I Have Noticed Many People Returning, Having Regained Their Weight ...

LivingtheLeanDream · February 2018

For everyone who posts in the success section about losing weight/maintaining there is probably twice as many more 'I'm back because I've gained' posts.

I reckon if people stopped walking away from MFP when they hit their goal weight then maybe there wouldn't be so many posts about having to start over again and again...

WolfDenOne · February 2018

MFP was great for me. I reached my goals with the help of a group of people I connected with, one who had become a friend... and one to whom I'm engaged. We both stopped MFP and going to the gym... and both regained the weight. We're back with a vengeance!

rainbow198 · February 2018

This is a great thread. I lost 80 pounds on my own 5 years ago and have maintained since then so I didn't experience yo-yoing with my weight.

I've noticed a few posts from people that said after they've lost the weight they get bored. A couple things that helps me in maintenance is that I make new fitness goals. Once the excitement of losing a pound here or an inch there goes away it can be easy to get complacent. Fitness goals helps me to focus on something not related to weight loss.

Secondly, I still live life the way I did while I was dropping those 80 pounds. I plan my meals, exercise daily, I'm always reading and researching things concerning health/fitness nutrition, I try new recipes, and I'm always searching for new workouts and buy new toys for my home gym.

Now that I've lost the weight and have maintained it, now I eat more calories, stay humble, I don't get comfortable and tell myself that I've made it or "done". I work at it everyday it to keep the weight off.

I've made this a way of life and I enjoy it, I'm going to have to think about food and fitness for the rest of my life. I will do whatever it takes to maintain a healthy weight and stay in shape.

Good luck to you all!

GottaBurnEmAll · February 2018

rainbow198 wrote: »

This is a great thread. I lost 80 pounds on my own 5 years ago and have maintained since then so I didn't experience yo-yoing with my weight.

I've noticed a few posts from people that said after they've lost the weight they get bored. A couple things that helps me in maintenance is that I make new fitness goals. Once the excitement of losing a pound here or an inch there goes away it can be easy to get complacent. Fitness goals helps me to focus on something not related to weight loss.

Secondly, I still live life the way I did while I was dropping those 80 pounds. I plan my meals, exercise daily, I'm always reading and researching things concerning health/fitness nutrition, I try new recipes, and I'm always searching for new workouts and buy new toys for my home gym.

Now that I've lost the weight and have maintained it, now I eat more calories, stay humble, I don't get comfortable and tell myself that I've made it or "done". I work at it everyday it to keep the weight off.

I've made this a way of life and I enjoy it, I'm going to have to think about food and fitness for the rest of my life. I will do whatever it takes to maintain a healthy weight and stay in shape.

Good luck to you all!

I do all of this too, but I have put on a few pounds (7) that I'm in the process of losing.

I tend to have issues with binge restrict cycles that cropped up in my second year of dieting. I'm trying different approaches to dealing with them. Slowly, they are working because over time, my binges are getting smaller and smaller.

That seven pounds was ten and it has yo-yo'ed. The main player in the deal was a medical crisis last spring that led to the biggest chunk of the weight, but I've weathered another diagnosis since then without batting an eyelash, so I think I learned something about being resilient.

eigna9187 · February 2018

I didn't gain all of it back just about 15 pounds. Holidays, and extremely bad health issues for my family has come into effect. I am basicxally a caretaker for my dad until he can get surgery as he cant really walk or eat by himself so I have been constantly tired and having a hard time with anxiety and leaving him alone by himself long enough to gym/work out. Plus trying to eat healthy on less time has caused me to fall into bad habits. Slowly starting over. Again

KBurkhardt08 · February 2018

I lost 45 pounds, got a new job, gained a little back but nothing crazy. Then my uncle who was the closest thing I had to a dad died suddenly and I gained it all back. I went through a lot of phases. First I didn't care about weight loss or anything really. Then I decided I didn't want losing weight to take over my life so I was just going to be happy. Now that the majority of my grief has subsided I've decided to get back on the weight loss thing but I'm still more interested in happiness then weight loss so it hasn't taken over my life like it did the first time. I count calories and I exercise a lot. Exercise makes me happy but on weekends I don't count calories and if I have something fun planned I don't worry about food because weight loss isn't everything. Its important to enjoy our lives.

aeloine · February 2018

bump

Diatonic12 · June 2018

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/25384.php

Behavioral change trumps dieting hands down.

