me when I stop being diligent about logging.

Kitkat1993x

I had to regain weight. I was in hospital being tube fed at 85lbs and very very sick from not eating for a month.

I suffer and have suffered since I was 13 years old from Anorexia Nervosa.
I was made to regain weight in a weight restoration programme in hospital and then as an outpatient.
I have gained almost 2 stone to my name and I have never felt more unhappy.
I've attempted suicide 7 times in 2 years and I'm just sick of the way my body is, I hate myself.

I am trying to lose weight again and it's not working cause my body's a lot more used to food and wants it.
URGH.

I'm trying to lose again. I could use some advice. x

EnchantedEvening

All of my gains over the past few months can be attributed to TOM water retention (average of 5-7 pounds) or eating Chinese food the day before (2-3 pounds of water weight). I have yet to return to my old eating habits; nor do I want to. I had one of my old favorite meals a few weeks ago, and I felt so sick and bloated and awful that I vowed never again. I can't believe I used to eat like that every day.

Once I get to maintenance, I'm going to keep weighing myself every day to ensure I don't slip up and start going up again. I want to be sure I nip that in the bud before it escalates to 20, 30, 40 pounds gained. I've already started by getting rid of clothes as soon as they're too big for me. My thought is that if my jeans are getting too tight, I need to check my diary instead of just shrugging and putting on a bigger pair.

I really don't want to be one of those statistics.

To add to what I said earlier, I have lost weight in the past. My highest loss was 60 pounds. I would always gain again when something would trigger a deep depression, which always ended up with me hiding in my room with Netflix and food.

Luckily, I've learned to deal with the triggers and my response, thanks to behavior modification. It still takes work sometimes, but I think about how horribly sad I've been being overweight for so many years, and it's enough to make me put on my walking shoes instead of going to the store for some ice cream. I turned the obesity into its own trigger, and I want to get as far away from it as possible. I'm already scared to death to eat at maintenance, even though it's a couple years away, but now that the doctor has my metabolic issues figured out, I already feel 500% better, so I'm optimistic.

kellis155

My answer is kind of two fold. I am only 5'1... so really, I should be eating a pretty low calorie diet. I don't eat horrifically, but ultimately, I eat TOO MUCH food. I've gained and lost about 5 times now (since I was 20 until now)... and I think I've always gained the weight because I stopped counting calories and exercising. One day of not logging or working out, turns into a week, which turns into... well, you know!

Plus, I have the uphill battle of genetics full of obesity behind me, so losing (or maintaining) is incredibly hard for me. It get tiresome.... I have fallen off the wagon.

I think something has finally clicked this time. I'm not trying to lose weight for the wrong reasons, and I am not obsessive about it as I have been in the past. I am (or should be) a small person, and I just can't keep up food-wise with everyone else.

LorinaLynn

In one instance, I gained because after almost two years of bad jaw problems and not being ABLE to eat, I was so happy when I could chew and bite normally again that I didn't give a damn if I gained. And for a while, that was just fine.

A few years later when my weight crept up a little more than I liked, I foolishly cut calories too much and while I reached my goal weight, I wasn't happy with my body and thought, "This is NOT worth it." So I quit and gained. And once again, for a while, that was fine, until my parents both died and I lost my job and depression took over so I gained more.

This time, I'm 100% certain that I'll keep it off because exercise has become a habit, and with the eating habits I developed on here, maintaining is effortless. Even weight loss was fairly effortless so if by chance I do plump up a little, I have no doubt that I'd be able to take it off again.

zaph0d

I changed my lifestyle. The change was permanent.

Sarauk2sf

I was relatively slim until I moved to the States - change in diet and less activity meant I put on weight. I lost it by eating a bit less and by exercising (strength training). I kept the weight off for years - did not diet and basically ate what I wanted but I was much more active and I continued strength training. I put the weight back on after becoming very ill. I may have to pay a bit more attention to what I eat from now on as I am less active and a bit older but I expect to be able to maintain the way I did before.

CoderGal

It's something that I've been thinking about over the last week even though I've never regained any weight, probably because I haven't even finished losing it yet. I read a lot of posts about people who have lost weight, put it back on, and are now losing it again. But none of them ever explained why.

So naturally I did a little research and found so many conflicting answers. Some sources saying that 80-90% of people who lose weight will put all of it back on and then some more. So my question to you is, did you put on weight after you finished losing? If so, was it because you just gave in to your old lifestyle or because of your metabolism?

I've been maintaining for over 7 months now. No weight gain.

