For all MFP returnees, why did we gain the weight back?

24

Replies

  • HowDidThatHappen
    HowDidThatHappen Posts: 20
    THIS!!!
    First I broke my leg in 3 places
    THEN I got lazy
    THEN I got what I called the PLAGUE and was sick for 15 weeks!!!

    THEN it was the holidays

    NOW IS MY TIME!!! back at it!! YAY!!!
    [/quote]

    and welcome back!
  • MissingMinnesota
    MissingMinnesota Posts: 7,486 Member
    I started to go down hill two years ago.
    It started with me traded in gym time with playing team sports, (kickball, softbal and flag football) but that includes going out for beers and fried food afterwards so even though I am being active I am countering it with a bad diet. I was able to maintain with only a slight weight gain for about a year of this as I was training for a half marathon also.
    Then my mom got cancer so I traveled a lot to see her until she passed away (2/2/2013) and it is hard to keep up with exercise and diet while traveling.

    Follow that up by getting injured numerous times in the passed two years. Most recently I had a bad sprain on my left ankle and was in a boot the wed before labor day and 2 weeks after I am back up to normal activity I broke my right ankle. This week is the first time I have been back to the gym pretty and all I can really do is the stationary bike which I hate. So I have regained 70 of the 90 lbs I have lost.
  • tyediri
    tyediri Posts: 183 Member
    I got engaged and my fiance and I celebrated a little too much with chocolates and pudding! :P

    Am back now as my engagement is nearing its end and my marriage is about to start!!! :)
  • tigz101
    tigz101 Posts: 9 Member
    Needs some friends on this to help me keep going i have lost 3 stone in the last 3 months and want to keep going please add me And show me some support and i will return it
  • j_ringsaker
    j_ringsaker Posts: 47 Member
    Lost my focus. I'm the type of guys with 100 hobbies and I dedicate myself wholly to the hobby at the time. Be it hunting, woodworking, restoring cars....I made weightloss my hobby. Everything about it. I was completely dedicated. Lost 97 lbs.

    That was 2 years ago and I gained 55 back. I hope to stay focused long enough to kick the weight for good.
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
    I yo-yoed for years, as soon as the "diet" was over I gained everything back. I found MFP in 2010 and was on until June 2012 and lost 20 pounds but my account got messed up and I just stopped logging. I just wasn't done yet and when my doctor wanted to put me on cholesterol medicine I knew it was time to come back and finish what I started.
  • MrsG31
    MrsG31 Posts: 364 Member
    i was doing well losing weight until my husband died. Although it wasn't totally unexpected as he was 25 years older than me and had health probs, we had been married 38 years, and I regained most of my weight loss thru' comfort eating. Then I had a few years of upheaval with moving house and other things, so didn't settle to it. Now I'm back on track as I want to be healthy and not deprive my kids too soon of their only parent! Besides, late husband was so proud of my weight loss, so I feel I'd be letting him down if I don't get it off.

    I just wanted to give you a hug!!! (((((hug)))))
  • Steph13RN
    Steph13RN Posts: 92 Member
    Oh wow, I just posted something very similar!
    I am working on what I can do better ... not sabotaging myself, putting in my mouth what I deem is healthy and not worrying if my kids are eating fast food thanks to the hubby ...

    We all have to do it for ourselves ... but how to you get past the point where you become weak?? That's my problem ... staying focused!

    Good luck to you all~
  • happychic
    happychic Posts: 43 Member
    3 1/2 years of grieving + comfort food = huge weight gain

    Hopefully I'm ready this time....
  • patnrol
    patnrol Posts: 7
    I lost last year with a biggest loser challenge at work. Once that ended I said I was going to continue to eat smart. Well, that expanded and expanded and now I am 7 lbs short of my top weight last year. I don't want to go back to the bigger size. I just can't seem to make it a lifestyle change. I can't log food forever. Now this time my goal is to comfortably wear my summer clothes this summer. I reach goals okay, it is what happens after that where I fail.
  • DeltaZero
    DeltaZero Posts: 1,197 Member
    Eating more, moving less?




    Too simple.
  • MrsG31
    MrsG31 Posts: 364 Member
    I just let myself fall out good habits and back into bad ones. I was doing great last year and started logging less and less because I felt like I had gotten the hang of it, was able to make good food choices without having to look up the serving size and such. Then my husband and I went out of town (with no kids!!) for our anniversary. We walked a lot where we went, so I let myself enjoy food, treats, and alcohol. But when we got back,I stopped working out in the morning, and eventually stopped working out at night. I just fell off the wagon. Then pretty much all through November and December with all the holiday parties, family dinners, etc I just ate what I wanted too. I started noticing that my stomach was looking pretty pudgy again and didn't like the way some of new clothes I had bought over the summer looked on me.

