How do people who lose a ton of weight put it all back on?
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honestly, it wasn't that much pain and suffering to lose the weight, certainly nothing like quitting smoking for me.
it is going to take a firm grasp on my plan to keep me in check.0 -
sadly it's all too easy. i lost over 90, i've regained 60 back.
how? injuries, improper eating, unable to exercise and depression. Plus everything became more of a punishment than anything helpful. Sounds stupid & minor, but it isn't. I was in the gym 5-6 days a week & low carb - I broke myself. I've had this happen before and sure enough, it did it again.
I'm still trying0 -
1. Losing it in an unhealthy way.
2. Not learning the right habits.
3. Becoming sedentary.
4. Getting too comfortable.
5. Life events that happen to people that causes them to abandon their better habits.
Any or all of these. I know it's shocking, people work SO hard to lose the weight most times. But it's life, and it happens, and can happen to anyone. Best to not worry about it and just wish them well. If they did it once, they can do it again
You never really know what people are going through that causes them to gain it back. They're probably in bigger disbelief than you are.
Agree...
Also, people that have bariatric surgery (& do not follow through with psychiatric care if necessitated) statistically gain back at least 3/4 of the weight loss within a 5 years period. sometimes they gain back 100% and then some...0 -
I never understand why anyone acts so mystified that people gain weight. Whether it's because they're just heavy or lost weight and regained it.
Food is tasty, exercise is hard. There's your answer.
I went through this exactly. About 10 years ago I lost 60+ pounds (WW and exercise, nothing drastic, should have been sustainable) and kept it off for about 3 years. Then life invaded and got a little messy.
When you fall off the wagon, it often happens slowly. You skip a couple of days of exercise. Then you eat "badly" three days in a row. Suddenly it's a week since you last darkened the gym's doors. Then it's a month since you tracked your food.
I'm back now, and really do want this to be a life change. But I can't promise that life won't invade again. I'll just have to be more careful and vigilant and not let a couple of days of backsliding turn into the rest of my life.0 -
The same way that someone who quit smoking starts again. It's usually the case that for every success story of someone giving up an unhealthy habit (cigarettes, alcohol, overeating, etc.), they have at least a handful of failed attempts before they kept on giving it up. It's much less common to quit a bad habit and have long-term success first try. Backsliding...it's too easy.0
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For me personally, I eat my feelings, I lost 50lbs after my last child. Got down to my prebaby weight from 10years ago! The right way, change in diet and exercise. But then after my divorce, finding myself trying to support my 3 kids and myself on a part time job salary, stressed me the eff out and gained over half of it back.0
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1. Hormones
2. Stress and adrenal fatigue
3. Having two kids in less than 1.5 years
I lost 60 lbs in law school while working full time and all the stress caught up with me when I took the bar exam. I ate healthy, lifted weights, used MFP, etc. I had uncontrollable sugar cravings and my body was going crazy no matter what I did. I was diagnosed with a bunch of hormone issues and put on meds, but then I got pregnant in 2012 and again in 2013 and here I am with 80 lbs to lose post-baby #2.0 -
i dont know what it is, but, i will say this: why bother losing it the first time around in an unhealthy manner which you know will backfire? whats the point in the suffering?
it's easier said than done, i know, but why not just do it the right way and maintain yourself.
the girl i am referencing couldnt have been more than 140 lbs when i last saw her. today she was looking like she was pushing at least 260.
i remember when she was losing weight, she would go into the lunchroom and critique everyone else's meal. she was rude and judgmental about it too...serves her right , i guess.
Why are you 50lbs overweight? Shouldn't you know better? Shouldn't you have done something before it got to this point?
How about you worry less about the woman in the lunchroom and more about yourself. She probably put on weight for the same reasons you did, I did, and everyone else did. Food good, exercise bad.
seems like you are having difficulty understanding the crux of my post.
this isnt about how does one become overweight. it is about how an overweight person loses a ton of weight only to put it all back on. i would assume that person, going through all the pain and suffering once would be enough of a lasting memory not to get to that point again.
