Has anyone lost weight using mfp and gained it back

I don't trust myself to transfer to maintenance. This is it for me. I've lost 26 pounds on my way to 45, but at 71, I've never felt better, so why should I chance eating like a pig and feeling lousy? If work do the program religiously, there is no chance that you will gain the weight back. Exercising is the key. My dietician told me that diet is 70 percent and exercise is 30 percent, but you really need both to be dedicated.

I think a lot of it has to do with ones relationship with food, and ability to actually make a lifestyle change (ie learning to make better food choices, incorporating fitness into every day life and stick with it). For some, they have to keep themselves accountable at all times or else they will slip back into old habits. For others, the new lifestyle *becomes* the habit.

The reasons why the weight came on to begin with plays a big part. For some people, they were raised with not the best relationship with food, to eat everything on their plate / always have seconds / grew up on junk foods and fried foods etc. And then those who eat emotionally, whether they've had a horrible day turn to food, or celebrate everything with food...

Either of those, I think, would be a really hard habit to break! And I think that someone in that situation would definitely need to made do with knowing they will forever have to track everything they eat if they are not able to reverse this sort of thinking and be able to create a new lifestyle / new habits to totally replace the old one.

Personally, I don't plan to track what I eat, count calories and make thinking about food such a major priority for the rest of my life...my weight came on after a particularly bad breakup where I let him make me believe I was fat and gross looking, for part of the reason he cheated on me (I was a size 4 at the time) and that is when I first joined MFP, to get thin, and I was so discouraged I couldnt lose any weight, and now looking back, it was because I didn't need to!!!! Being discouraged led me to give up altogether, I went from being fairly active and eating well as I had done my whole life, to slumming on the couch and eating take out and McDs all day every day and now Im a size 12/14

But those horrible lifestyle choices were temporary (Id never gained any weight in previous breakups or my divorce...and know *much* better now that no guy or his opinion of my body is worth it), compared to my relationship with food and fitness throughout my life. So Im confident that I will not have to log forever... This is just something I need to do now, to get myself back on track.

YES! and it was EXACTLY because I stopped tracking. I think once you reach your goal weight/size... you have to find that balance. maybe that means tracking M-F and not so much on the weekends. Or upping your calories and tracking every day. The only answer is that you have to be accountable for the food you put in your mouth. If you don't track it you will most likely gain it right back.

^^
I am right there with you! We can do this!

I only have few pounds to lose until I reach my goal .It feels amazing being lighter and fit into my skinny jeans again. However, i am still going to track my calories when I reach my goal. Has anyone reach their goal and gained all back ? Was it because you stopped tracking and got too comfortable ?

Yes and no ... my weight gain has been done purposely to try and increase muscle mass.

YEP!! TWICE! Lost 30 lbs, stopped tracking, moved to a new town and gained it all back. Decided to get back on, tracked again, lost 40 lbs. Moved again, stopped tracking, gained it back and then got pregnant. I am now holding on to that weight I gained back, plus 15 lbs from pregnancy.

I get down to where I feel good and am comfortable and then just slowly letting out the reigns on exercising and eating well until eventually it all comes back. This time, I am hoping that my son is better motivation for me. Also, I am hoping that I have the willpower to continue to track my food, maybe not via MFP, but mentally, after I reach my goal weight.

I'm on this wagon as well. I stopped tracking religiously probably two years ago. I kept the weight off because I stayed active and kind of had a routine for breakfast and lunch. I had some health issues which brought me to the Whole30 for an elimination diet- a very restrictive autoimmune protocol. From there I had to completely revamp my eating habits. I found that most of the foods I ate on a regular basis with MFP, which are healthy options for most (egg whites and nuts to name a few) were things that were causing issues for me. I also went from eating only chicken and fish to all sorts of meats again because my body craved it (I had previously been vegetarian and then went to poultry and seafood) Whole30 preaches not to count calories- simply eat when you are hungry and try to only do 3 meals. I dropped a few more pounds (I think I was 125?) and was the smallest and healthiest I've ever been! But then I had some life stress (and I'm an emotional eater)- moved away from home, quit my active job and continued to eat like I was still a very active person.. A year later and I've put on all my weight again (147). I feel most comfortable/easy to maintain my weight at 130, so that is my goal. If I lose more, I am okay with that. But at 125, I had my family telling me I looked too skinny- and this was coming from a mother who never held back on telling me I was overweight!

So, this is why I am here. I have a very small calorie count compared to what I was used to and I'm just here to get back into a workout routine and my eating habits back in check. I don't think I'll need MFP forever, but it's a great motivator and way for me to stay on track when I start to go off.

Yes, I have lost the same 12-15 lbs not once, not twice, but three times since my daughter was born 7 years ago. The first time was on Weight Watchers and the last two times have been on MFP.

I think this time it will stay off though, as I plan to keep logging indefinitely. I find it's helpful not just for calorie counting but for tracking nutrients like protein and calcium that I have only recently started to care about as I get older.

Question for those who have regained when you went off the reservation - how much did you gain back, but how LONG were you off before realizing you were no longer on the right track?

Obviously everyone's answer will be different, but I find myself asking the what-ifs as I approach maintenance time. I expect to continue with this for the rest of my days, but wonder just how quickly the weight comes back on for those of us who have strayed.

As a comparison, before I wised up and took charge of my eating and workouts, I was gaining around five pounds a year following high school. I sure as all heck don't want to go back to THAT!

Mark

Yes, I lost weight in the spring on mfp while breastfeeding. I often wasn't quite meeting my calorie goals, but the calorie goals didn't account for breastfeeding calories so I still gradually lost some weight. I slacked off on mfp but the weight still stayed off for a few months.

Now my daughter is mostly weaned, though, and I've gained back 5 lbs in a month, so it's obvious to me the breastfeeding was what was tipping the balance. I'm back on mfp as of today, to re-learn how much to eat without that extra hidden calorie expenditure. This happened similarly to me with my first child also, but apparently it didn't sink in the first time around. It's true what previous posters have been saying, the line between weight loss and maintenance, and between maintenance and weight gain, is slim. If something changes in how much exercise you're getting, how often you eat out, etc., it's very easy to see all that laborious weight loss come zooming right back.