I don't think you're going to get the most accurate answers from asking the last question. Many people blame things on their metabolism when they shouldn't. I know of several examples personally.

apocalypsepwnie

I lost 15-20kg 33-44lbs a few times in my early 20s. All by idiot methods.
Atkins, cabbage soup diet, lemon and cayenne pepper diet... ya know all the culprits.

I regained it because I wasn't taught anything about diet and maintenance. Actually I didn't know there was such a thing until recently. I didn't exercise and hadn't ever committed to anything.

When I left my x husband I lost around 25-30kg 55-66lbs (I wasn't sure of my exact weight) just by not eating so much as I did when I was with him. I was also much more active but I wasn't exercising. Just getting out in the city and such.

I started gaining a bit of that back in the last year even though I've had been doing roller derby for over a year. I am on a decent wage and work right near lots of cafe's so I was buying my lunch more often than not. Also going out for dinner a fair bit.

Now I've realised where I was at input and output wise I was eating just over maintenance and slowly gaining again. My food and diet knowledge is much better now and I have a much better relationship with food.

Those statistics would be skewed by people who are using all the 'get thin quick' methods such as shakes, appetite supressants and meal plans that are not marketed as something you have to maintain and do not teach you anything about losing weight, your diet, your body or keeping it off. I'm not 100% that starvation comes into it unless you are on these plans for a long time without medical guidance. The companies that market them count on people regaining so they can keep making money. They are marketed at losing weight for events and summer time. Short term answers.

As we all know you have to change your lifestyle to lose and keep it off forever.

RoadsterGirlie

So the moral of the story is the folks that gained it back went back to old habits, correct? This seems to be the case in 100% of these threads. I don't see anybody here adhering to their current program and the weight coming back without an explanation.

I lost 90 lbs, have maintained it for almost a year. No way in bloody hell am I ever going back to the way I was before.

geekyjock76

I had to regain weight. I was in hospital being tube fed at 85lbs and very very sick from not eating for a month.

I suffer and have suffered since I was 13 years old from Anorexia Nervosa.
I was made to regain weight in a weight restoration programme in hospital and then as an outpatient.
I have gained almost 2 stone to my name and I have never felt more unhappy.
I've attempted suicide 7 times in 2 years and I'm just sick of the way my body is, I hate myself.

I am trying to lose weight again and it's not working cause my body's a lot more used to food and wants it.
URGH.

I'm trying to lose again. I could use some advice. x

No offense, but if you still have all those perceptions about yourself, and still wish to lose weight despite how you look in your photo, you may need to get additional help. It seems you could have BDD.

lollyish

I started with a weight loss of 13 kilos from 98kgs to 85kgs. I regained 7kgs (back to 92kgs) because I had been using duramine to lose weight. I had no concept of what I actually needed to eat or exercise to maintain and lose more because the drug did it for me. I stopped using duramine. And did everything naturally clean eating and training hard. I am now down to 82kilos and can safely say I will not regain.

sskitka

Mine is definately that I am a stress eater and I allow my stress to get out of control and I will eat to console... Then end up back in my mindless eating habits that pack on the pounds.. And I have NEVER reached my goal yet and I have had this goal since 10th grade that's like 12 years now.... I need some help I think.

geekyjock76

The most common reason is they did not permanently replace any of their old behaviors with healthier ones: stopped maintaining any kind of food journal, went back to eating bigger portions or larger ratios of unhealthy foods, never exercised during or after goal was met, etc. Additionally, it could be from dropping too much weight too quickly and the body wanting to regain most of it back - this has much to do with one's initial body composition and reduction in thermogenesis (to replenish fat stores). This disproportionate gain in fat relative to lean body mass during weight recovery is true for individuals who were either severely malnourished or experienced a relapse in obesity.

bcattoes

I had to regain weight. I was in hospital being tube fed at 85lbs and very very sick from not eating for a month.

I suffer and have suffered since I was 13 years old from Anorexia Nervosa.
I was made to regain weight in a weight restoration programme in hospital and then as an outpatient.
I have gained almost 2 stone to my name and I have never felt more unhappy.
I've attempted suicide 7 times in 2 years and I'm just sick of the way my body is, I hate myself.

I am trying to lose weight again and it's not working cause my body's a lot more used to food and wants it.
URGH.

I'm trying to lose again. I could use some advice. x

I really don't know what advice to give, except to say that over time you will realize that there is no such thing as a perfect body. Because when it comes to bodies, "perfect" is just an opinion. No matter how good you look or think you look, there will always be someone that thinks someone else looks better.

