Why is regaining weight so common????

Studies indicate that 95% of people who lose weight gain it all back and then some. What do we need to do to be that 5% ? In Never Say Diet by Chantel Hobbs she says we have to change our brain. We have to think differently about food and develop a whole new relationship to food. It is for fuel, not our best friend. We have to find other ways to comfort ourselves, celebrate, destress ourselves,etc. other than food. When things are bothering us, we need to talk about them rather than stuffing down our emotions with food. Exercise also plays a key role. We have to find some exercise and activities that we love, that we are passionate about. She also says we need to celebrate peak moments in our lives. Not just weight loss. And not just celebrate with food. Enjoy friends and family and being together. Quit listening and paying attention to the adds and billboards that tell us we need to have a Big Mac or a carmel mocha latte to experience happiness. They are lying to us! Find other ways to be happy and find joy in life other than food. Then you will not want to go back. Make a list of reasons of why you never want to go back. Read it often. Take before and after pictures and put them in a place you will look at every day.
You are a new person. Celebrate it!

I decided this sounded too argumentative so I'm just gonna erase it. But it basically boiled down to it's not a diet it's a change in lifestyle you can't go back.

Ditto's to last three comments, even the erased one that I don't think was that argumentative at all.

Like when a Dr tells you that some lifestyle change is needed in order to deal with some issue, you may not be thrilled with it, but if that's the best course of action, it needs to be done.

But then again aren't we the culture of "give me a pill" purely for the aspect of not wanting to deal with something, or don't want to restrict something. Or basically do it for me.
Interesting talking to PT's who know what % of people actually do the recommended movements on their own when they are supposed to, and this is even with seeing improvement just from when they come in and do them. So despite seeing improvements, can't take 5-15 min away to do something to help themselves.

Obviously for some people, especially in some lands, there is a balancing point. Family needs to eat, you need to make money, you do some job that tears your body up, slowly but surely, or perhaps faster.
But you have few if any options, so you do it.

I kept my weight off for ten years. Initially, I remember it being very hard working back into maintenance calories without gaining weight at an explosive rate. But, after that, I ate like a normal person. I want to say it took over a year to finally get maintenance to work. Beer, pizza on the weekends, yogurt and leaner meat during the week. I didn't count or measure for a long time.
But, then I had a really stressful time and regained very quickly. The weight gain in no way matched the calories consumed. It was a ridiculous amount of weight to gain in two months and there is no way I had the calories to do it. There is something to stress having an impact on metabolism.
For some people, regaining is a gradual creep, for others it's attached to a bigger life event and more dramatic.

I really remember thinking that maintenance was worse than the weight loss phase. I'm not looking forward to it at all. AND, yet I am. Eh..

Laura3BB wrote: »

This is an interesting post but very much North- America oriented.

Why is obesity concerning only 15% of adults in France versus 35% in the US?

We love food here in France and it's a central part of our social life too...And we don't work out all that much...
So maybe that's food for thought.
Normal weight doesn't have to mean not liking/enjoying food for example...or working out 6 days a week...

Activity has a lot to do with this. I am from Europe, I live in Canada, I still go back regularly. When I am back over there I walk *tons* more day-to-day, just to get around. Until you've lived in North America you really don't have a clue what the distances are here and how much of your movement is done in a car. In most cases you can't go buy a newspaper on Saturday morning without a car!

Of course, the fact that North Americans have some crazy (for me) ideas of what food constitutes a "treat" has something to do with it too. What would you treat yourself with for desert, a creme bavaroise or a huge bland cupcake with sugar icing? Portion sizes are yet another factor, people over here are used to seeing a portion on their plates (in restaurants, so I suppose it seeps into everyday life too) that is enough for two back across the pond.

Not that every American is fat and every European is slim because that's so evidently false it doesn't need discussing. But yes, the statistics are there for a reason.

Tubbs216 wrote: »

christinev297 wrote: »

FFS it's lose weight, not loose!

For yooouuuu!

I love those! I know you said they're for someone else, but I want them all, especially the "effect" vs "affect" one - my pet peeve