    I know if I want to keep this off I need to make healthy eating, smaller portions, and exercising a part of my LIFE, a habit that is hard to break. I used to smoke and I broke that habit (going on 6 years now!) but now I want to form a habit.
  • patnrol
    patnrol Posts: 7
    Glad to read that someone else has experienced the head game of acknowledging getting fat again. When I am gaining weight I use my past failure to think I can always lose it again. When I get to that wall of wanting to lose again, my past failure keeps makes me think it can't be done.
  • Llamedos1960
    Llamedos1960 Posts: 78
    No excuses!

    I got fat through eating more and moving less.
    I lost some by eating less and moving more.
    I put some back on by eating more and moving less.

    No prizes for guessing what I'm trying to do to lose some more!

    Simples!

    :drinker:
  • heathmarie143
    heathmarie143 Posts: 38 Member
    Was losing weight while on here last summer..... down about 15lbs and then my hubby lost his job and financial trouble set in. The stress of it all completely got to me and I stopped watching my calories and put most of it back on.

    This year I've decided that I need to stop letting everything else take precedent over my health, so I'm back and working on losing the remaining weight.
  • angiewf
    angiewf Posts: 175 Member
    Thanx so much!
  • fuhrmeister
    fuhrmeister Posts: 1,796 Member
    I started this site at 242lbs got down to 207 and am now back to 228.

    I got derailed when we bought a house and moved further out of town so I quit going to the gym and watched more TV. I got further derailed when my sister in law dies and just plain quit when my husband lost his job. I let life get in the way of being healthy and made a lot of excuses. Now things are back together, my husband is working and it is time to focus on thriving instead of just surviving.


    I love the MFP keeps me accountable and I really need the support and the cheers from the crowed.


    Good Luck Everyone!
  • Seajolly
    Seajolly Posts: 1,435 Member
    I used MFP a couple of years ago and lost 35 pounds! At that time, I was also working for a fitness company, which greatly helped since I was very active at work and outside of work. Fast forward to 6 months ago, when I changed jobs and went from being very active at work to completely sedentary. I went to the doctor yesterday and he told me that I gained 16 lbs in 6 months, which is when my last physical is! YIKES!!! I am committed to fully being back on track now. This week has been challenging because I am really sick and haven't been able to start working out again, but as soon as this terrible cough and congestion goes away, I'll be back at it at the gym! For now, I am focused on eating really well and getting up from my desk and moving around as much as possible.
  • dmfrank78
    dmfrank78 Posts: 16 Member
    I was doing pretty well up until two years ago when my husband of 34 years was diagnosed with liver cancer. In the early stages I was able to keep my eating and exercising pretty regular and managed to keep off the weight I had lost. But as time went on and things got worse my good eating habits and regular exericse went by the wayside. He passed away in October 2013 and, as you all know, things like eating well and exercising aren't all that important at times like this. I would still exercise maybe 1-2 times a week just to do something and eating was whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. But now I am ready to come back and continue on! I have plenty of time now to spend working on those good eating habits and have started back into exercising and I am definitely ready. It feels great to work out and I feel so much better even after only a week of eating better. No more ice cream for dinner!! :)
  • lhquinlan
    lhquinlan Posts: 1 Member
    Gained a few pounds over Christmas, but back on plan. I made the conscious decision to just enjoy all the food during the holidays since I knew I would not continue the upward climb. My husband and I have gotten rid of any clothes that are too big. We only wear what fits. Because we do the Ignite plan through www.dailyburn.com, we honestly don't feel well when we eat off plan so were happy to get back on. I think sometimes, we don't realize how bad we feel when we eat the wrong foods since we are used to eating that way. Once you really clean up your eating, you will learn that certain foods (dairy, soy, gluten, sugar, etc) make you feel lousy! And who wants to feel lousy?
  • Robin1109
    Robin1109 Posts: 231 Member
    I'm just really bad at maintaining! This is my THIRD time coming back to MFP for major weight loss. The first time was in 2010 where I managed to lose about 45 lbs in about 7 months. During the end of my really good stretch, I suffered a stress fracture in my ankle. A wedding and then the holidays kept me from sticking with a regular gym routine. Plus, I started eating more and not restricting as much. I might have been able to maintain with the gym but not going hurt me. I gained it ALL back within a year.