My advice would be to seek help from a qualified professional that can help you see that your self worth should not be tied to what your body looks like. Your body wants food because your body needs food to function properly. Don't kill your body because it doesn't look they way you want. Love it because it functions the way you need.

thistimevictory

I just went back to my old ways and stopped doing yoga. I had lost 9 kgs ( 20 lbs) just by watching what I eat and yoga. But I didn't keep up with that. And now I am so mad at myself

martintanz

I lost 55 to 60 lbs in '04 into early '05. (not sure exactly as I started losing weight before weighing in last time, but I was in the high 260s 2 weeks in, so I think I was somewhere around 270) Got down at one point as low as around 210 which, while not the lowest I have been, was lower than I had been since the early 90s. Mostly kept it off for about 4 years before slowly regaining all the weight plus another 15 lbs over a period of about 3 years.

So what happened?
Injuries - had a series of nagging injuries over a period of about a year, first a shoulder problem (no weights for months, and even cut back on cardio), then an ankle (no cardio for a few weeks until it healed), and a bout of gout (was doing some good bike riding that season, and gout pretty much killed that as my foot hurt too much to ride for weeks) that sapped my motivation. No one of these should have killed my motivation, but after that year with the interruptions to my routine, I was much less fit in 2010 than I had been in late 2008.
Because of changes in my work situation in '09 (the same year I had the shoulder injury), got out of some of my healthy routines, like daily lunch hour work outs. With the benefit of hindsight, I should have focused more on keeping up with my lunchtime routines, rather than holing up at home or in my new office on the computer day after day.
Slowly started to eat foods I had previously given up, like fast food and other takeout food for lunch, and dessert after dinner every night, and gave up on some foods that had kept me disciplined, like protein shakes and vegetables.
Got out of the habit of the daily weigh in. That kept me pretty focused for a long time. If I over indulged at lunch, dinner, or vacation, the weigh in forced me to cut back a little until the weight came off. Going months or years without weighing in kept me in denial about how much weight I was putting on.

RepsnSets

I lost 55 to 60 lbs in '04 into early '05. (not sure exactly as I started losing weight before weighing in last time, but I was in the high 260s 2 weeks in, so I think I was somewhere around 270) Got down at one point as low as around 210 which, while not the lowest I have been, was lower than I had been since the early 90s. Mostly kept it off for about 4 years before slowly regaining all the weight plus another 15 lbs over a period of about 3 years.

So what happened?
Injuries - had a series of nagging injuries over a period of about a year, first a shoulder problem (no weights for months, and even cut back on cardio), then an ankle (no cardio for a few weeks until it healed), and a bout of gout (was doing some good bike riding that season, and gout pretty much killed that as my foot hurt too much to ride for weeks) that sapped my motivation. No one of these should have killed my motivation, but after that year with the interruptions to my routine, I was much less fit in 2010 than I had been in late 2008.
Because of changes in my work situation in '09 (the same year I had the shoulder injury), got out of some of my healthy routines, like daily lunch hour work outs. With the benefit of hindsight, I should have focused more on keeping up with my lunchtime routines, rather than holing up at home or in my new office on the computer day after day.
Slowly started to eat foods I had previously given up, like fast food and other takeout food for lunch, and dessert after dinner every night, and gave up on some foods that had kept me disciplined, like protein shakes and vegetables.
Got out of the habit of the daily weigh in. That kept me pretty focused for a long time. If I over indulged at lunch, dinner, or vacation, the weigh in forced me to cut back a little until the weight came off. Going months or years without weighing in kept me in denial about how much weight I was putting on.

Can fully relate to the injury side of things. I loved doing what I was doing with weight lifting and my gains! Then I hurt my knee and then my shoulder and watched the weight pile back on (I posted earlier)

Im back to try this again! I know we can do it cause we have done it before eh! Best of luck to you

etoiles_argentees

I don't know, I lose and gain the same 5 to 7 pounds every few months. I gain it when I'm less active. When my pants get tight I watch my carbs for a week or two and it goes away.