Gaining weight after losing it is becoming overweight.
Statistics say that 80% or more of people who lose weight regain it. So prepare to be further mystified as you go through life.
seems like little hope for 4/5 of the overweight population.0 -
i used to work with a person who over some time lost 100 lbs. i ran into her today and i was floored that she gained it all back - and then some!
i didnt know how to react...i was stunned when i saw her. i tried not to make a big deal but my expression was like "wtf did you do???"
it got me thinking about how hard she was dieting and little she was eating. but she was exercising and all that. i remember that she had kept the weight off for like 6 months at least because that is when i left that firm.
how can you work so hard to lose so much weight and then just lose control of yourself again?
im not judging...im in disbelief
Didn't read others responses...
Part of it is that people are overly aggressive with their calorie deficits, they lose too quickly. There is a statistic and something like 80% of all people (could be 90%) that lose weight that way gain it all back and some gain back more than where they started. Additionally, many people don't set theirselves up for long-term success. They find a diet that works to get the weight off they want, which is fine, but then they can't stick to it for LIFE. They hit their goal, they're sick of the diet and revert back to old eating habits. And then some people just get complacent. There is a mental component in that some people have emotional issues tied to their weight gain that they never fixed during their weight loss and then it just comes full-circle.0 -
1. Losing it in an unhealthy way.
2. Not learning the right habits.
3. Becoming sedentary.
4. Getting too comfortable.
5. Life events that happen to people that causes them to abandon their better habits.
Any or all of these. I know it's shocking, people work SO hard to lose the weight most times. But it's life, and it happens, and can happen to anyone. Best to not worry about it and just wish them well. If they did it once, they can do it again You never really know what people are going through that causes them to gain it back. They're probably in bigger disbelief than you are.
THIS0 -
I have lost 50-80 lbs several times over. Each time I start off motivated, excited and can't imagine my life before this latest diet/exercise craze/fitness fad/lifestyle change. Then, I reach a milestone, and I think to myself "everything is going so swimmingly! I'm so chuffed with myself. I can take a little break from my diet... maybe a rest day or a cheat weekend will do me good!" Next thing you know it's three months down the line and I haven't lifted a finger towards my goals and I'm 10 lbs up from my start weight. Then depression/negative self talk sets in and I give up on it altogether. Until next time.
Complacency and poor self image can be the worst enemy of someone who has achieved some level of success. I can't imagine it's any different for many of the people you speak of so disdainfully.0 -
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For me, it was depression. If I go off my meds (which I did pretty often when I was younger), all bets are off. I eat what I want, drink what I want, sleep with who I want. It becomes quite dangerous. Luckily, now that I am older (and a mother), I realize the importance of my medication.0
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Best of luck to you, me, and every one of us running from the Blerch.
ill drink to that!0 -
For me, it was a lack of accountability and life changes. When I lost weight I was in college and extremely active. Then I found myself with a full-time desk job on top of full-time grad school. Even taking out a complete loss of all thyroid function during this time, I was still eating too much and barely moving.0
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Best of luck to you, me, and every one of us running from the Blerch.
+1 for The Oatmeal reference. :drinker:0 -
seems like little hope for 4/5 of the overweight population.
I think it's just best to keep that fact in mind as we work to get in shape. The Blerch is chasing us all, and we have to try to out run him every single day.
We lose weight, hit our goal and think, "Yay! I'm done!" There's no done. Every pound is just waiting to creep back on, and they'll bring friends if you let them.
Food will always be tasty. Exercise will always be hard.
But if we work on it, always keep an eye on our habits, we can be the rarified few who take it off and keep it off.
Best of luck to you, me, and every one of us running from the Blerch.
This is so true. I have been in maintenance for only about a month but I will ALWAYS count calories. Well, maybe not when i'm like, 80. But seriously. It never. ends. EVER!! I feel like those pounds are following me around. It was too hard to lose those bad boys. And i've never even been overweight loll. Then again I have anxiety and probably a touch of OCD. So it makes me even more obsessive and aware of how much i'm eating. ugh lol. It never ends. You just have to manage it.0 -
This is one time where the word "sustainable" has meaning.
