Anybody LOST a lot of weight then GAINED it all back?

I lost 30 lbs and then got pregnant. Husband moved to Korea. Sad and sleep deprived I gave it no thought to continue working out. Now I am at my lowest adult weight and I hope to never have to get back to this point again.

I love food and love to eat. So I've struggled with managing my weight for my entire adult life.

In 2006 I had ballooned up to 220 lbs (I was in an abusive marriage and was coping with wine and cheese). My ex-H had also gotten huge, so we did the Bernstein diet together. I lost 70 lbs in 5 months and was down to 150 lbs. And I HATED my body. I had no boobs and no butt, and the staff were pressuring me to continue losing another 5-10 lbs. So, I just stopped the diet cold and went back to how I'd been eating and drinking before.

I gained 10 lbs back within a few months, and another 10 within another few months. I was pretty stable around 170 for a couple of years, and then the weight started creeping back on.

In 2009 I started a new relationship, and all we did was cook, eat and drink together. Weight started creeping back on. And then in 2012, I had a crazy rough year at work and found myself up to 240 lbs. Last Jan 1st, I made a resolution to change my lifestyle rather than "diet". I started eating less, and lighter, and increased my exercise to daily. Since then, I've lost 70 lbs and have another 10-15 to go. My resolution this year, is to keep up the good work I've done so far.

This time, the weight loss will stick, as I have changed my patterns and habits. I have already decided that I will keep logging and counting until I get the hang of maintaining my weight. But after then? Hard to say. I'll probably try to go off the logging and see what happens, and if I start gaining, then I'll know I need to keep logging.

For me, this has been the most therapeutic post this website has posted in my years of being an on again off again member, thank you, op.

I have been on this journey many years but finally at the end of 2010, I made a decision. I lost almost 100lbs by summer of 2011. I was riding high with having new experiences, like skiing, and decided I wanted a change for the rest of my life. In 2011, started dating my gf and we went on hiking and outdoor adventures, ran my first half marathon, and I decided to quit my job, of 3 years, to go back to school. I enrolled full time in a college 1.5 hrs from my house, started working as a private nanny FULL TIME for 3 children of various ages, and my own daughter. I maintained a 3.8-4.0 gpa for the fall, went to school 6 days a week, worked as a nanny from 6:30a-9:30p (breakfast/dinner/snacks/running the baby to daycare/getting off the bus/homework/cooking dinner/cleaning/assisting with other errands, etc) then I would come home, put my daughter to bed, do my homework until about 1-2a. Fall asleep, wake up at 5 to start again. It was a 3 hr round trip commute to school and I often found myself falling asleep driving etc. At any rate, working with allll the stress I dealt with was having a toll on me and I slowly, at first, started gaining weight. To compensate for sleep deprevation, I would eat 1 donut starting on my trip, one half way to school, one right before class, and 3 on the way back as well...and a coffee to accompany. The lady I worked for had tons of snacks and I started snacking as well. I was too tired to get up to do my 5:30a workouts. The sunday after the spring semester concluded, I layed on my couch, 2012, mothers day and took a nap. 4 1/2 hrs later I woke up and was stuck. I couldn't move, I couldn't talk, I was trapped in my own body. My husband was walking around my house talking to his mother and friends wishing them a happy mother's day...and I was crying (with no sound and stuck. I could see him peek down the hall at me but because I was in the same position he thought i was sleep.) after about 1/5 hrs I pried my mouth open and was able to say help. I spent three days in the hospital...they determined my central nervous system shut down due to stress and extreme exhaustion. I spend 3 weeks relearning how to walk. Due to a prior knee injury and this, It had not been good.

I was so fit, they had my pictures on the gym walk, I was studying to be a personal trainer and going to school to become a dietitian.

Now, Here I am, and I constantly feel like a failure. I'm embarrassed, and do not know how to cycle my emotions: I should be able to do 50 burpees with my eyes closed yet I cant walk 10 min without being winded. I battle myself all the time; thus, I have been cycling weight gain and weight loss. I'm sad about the break up with my gf, although we remain friends...and most people couldn't understand my life and would judge the crap out of me, if I told them the entire story, and I sometimes just feel alone. I work at a gym....at the front desk and I go to work feeling like a failure and disgusting. I try to smile so people will be happy but I wish I could hide. I have worked out before and after my shift and I work out on days I don't work. I realize my problem is dietary...but its because of my emotional struggles.

I am still in school and I currently have a 3.91 gpa (i'll be grad this spring...with just my AS...hopefully in the top of my class) then I'll be moving on to the next degree. Dealing with the thought of just getting an AS and I'm in the class with 18 year olds....is kinda something I battle with as well. I understand why I am on the path I'm on, BUT it still hurts.

At this point, I have gained the weight I recently lost...and the "you're looking good" comments stopped and the "when are you coming back to class" comments started. (I stopped classes recently after a really badly sprained mcl had me out a few weeks)

Ty for listening, hopefully I can get myself out of this and back on the up swing. To all of us who struggle, our success will come, so I keep trying to convince myself.

I lost 53lbs and gained it all back....and then some......then I lost it all again....
Moral of the story is you will gain it all back if you go back to eating the wrong crap...but once you know how to lose, you can do it whenever you want

I lost 53lbs and gained it all back....and then some......then I lost it all again....
Moral of the story is you will gain it all back if you go back to eating the wrong crap...but once you know how to lose, you can do it whenever you want

Well put. Often here folks who give something up (bread, whatever) are told they'll "gain it all back and then some" as though the calories in calories out thing doesn't apply when one gives something up and then resumed eating it.

Going back to eating all the stuff you ate, ate the calories you used to eat them (AKA more calories than you burn), causes there weight gain

I lost 20 and then gained back 50. It was horribly depressing but here I am trying to lose that 50 again plus another 50

Never all of it. Half of it once. Less than that a couple of times after that. You have to determine what set you back to the eating habits that caused weight gain. Boredom eating? Stress eating? Feeling deprived? Identifying these factors will be a great step in overcoming regain.

I have over the past two years rapidly gained and lost weight. I have lost thirty lbs. then gained 50 then lost 20 then gained 30. Everytime i take a step forward, i take 3 steps back. At my smallest, I weighed 135, now I weigh 209. This is crazy to me that I have allowed myself to yoyo so much, allowing all the hard work to go to waste by eating terribly after i reach my goal weight. This time, I want to make a lifestyle change. I want to live like this forever. Does anyone have any tips on how to ease my habits from bad to good? If y'all could help that would be awesome!

My wife has lost weight and gained it back. She gets so upset with herself. I too have lost a lot and gained it back. I expected such as eating bad and not exercising enough. It requires serious concentration to change your eating habits - I've found logging things at this site makes the world of difference; at least for me.