How'd you gain it back?

I lost 55lbs, then gained back about 20. I graduated from uni and went back home where my mum cooked dinner, meaning I couldn't count calories accurately anymore. I also no longer had some scales so stopped weighing myself. I went by how I looked in the mirror and how my clothes felt. I tried to exercise and eat as little as possible during the day and have smaller portions at dinner so that I didn't go over my calories. None of that worked, a few months later I weighed myself and had gained 20lbs. I've now moved out and am counting properly now that I can control what I eat again, and I've got some scales that I now use again everyday.

So my issues were not counting accurately and not weighing myself.

I think the minute I stop paying attention is when I start to re-gain. It creeps back up rather easily. For me, it's important to weigh myself every day as well. I know some frown on that but I need to see the number on the scale every single day, sometimes more then once, despite the fluctuations. It keeps me on track. Otherwise I'll gain 10 pounds in a week, easily!

When I was in my yo yo phase it was because I didn't understand maintenance...I wasn't counting calories.

Now I am, I log even during maintenance and stay in goal. Logging is the key for a lot of people.

If you continue to log you are aware of how much you are eating...everyday and those bad habits don't creep back in.

I lost 65 pounds and gained back 40. I just got lazy and inactive. I started out by telling myself it was okay to have a treat, or okay to have one day where I didn't worry about logging... and before I knew it I was six months out from my lowest weight and scarfing down 3000 calories of junk per day. I also completely quit the physical activity I'd worked hard to achieve while I was losing, preferring to get rides from friends instead of walking and watch TV instead of lifting.

There were other factors (depression, starting a second job, our coldest/wettest winter in memory) at play, and denial played a hefty role as well -- I was forever telling myself I wasn't eating so terribly, or of course I wasn't gaining that much -- but at the end of the day I simply lost my willpower for a while. To be honest, I'm still struggling to stay on track; for whatever reason, calorie-counting and being physical are harder for me than they were a year ago. My hope is that it'll become easier as I become re-accustomed to it.

Four years ago I lost 22 pounds on WW. I maintained for about 7 months then went on vacation to visit family. Didn't follow my plan and started gaining back slowly after that. I've been on MFP twice since then to lose the weight I've gained back- about half of the weight, not all of it. The trigger for me each time has been going on a long vacay- I'm talking weeks. With summer coming up I'm about to face that gauntlet again!

I maintained my 5 and a half stone weight loss for almost 3 years but then a combination of a stressful situation at work and having to give up exercise for 18 months due to ankle and shoulder problems led to 3 stone creeping back on. It's coming off again now though! I'm exercising again and logging everything so hopefully be back at goal soon!

I regained some of the weight because I was in denial for a long time. It crept back on slowly, clothes became tight slowly. Each hurdle I swore I would get back on track (and I kept up with the exercise for the most part, but that could not undo my crappy diet) Each 5lbs I made promises to myself, then 5lbs became 10, then 15, then 20+ etc.

I became unmotivated and depressed. I was angry at myself and that should have been a motivator *but it just became self loathing. Eventually the exercise became zilch but the poor diet continued so I gained more weight.

I didn't prepare myself for maintenance. I figured I lost the weight that I was "all good".

I am back, round 2, more determined than ever to get the 're-gain' back off. I still have my slips and poor choices but I am trying to correct my way of thinking which is what leads to the poor choices to begin with. I often have to remind myself to keep my head in the game. It's a constant.

Long story short, you have to be honest and consistent with yourself and your food/logging, and vigilant when or if the weight begins to come back on, even just a couple pounds, get on top of it THEN.

Good luck!

I never really learned anything about portion control in my first stint, but I was running enough to keep me covered. Once I was injured and unable to run my overeating allowed me to quickly and easily put on 20 pounds. I'm a 5'3" woman who wants to be able to eat the same as a 6'3" man and still fit into the same jeans. It doesn't work that way, sadly. Getting a food scale really helped me see exactly how much I was overestimating portions and I'm learning that just because I can eat an entire pizza in one sitting does not mean I need to or should.

lindsmayf wrote: »

I've been focusing on my health for three months now - and I've lost about 15 pounds! But I'm worried about slacking off and gaining it back... My self-discipline is not exactly stellar.

For those of you who have lost the weight, then later gained it back: What was your trigger? Was it a situation in your life, the time commitment, or just losing motivation?

