Odds of Regaining Weight

Don't know about the fat cell thing, but I do know there's a 95% failure rate with long term weight loss success (keeping off the weight you lost for more than 5 years). Very grim number!

Don't know about the fat cell thing, but I do know there's a 95% failure rate with long term weight loss success (keeping off the weight you lost for more than 5 years). Very grim number!

Hey!! Yeah, I've seen MANY people yoyo diet...but that's the PROBLEM; they're DIETING!!! I am not dieting. I've never been successful dieting. It is my hope that I will continue my new lifestyle to maintain once I'm at goal weight.

Thanks for your insight!

A great book to read is Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata. She looks into the history of the dieting industry, as well as many studies that have been done/are ongoing about obesity, dieting, weight loss, and long term success. Very eye opening, and a bit depressing lol. It's not a dieting book and she doesn't push a way of eating-just lots of great info on diets, weight loss, and the reality of maintenance.

Maybe I'm too optimistic but part of this is learning who you are and what works for you as well. I would hope that this part of the journey will make maintenance a little easier once you get there. You said you're not dieting, I believe there is a psychological mindset that "dieting" causes which in the end sets people up to subconsciously tell themselves they are going to fail.

I have to constantly remind my mom that I am not dieting, I am simply changing the way I look at food and I am taking control of food rather than letting it control me. For example, my mom will always ask me what I am 'allowed' to eat - the dieting mindset. I will tell her anything I want and I just want healthy foods like fruits and vegetables now instead of cookies and processed foods. My mom has never succeeded in losing weight and certainly not for lack of trying but I think because deep down she's always been telling herself she is going to fail and she ends up failing.

I thought the object of this exercise is to change our relationship with food and being comfortable in our skins. To eat what we need and not what we think we want.. Many of us with 100 or more lbs to loose will know ourselves better and should have learned to ways to stop being at the wrong end of any temporary tempting fancy. I am looking at a very long stretch may be Easter 2014 or beyond.

I will probably fluctuate but go back to the lifestyle I had. No chance.

all the best everyone

Maybe I'm too optimistic but part of this is learning who you are and what works for you as well. I would hope that this part of the journey will make maintenance a little easier once you get there. You said you're not dieting, I believe there is a psychological mindset that "dieting" causes which in the end sets people up to subconsciously tell themselves they are going to fail.

I have to constantly remind my mom that I am not dieting, I am simply changing the way I look at food and I am taking control of food rather than letting it control me. For example, my mom will always ask me what I am 'allowed' to eat - the dieting mindset. I will tell her anything I want and I just want healthy foods like fruits and vegetables now instead of cookies and processed foods. My mom has never succeeded in losing weight and certainly not for lack of trying but I think because deep down she's always been telling herself she is going to fail and she ends up failing.

OMG, my mother keeps asking me the same thing! "What can you eat?" "What are you allowed to eat?" My answer every single time has been "anything I want!" I'm just learning the eat smaller portions and after eating better for a while, I've gotten to the point where I don't crave sweets or fatty foods much anymore! If I do, I go ahead and eat them - but I usually only need a couple of bites before I'm over it and I don't usually finish those foods.

I agree that changing your relationship with food AND with yourself is imperative for long-term weight loss. It ISN'T a diet I'm on - I'm not doing any of those fad diets, not taking any pills, no special supplements, I'm not counting points. I AM currently logging every single bite I eat, but I consider it a way of teaching myself about nutrition and serving sizes, and it keeps me accountable. When I do go over my goal calories, I don't stress about it - I just try to make sure I don't do it every day. What I am eating, and the way I am going about it is something that I fully expect to be able to keep up for the rest of my life, especially because in addition to eating differently I've also gotten active and work out in some way almost every day. It's become a habit - a GOOD one - that I look forward to each day!

Anyway, I HAVE lost weight before, and I put it all back on very easily. But that was years ago, and I'm doing it in a much more natural fashion this time. So I am VERY confident in my ability to keep it off!