Finding that "lost" weight again......ugh!

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Almost 2 years ago, I lost almost 50 lbs. I felt amazing, thin & thought I had conquered my food demons. Guess what?! I was wrong!!! For the past year, I have struggled with falling into old habits, nighttime eating (binging) & gaining weight. I have now gained almost half of my weight back. I am getting back on track...nothing fits! But, I guess what I would like to know from others that have struggled with the same issue is how do you deal with the shame of regaining the weight?! I know I am being paranoid, but I feel like people are looking at me and thinking..."wow, she's getting fat again". It makes me soooo self conscious!!!

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  • kayeiam
    kayeiam Posts: 215 Member
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    When I have fallen off the wagon and feel like you described. I know in my head the right dicission is to get back in the wagon. I don't care what others think, I do care how I think, feel and when I get to the point of realizing my cloths are getting tight, I feel sluggish, fat etc. It is time to start again.

    Failing is quiting forever.... Success is trying and trying and keep trying. Get back in that wagon and you will feel better about yourself. Your cloths will start to feel loose again.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    I think most of us have done that every time we've lost weight until now

    We relax too much and think 'we've got this'

    I suppose the trick is to relax but to not get overly confident

    My plan when I started this was to have no end date, to keep logging through maintenance .. I've just entered maintenance and I have no issues continuing to log .. yet .. I hope I never do because I know that old, overeating, lazy habits are far too easy to slip into
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
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    Pretty much the same thing happened to me. I got down to 112lbs and stopped counting calories because I graduated from uni and moved back in with my parents, meaning my mum cooked dinner, so I couldn't count calories for it. I also stopped weighing since I didn't have any scales any more. For months I thought I was doing alright - I couldn't see any difference in the mirror and my clothes seemed to fit the same and all that. I knew I was eating more, but I was also moving more, so thought it must be evening out. Turns out I had gained 20lbs. So I'm now dieting again, I'm really annoyed at myself for letting it go on so long after I worked so hard to lose that weight, but I'm also kinda excited to be doing this again. I think the excitement of going through the process of making myself look better again is helping me ignore the annoyance of gaining weight back. I'm also doing more exercise this time, which I'm finding quite exciting. I've also learnt a very important lesson from all this - that's the last time I do the whole 'ditch the scales' thing.
  • Springfield1970
    Springfield1970 Posts: 1,945 Member
    edited March 2015
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    I feel like that when I gain five pounds, but I am very self conscious. I hate that feeling and use it to keep me on track.!
    People tend to comment all the time on my body, which really annoys me tbh, but it helps me in a funny way.

    Get logging and moving, you CAN DO IT! Again and again. You've got this!
  • Athos282
    Athos282 Posts: 405 Member
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    I told myself I was stupid for allowing myself to fall back; but I said, well, you can either stay fat or fix it. You did it once, do it again. Don't wallow, just do it!
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
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    It's slightly different because I had a baby (my third) but I still feel bad about regaining lost weight (after my second I lost 66lbs) and I do sometimes feel that people are feeling sorry for me, like 'wow, she looked so good, why did she get fat again?'

    However, I love exercise and I enjoy logging and I've lost a fair bit already, so I'm just telling myself I like a challenge! I don't plan on having any more children, so once I hit goal weight again, I'm there to stay!
  • jmurphy2529
    jmurphy2529 Posts: 9 Member
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    Thank you everyone for the support. It's so nice to read your advice...I plan on incorporating it all! I read a quote recently that said, "I am not losing weight, I'm getting rid of it....I don't plan on finding it again". That is going to be my mantra that I am going to keep on saying to myself!!! 1 pound gone.....24 more to go! :)
  • determined_14
    determined_14 Posts: 258 Member
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    It's slightly different because I had a baby (my third) but I still feel bad about regaining lost weight (after my second I lost 66lbs) and I do sometimes feel that people are feeling sorry for me, like 'wow, she looked so good, why did she get fat again?'

    I actually kind of relate to this. I've lost 20-ish pounds post-baby, and I'm actually down a bit from where I started pre-pregnancy. (I'd been trying to lose a bit of weight even then, so it was very exciting to break that plateau!) But now we're trying for a second one. I know *way* more about weight loss, fitness, and general health now than I did during/after my first pregnancy, so I'm not that intimidated, but still...!

    At the same time, you did NOT get fat again-- you grew a human being! That's an accomplishment of Herculean proportions, so we should go easy on ourselves, even as we look to our goals. :)


  • Danni_peck
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    It happens. I had a bit of that regression at one point, but that's because I was eating way more than I should have and got overconfident. The best thing to do is to just get back on the bandwagon. It takes a bit, but you got this.
  • crys_todd
    crys_todd Posts: 41 Member
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    Story of my life right there.

