why do 95%of people put weight back on, ugh

For me, it was just not making my health a priority... Now it is.

Usually because they have been too restrictive when "dieting" ie eating 1200 calories, and then expect to be able to eat at maintenance, either that or they get lax with weighing food/counting calories and overeat:flowerforyou:

They don't reverse diet.

I think sometimes people get to their goal weight and "relax" or feel like they've accomplished their goal and can go back to what they were doing before. Other times its stress induced and they revert back to old habits, I've done this several times.

God bless,
Karen

Diet is forever, you just alter it based on your goal. If you reach your goal weight, you diet to maintain instead of lose, that's all. People gain it back because they go back to their old habits, which are what got them needing to lose weight in the first place. New habits are needed, and the lifelong diet changes are what you have to do to form those new habits and stick to them.

Because people tend to think of diet as a verb rather than a noun...they go on a "diet" rather than focusing on changing their diet, bad habits, etc. Also, most people do not educate themselves on what kind of nutrition their body needs to lose and then maintain. They go on a diet...once diet is over, they revert back to their old ways because they've made no effort to actually change lifestyle.

I did because I lost weight in a very unhealthful way. I was eating only an apple sauce and a piece of bread if even that for 2 months. With the influence of medication I gained it back in a matter of months + 20 extra lbs. I stopped exercising abruptly and kept getting big lunches and having big dinners.

bump!

It's a really good question and I've wondered about it a lot. I refuse to believe that those 95% are weakwilled (after all, they were people who had the will to lose the weight in the first place!).

I think one factor (probably not the main one) is that we're always being presented with reaching weight loss goal as a sort of happy ending to the story, without recognising that it's only the beginning of the story! I see so many stories about people who have got to goal weight, and so few stories about people who have maintained goal weight for five years or so. I suppose we've got to understand that getting to "goal" isn't the actual goal, it's staying there. Once we start dieting, we're dieting for life.

Another small factor is that I imagine there aren't the same rewards associated with maintenance. I love seeing the scale numbers improve, my measurements go down, being able to fit into smaller sizes, etc. But at maintenance, there will be none of those rewards even though I'll still be dieting. People might say "Wow, you've lost weight!", but they're unlikely to say "Wow, you've maintained your weight!"

Not everyone puts weight back on. I went from a size 16 to a size 6 when I was 17-18. I'm 33 now and have maintained my weight loss. It was easy to maintain my healthy lifestyle.

I have definitely thought about this. I have heard you have to work on the "mental" side of things as well...why did you become obese in the first place? was it because you were eating your emotions? then a person would need to figure out a way to express feelings without food...as example.

I understand needing to be realistic long term. My plan is once I get down to my goal weight - I plan to maintain that weight within 5 lbs, and my measurements within 2 inches. So if there is a month weigh in - measurements...and i see I'm slipping - its time to start logging again, exercising to work it off, and figure out what was going wrong.

If one loses weight by reducing calories and exercising without paying attention to where the calories come from and how their diet affects their hormones, they are not training/ preparing their bodies to continue burning fat. If you do a Google search for a site called Peertrainer, they provide a lot of good information on the role of hormones and weight loss.

I can only answer as to why every other time I put on all the weight I lost in the past.

1) I saw myself as being "on a diet" - A diet implies it has a start and an end date. A diet is unsustainable. A diet is restrictive and full of "no" foods that you have to avoid (and if you eat them that implies you've cheated on your diet). A diet is something you don't have to worry about once you've reached goal and you can go back to eating normally once the diet it finished. This time around I actually see myself "changing my life and my lifestyle" - the changes I have made are sustainable because they are really no effort at all. They have become my go-to solution. There are no "no" foods on mfp. I can have whatever I want to eat, as long as I can fit it in to my day or I work it off.

2) Exercise used to be done so I could eat more, not to be healthy or fit - When I was doing weight watchers, they always told us we could "cheat" and get 2 more points to eat by doing 30 minutes of exercise. Almost every week we were told we could use those 2 points for the naughty foods we'd been avoiding on our diet (see point 1). Once I gave up on my diet, I gave up on exercise because there was no more point as I was no longer restricting myself. Vicious cycle. This time around, exercise has become a part of my daily activities. I see exercise as keeping me healthy, helping my mental health, stress-relief, time-filler (as opposed to eating to fill time), body sculpting (in terms of strength training) and just damned good fun. If I don't do exercise on any given day, I get antsy, I get fidgety, I get stressed. I am still shocked every day about this change in my relationship to moving my body. I don't see exercise as a way to eat more food, I eat food to fuel my exercise now.

3) Pre-packaged/pre-prepared food does not teach you how to eat healthily - Things like Lite n Easy, Lean Cuisine, Weight Watchers frozen meals, etc...anything that delivers the exact quantities they say you need to eat and you don't have to actually choose anything or cook anything...that doesn't teach you how to eat healthily after you stop buying their food because you've never had to choose the size of your bread roll, the amount of pasta, the weight of your protein, the amount of sauce, etc. You've only ever been told "eat this and you will lose weight". You've learned nothing. The exact same thing goes for shake diets or meal replacement diets.

4) Magic formulas don't teach you about nutrition - Weight watchers points, SureSlim's no carbs, protein:vegetables ratios, shakes, VLCD, etc - they don't teach you about the food you're putting in your mouth - WW has some magic formula that works out your food - you can't tell by just looking at the packet how good or bad it is for you - you need to use their points book, or their points calculator...basically you never really know what's going in your mouth without them. SureSlim - You're not allowed to eat carbs at all (why not? Why am I allowed to eat THESE carbs, but not THOSE carbs? Why am I allowed to eat THESE vegetables, but not THOSE vegetables - oh...that's right...because it's not on your highly restrictive allowable foods list - and there is practically NOTHING on those lists - and why am I not allowed to eat outside of every 5 hours?). Add to it WW's "free foods" lists...it doesn't make any sense because food is food...it's still going in your mouth...it's still going to have an impact on your body. MFP and calorie counting is easy and highly accessible. I understand calories in vs calories out. The information is readily found on every packet or easily found out (in the case of fresh fruit and veg). There is nothing hidden. It's all out there in the open. It totally makes sense.

These are the things that come to my mind. This is the first time that I've maintained losing weight for so long (nearly 12 months) - all the other times I've tried I've lasted a couple of months or even just a couple of weeks before I couldn't stick it out any longer. I don't feel restricted. I eat what I want when I want it. I now understand what food does to my body - I understand that sodium can cause a temporary blip on the scales (When I was on WW - NONE of this was explained to me. I have a very vivid memory of being called out by the leader for putting ON weight that week, despite following their points plan exactly). I understand that eating too little is bad for me in the long run. I understand that food = fuel, and not a means to satisfy my urges. I feel in control of my life for the first time. I have support for the first time. I understand caloric deficits and the amount I have to eat to maintain (and the amount I have to eat to gain) for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE. With everything that I have learned on MFP, there is no way I can put weight on. I have completely changed my life.

Eat more calories than you burn, gain weight. Seems simple enough unless I am missing something.

I gained again after losing because I stopped working out, and I started eating more / unhealthy