Bottom line, to achieve the best chance at sustainability, clinical evidence shows most people just need to get active. Don't worry about diet. Sure diet and exercise will give the fastest results, but most people tend to burn out in around 60 days (I've heard a few nutritionists advise against logging because of that phenomena).
Personally, as bad as I've been with my diet over the year I'm still running and cycling. Thinking of adding swimming, too.0 -
I lost 125 pounds in 2011 and fortunately have been able to keep it off. I think life will get in the way a lot of times and the first thing most people will sacrifice is diet and exercise to cope with stress. I also think that a lot of people go about losing weight the incorrect way and it tends to back fire into old habits.
I think it boils down to discipline and determination. But that's just may opinion!0 -
I never understand why anyone acts so mystified that people gain weight. Whether it's because they're just heavy or lost weight and regained it.
Food is tasty, exercise is hard. There's your answer.
Boom, /thread.0 -
i dont know what it is, but, i will say this: why bother losing it the first time around in an unhealthy manner which you know will backfire? whats the point in the suffering?
it's easier said than done, i know, but why not just do it the right way and maintain yourself.
the girl i am referencing couldnt have been more than 140 lbs when i last saw her. today she was looking like she was pushing at least 260.
i remember when she was losing weight, she would go into the lunchroom and critique everyone else's meal. she was rude and judgmental about it too...serves her right , i guess.
Why are you 50lbs overweight? Shouldn't you know better? Shouldn't you have done something before it got to this point?
How about you worry less about the woman in the lunchroom and more about yourself. She probably put on weight for the same reasons you did, I did, and everyone else did. Food good, exercise bad.
seems like you are having difficulty understanding the crux of my post.
this isnt about how does one become overweight. it is about how an overweight person loses a ton of weight only to put it all back on. i would assume that person, going through all the pain and suffering once would be enough of a lasting memory not to get to that point again.
easy: learning to eat the number of calories to maintain a particular weight is difficult to do. doing so typically requires setting aside long established patterns of eating and learning about the nutritional value of the foods one eats, appropriate portion sizes, and if one has been eating mostly calorically dense foods, eating them less often. none of this is easy to do in the best of circumstances. setting aside old habits is hard; learning new habits is hard; it requires time and effort. in both cases, most people experience stress, anxiety, frustration and fear while doing either of these.
so most people don't go through the process. instead they try fad diets that usually involve extreme calorie deficits or severely limit a particular macronutrient group or some combination of this with drugs, supplements and the like. they lose a lot of weight but they don't change any of their habits. the diet or drugs come to an end, they go back to eating as they did and they regain all the weight they lost.
or let's say they manage to set aside some of their old habits and develop some new ones. such people have a better chance of losing weight and keeping it off. but - and it is a huge but - the old habits never go away or replaced, they more or less get layered over or routed around by new ones. and in really stressful situations, newer, less established habits get swamped by older, very well established ones. and the weight comes back on.
willpower? forgetaboutit. from what we know about habit formation, willpower (which is cognitive) doesn't have much influence on deeply engrained habits (which are pre-cognitive), especially in times of stress. ask anyone who has tried to quit drinking, smoking or eating a jelly donut for breakfast every morning, does so successfully for months or years and returns to it after losing a job or a spouse.
so to answer your question: old habits don't die, they merely hibernate until more clement circumstances arise.0 -
I myself had yo-yo'd +/- 25 lbs for several years (not as extreme as the person you reference) and I would say the story is similar to many of the earlier postings. I would lose the weight fast and/or eat bland foods that you eventually tire of and then you binge which doesn't stop. Add to that "thinking" you have to do a minimum of an hour cardio per day. All of that is not sustainable long term. You get tired of eating tasteless food and burned out on cardio. Finally I did things the right way: workouts with weight training which I enjoy and I eat foods I enjoy and its worked for me long term. You really have to want to change long-term in order to win the battle. Not simply look for a quick fix.
