How do people gain weight back?

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Replies

  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,420 Member
    edited May 2019
    kimny72 wrote: »
    Life happens. For many people, the issue is comfort/stress eating, or they have psychological issues all tied up in their eating habits, or their weight was a defense mechanism. Once the priority of "weight loss" is gone, all those stressors come back into play, quietly and sometimes subconsciously. You see the weight creeping up but tell yourself, "I deserve this comfort/enjoyment/safety right now, I'll lose the little bit of weight once things get better". But the 5 lbs becomes 10 becomes 20 and now you feel like a failure which makes you double down on the comfort/stress/safety eating. Poof.

    Making sure you deal with all the reasons you became overweight while you are losing weight, and planning new reactions & habits, hobbies & comforts before you actually get to maintenance is key IMHO.

    I am a data geek. The data gives me the comfort and safety that I used to look for in food and in rules around food. It's why I expect to continue logging for the foreseeable future. I've also become more active, which gives me more food freedom, assuming I retain my health. Logging and walking have helped me maintain for a couple of years, knock on wood this will continue. :smile:

    The bolded is why I trained myself to consider food as fuel, not something to "comfort" me. When the fuel tank on you car is full, you don't put more gas in it, I try to treat my body the same way. I eat nutrient dense foods 80-90% of the time, but also throw in some other things until the "tank" is full of fuel.

    After starting to get pudgy in college, I've used this thought process for the last 40 years and have kept within +/- 10% of my high school graduation weight. It works for me even when life happens (early deaths of both parents, weeks of 16 hour work days, hospitalized children, surgeries and illnesses that limited my physical activity, etc)

    For me, it worked as a good mindset change.
  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 934 Member
    krael65 wrote: »
    Stretchy pants. Makes it easier to deny the weight creep.

    Yes!
  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 934 Member
    WARNING: My post below might be triggering for some.

    I lost and regained 80-ish pounds twice; I'm currently losing weight for the 3rd and hopefully last time.

    The first time I hit my goal weight and almost immediately resumed eating my previous normal. I was in a new relationship that was, frankly, food based. We loved to eat. He was already big and I caught up and regained in a couple of years.

    The second time, I was really frustrated with my girth and went to extreme measures to lose it. I lost quickly (and expensively) using Medifast. I hit goal weight and had no idea what to do. I started swapping out similar calorie regular foods for the Medifast foods. I managed to maintain that loss for about 5 years.

    Then "life" happened. I was hit with a surprise divorce; he was my entire support system. I suddenly found myself with no home, no friends and no family. I was in full blown survival panic and actually lost a lot of weight because I wasn't eating. I was also in full hormonal peri-menopause. Through sheer determination after a series of unfortunate mistakes, I finally landed on my feet.

    After the divorce, I rented a room from a woman close in age who told me she was a nursing student and a waitress. It turns out she was a stripper and a drug dealer. I kept to myself and saved money to get out once I found out the truth. I'm a teacher. I had to get out quickly, but had no money to do so and no support network to help. Unfortunately, her house was raided and I was (briefly) arrested. I incurred no charges because the authorities quickly figured out I was not involved--still super stressful. I was able to rent a small apartment, by myself. It was glorious! Life was good. I had my own space and was able to cook meals. I cooked comfort foods, not health foods...I decided to foster a dog from my volunteer workplace (dog trainer at a shelter). I quickly realized that the dog could not live in an apartment. I had to find a house or return him to certain death (no exaggeration).

    I found a "too good to be true" deal on a house that a fellow teacher owned. She wanted to keep the house but move in with her boyfriend. Great location, great price (rental). The huge caveat was that the house came with a built in room mate. My coworker who owned the house was an older female like me and she assured me George was safe and easy to live with. He was a professor at the University of Texas. Super smart and kept to himself, but friendly and quirky. He was okay, I thought. My foster dog had a yard! I had the whole 4/3 house to myself minus the master bedroom, which was a self contained studio with a separate entrance. George and I got along fine. The dog bonded with him. All was well. UNTIL...he committed suicide in MY portion of the house in a bedroom I used for storage. I lived with the body for several days because I didn't know. I didn't know.... I didn't know why the dog suddenly regressed and started attacking me. I didn't know where George was. I didn't know why my house was starting to smell. After I found out, I had to live in the house for the rest of my lease (10 months)! The landlord/co-worker would not let me out of the lease.That room was a disaster. All my possessions stored in there were ruined. It was not a nice, tidy death. The dog regularly attacked me after that because he was so traumatized. I was traumatized. The room had to have a "crime scene" clean. The landlord did not want to do it because it's expensive, so she closed the room and ignored it. I ate, and ate, and ate. I wanted to die along with George.

    I finally saved enough money to get out of that <now> haunted hell hole and buy my own brand new, never been lived in house. No dead bodies. George did his deed in 10/2016. I moved out in 8/2017. I'm just now starting to get over it. The dog is now my dog! I'm just now feeling ready to tackle my weight. I was not a priority for a number of years. Escaping George's demons and healing myself and my dog were my top priorities.

    Life. Happened. In a big, ugly way.

    Wow....what a story! Is your dog better now?
  • brenn24179
    brenn24179 Posts: 2,144 Member
    it is a lot of work watching your weight. I guess I had just rather do what I jolly well please and then you know what happens. I have got to be willing to do the work.
  • jbrown2339
    jbrown2339 Posts: 52 Member
    edited May 2019
    Vacations knock me for a loop. Went on a cruise and ate and drank horribly for a week, gained 15-20 lbs and was horrified, that was almost half what I lost the first go round. Then had an injury, plantar fasciitis , so was unable to run, which has always been my main tool to lose weight. So that weight stayed. And I had maintained my loss for a year prior to the cruise.

    Another time I was nearly back to goal and went on a hiking trip with a friend. While we hiked 10-15 miles a day, we also ate well as there were some good restaurants in the area. That put on five lbs which I had a problem shedding, again since I was unable to run due to an ankle injury I got shortly after.

    Basically vacations and injuries preventing me from running are my Achilles heel. I hurt my knee last year when I fell down a ravine hiking, and weight crept up during the year even though I did track my food intake. My knee injury is better and now that I’m running again I’m once again almost to my goal, down 15 lbs in last two months. It is odd, if I burn same calories by walking or whatever, it seems to not have same impact as when I’m able to run.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    Kst76 wrote: »
    Wow....what a story! Is your dog better now?

    He is! He was a project dog when I first agreed to foster him, so living with him isn't always easy, but it's always an adventure! His main issue is separation anxiety that manifests as an attack on the person trying to leave him (me!). I haven't been bitten in over a year and he has settled overall, but still has occasional freak outs. His name is Willie.

    cqx0z1xohipi.jpg


    What breed is this guy? How heavy is he? (mine's a rescue and she looks a lot like this)
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,255 Member
    I lost 50lbs & kept it off for a year, wasn't too hard, THEN...I got pneumonia & couldn't exercise but ate the same, then I added a little snack in the evenings, then I went back to HIIT class, but had another birthday & found it was a little too much for me plus our daughter & her 3 kids moved next door(she's getting divorce) & we found ourselves interacting with them thoughout the day, so bottom line is I got out of the exercise habit & got into the snack in the evening habit & gained 10 lbs! BUT I lost 2 so far, plus all the new clothes I bought were all a little loose so I really noticed when they fit just right