Rethink fasting and IF for the permanent win. Brand new research:

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321864.php

"New research suggests that intermittent fasting may raise insulin levels, damage pancreatic cells, and increase the amount of abdominal fat.

Intermittent fasting may be a popular diet, but it may also harm our metabolic health, suggests a new study.
The so-called intermittent fasting diet has been gaining more and more traction among people who want to lose weight quickly.

This popular diet consists of "fast" days, where one drastically restricts their calorie intake — to a quarter of the daily dose or less, for instance — and "feast" days, where the person dieting can eat whatever they please.

Sometimes referred to as a dieting "fad," intermittent fasting has become popular in recent years, due to its suggested benefits of increasing lifespan and staving off cancer.

Indeed, some animal studies have indicated that intermittent fasting may lower the risk of cancer, while observational studies have shown that people whose religion has them fasting regularly live longer than seniors who do not fast.

But could there also be downsides to intermittent fasting. Research presented at the European Society of Endocrinology annual meeting — which took place in Barcelona, Spain — suggests that the dieting practice may have serious consequences for a person's metabolism.

Specifically, the new study — led by Ana Cláudia Munhoz Bonassa, a researcher at the University of São Paulo in Brazil — suggests that intermittent fasting may impair the normal activity of the pancreas and the production of insulin, which may, in turn, raise the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Intermittent fasting may lead to diabetes

The researchers were prompted in their endeavor by older studies suggesting that fasting for a short period of time increases oxidative stress and the production of free radicals.

Oxidative stress and excessive levels of free radicals have been suggested to speed up the aging process and to damage our DNA, raising the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegeneration."

kimber0607 · June 2018

Graelwyn75 wrote: »

So, I want to hear your personal stories as to why you regained the weight, and what you would do differently with hindsight.

Would you have stayed on mfp longer, tracking, until you had been in maintenance for a year?
Would you have lost weight less aggressively so that it was easier to adjust to maintenance?
Was your entire focus on the weight loss rather than on changing your entire lifestyle?
Did something health related come up that caused you to 'fall off the proverbial wagon' ?

I, personally, made the mistake of leaving both mfp and the gym and of training at an intensity that was not sustainable in the long term. Leaving this site and that lifestyle lost me a large amount of the fitness and self esteem I had worked so hard to obtain. I was not overweight, but was using mfp to refocus an unhealthy obsession with weight and convert it into a goal of being as fit, lean and strong as I could. So, tell me your stories ...

Im back after gaining some of the weight back
I think I became too relaxed..stopped paying attention to calories/skipped weigh-ins
One day of bad eating turned into 2,3, 4, etc
It really did feel like in the blink of an eye I gained 20 pounds than I was so angry/upset w myself
but hopefully now im back on track

Diatonic12 · June 2018

"5 percent of the population can keep their weight off after losing it
"95 percent of the population thinks they are in this 5 percent"

Within 5 years only 5% of people on non-surgical diet programs can keep the weight off. It is 7% for WLS patients - that includes all surgeries.

Diatonic12 · June 2018

Behavior change for the WIN.

If dieting really worked, you would go on one diet, one time and it would fix everything for you for a lifetime.

Dieting doesn't work. The brain goes on mute with each dieting excursion you go on. The brain doesn't care if you ever maintain a major weight loss. It's bent on survival and protecting itself. The brain will see to it that you eat it all back with friends.

Rebound weight gain. Sliding back off the goose. You're going to have to fight like hail to be in that number. The 5% that actually maintains a major weight loss longer than 5 years, longer than 10 years....for the rest of your life.

There's no such thing as the finish line. There's so much work to do after all of the weight releasing is done. Mostly, you're going to have deal with a brain that has some really deep grooves in it.