    Lost 110 lbs in college. Regained it plus an extra 50 lbs over the next 5 years.
    Lost 165 lbs before I got pregnant with my daughter. Regained 100lbs over the next 3 years.
    Lost 85 lbs before getting pregnant with my son. Regained 50lbs while pregnant with him.

    So I'm back on the wagon...again. Down 30 lbs of the 100 lbs I want to lose. I really do feel quite a bit of shame about those ridiculous numbers. People talk about yo-yoing but who yo-yo's hundreds of pounds? I'm very private about my weight loss now and feel more ashamed than anything when someone says, "Wow! You are losing weight!." because I think in their head that is followed with "Again...how long is it going to last this time." They probably aren't but still.

    I fret frequently about maintenance. I'm very good at losing weight but absolute crap at maintaining that loss apparently. Losing the lbs is the easy part, I think maintenance is where my real journey begins.
  • maillemaker
    maillemaker Posts: 1,253 Member
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    Last year I lost and regained 30 pounds. I have done this countless times in my life. It happens. This time I'm having ago with drugs.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I yo yo'd for 3 years(lowest 165 highest 205) before I finally "got it"....I found a sustainable way for me to become an expert at maintenance instead of losing weight....it's not cutting out what I love and want. If you look at my diary I still eat out at rotten ronnies, DQ, BK etc still drink, still have chocolate every night but make sure it fits in to my calorie goal....

    I have gotten into some new habits such as not drinking coffee after I leave the house in the morning until I have drank 3/4 of my water. Then I have my Tim's...sometimes 2.

    I eat filling foods high in protein that are sweet too...like greek yogurt. Faves right now are cherry and coconut (not together)

    I still exercise at least 4x a week but best of all I got a jawbone and now consistently hit 10k steps a day without exercise...and I have a desk job...
  • ew_david
    ew_david Posts: 3,473 Member
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    I got within 10 pounds of my goal at the end of the summer and got really lazy. By January 1st, 12 of my 30 pounds lost came back. I was still working out, but that whole "you can't out-exercise a bad diet" thing is pretty accurate.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Life happens and we just need to persevere.
  • coronalime
    coronalime Posts: 583 Member
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    I'm on your roller coaster! I'm up 20 PDS and climbing. I can't figure out why. I know how I'm doing it. I know "how" to lose weight. But I'm not doing it. I'm over on calories by a ton. I'll binge in s heart beat on anything. I'm injured and Making excuses to not work out differently.
    This sucks. I wish I could tell you what to do. I wish I knew how to fix myself.
  • javonte123
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    I'm new here smile Just started today. I just turned 24 and weigh 166.6 lbs. I want to try losing at least 20 lbs to get started, but I'm really interested in just getting fit enough to join activities without getting exhausted right away. I've been trying diet and exercise off and on, but can never stick to it. I'm also follow http://wp.me/p5NIsT-14. It seems wonderful! I'm hoping this will help with motivation to keep it up.

    Losing weight is freaking hard as can be, especially with so much information out there on the right way or wrong way to lose fat. Foods we can't eat, exercises we gotta do, it's enough to drive somebody crazy.
  • kristen6350
    kristen6350 Posts: 1,094 Member
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    You are among many people with the same problem. Trust me.

    In October 2013, for my boyfriend's sister's wedding, I got to 147. Felt amazing in the dress I bought. But he felt I was too thin and could afford to "relax" a bit. So I thought, I'll "relax" until the new year and see what happens. By January, I was up to 150. 3lbs in 2 months, fluctuation, right? At that point, I figured I had things under control. I fell back into bad habits, snacking at work, eating lunches out, huge portion sizes, snacking at night on the couch with the whole bag of chips...by December 2014 I was 166. Almost 20lbs in a bit more than a year. Something had to give. Maybe not get back to 147, but at least get 10lbs off. Did that, right now I'm at 12lbs, working on 5lbs more. That will get me back to 150, fitting into 6/8's.

    It's about your frame of mind. I told myself 5lbs at a time, we'll see what we feel like when we get to 161, 156...I was quite happy at 156, until I planned a beach trip which encouraged me to go for 5lbs more. This time I will bottom out at 150, and have 155 as my "warning" number. And I will continue to weigh once a week and not be "scale avoidant" like I was all of 2014.
  • skyblue99
    skyblue99 Posts: 6 Member
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    I feel terrible for gaining my weight back too! I guess this should be greater motivation to stay the course this go round. Heath and fitness should be apart of our daily routine, whether we need to lose the weight or keep it maintained.