    Then I went on a trip to Hawaii with my family and was so disgusted with myself. I came home and got to it again. I got back on the horse January 2012. By December that year, I had lost 55 lbs and was my lowest weight since college! (10 years ago). The holidays happened again, a trip to Europe, and then just this assumption that I could maintain without regular exercise. Nope. 30 came back.

    So, now I'm here to lose the 30 I let myself gain back and then some. I have two weddings to be in this year for family members and want to get back to feeling how great I felt at a lower weight! It really is a lifestyle! This time, I have to be better about balancing once I'm ready to maintain.
  • littlebrownbat3
    littlebrownbat3 Posts: 54 Member
    I actually lost most of my weight without joining. Then my best friend died, and I gained a whole lot of weight by sitting on the couch and eating my feelings (my grief tastes suspiciously like cheetos and vodka) and getting drunk and miserable.

    I got super depressed, and was suicidal. I woke up one morning with a bottle of sleeping pills in my hand and decided I couldn't keep going like this. I started to feed myself. And then I started to work out more (I still hate it, but honestly, I need to or I get sad again, and not being suicidal is greater motivation than dress size). I got medical help. Finally, I got to a place where I wanted to join MFP and try to get myself back together. The more I stuck to macros the better I felt, and now I just stay in there to keep myself healthy. Medication and counseling isn't enough by itself, so diet and exercise are key to staying sane for me.

    This time, the goal isn't weight loss, it's staying mentally healthy. That is what I'm changing.
  • chopper_pilot
    chopper_pilot Posts: 191 Member
    My warmest hopes for the returnees and the newbeez is that this time, they take the time and effort to educate themselves and apply that to their hard work, so they dont end up wasting tears and blood and sweat doing the things that wont actually help them in the end... just because they listened to friends and family and fad-ish propaganda, or were close-minded about what could really help them or not. I want them to succeed this time. Not end up deflated and sad because it isnt working :frown:
  • HowDidThatHappen
    HowDidThatHappen Posts: 20
    I actually lost most of my weight without joining. Then my best friend died, and I gained a whole lot of weight by sitting on the couch and eating my feelings (my grief tastes suspiciously like cheetos and vodka) and getting drunk and miserable.

    I got super depressed, and was suicidal. I woke up one morning with a bottle of sleeping pills in my hand and decided I couldn't keep going like this. I started to feed myself. And then I started to work out more (I still hate it, but honestly, I need to or I get sad again, and not being suicidal is greater motivation than dress size). I got medical help. Finally, I got to a place where I wanted to join MFP and try to get myself back together. The more I stuck to macros the better I felt, and now I just stay in there to keep myself healthy. Medication and counseling isn't enough by itself, so diet and exercise are key to staying sane for me.

    This time, the goal isn't weight loss, it's staying mentally healthy. That is what I'm changing.

    Hugs to you. Thanks for sharing.
  • HowDidThatHappen
    HowDidThatHappen Posts: 20
    3 1/2 years of grieving + comfort food = huge weight gain

    Hopefully I'm ready this time....

    Good luck and a ((((hug))) you can do it!
  • Brianna716
    Brianna716 Posts: 303 Member
    My dad and stepmom split up. Being an emotional eater at heart, I started eating junk food and quit going to the gym. Dating an alcoholic didn't help, I drank a lot of calories too. And then summer concerts happened where... surprise surprise... I drank more.

    It's not terribly hard for me to lose weight (153-129) but what I need to figure out is how to deal with life and my emotions affecting my eating in the long term.
  • cgd67
    cgd67 Posts: 188 Member
    Hit a plateau (for quite a while), bad attitude, then quit running, ate poorly… you get the idea!
  • PeaceVegan
    PeaceVegan Posts: 37 Member
    My portion sizes increased, I had more treats than I really should and I stopped exercising regulary. Then I noticed my clothes were getting tight and (this is a very honest confession now!) So, I just thought sod it, I'm getting fat again and ate some more.....Hmmmm, recognise the cycle, I know I do??



    This is it exactly ... how sad! I was down 106 lbs a couple years ago and here I am, gained about 60 of it back. ... sigh ... no excuses ... it's my own fault and I know what I did or didn't do. Time to recognize the cycle and change it!
  • Shreddingitnow
    Shreddingitnow Posts: 37
    Cheating husband!
  • BeckyGee84
    BeckyGee84 Posts: 124 Member
    I had another baby. But this is my 2nd and last baby so hopefully I won't have a reason to come back a 3rd time!

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