Losing then Gaining then Losing again...

Yes, I have gone through that yo-yo scenario quite a few times in my adult life--gains and losses of about 25 pounds. I am 60 years old, male. What you described in your 2nd paragraph is exactly what has happened to me. The phrase "inch up" is a perfect way to put it. Before you know it, you're back up, whether it's through denial, excuses, or circumstances. This was my case before a physician's assistant, with whom I was discussing a higher-than-I-wanted cholesterol level, told me about MFP. Logging calories, planning what I was going to eat the next day, sticking to it, and doing yoga and Pilates--I went from 204 to about just over 160 (I'm 5' 9") in the first part of 2021, under covid lockdown. Kept it off over a year now. I've always exercised, just ate too much for too long at times. So, I'm guessing what you described has happened to tons of people, so don't feel it's just you. Now the thing is to develop a mindset and habits that will help you get to where you want to be--and stay there. Your last question, about how to stay motivated--for me, it's not wanting to go on any medications unless it's something out of my control. Also, seeing friends and relatives my age on those meds, and who have problems moving and doing things--not wanting to be in that situation provides my motivation. Hope this helps, and best of luck.

HRHJoDee wrote: »

I am a female in my 60's, and 5'8" tall. I started my journey in 2021 at 240 pounds
Lost 63 pounds from eating small healthy meals between 10;00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., and walking every day, and got down to 177 pounds.

Then in 2022 gained back 25 pounds and saw the scale inch back up to 202 pounds through binge eating, eating big meals and eating all day long and not walking very often;

Now am down a bit to 197.6 pounds by cutting way way down on the fat/oil, dairy, pasta & sugar and have gone on long long walks again every day in the last week.
I want to get down to 150 pounds, ultimately.

Anyone else go through this up and down yo-yo? How do you stay motivated so that you don't sabotage your weight loss by gaining it again?

For me, staying motivated for the rest of my natural life . . . that's not gonna happen, realistically. Weight management, for people like me with a tendency to gain, is a lifelong endeavor.

To me, that put the priority on experimenting during weight loss to find new habits - eating and activity patterns - that were relatively easy, that I could sustain almost on autopilot forever as other parts of life got complicated . . . as they will. It can go beyond eating/exercise to sleep habits, stress management, hobbies, and more. I lost weight age 59-60, have been at a healthy weight since, now age 66 (5'5", right now up a little from ideal, upper 120s pounds most of the time).

Exactly which habits to adopt is IMO highly individual: It needs to be adapted to our own preferences, strengths, limitations. It's a rare thing, IMO, that adopting some kind of named diet or exercise program is going to tick those boxes as a forever habit-set (but those are the rules-y, restrictive, vaguely unnatural things that many people do in periodic yo-yo attempts to "lose weight fast" . . . then "go back to normal"). Finding some new, relatively easy, workable, personalized "normal" is key, IMO.

In addition, firm boundaries matter, for me. I've lost weight, so I know that I know how to lose weight when needful. I consider weight maintenance to be noodling around within maybe a 5-10 pound range, up and down. I need to have firm boundaries where I will spend my limited and temporary motivation/willpower budget on (re-)losing some pounds before it becomes many tens of pounds. Personally, I hate to shop, and having to buy a whole new wardrobe was a punitive side of desired weight loss. So, now, when my weight creeps up to the point where my jeans get tight, that's a trigger for me to get serious about slowly creeping weight back down again.

YMMV, but that's my thought process about avoiding major yo-yos (fingers crossed!).

HRHJoDee wrote: »

I am a female in my 60's, and 5'8" tall. I started my journey in 2021 at 240 pounds
Lost 63 pounds from eating small healthy meals between 10;00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., and walking every day, and got down to 177 pounds.

Then in 2022 gained back 25 pounds and saw the scale inch back up to 202 pounds through binge eating, eating big meals and eating all day long and not walking very often;

Now am down a bit to 197.6 pounds by cutting way way down on the fat/oil, dairy, pasta & sugar and have gone on long long walks again every day in the last week.
I want to get down to 150 pounds, ultimately.