Diatonic12 · June 2018

You can't fix a broken brain with a broken brain.

If you have broken metabolic and hunger cues due to genetics, environment, medical condition - all kinds of metabolic breakers - you can't fix it by going on another diet. It won't fix a broken brain. Keep dieting and eating it all back, the metabolism slows down even further with every dieting excursion.

You don't want to go out like that. So stop dieting altogether. You're going to have to create another groove for your brain. It won't like it but just tell your brain to shut up.

You are going to follow through with reasonable restriction and not overrestriction. Track your stats and data points. Stay within your normal river banks, what's right for you. Keep doing this like it's your job each and every day.

Don't look to the left or to the right. Let nothing deter you. When your brain actually knows that you are following through, a shift happens in the brain. It is no longer on mute. You can turn off a muted brain with taking action and reaching your goal.

Self-sabotage is the #1 reason the dieting brain goes on mute. When you stop short of following through with a task the brain goes into self-protection modes and says...we don't need to bother. Let's just lay down on the job and take a nap. The brain is not really lazy but very conserving and efficient.

This doesn't only apply to dieting but doing the laundry, dishes, tasks you really can't stand - not following through mutes the brain and causes more procrastination. Unmute your brain and don't cut it any slack.

Follow through and create a new groove, super highway for the brain. You'll have a much better chance of actually getting there and staying there. I've ridden the merry-go-round and I have taken a big nose dive, sliding back off the goose. I'm not doing it anymore. Draw your line in the sand and refuse to quit and give up.

baybonzon · June 2018

I do yoga and walking, but I have a tendency to overindulge in sugary food.,chocolate, bad carbs. I also gave up meat but for some reason started craving chocolate. Now that I am getting older its harder to lose weight. My 10 lbs is like 100 to others. I cant go on extreme bootcamp regimen due to my knees. My downfall is that I go with my friends and family and I love my martini. It doesn't matter if I drink one drink a week it'll still take me the whole week to lose that 1-2 pound gain from the alcohol. I would like to lose 15 pounds and keep it off. I know that logging in my food keeps me in check. I work out in the morning but it seems that the last couple of months I've been Netflix binging a lot.

Diatonic12 · June 2018

@baybonzon Try not think of of your personal food choices with moral judgment. Good or bad carbs. Clean or Dirty Eating. All or Nothing. Naughty or Nice. I was a really naughty girl today, I was bad and I ate dirty foods. Even "Cheat" meals is counterproductive to the brain. You're cheating on yourself and that's just another dieting dichotomy for the brain to deal with.

Create your own plan which is really just eating the food you enjoy. Eat all of them but track them without assigning moral judgment.

If you have a special eating protocol you're following and it's the answer to all of your problems, I mean it is the miracle cure...then why O why do you need a "Cheat Meal". You don't. That's just a mind warp. Overrestricted or rigid eating plans always need a "Cheat Meal". And long term, those don't work.

Compensating by Cheating = Another recipe that eventually leads to eating it all back.

There's going be another metabolic blowback and food reckoning coming right around the corner. Create a way of eating that satisfies you for the rest of your life. As long as we both shall live.

kshama2001 · June 2018

baybonzon wrote: »

I do yoga and walking, but I have a tendency to overindulge in sugary food.,chocolate, bad carbs. I also gave up meat but for some reason started craving chocolate. Now that I am getting older its harder to lose weight. My 10 lbs is like 100 to others. I cant go on extreme bootcamp regimen due to my knees. My downfall is that I go with my friends and family and I love my martini. It doesn't matter if I drink one drink a week it'll still take me the whole week to lose that 1-2 pound gain from the alcohol. I would like to lose 15 pounds and keep it off. I know that logging in my food keeps me in check. I work out in the morning but it seems that the last couple of months I've been Netflix binging a lot.

I allow myself to Netflix binge the two days a month when I'm mostly incapacitated due to my period. Other than that, I exercise while Netflixing.

