Fearful of trying to just gain it back

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Replies

  • sbrandt37
    sbrandt37 Posts: 403 Member
    edited January 2017
    I think a few of the posters above have already nailed it, so I will just add that if you don't try you are guaranteed to fail. The thing you gain by trying is the possibility of success, and the more committed you are, the more likely it becomes.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    Because being obese is not healthy
  • active562
    active562 Posts: 135 Member
    95% do not keep it off because they follow restrictive diets and do not know that losing weight is all about calories. They deprive themselves off certain foods while dieting because they think that all it takes to lose weight is eating healthy , and when they lose the weight they start to eat even more due to this deprivation. You are lucky to know better than that and once you know how to control your calories and find what works for you through tiral and error maintenance becomes a breeze :)
  • Trish1c
    Trish1c Posts: 549 Member
    gooz71 wrote: »
    How do you get past wanting to give up for fear of just gaining it back again anyway? Only 5% of people actually keep the weight off...so I tell myself, why bother trying. :(

    It depends on what you do after you lose the weight. Once you are there, that is not license to eat all sorts of calorie laden things, ignore portion control & go back to sitting on the couch stuffing your face. You can still have cake on your birthday just eat a small piece. Stick to properly sized food other times & maintain your activity level.

  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    gooz71 wrote: »
    How do you get past wanting to give up for fear of just gaining it back again anyway? Only 5% of people actually keep the weight off...so I tell myself, why bother trying. :(

    I'm part of that 5% and it's really not that hard or complicated to maintain the loss. I have to still be mindful of my calorie intake but really that's about it :)
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    jesslla wrote: »
    The 5% statistic comes from a study done in the 1950s where they put 100 people on a diet in the hospital and then turned them loose after the weight was lost without giving them nutritional guidelines for how to eat at maintenance. Of course 95% of them gained the weight back.

    http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/25/health/95-regain-lost-weight-or-do-they.html

    We know better now. The National Weight Control Registry tracks over 10,000 people that have lost at least 30 pounds and kept the weight off for at least a year. It can be done, you're in control.

    http://nwcr.ws/

    I'm a NWCR participant, I get so geeked when I get to fill out one of their surveys :D
  • EatingAndKnitting
    EatingAndKnitting Posts: 531 Member
    crzycatlady1 wrote: »
    jesslla wrote: »
    The 5% statistic comes from a study done in the 1950s where they put 100 people on a diet in the hospital and then turned them loose after the weight was lost without giving them nutritional guidelines for how to eat at maintenance. Of course 95% of them gained the weight back.

    http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/25/health/95-regain-lost-weight-or-do-they.html

    We know better now. The National Weight Control Registry tracks over 10,000 people that have lost at least 30 pounds and kept the weight off for at least a year. It can be done, you're in control.

    http://nwcr.ws/

    I'm a NWCR participant, I get so geeked when I get to fill out one of their surveys :D

    I want to sign up once I get to that point. It's been a dream of mine for years.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    I thought about maintenance every single day during the 2.5 years it took me to lose 148 lb. I had to figure out what when wrong before and what I would do different this time. So now that I've gotten to maintenance, I have a plan. I'm not eating that differently from when I was losing, but I can take a few extra snacks or desserts each week, but not daily! I've set a 5 lb maintenance range and if I get to the top of it, I cut out those extra snacks and desserts for a week or two. If that doesn't work, I'll resume logging and eating at a deficit until I get back to mid range.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,342 Member
    Better a 5% chance of success than a 100% certainty of failure.
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
    The people who gain it back do so because they revert back to their old ways of eating either once they reach their target or at some point during the journey when life happens.

    I lost 115 pounds and had surgery to remove the extra skin on my belly - that was 26 pounds, bringing the total lost to about 143 pounds. I gained back 100 pounds over the course of the few years that followed. The recovery was a real B*TCH, my father passed away, and then I had to fight for my job. To say the least, I was NOT focused on what I was eating during that time.

    Getting back on the wagon was HARD. Like you said - the mindset of "why bother" really is a hard one to deal with. The answer is: What is your 'why'? What is worth it for you to do this? Are you going to be happy to stay where you are or is there something that's just driving you crazy to where you have to do something about it?

    If your 'why' is big enough, it'll be worth the effort.
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