Neverending struggle: weight loss/gain cycle

nickelpickle
nickelpickle Posts: 55
in Motivation and Support
Does anybody else go through this?

Literally the only way I can lose weight is by tracking my food. I can exercise until I'm blue in the face - that's not my problem. Overeating is my problem. Tracking my food helps me stay on track and not overeat.

BUT - it seems like every single year I go through a period where I lose like 10-15lbs, then I gain it all back because "I'm good now, I can eyeball portions, no problem!" so I stop tracking my food. Then before I know it, I've packed it all back on without realizing it... In like 3 months.

I feel like for the rest of my life, I'm going to have to track my food. Granted it's SO MUCH EASIER with MyFitnessPal. But still - it's just annoying and depressing knowing I'll never be able to live life without thinking of what and how much I'm eating.

:ohwell:

Replies

  • spicypepper
    spicypepper Posts: 1,016 Member
    Meeeee.

    I came to the realization a year ago that I will always have to count my calories and measure everything. I tried going it alone and somehow gained 10# back. I have lost that 10 and gained it back since March of last year and I'm stuck losing and gaining that same 10# back.

    Hoping to finally blow past it with strict monitoring of my calories in vs. calories out this time.

    Hopefully this will be our year!
  • nickelpickle
    nickelpickle Posts: 55
    Hopefully! I feel bad that you're going through the same thing, but it does provide some sort of validation to know I'm not the only one going through it.

    We all know how hard it is to drop 10lbs. It seems like each time I gain that chunk of weight back 1) I feel worse about myself and 2) it's harder to take off. Perhaps because I'm getting older, who knows!

    When I lost it last year, I promised myself I wouldn't gain it back. Then after summer parties, my birthday in September, and the holidays, it just seemed to creep right back up. Now I can't fit back into the lower-sized jeans that I bought to celebrate my weight loss. UGH!

    But like you said, THIS IS OUR YEAR!
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    No ever said maintaining would be easy. In fact, it is more difficult than losing the weight in the first place. I am grateful to have tools at my disposal to make simple. It is worth the time to me to ensure that my hard work will not come to naught.
  • Poofy_Goodness
    Poofy_Goodness Posts: 229 Member
    BUT - it seems like every single year I go through a period where I lose like 10-15lbs, then I gain it all back because "I'm good now, I can eyeball portions, no problem!" so I stop tracking my food. Then before I know it, I've packed it all back on without realizing it... In like 3 months.

    You've already identified the problem. That is a huge step.

    What you need to do is to stay consistent with tracking while you work on your relationship with food. That's not a simple thing to do, but it will make it possible for you to one day stop tracking and not gain back all you've lost.

    When do you eat? Out of boredom? Out of loneliness? Out of anxiety? Out of sadness? Do you have an oral fixation? Were you raised on the "clean your plate" mentality?

    Identify your food triggers, then work on other behaviors to combat them.

    True sustainable weight loss often requires us to look inside ourselves to see why we became unhealthy in the first place. It seems like that is what you need to do now.
  • nickelpickle
    nickelpickle Posts: 55
    You're totally right. Thanks so much for telling me that. I think I needed it!

    I feel like I eat just because I want to. Not eating makes me unhappy. I like food. I mean, who doesn't? Motivation and inspiration don't last forever though and when it comes down to it, I always end up overeating.

    What do people generally do to figure out why they're overeating? I don't even know where to begin.
  • BeanCounter3
    BeanCounter3 Posts: 158 Member
    Don't treat it like a diet or a temporary approach. Went through the same thing until I started acting like it was part of my life. Only recently have I started to gain back, after 6yrs of maintaining. And, it's mostly because of going out of my norm again. I dropped 60lbs and kept it off, but I stuck with what I started with to do it.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
    You're totally right. Thanks so much for telling me that. I think I needed it!

    I feel like I eat just because I want to. Not eating makes me unhappy. I like food. I mean, who doesn't? Motivation and inspiration don't last forever though and when it comes down to it, I always end up overeating.

    What do people generally do to figure out why they're overeating? I don't even know where to begin.

    There's loads of reasons I overeat, boredom (sat watching a movie I'll make myself a bucket of popcorn) reward - whoop payday/birthday/feeling good - lets go for a steak and cheesecake, stress/depression - goes out and buys a huge bar of chocolate, general socialising invite friends round for a movie night, make sure I've got a shed ton of crisps/snacks or host a BBQ start off with good intentions end up eating about 4 burgers.

    These things happen the problem is when I'm not on MFP I don't eat at a defeceit or exercise enough to compensate the bad days I just eat normally (at TDEE I guess) the rest of the time, so when I have extras they just add up until after a few months gaining half a pound here a pound there you're back to square one.

    I guess it's getting out of the mindset that this is a temporary diet, I hope to this time :)
  • thatjeffsmith
    thatjeffsmith Posts: 110 Member
    Yes, and you're right - it's a never ending struggle. As soon as I quit struggling, I balloon back up.

    I've read that it takes 60 day to set new habits into place. I've tried to make maintaining a habit - primarily by continuing my exercise routines and not eating junk.

    I've stopped calorie counting - on paper - and have notice I've gained a few pounds back, but not like before.

    But, I think it will always be a struggle. I just don't plan on quitting this time around.
  • afat12
    afat12 Posts: 178 Member
    I have to log everything I eat and I have to always do it or I eventually gain the weight back =/
  • Stripeness
    Stripeness Posts: 511 Member
    You've already identified the problem. That is a huge step.

    What you need to do is to stay consistent with tracking while you work on your relationship with food. That's not a simple thing to do, but it will make it possible for you to one day stop tracking and not gain back all you've lost.

    When do you eat? Out of boredom? Out of loneliness? Out of anxiety? Out of sadness? Do you have an oral fixation? Were you raised on the "clean your plate" mentality?

    Identify your food triggers, then work on other behaviors to combat them.

    True sustainable weight loss often requires us to look inside ourselves to see why we became unhealthy in the first place. It seems like that is what you need to do now.

    +10
    This!
  • TonyTrink
    TonyTrink Posts: 38 Member
    What do people generally do to figure out why they're overeating? I don't even know where to begin.

    I liturally ask myself that question, that's where it starts. I'm already done with dinner, it's 1/2 an hour, maybe an hour before bed time, just sitting there watching TV and suddenly I'm hungry. I want some chips or some sweets. I know I just ate a full meal only a few hours ago, so I'm not really hungry. I ask myself, "What are you feeling right now." Usually it's mundane crap, like "I'm bored." or "I'm lonely." Some days it's been bigger stuff triggered by whatever I'm watching, but that's how I began to identify why I overeat and when.
  • thatjeffsmith
    thatjeffsmith Posts: 110 Member
    No ever said maintaining would be easy. In fact, it is more difficult than losing the weight in the first place.

    THIS!
  • nickelpickle
    nickelpickle Posts: 55
    Thank you all so much for your help and support! It's so wonderful to have a community of such awesome people to turn to in times like this!

    I totally understand how little bits of overeating add up when you don't counter it with an equal calorie deficit on following days... That's exactly what happens to me as well. Plus without logging my food, it's impossible to know how much I need to be in the deficit in order to not gain the weight back. It certainly creeps up on you!

    So I am just going to accept the fact that I'm going to have to log everything I eat forever, and hopefully that will become a habit along with CONSISTENTLY eating normal portions of food. In the meantime, I'm definitely going to take a look at myself and why I'm wanting to eat when I want to eat. At 28 years of age, and dealing with this since I've been in my teens, I think it's time to REALLY deal with it.

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