[Trazey34]

This is such a scary topic, for me anyway, I’m terrified of putting this weight back on. I’ve never lost this much so I guess I don’t “believe it” or something. Over the past 20 years, I've lost 10 lbs., and gained 12. Do that enough times and you're 300 lbs.

So, my questions are for anyone who’s lost more than 50 pounds and regained it:

Has it happened more than once?

What do you think is different this time?

Has anyone lost, regained, and now lost & maintained for a long time ?? What do you credit your success to this time around?

How do you ‘get back on the horse’ after that kind of devastation? To know you’re right back to where you were before?

thanks for reading

[Alana in Canada]

Trazey--poke around the Maintainer's Forum. It's helping me deal with some of my fears right now.

[junebug41]

Originally Posted by Trazey34

Has anyone lost, regained, and now lost & maintained for a long time ?? What do you credit your success to this time around?

Honestly? Fear. Healthy, old fashioned, fear. Don't misunderstand me- I don't hide under my bed at night waiting for the weight gain boogie man to find me, but it is ALWAYS in my head that just as I was within inches of morbid obesity after a lifetime of obesity, I am within inches of gaining it back.

While I have a "grip" on things, my personal opinion about maintenance isn't that it's automatically permanent. It requires, well... maintenance.

I was also lucky to pick a "plan" that I knew I could live with. I know it's ringing the same bell over and over again, but it makes me feel like beating my head against a wall to see others take on a diet they deep down inside know they have no intentions of sticking with.

You have to view weightloss and longterm maintenance as one of the same. They can't be viewed independently of each other. (IMHO)

Edit: I haven't regained more than 50 pounds. I had a terrifying run with almost 20 this past winter, though.

[findingfawn]

I'm not there yet.. have a long way to go, but I think you need a .

You are doing great!!

[Nada]

I'm with Junebug on the plan I could live with. I researched successful maintainers and that was one constant I found. (Exercise, eating breakfast and lots of fruits and veggies were other constants)

I stopped a 20 lb slide myself once by having gotten rid of my fat clothes. I was too stubborn to buy anything bigger so I had to get back "on the wagon"! So, now if it's loose--irt goes to Goodwill right away. It's my insurance policy--can't be fat and naked, can I?

[nelie]

I haven't regained my weight but I've had periods where I've gained up to 15 lbs. I would agree that it is vigilance and fear that keeps you from gaining more. You can't avoid the scale. If you avoid the scale, all **** breaks loose. Also, you can use your pants as a guideline but not if they are stretchy pants. If your pants are getting tighter, then its time to get back to business.

[Lori Bell]

I've lost significant weight a few times in my life (50-80 pounds) only to yo-yo up to 333 pounds. Not pretty, and the depression that comes with re-gaining is unbearable.

Am I scared this time? You bet I am. But something is different this time, ME. I'm older and wiser, and have learned that somethings I just had to give up forever. I am sick and tired of the yo-yo game, I am sick and tired of being the fat chick, I am sick and tired of never fitting into the same clothes 2 seasons in a row. I'm not playing the game anymore. I'm done. I want health, and I want to be a normal weight. I will be that 2% (or whatever LOW percentage it is) that keeps off a large amount of weight forever. I am doing it, and I have no doubt in my mind that I will never be a fat chick again. If for any other reason other than to piss off the people who don't think I can. I'm that stubborn!

[Glory87]

I have lost 50+ lbs and regained it in the past. It was pretty simple - I had no plan for what to do after I lost weight. My plan was to lose weight. When I reached a goal (or gave up on dieting), I went back to eating what I thought was "normally." Since it was my normal way of eating that made me fat, it's really no suprise that I regained the weight.

I was scared to start - I had failed so many times. But I was not happy living as a fat woman. I felt sluggish, depressed, hated myself. I WANTED to be different - that gave me the courage to keep trying.

The reason I am successful this time is I thought "I will lose weight and keep it off." I have been planning for maintenance since day 1 of my weight loss - with my eye on the big picture - LIVING MY LIFE AS A SLENDER, HEALTHY PERSON.

I came up with a plan that wasn't overly restrictive, that fit my life, that I enjoyed. I started and then never stopped.

I am approaching my 5 year maintenance anniversary and have no doubt I will continue to maintain my weight loss.

[Gale02]

I lost and regained 65 lbs, gained it all back in 8 months and 1 week to be exact! My pregnancy was rough and I gained way more weight than I should have. It's a little different than other stories, but I'm still losing pounds I've lost before.

This time around I'm doing the same basic thing I did before to lose. Hopefully I won't have another complicated pregnancy in the middle (normal pg would be all right. ) I plan on doing to maintain what I'm doing now (weight watchers), it really works for me and I can definitely do this forever.

[rockinrobin]

I have never regained a lot of weight. This has been my one and only major weight loss. But I'm going to chime in anyway.

It's that "fear" that keeps me on my toes and yes, ever vigilant. I think that fear is a good thing. We can never, ever get too complacent. Because when we do, weight creeps on and then creeps on some more. I totally agree with Nelie. That scale is a wonderful tool and we've got to use it. No avoidance. Catching any lapse before it gets to relapse, before it gets to total collapse. Gotta use those wonderful tools and strategies that we lost the weight with in place.