BigMamaLynsey · June 2018

1st time: lost 24lbs roughly and one day I woke up with horrible pain and throwing up. The pain was so severe I ended up going to hospital. Turned out to be kidney stones! My fault for not drinking. I do blame my diet because I cut fizzy drinks out and I hate water so o barely drank. I fell off the band wagon from there.

2nd time: lost 24lbs roughly and I was doing so well for about 6 months and my weight loss began to stall. Then Christmas came and the temptation too much. Along with my depression getting worse.

Basically it's down to my health and mental health. So one day I looked in the mirror and saw how big I was becoming.. bravley stood on scale and my weight was at its highest ever! Also I noticed I was out of breath alot more and I was worried about my health. 2 weeks In I feel so much better. Lost 4lbs and counting

sbrooks0387 · June 2018

Hubby quite trucking and likes ice cream. Every. Single. Night. I gained what I had lost back over the next year and a half. I was to the point where I hated myself again, and have learned to treat ice cream like the treat it is.

CarvedTones · June 2018

I have yoyed for years. In the past. I set a goal and then gave myself some room with a range above and below it. I would almost immediately go to the top of the range and increase the range with the top being my "lose back to the bottom" trigger. Then I would put off starting the diet when I got to the top, I am going to start losing soon, so what's a couple of more pounds on top going to change? the next thing I know, I am far enough away from goal that getting back is going to be a big effort again and I put it off more and slide more. I was going from highs in the 215-230 range and lows n the 170-185 range. I am 5'6", so I was going between obese and overweight.

This time, I chose my goal to be staying below a BMI of 25; as in never hitting it. 164 is 24.9. I got there at the beginning of March and then lost down to 160 and managed to stay close to that for a couple of months, never going over 164. But spikes got uncomfortably close so I lost down into the high 150s. The lowest I have gotten to is 156. I have been below 160 for about 3 weeks. So now I am trying to stay in a range of 155-160 and 164 is my do not ever, ever go over weight. This time I am still tracking everything every day and I am more active. I am more diligent about weighing and reacting to what the scale says. I got rid of my bigger clothes so it isn't easy to just wear a bigger size until I start losing. I lost ~65 pounds to the lowest weight I have been in about 35 years. I have stayed at the low weight long enough to get used to how good it feels. I am hopeful this time I make it work.

ImNancyLynn · June 2018

I never left MFP, I've been here for several years I lost 49 lbs and then stopped logging at some point. I remember saying oh,its only 7 lbs that I gained.I can lose that easily,I still fit in my clothes! That 7 turned into 20! Yikes! I stopped weighing myself... yeah like that helps anything. I figured out that LOGGING is my salvation. It gives me an ending point. I like to refer to it as my "off" switch. I stop eating when I have hit my calorie goal and end my day. With out the "off" switch I just kept eating. So as of the last two weeks I have been diligent about my logging and more engaged with my support group on MFP. The plan is to keep logging, keep making healthy choices and be here on MFP for a good long time! Thank you all for sharing your experiences, this thread has been enlightening for sure!

Original_Sinner · June 2018

Graelwyn75 wrote: »

So, I want to hear your personal stories as to why you regained the weight, and what you would do differently with hindsight.

Would you have stayed on mfp longer, tracking, until you had been in maintenance for a year?
Would you have lost weight less aggressively so that it was easier to adjust to maintenance?
Was your entire focus on the weight loss rather than on changing your entire lifestyle?
Did something health related come up that caused you to 'fall off the proverbial wagon' ?

I, personally, made the mistake of leaving both mfp and the gym and of training at an intensity that was not sustainable in the long term. Leaving this site and that lifestyle lost me a large amount of the fitness and self esteem I had worked so hard to obtain. I was not overweight, but was using mfp to refocus an unhealthy obsession with weight and convert it into a goal of being as fit, lean and strong as I could. So, tell me your stories ...

I did 7 trials of IVF with one success. Each trial with the hormones, the injections and required bed rest/minimal activity, resulted in a gain. It didn't matter how much I would eat or not eat. I still gained thanks to the hormones. The lack of activity required also didn't help much.

