OptaVIA weight rebound!

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Artfulmamma
Artfulmamma Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I was so thrilled when I lost 52 lbs in 6 months using Optavia. Problem is I really didn’t change my habits enough, or maybe because I did it during the COVID shutdown, real life returning tested my habits and I backslid. 2 years and almost all of it came back. I’m now using MFP to track my daily intake and exercise with complete honesty and it’s starting to show patterns. Has anyone else gone through the yo-yo of achieving your ideal weight loss, feeling great, and then having the weight creep back on? I know it’s all about intake and output, calorie deficits, but I need creative ways to reward or discipline myself to stay on track. I need to change my lifestyle for real and not with meal replacement products.

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  • bubbeE787
    bubbeE787 Posts: 34 Member
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    Yes- I lost the same as you also during Covid; my weight started to really creep back last year; at this point I’m still down 20 lbs but need to take that weight gain off. I used this app to track my foods to lose the weight and I’m trying to get back to basics. It’s been a struggle. I’ve been also journaling in the notes section of the log about things going on with me; trying to modify my behavior. I am teetering on the edge but working on it, trying to redevelop those good habits. I’m trying to take it a day at a time. I wish I knew the formula for getting that all-in mindset back- I’m working on it. Good luck!
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,573 Member
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    Artfulmamma wrote: »
    Has anyone else gone through the yo-yo of achieving your ideal weight loss, feeling great, and then having the weight creep back on? I know it’s all about intake and output, calorie deficits, but I need creative ways to reward or discipline myself to stay on track. I need to change my lifestyle for real and not with meal replacement products.

    The only time I have ever lost weight and kept it off was when I made it a daily habit to log into MFP and track my calories, track my nutrients, and weigh myself on a regular basis.

    As soon as I either cave in to depression and give up or simply become complacent because I think I've got this, I spiral out of control.

    I have been gaining and losing weight and gaining and losing weight and gaining and losing weight since 1998.

    MyFitnessPal has been the only consistent thing. I've tried so many things. I tried weight watchers. I tried nutrisystem. I now have about $1,000 of OPTAVIA food stockpiled in my house. At the end of the day, I have to stay motivated to stay on track. I have to make intentional decisions to eat smartly. I have to do this.

    I don't have any advice because if I gave it it's just bs because I don't take it myself. Lol. Right now I have a fantastic group of friends and we are motivating one another to log on myfitness pal and to commit to eating healthy. Maybe this will work.

    Well there's no maybe about it. Either it will or it won't but it's up to me at the end of the day.

  • Dreamroper
    Dreamroper Posts: 37 Member
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    I quit smoking 29 years ago at the age of 40. I have been losing and gaining back the weight since then. I'm probably on track for losing again for the 6th time (maybe more, but I don't really want to know). I lose the weight and then go right back to eating whatever I want and it comes back. Stupid, I know. Even the last time I lost, I told myself, don't gain it back and here I am. Luckily, it is a small amount of weight, so I can get to my goal within a few months, but I'm telling myself again, never again will I put it back on. It's so hard to get it off, I'm 69. I feel like an idiot for not keeping it off.
  • shel80kg
    shel80kg Posts: 148 Member
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    I remember one of my favourite mentors at university explain that the skills required to lose weight are completely different to those involved with maintaining the weight we have achieved. Two different goals likely require separate and well thought out approaches.The first is about breaking the patterns, building momentum and confidence and noticing results which reinforce the changed eating routines. The second, FAR MORE DIFFICULT. The second, life-style changes and a responsible approach to food and the impact(s) on our bodies over time. Understanding the relationship between mind and body and how we treat ourselves may as important from a psychological perspective as a physical. We are what we eat and often we may find ourselves not just eating to live.....but living to eat.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,207 Member
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    I don't agree with everything your professor suggests. Many people lose weight. Many of those people gain back the weight they lost. The National Weight Control Registry has data to show this is extremely common, and it happens within three years.

    Losing and regaining weight is possibly worse than not losing at all even if you don't gain back more than you started with. In a loss phase, we lose fat AND muscle. In a gain phase without strength training, we get back fat. The person who loses and gains back to the same weight likely is at a higher body fat than before due to muscle loss. Pretty sad.

    That said, losing weight (fat) and maintaining weight (fat) loss are the same process and use the same skills. My process for losing weight (fat) is: find a calorie goal and try to meet that calorie goal. My process for sustaining fat loss is: find a calorie goal and try to meet that calorie goal. It's exactly the same process. The difference is that going from a goal to lose a half pound a week to maintaining fat loss is I get an extra two ounces of cheese per day.

    I believe the reason that people gain back is that they don't stick with the process. They view weight loss as a "one and done" kind of thing, and then they go back to the old ways. One thing people can (and I say should) do during fat loss is develop good habits. These habits shouldn't be punishment. They should be habits that the person can continue indefinitely. Then when the fat is gone, the person can just keep on chugging, but they can have that extra two ounces of cheese, twelve ounces of beer, or cup of cooked brown rice.

    It's the same process.

    The problem is when people stop using the process. If you do what you've done in the past but expect a different result is what Albert Einstein suggested was the definition of insanity.


  • liwo81
    liwo81 Posts: 17 Member
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    Maybe it isn’t too creative but I find that weighing DAILY has really helped, and planning most meals a day ahead of time. The daily weight just confirms for me that there are always fluctuations but I can see that consistent downward trend. It isn’t a fast weight loss but it is consistent and I see that this slow roll is likely to result in a loss I can maintain for the long term. You won’t have to rely on someone’s “program” to get you to your goal but will have been making consistent, achievable changes that will carry you to the finish line and then you will be better prepared to sustain those changes along with your loss
  • xbowhunter
    xbowhunter Posts: 971 Member
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    I am on my 3rd successful weight loss journey. :)

    The #1 reason I gained it back before was I stopped weighing myself and ate and drank excessive calories. I had no one to blame but me!

    I find it not overly difficult to lose the weight. The real challenge is keeping it off.

    This time I weigh in daily and cut way back on alcohol.

    Today I am still at goal weight but feel a bit bloated. Time to cut again to flush my system. :)
  • CrazyMermaid1
    CrazyMermaid1 Posts: 339 Member
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    For me the skill set is way different for maintaining than losing. There is no outside award for maintaining. Nobody notices, nobody says anything encouraging, the scale doesn’t move. No changed data. Not the same reward system as losing for me. Much harder.

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