I see the same thing at my work ALL the time. One particular woman had lost a lot of weight and she looked amazing. I work in a fairly large company and saw her maybe a month ago and she put it all back on and then some. I wonder why you work so hard for something and then throw it all away, but I've done it myself.0 -
I've gained like 7-8lbs in like 12 weeks (summer school) simply cause I started eating more and hardly ever worked out. My profile pic now is my undefined tummy in a matter of weeks. It's effort and determination to keep your body going strong. It's priority really and I put it on the back burner for a bit. I've gotten back into things this week but yeah it's kinda disappointing to have no definition anymore
Edit: I don't mean to be facetious or anything in complaining about my 7-8lb weight gain btw. I was just trying to illustrate how easy it is to let yourself slip.
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i dont know what it is, but, i will say this: why bother losing it the first time around in an unhealthy manner which you know will backfire? whats the point in the suffering?
it's easier said than done, i know, but why not just do it the right way and maintain yourself.
the girl i am referencing couldnt have been more than 140 lbs when i last saw her. today she was looking like she was pushing at least 260.
i remember when she was losing weight, she would go into the lunchroom and critique everyone else's meal. she was rude and judgmental about it too...serves her right , i guess.
Why are you 50lbs overweight? Shouldn't you know better? Shouldn't you have done something before it got to this point?
How about you worry less about the woman in the lunchroom and more about yourself. She probably put on weight for the same reasons you did, I did, and everyone else did. Food good, exercise bad.
^^This.
Seriously....who the *kitten* are you to judge her?! You have no idea what she has gone through in the time that she has gained her weight...or ever in her life. I lost 80lbs and then got pregnant and gained 95! *kitten* happens. It's HER life. Maybe she lost all that weight and realized she was happier being heavy. Maybe she broke her back and was on bed rest for 10 months. What's it to you?? We all live our own lives and we all go through our own obstacles. Mind yourself and stop being a judgmental prick.
uhm. wow.0 -
Eating?
This.0 -
In 2012 I dropped forty pounds. By 2014 I had gained 30ish of that back. Because I stopped logging and stopped caring and refused to step on a scale or be accountable and it just kept creeping back up.
^^this0 -
In 2012 I dropped forty pounds. By 2014 I had gained 30ish of that back. Because I stopped logging and stopped caring and refused to step on a scale or be accountable and it just kept creeping back up.
This exactly.0 -
i dont know what it is, but, i will say this: why bother losing it the first time around in an unhealthy manner which you know will backfire? whats the point in the suffering?
it's easier said than done, i know, but why not just do it the right way and maintain yourself.
the girl i am referencing couldnt have been more than 140 lbs when i last saw her. today she was looking like she was pushing at least 260.
i remember when she was losing weight, she would go into the lunchroom and critique everyone else's meal. she was rude and judgmental about it too...serves her right , i guess.
Why are you 50lbs overweight? Shouldn't you know better? Shouldn't you have done something before it got to this point?
How about you worry less about the woman in the lunchroom and more about yourself. She probably put on weight for the same reasons you did, I did, and everyone else did. Food good, exercise bad.
seems like you are having difficulty understanding the crux of my post.
this isnt about how does one become overweight. it is about how an overweight person loses a ton of weight only to put it all back on. i would assume that person, going through all the pain and suffering once would be enough of a lasting memory not to get to that point again.
Are you not aware of the stats that show that most people put it back on?
And despite the wishful thinking, I don't think there's any evidence that how you lose it matters. I lost 60 lbs in 2003, kept most of it off in a healthy way until about 2008-09, and then regained all and more. Why? Wish I totally understood. Life happens, and my motivation to do what was necessary disappeared or took a back seat to other things, and I slid back into one bad habit after another and even though I knew what I needed to do to stop the process, for a significant enough period of time I didn't care that much. Now, I have certain experience that I hope will help protect again the same things happening and certainly don't plan for it to, but I'm also more humble about it.
(On the other hand, I never criticized anyone else's food choices, etc.)0 -
SO EASY TO DO!0
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