Rosa1213

I lost about 35 lbs, and put on 3 or 4 of them back on recently, simply due to eating too much.
I used to eat larger portions before I began using MFP, and in times of stress (like when every single one of my classes has a test in the span of 2 days) I care too much about studying to log my food accurately, and just eat whatever.
However, tomorrow is my anatomy lab exam, and for the first time in forever, I have no exams for an entire week! Today I stayed within my calorie goal, and I can tell this is the beginning of me getting back on track. I'm still looking to lose another 20 lbs or so, and I know I can do it!

ksmiley412

I lost 35-40 pounds when I separated from my ex although I was exercising I was not taking care of my self. I was smoking a pack a day drinking a lot for a few years. I slowed down my drinking turned 40 quit smoking and put almost 30 pounds on. So now it is time to lose this weight again and do it the healthy way so it becomes my new life style not a phase.

suzie308

I've gained and lost and gained and lost more than I care to think about. In 1990 I had lost 90 lbs with the Weight Watchers program. I was 20 lbs from my goal weight. My then husband went on disability. He was unable to work. I had to take on a second job and was unable to continue paying the $10 a week dues. I quit going to WW and started gaining the weight back. I figure it was depression. I didn't get sad I just got fat again. My now ex never thought his 24 hours allowed him to work a second job. Getting a divorce was the best thing I did. Then in 2009 I moved to Arkansas in with my sister and brother-in-law. I was 272 lbs. We got a WII and in 2010 we started the South Beach diet. I've lost 35 lbs and now 10 lbs using MFP so I think I can make it and this time keep it off.

martintanz

I lost 55 to 60 lbs in '04 into early '05. (not sure exactly as I started losing weight before weighing in last time, but I was in the high 260s 2 weeks in, so I think I was somewhere around 270) Got down at one point as low as around 210 which, while not the lowest I have been, was lower than I had been since the early 90s. Mostly kept it off for about 4 years before slowly regaining all the weight plus another 15 lbs over a period of about 3 years.

So what happened?
Injuries - had a series of nagging injuries over a period of about a year, first a shoulder problem (no weights for months, and even cut back on cardio), then an ankle (no cardio for a few weeks until it healed), and a bout of gout (was doing some good bike riding that season, and gout pretty much killed that as my foot hurt too much to ride for weeks) that sapped my motivation. No one of these should have killed my motivation, but after that year with the interruptions to my routine, I was much less fit in 2010 than I had been in late 2008.
Because of changes in my work situation in '09 (the same year I had the shoulder injury), got out of some of my healthy routines, like daily lunch hour work outs. With the benefit of hindsight, I should have focused more on keeping up with my lunchtime routines, rather than holing up at home or in my new office on the computer day after day.
Slowly started to eat foods I had previously given up, like fast food and other takeout food for lunch, and dessert after dinner every night, and gave up on some foods that had kept me disciplined, like protein shakes and vegetables.
Got out of the habit of the daily weigh in. That kept me pretty focused for a long time. If I over indulged at lunch, dinner, or vacation, the weigh in forced me to cut back a little until the weight came off. Going months or years without weighing in kept me in denial about how much weight I was putting on.

Can fully relate to the injury side of things. I loved doing what I was doing with weight lifting and my gains! Then I hurt my knee and then my shoulder and watched the weight pile back on (I posted earlier)

Im back to try this again! I know we can do it cause we have done it before eh! Best of luck to you

And best of luck to you as well.

The first injury happened in an exercise class, where I pushed too hard and partially tore a rotator cuff. I didn't need surgery, as it apparently healed eventually, though it took a long time. The second injury happened while, of all things, playing basketball with my young son. Sprained my ankle and absolutely saw stars. Don't know what triggered the gout. Apparently, my uric acid level is too high, so it could happen again.

You are right, though. Having done it before does help my confidence that I can do it again. Exercise consistently and the body will eventually respond in good ways, though maybe not as quickly as it might have at a younger age.

divacat80

I was put on a diet two times before this last time in my life. Those first two times I was put on a very strict diet that didn't focus on making me learn new habits. It was very restrictive, I felt hungry all the time and wasn't exercising enough (compared to what a normal person should exercise per day). So I lost a lot of weight both times, and went from being overweight to being on the low end of a normal weight range.
So what happened? I did or didn't finish dieting (it doesn't matter at this point) and it was only a matter of time until I went back to my old habits. I had a true addiction to junk food that wasn't treated, and of course I fell of the healthy lifestyle wagon. I put on all the weight I lost plus 30 extra pounds each time.

The only way to not to regain all the weight you lose is to eat what you'll be eating for life, including a couple of cheat days when you can treat yourself (which doesn't mean overeating or binge eating). And of course stick to an exercise plan for life.

It's the only way, really!

Now I lost a lot of weight this one last time, I'm near my goal and I can't see how I can put all the weight back on, because I'm eating what I'll have to eat for life. The only thing that worries me is the exercise part, since I will have to leave the gym soon because I can't afford the membership anymore. But I feel exercising has become a habit that helps me feel so well that I'll stick to exercising outdoors easily.

ctalimenti

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