losing and Gaining Back: What's different this time?
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whatsallthisthen
Posts: 35 Member
A few years back, I lost over 100 pounds in a year, only to gain it back again slowly over the course of about two years. Why?
* I made a terrible personal decision which ultimately made me slip into depression and 'giving up' entirely on myself
* a new comfortable relationship with someone who constantly ate 'forbidden' high calorie foods I had not trained my self to deal with because I had a:
* Very restrictive diet of 1200 cal a day that was unsustainable in the long run, consisting of: no cheat day or junk food ever, very low fat(no butter or oil), and no dairy or grains- which leaves you with only fruit, poached chicken breast or fish, and vegetables
*" all or nothing" eating. Once I had a 'bad' breakfast, the day was 'ruined' and I'd eat whatever I wished
What I'm doing differently this time:
* Sustainable changes: if I don't look at my diet and think "I can keep this up forever" then I am doing it wrong
* Eliminating all-or-nothing eating by recognizing it as an excuse mechanism
*acknowledging that I'll likely always struggle with depression and to keep in mind that a healthy body will only help and never hurt my efforts. To never again 'give up'
I thought others might relate and share some of their own experiences with this!
* I made a terrible personal decision which ultimately made me slip into depression and 'giving up' entirely on myself
* a new comfortable relationship with someone who constantly ate 'forbidden' high calorie foods I had not trained my self to deal with because I had a:
* Very restrictive diet of 1200 cal a day that was unsustainable in the long run, consisting of: no cheat day or junk food ever, very low fat(no butter or oil), and no dairy or grains- which leaves you with only fruit, poached chicken breast or fish, and vegetables
*" all or nothing" eating. Once I had a 'bad' breakfast, the day was 'ruined' and I'd eat whatever I wished
What I'm doing differently this time:
* Sustainable changes: if I don't look at my diet and think "I can keep this up forever" then I am doing it wrong
* Eliminating all-or-nothing eating by recognizing it as an excuse mechanism
*acknowledging that I'll likely always struggle with depression and to keep in mind that a healthy body will only help and never hurt my efforts. To never again 'give up'
I thought others might relate and share some of their own experiences with this!
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Replies
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I LOVE your honesty!
I lost a lot of weight before I met my Husband. I was going to the gym 3x a week, hardly eating and working, working, working!
I gained it all back and then some because I too, made terrible choices, we had a horrible few years whilst we were getting set-up including homelessness, unemployment, hospitalising illnesses and family/friend/church fall-outs.
I have been following the 1200 calorie eating plan for 5 months and I am now beginning to struggle. I have now upped my calories to 1300 per day and I feel so much better and no longer feel hungry.
I am focussing on maintaining this, drinking more water and leading a calmer, more settled lifestyle.
Kaela x0 -
Oh boy oh boy, can I relate!
Sometimes I slip back into old habits of not eating all day, but this time I am not beating myself up for eating lunch. I am actually eating it right now! I kind of do the opposite and beat myself up if I don't. That is what is different. I am also not beating myself up for not getting my exercise in. I go back and forth on that. I do feel very guilty for not being able to "do it all", but hey, I pick my battles for now.
I too suffer from 15+ years with depression and I know it is something that is always lurking. I also know it is deeply connected to what I put in my body and how I treat my body. If I gain a bunch of weight and just lay around, it is 1000% worse. If I eat good and and lose weight, it is so much better because I am up and moving and motivated to do things. One bad day can turn into a bad weekend into a bad week into a bad month into...well, a bad 6 months. I gained 60 lbs last fall/Spring and am just now getting 50 of that off after losing 125.
I always say I am not going to do it again, not going to let myself get back there..but I have lost that same 100lbs 3 or 4 times now. Maybe even 5.. I lose count.
So.. what is different this time? Such a good question.0 -
What has to be different is that you change the head. Food choices and exercise choices are always the foundation, but for the morbidly obese, some element of eating disorder/food addiction is in play here, and unless we address that, nothing will ever change.
For me, eating disorder therapy has been really helpful. I'm learning to move past trauma, change destructive thought patterns, and find new ways to soothe that don't involve food. I'm still a huge work in progress, but I feel so hopeful!
K.0 -
For me one of the biggest differences is that I'm eating more than I ever did before while on a diet. It is not restrictive in the sense there are no bad foods. Yes, there are foods I eat infrequently because I am working to stay under my calorie goal, but I still eat them. Most days I make food choices to meet my macro goals, but sometimes I have a few days like last weekend where I stayed in control on calories, but did not meet my macros. I don't beat myself up over it.
Also, I'm much more aware of the entire picture. In the past I've been on diets and counted calories but never really had any knowledge about the calories burned side of the equation. Now I know my TDEE I feel a lot more in control of the whole process. I can choose how rapidly to lose the weight by controlling my deficit. I also know that even on a 'bad' day as long as I stay under my TDEE, there is no real damage done, I just might reach my goal later.
Although losing weight is 90% diet, I have become much more aware of exercise and how it can help me. I am fitter than I've probably been at any other time in my life, even when I weighed less. I have a lot more energy, and I find that I want to burn that excess energy doing things.
I am consciously planning for maintenance. The only thing different between losing and maintenance will be the amount of calories I eat. I should be able to increase my calories by a couple of hundred per day when I reach my goal. I am going to continue to weigh weekly and give myself a range of 5lbs above and below my goal. As long as I'm in that range, there will be no need for action, however if I go above or below that range, it is back to logging until I'm back where I should be. I am never going to let the weight creep back on.0