I wouldn't call it a mistake but I definitely have to recover some ground that I lost, and put in hard work to get to where I was. But it'll happen, because I LIKE eating the way we do (my husband and I) and I LIKE working out 5-6 days a week.

Diatonic12 · June 2018

Maintenance is where the rubber hits the road. I want to see the success photos about 5, 10 or 15 years down the line. I threw all of my Befores in the bin. I don't want anymore Befores.

kristingjertsen · June 2018

I lost 56 pounds with weight watchers 7 years ago. I managed to keep it all off for 3 years, then menopause and surgery with a prolonged recovery put 26 pounds back on. I did keep up with exercise and healthier eating. This January I decided it was time to get serious about getting my weight down again (Middle-aged weight gain comes with some big health costs so I wanted to get rid of the spare tire around my waist). I used MFP to track my calories and exercise because I could not afford to go back to Weight Watchers. I am down 10 pounds since January with 10 to 15 more to go. The answer is that life gets in the way of health goals sometimes and recalibration is the only way to deal with the problem. I was happy that I was able to keep off 30 pounds but I wanted to get back my healthier body.

Snowflake1968 · June 2018

What a good post.

I lost close to 30 pounds in 2012 from April to October. I made myself workout for 1 hour a day, logged food consistently and drank my water. In November I was called home as my Dad's cancer had progressed rapidly. I went home, spent the next 3 weeks at the hospital with him, dealt with the funeral and such. Came back to my own home and went back to work. Work was awful, stressful and busy. I then realized by Spring I had sunk into a deep depression. Add on the depression from my Dad we had a lot of financial problems due to the economy in Alberta, lost vehicles, lost a home, all of the financial responsibility fell to me so I couldn't even think about looking for other work or quitting.

Needless to say, diet, exercise none of it was even a blip on my radar, I was too busy just trying to survive. In August of last year I lost my job, I ate my way through the winter with all of the comfort foods. In February of this year when I finally had a new job and finally felt I was out of my depression I started logging again. I didn't own a scale so just thought I would log. 3 weeks later I bought a scale and was devastated, but not surprised, that I was over 200 pounds.

Today I am down 17 pounds, I have not forced myself to workout 1 hour a day, I try to get a bit more activity in each day and I try to keep my calories in check. Life is always going to knock me on my "donkey" and I need to be prepared to deal with that. This time I have decided that I will continue to log and weigh no matter what happens, at least I will be aware if I'm gaining this time and not just going by my clothes being a bit tight.

cebreisch · June 2018

I lost something like 140 pounds from April 11, 2011 through April, 2013. Then I had surgery to remove some excess skin around my stomach that was causing issue. Recovering from that proved VERY difficult. I went from wanting to eat everything to not wanting to eat anything. People told me I looked ashen and like death..except for when I would eat something, and after it’d get through the system, my color would drain away again.

Then in December 2013, my father passed away from Multiple Myeloma. From then until this April, I gained all but 10 pounds of it back.

I got into a funk of “why bother logging anything or doing anything if I’m just going to gain it back”. THen decided that I couldn’t not do something. I went back to the bariatric surgeon I initially saw to see about lap-band surgery - which I never got - to see about getting it done now.

It’s not that I don’t think I can lose the weight, I worry about being able to keep it off. My body doesn’t operate like it’s supposed to in processing hormones, which makes it harder for me to lose weight and keep it off. Doesn’t mean I can’t - just means it’s harder.

I should have gone back to the surgeon after I gained back about 30 pounds. I shouldn’t have waited. I kept pushing back the deadline to go back to the surgeon thinking if I could just get myself back together, then I’d be okay. Here I am now, 5 years later.

ShellyMacchi · June 2018

7 years ago I successfully lost approx 75 lbs and reached my goal. For the first time in my life I felt good.. healthy, normal, active... just a shame it took me reaching 54 to get there!
But the success was due to consistently using mfp to track both my calorie intake and my exercise, and never netting below the recommended net calories for each day. In fact as my weight dropped I found I had to start upping my net calories at regular intervals or my weight lose would slow to a stop. I never would have believed it if I hadn't experienced it myself, eat more to lose more LOL.
I was on top of the world!