When I started my journey, I made peace with and ACCEPTED the fact that I was in this forever. No stopping. Just continuing. Forever. That's the difference between a diet and a lifestyle change or in my case a lifestyle OVERHAUL. Luckily I LOVE my life now, my energy, stamina, self confidence, size 4 clothing, yes - my looks, my doctors' visits, the outlook of my future. Not only do I love the rewards, I love the whole healthy lifestyle experience. I don't dread this. I don't find it a burden. I find it a joy and a pleasure to live this way. And I think this will be a huge factor in keeping the weight off. Learning to love the process.

Know, just really, really KNOW that you don't have to gain the weight back if you don't want to. It IS your choice. Just like it was your choice to gain the weight. Then like it was your choice to LOSE the weight. It will be your choice to maintain that loss as well. Choice. Choice. Choice. And as long as you keep on CHOOSING to keep the weight off - off it WILL stay. Remember as long as you work the program - the program works. Work it. Work it. Work it.

[Ryanne]

For me I was always extreme, either one extreme or the other, no in between.
I would restrict what I ate and over exercise, and then get tired of it and give up and go back and add more weight to it. I was so out of balance that it didn't work, and I had no plan of how to keep it off... only how to get it off and gain it back.
Through trial and error and a very lot of reading, and a lot of prayer... I realized that I need to do stuff I can live with and I don't want to be obsessive cuz it doesn't work for me in the long run and it takes up all my time.
This time is different, cuz I know I will be eating the same way when I am maintaining, and I will continue to lightly exercise. I have had to reign myself in this time, as you know very well, but I feel that as I stay balanced this time, that it will come off and stay off.
I have learned alot and have a plan and I am following Peace.

[TaraLee]

My first "loss" wasn't intentional. I went from 260 to 195 when I moved into my college dorm. Most get the "Freshman 15," I had the opposite reaction. I lived on the third story of the dorm with NO elevator, I was broke most of the time so my only meals/snacks came from the cafeteria on campus which followed nutritional guidelines (Colorado BTW, very healthy state compared to where we live now...West Virginia) and my weight started to drop. Unfortuantely, my "social smoking" ramped up during my first set of finals to "regular smoker" so thereby replacing snacks with cancer sticks. I also started jogging the last few months to cope with the stress instead (which reduced the smoking, but didn't completely stop it). So I always viewed that weightloss as a blessing. Something I didn't really work very hard for. Than I got preggers, lost our son (stillbirth), got preggers again right away, had bedrest and delivered 2nd son 1yr and 1day after delivering our first. I got HUGE at this time. I luckily didn't gain any weight during DD's pregnancy (no need, I was already gigantic!!) but since the move to WV its been hard to be healthier. There are no health stores, there are a lot more "fat" people here (I really don't feel like a minority like in Colorado, where my motivation was because I "stuck out") and the demand for gyms/healthy options etc. (there is one within a 15mi radius and its old) and I saw my already high weight of 265 ballooning up even more to my highest of 281.8.
The point to all this is that now I'm actively working to lose this weight I don't think I'll take it as forgranted. I'll remember the furstration, sweat and tears that have/will go into my loss and how hard this feels. And like the ladies above I'm viewing the changes to my diet and activity as permnant. And since I NEVER want to go through this again... I will NOT be gaining this weight back...EVER!!

[Alana in Canada]

When I dropped my first 25lbs I hung out for a while and I did not gain a pound. I felt secure and comfortable and then was able to drop more weight and it has been going like that for the past 2 years. I feel secure in that the scale has not inched upwards at all.

I think this is very important. I admire you for being able to take a really long term look at things--and take the time to give yourself the confidence to *handle* the whole thing as you go. Sometimes weight is gained back not just because one returns to one's old habits--but because one hasn't made the necessary changes in the brain.

You have to know you *deserve* that wonderful, slim, and fit healthy body you are creating for yourself. (You have to know how to handle the attention it can get from others, too. )

You have to be comfortable in your own skin: whatever size it may happen to be. The head work is just as important as--if not more than--everything else.

[traci in training]

I am in the process of re-losing twenty some pounds. I had been doing very well and then I just kind of lost interest. I know that sounds awful, but it's true. I was a fulltime nursing student, then had boards, then lost my Gram and I just lost my focus and then I lost my desire.

For the past few weeks I've been doing pretty well, eating on plan most of the time. I started a new job this week and my routine has no routine - orientation, odd shifts, no continuity - so it's been a bit of a struggle. That said, I'm eating pretty well.

I guess my point here is that life didn't end. I didn't become depressed or die or anything. I just gained a few pounds. Now I have to take it off again. Then I'll go on to the next 20 pounds. Live and learn, I guess, is my message. Eventually I'll get this right. Meanwhile, I'm down thirty pounds and feel better. Losing again is great. I'll get there!

[Elladorine]

I've gone down to around 220 twice in my life, only to gain it back and then some (eventually getting up to 360 pounds).

Back in 04-05, I decided to do something about that. I lost a good 75 pounds . . . then stopped dead in my tracks. Although I may have wavered 10 pounds or so since then, I didn't gain it all back like I had the other times. Even with all the stress and misery I went through, something in my head clicked, that I was a little better with eating without even trying and that it was enough to make sure I at least maintained.

And since this past midsummer, I'm back on track with losing more weight. I'm pretty confident I'm making even more of a lifetime change than before and that everything will be fine.