Good thread by the way. Thank you. It's good to acknowledge the why, where, when and how we go wrong.

I had reached my goal weight of 125 lbs, then got a promotion at work last year which added more stress to an already stressful job. Was working crazy hours and lots of them! Never saw my family, so that put a huge strain on my marriage. To relieve my pain, i started having cocktails frequently. Long story short, i ended up quitting my job and felt like i put 25 lbs back on overnight! Started working with my husband who is self employed and involves a LOT of driving. My old job required 8+ hrs of walking, running, lifting, etc. I have now cut out the alcohol, eat better and exercise. The weight is slowly starting to come off.

lindsmayf wrote: »

I've been focusing on my health for three months now - and I've lost about 15 pounds! But I'm worried about slacking off and gaining it back... My self-discipline is not exactly stellar.

For those of you who have lost the weight, then later gained it back: What was your trigger? Was it a situation in your life, the time commitment, or just losing motivation?

I haven't gained it back, but in my experience, people gain it back because they fail to actually adopt this new lifestyle that they talk so much about. By lifestyle, I'm not talking about logging or keeping a diary either...I'm talking about ditching the SAD and moving on. Healthful eating and regular exercise and activity in general.

I've been maintaining right on about 2 years and I don't log. I eat very healthfully for the most part. My diet consists largely of whole food nutrition and meals prepared from scratch, whole ingredients. It's easy to eat a bag of potato chips and down a couple thousand calories in a sitting...I challenge you to do that with an actual potato. Fruit and veg are front and center in my diet with roughly 6 servings per day and a serving or two of fruit per day. Most of my protein is lean sourced...I eat a lot of eggs, fish and chicken and lean cuts of pork and beef...fattier cuts are a nice treat on a special occasion. Legumes, lentils, oats, and brown rice are staples of my diet and I get most of my fats from things like avocado, olives, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil. nuts, etc.

In addition to nutrition I exercise regularly...exercise is just as important, if not moreso in maintenance. This is why the exercise regimen you adopt while losing weight should be sustainable...too many people go nut trying to lose weight and they burn out. People also associate exercise with weight loss rather than fitness...so they lose the weight and they stop exercising...because after all, they're not trying to lose anymore right? Big mistake and very common.

I and my family are also just pretty active in general. We like to be out and about doing things when we can. My wife and are stuck behind desks most of the day, but we like to spend evenings walking the dog and weekends taking the kids hiking or doing family bike rides or long afternoons walking around the zoo, etc. We don't spend too much time just lounging around, watching t.v. or whatever...we like being out and about when we can be.

All of these things are habits that have been cultivated over the last 2 years and 9 months or so....they didn't come overnight...lots of baby steps and mini goals and the realization that I'm never really "done"...there is always something to improve on.

I gained it back because I started eating out more. Especially vacations or family events like a funeral . I return home to ashamed to step on the scale. I feel resentful that the event didn't allowed me freedom to exercise or included lots of pub food ( which I hate) then the bad feelings of shame and resentfulness manifest in eating comfort food and the scale rockets.

Failure to plan, not having time to take care of myself and eating out are my triggers

I tend to do better if I have a plan in place after family events to diet...for instance I do alway go on an extreme diet before and after the Christmas holidays.

I lost weight at first, but then starting to comfort eat because pf situations that arose in life. The food was good and it was easy to say screw it, Ill lose it down the line. In the end I gained weight, didnt want to get any bigger and realised the eating wouldnt solve my problems, so here I am again. I dont have much to lose but its still a challenge. Really hope I dont fall into that trap again.

The moment I stop actively dieting I start gaining. It's always been that way for me-- I apparently don't have any good concept of maintenance....

The trigger for stopping dieting though? It's been things like: feeling depressed, being overly busy, becoming so bored with my healthy food rotation that I lose interest in eating for several days and end up binging eventually (CICO has hopefully solved that one at least!), family difficulties, injury/illness, moving, or special occasions like holidays or vacation.

I had lost 80 pounds. Then I plateaued for like, a year. It was frustrating. And then, the creep began. A slice of pizza here, a slice there - what did it matter since I wasn't getting to my goal anyway? And then... I got a boyfriend. Who really liked to eat. And I said, what the heck? Sure! Let's go out to eat all the time and eat all the things! And then my mom died. And then my then-fiance decided he didn't want to marry me after all. And then I ate all my feelings.

^^^ eff that. Lessons learned.