All was fine, I was able to maintain.. but... only for about 6 months. By then I decided to go back to work fulltime (during the first half of that year, when I was losing so consistently, I was not working so was able to devote myself to alot of time 'outside' being active, and consistently tracking food and pre-planning my days and even weeks worth of menus ahead of time.

When I went back to work, in a high stressed, fast-paced job (not sure why I always end up in those LOL), it was a slow decline back into old (bad) habits.
Too tired to make myself get out and stay active
Too mentally exhausted at the end of each day (and beginning of each day) to devote the time I knew I needed to take to stay on track.
Too overwhelmed by the demands of trying to still do everything that needed to be taken care out around the house and family responsibilities, in the rare bits of time I was actually not at work.

So here I am.. seven years later... by the middle of last year I found myself almost back to where I had started 7 years ago.

During the previous 2 years, my husband was unemployed, no income from him at all for last half of second year, plus his health was taking a bad turn for the worse, and to make matters unimaginably worse, we lost our youngest daughter (my stepdaughter, husbands, daughter, she was 21) right before halloween at the time his unemployment began.

So... the underlying trend here.. for me.. in identifying my weight gain... STRESS!!!

This last December (2017) I found myself in excruciating pain (back spasms as a result of an old back injury that has come back to start haunting me after all these years), and the simple act of trying to lay on an xray table, and then having acupuncture treatments, just about did me in. And all I could think while battling that pain was...
"if only I hadn't gained that weight back.. this would not be as difficult to deal with if only I weighed less"

so...

January 1st 2018 I was back at it... then started logging back into MFP again, the one thing I KNOW about myself (as i DO know how to eat in a healthy manner, and no, I never thought of this as a diet) is i NEED the assistance/support I give myself by tracking.

That's the magic of using MFP for me... I can keep myself accountable.. I don't 'fudge' my food choices, and I leave nothing out... the good and the not as good.. because the only person I would be hurting by not being brutally honest in my food diary.. is me.
And because this is not a diet... I eat in a manner that I know I can continue for the rest of my life,
Hopefully I've learned to not shoulder quite as much of the stress I'd taken on in the past, and this time the maintenance will not be the part where I let myself down again.

6 months in now, I have lost 43 lbs of the 75 I had lost before, (only this time I am doing so while still at that same high-paced job that got in my way before!)
This time my goal is 175 to 180 (not the 165 I reached before, as I actually felt too 'gaunt' then.
And this time (so far) I am not doing any extra exercising as back is still cranky.

So I am pretty much on the same length of time track as I was 7 years ago... by fall I expect (hope) to be back to my goal.
Not bad for a 61 year old

The thing is... this method of tracking food is what works for me.
Everyone has different needs.

I can (and will) return to it time and again if/when things get out of hand.
And I will keep doing that as long as it takes to 'finally' get maintenance 'right'

Good luck everyone. I love seeing so many refusing to 'give up'!!
So long as we keep trying, we are winning

Diatonic12 · June 2018

My original factory settings did not include dieting. Can you think of a point in your lifetime when dieting was the last thing on your mind or you didn't even know what it was. In my childhood, there were parties and celebrations, something special on the weekends. My folks never said, 'Ooo hey, kids, it's Friday night, how 'bout we all go out for a "Cheat Meal". Let's just go on a real lallapalooza food bender, shall we. Or it's Saturday night, let's go thrill eating. We'll hit every drive-in and then polish it off down at the dairy queen.

Let's just be naughty and eat dirty foods. Nuh huh.

I started dieting with the girls in high school. That ruined my relationship with food. I read those dippy magazines with a new diet and tried all of them. It was a huge mistake. So I'm going back to my original factory settings and it's been the fight of my life to get back there.

swimmchick87 · June 2018

I lost 30 pounds 4 years ago. I kept it off completely for 2 years, essentially following the same habit. The 3rd year I did the yo-yo thing, but the most I ever gained back was less than 15 pounds of it. I did find that the level of exercise I was doing was just too much for me to maintain long term- I was hating it and I was sore and cranky all of the time.