Anyone else go through this up and down yo-yo? How do you stay motivated so that you don't sabotage your weight loss by gaining it again?

This is my pathway to long term weight stability. It might take you more than one, two or three trails to find your way.


Your very next meal is your new beginning. You don't need to start over and you don't need to look back over your shoulder. Eating less food and exercising more doesn't make things better. It won't make you happier in the long run.

Many of us have fallen prey to diets in the past. They are a temporary bandaid. No shame, no blame. There's no need to give anyone a list of explanations why it happened in the first place. Shame as a motivation will buck you out of the saddle.

Stress is a driver. It literally makes the weight hold on tighter to the reins. So does negative self-talk. The mirror and the scale are only two data points. Start with a food scale and your measuring cups.

Two words. Portion Control.

I'm going to tell you what I did to get the momentum going a few years ago. I stopped hopping on the scale. I have a doctor's scale and I set the counter-weights to my dream weight. I would get on from time to time and one day, I was finally at my dream weight. I like to shake things UP with myself.

You need to make this fun and that includes the maintenance phase. I did not take progress photos. I did not want any more Befores and Afters. I did that in the past and it never stuck. I pulled out all of the stops and did everything completely the opposite of my past attempts.

Doing what we've always done will get us what we've always gotten. In my life, that was mostly nothin' but rebound weight gain with friends.

I no longer wanted the focus to be on looking different. I wanted to be different. I want long term weight stability for the rest of my life. No more All or Nothing Thinking and perpetual dieting that leads to rebound weight gain.

No befores and no afters because there's no such thing as the Finish Line. No more constant starts and stops and no more beginnings. Momentum will take you much further down the road than willpower and motivation ever will. They are limited resources that run out and leave you high and dry. Stranded along some long, lonesome stretch of highway without another car in sight.

I did everything, differently. I'm still standing. If you've been chasing weight loss for months and years and decades without every reaching your dream weight, just eat the foods you love and moderate your portions.
You'll get there and you'll be different. Edge your way down slowly. Don't drop it like it's hot and don't make comparisons with anyone else's progress.

I see we already have a King of the Yo-Yo...so I guess I'll just be the Duke of the Yo-Yo. :-) I know the feeling. I'm back at it again. I'd lost some weight before a 2014 hip replacement all while staying quite active with my hobby of bicycle touring. After a brief recovery, I joined MyFitnessPal and lost a lot more weight, going from around 260 to 200. Well, I'm back up there, though not quite as high. A good portion has been put on recently as spinal surgery completely sidelined me. Now that I'm healed and starting PT, I've rediscovered the fact that my knees are shot. I've been told that I need both knees replaced. To make recovery from that easier, feel better about myself, and generally fit back into the great clothes, I'm back. I wish you all the best of luck on your fitness journey.

All my life! I've probably lost and gained 1,000 lb's over my life. But, finally got a handle on things in 2012 here on MFP. I read a post here about reaching goal and maintaining that has helped me stay at my goal.

The main thing is weigh yourself every week. Don't stop weighing even though you are not working your plan. Give yourself a leeway number say 3 or 5 lbs. Once you reach that, immediately go back to losing mode.

Always in the past, I would go off plan and ignore the scale. If you don't have a real number in front of you, you can still pretend you aren't gaining. Of course your waistband will only let you ignore it for so long. Which brings up another helpful point. As soon as you are down a size, get rid of your larger sized clothes. Knowing you've got nothing to wear if you gain is great incentive to stick with your plan.

When I've reached my calorie goal for the day but still want something else, I tell myself my body has had all the calories it needs today and I need to be content with that. Works about 95% of the time.

HTH

Female in my 50's and same yo-yo history. I have to say, Menopause is especially cruel and I have to wake up to the reality that health will require work.

My plan: Remember I am the YOUNGEST I will ever be again. My metabolism is the FASTEST it will ever be again. My body has the most HEALING power it will ever have again. Today sets the stage for the rest of my life. Planning to lose it now and never look back.