Last summer, I started a plan that felt really sustainable to me- calorie counting with one higher calorie day per week and moderate exercise just 30 minutes 4 days per week (I'd been doing 1-2 hours daily when I first lost the weight). I got back to my original weight around Halloween, maintained for a bit, and then totally went off the rails around the holidays. I honestly don't understand what happened- I just lost all motivation after that and started binging. I would say, "Well, one more bad meal won't make that big of a difference." Yeah, obviously it did. I also quit my gym because it had gotten so expensive, with the intention of joining another cheaper one, but never did.

A few weeks ago I had to go out and buy all new clothes because nothing fit and I had a trip coming up. I knew I'd gained, but wanted to enjoy my trip and figured I'd weigh in after that. Well, I did, and I weighed 198 pounds- 10 pounds more than my highest starting weight before and 40 pounds more than my lowest weight around Halloween. It's honestly shocking to me that I gained that amount in that short of time.

The one big takeaway for me is do NOT stop weighing, even if I'm not doing well. I avoid the scale like the plague when I know I'm not doing well. I would have never let myself get to basically 200 pounds had I been weighing regularly. The mirror can be deceiving.

Especially since I'm starting at a higher weight this time, I'm also trying having more calories to see if that makes it more sustainable. Before I was on 1200, now I just aim for less than 1500.

My plan is to get down to a weight that I'm "more comfortable with"- even if it's not ideal, say under 170- and then set my goal to only lose 1 pound per week so that I can continue losing with a higher amount of calories. If I find that difficult, I'll go for .5 pounds per week. I'd rather take the time to get down to my ideal weight rather than getting there quickly and putting it all back on.

I think another myth is that you can get each much more or exercise less in maintenance. Maybe that does work out for some people, but I don't think it's true for me. I think metabolisms adjust. My mom went from a size 4x to a size 4 and has kept it off for almost 10 years. Her "maintenance" plan is almost exactly the same as her "diet" plan- it just has a few more days in it with higher calorie amounts. When losing she did a straight 1300 calories per day. Now she does that most days, but has 4 days per month when she can do 1600 calories and one "free" day per month. She exercises the same.

Jackie9003 · June 2018

I lost 6 stone through diet and exercise but then had a pregnancy, a redundancy, a divorce, a few *kitten* relationships, followed by another redundancy, no exercise, too many take aways and drunken nights out so it all went back on and more.
I don't think I could have done anything differently as it was such a stressful time but now I'm happily remarried and want to be healthy so determined not to put it back on once I've lost it again.

Diatonic12 · June 2018

When I see someone excited about another liquid meal replacement diet, desperate for a cure, it's sad. Unless they stick with the 2 drink aday and the one small meal, the minute they fall back into their former way of eating the rebound comes back with a fury plus friends. Drinks, supplements, self-induced starving cannot be sustained for the rest of your life. We have to think long term over the long haul, waaaaay down the road.

When someone asks, 'When will I know I'm finished?'. You're not. All of us may look forward to being on the other side of all this but if we've released a major amount of weight it's going to be a balancing act for the rest of our lives. Technically, if only 5% are maintaining after the 5 year mark that means the other 95% have thrown the towel in or they're starting over and over and over again.

KrazyKrissyy · June 2018

I gained muscle (I get DEXA scans by the way).
In 2013, I started at 187 pounds and 43% body fat. After crash dieting (no exercise), I was 121 pounds and 27% body fat by 2015. I also have epilepsy by the way. I began heavy lifting and switched to a diet higher in protein/fat and lower in carbs while cycling my calories (I'll literally eat anywhere from 1,100 to 2,500+ calories depending on my activity level and appetite for the day). I'm now 151 pounds and 23% body fat. My waist is even smaller (23 inches) and have abs and a thigh gap. Legs are more solid too. So technically, I "re-gained" weight (30 pounds in 3 years) but it's in the form of muscle.

I Have Noticed Many People Returning, Having Regained Their Weight ...

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