I saw someone else post an article about yo-yo dieting and I was curious how many others have yo-yo-ed and how many times in your life?

I GAINED all through childhood. Chubby as far back as I can remember.

I LOST about 15 lbs in 9th grade, my school pictures that year were so cute!

I GAINED again my junior year, I hit 153 lbs the summer before senior year.

I LOST all through senior year and the start of college. Got down to 124.

I GAINED after I broke up with my first serious boyfriend. Got up to 171 between 2002 & 2005.

I LOST 20+ lbs in late 2005 / 2006 and hit 148 by the time I moved to my last city.

I GAINED 25 lbs up to 173 in the first two years of dating my boyfriend

I LOST almost 15 lbs so far and hopefully this is my last time losing. I want to hit goal and maintain FOREVER.

Writing it all out like this, I can see I have yo-yo-ed more than I realized. The more you gain and lose, the harder it is to succeed and the worse it is for your body. Plus I had been worried about the elasticity of my skin and I know stretching and shrinking it repeatedly will only make it worse. It's a good reminder that this change is for the rest of my life.

I started to gain in kindergarten and was fat up until 9th grade. The summer after 9th grade I lost 70 lbs in 3 months.

Freshman year of college I gained 20 lbs due to late night pizza. I was able to lose the 20 lbs the summer after freshman year with a lot of exercise.

I gained 10 lbs after I got my first "real" job due to sitting behind a desk all day. That 10 lbs stayed on for the next 4 years. I developed sciatica and had to stop running. Because of that I put on 50 lbs in a year and half.

So far I have lost 20 lbs of the 50 lb I gained.

I really hope this is the last time I will need to lose weight, but looking at my track record, it probably won't be. I always seem to revert back into old habits. Even after maintaining for years at a stretch.

hmmm good question i've never really counted....i'd hate to

basically i gained through highschool but lost it all in my senior year

gained with first baby and second and third

lost before my last until i found out i was pregnant...and surprising never gained any with her

lost 50 lbs before i go married and gained it back shortly after

lost the same 10 pounds atleast 5 times since then and gained it back

ive only attempted to lose only once before this time and actually lost 8 pounds. before i tried to diet but never really lost.. unless it was the first 4 months of pregnancy id always lose at least 20 pounds during then LOL

Well, I was about 150 at some point in my teens and dropped to 130 and then went back to 140. I stayed 140 for a long time and then when I moved to the valley in my 20's to go to college I blimped to 217. When I was about 25-26 I dropped to 160 and then went back to 207 & now I'm back down to 164. I'm not going back!!

I was just looking at a weight chart that I have kept since 1999. Most of the entries are the start of yet another round of dieting; a couple of reaching goal. They run from 125 - 194. With the average being in the 170's.

I vow that this time will be different. This is not a diet or a means to lose weight. This is about getting healthy.

GAIN: I was up to 200 lb in 2003
LOST: I was down to 175 lb in 2004

GAIN: Back up to 200 lb in 2004
LOST: Down to 155 in 2006

GAIN: Back up to 172 lb 2008

So, two big ones, and now one "little" one that I caught before it spiraled waaaay out of control.

~CGH~

I was average all through my childhood. I was around 110 lbs.

I gained about 50 lbs during the summer of 2001.

I gained ANOTHER 50 lbs and by 2003 I was hitting about 206 lbs.

Between the rest of 2003 - 2004 I gained about 20 lbs, hitting 225lbs.

Between 2004 - 2007 I gained about 30 lbs, maxing out at 256lbs.

In early 2007, I lost about 20-25 lbs, getting close to 230 lbs.

The end of 2007, I was back up at 246 lbs.

And now, 2008, I've lost almost 30 lbs and am now 218 lbs.

Gained all up to age 20, lost about 20 lbs on a crash diet. the I went to Sea World, had an ice cream cone, and that was the end of that.

That's pretty much the extent of my gaining and losing, except for about ten pounds I fool around with now and then, I've been slowly gaining since then.

I'm not quite sure how to establish new habits either, since the old ones are so ingrained.

Interesting question.

I was thin (almost 2 thin) up through my freshman year of college. Then the next year I started Depo Provera and in the 2 years I was on it, went from 110 lbs up to ~230 lbs in 1997.

After I graduated and started working I was more active, even though I wasn't necessarily eating much better. And was still drinking a lot on the days I was off shift. Got back down to about 170 lbs by the time I got married in 2001.

Got pregnant at the end of 2003, gained ~50 lbs (2 months on bedrest, stuffing my face) and only a little over 8 lbs of that was baby. By the time he was a year old I was back down to maybe 185 lbs?

November 05 - Pregnant with #2, only gained about 30 lbs and 10 lbs of that was baby. Then gained more after she was born due to eating crap.

September 07 - Half-hearted attempt at South Beach diet, lost about 5 lbs.

November 07 - Surprise, pregnant with #3. I don't know how much I gained, I didn't step on a scale once during the entire pregnancy and baby #3 was born in July 08. When DD2 was about 3 weeks old I weighed in at 223 lbs, then my weight stabilized at 216 lbs and stayed there until she was 2 months old. I realized that it wasn't going to go away by itself, I'm not one of the women who magically drop weight during breastfeeding. My body holds on to weight just in case my kids need to nurse until they are old enough to go out and forage for food on their own. (They've all nursed for several years, so I guess that's not too far off.)

September 17th 08 - Started Weight Watchers online. Realized that I wasn't fat because of some weird reaction to hormonal birth control or anything like that, I was fat because I ate way too much and didn't exercise enough. That admission was a great little exercise in humility.

Dec 25th 08 - I've lost just over 30 lbs so far, so I'm pretty much at my halfway point. I've revamped the way I eat, healthier snacks, no stopping at fast food joints 3+ times a week, not guzzling way too much soda each day and I'm eating normal portion sizes.

My first diet was at age 18. I weighed 160 lbs and went to NutriSystem-back when it was a center to go to instead of meals they send you in the mail. I thought I was very FAT but now wish I'd never dieted and just stayed at that weight-it's really close to my goal weight. I remember being very hungry for 3 months while I lost 20 lbs. I also remember eating lots of Wasa bread and drinking chicken buillon. I stayed at 140 until I started binge drinking on the weekends.

In college I gained up to about 175 from late nights drinking and going out for breakfast after. Mmmmmm...Denny's Grand Slam anyone??

Then I became pregnant at 21 (quit drinking) and gained 100lbs.

Lost 75 lbs approximately post partum. Maintained that weight for a while, then gained up to 217, tried Jenny Craig and Weight Watcher's, losing a little with both but sticking at 217 for long time with out really trying. Then I went on Phen-Fen and lost 70lbs. I loved that stuff! I remember feeling VERY good, eating VERY little and losing VERY fast. I went right back to my old eating habits after I got to 147. I gained the weight back incredibly fast if I recall. I remember my eating my being way out of control after Phen-Fen. Started to binge instead of just overeat.

Maintained that for a short time and then gained back up to approximately 200...getting pregnant with my son and gaining about 40lbs. Post partum, I got down to 190...and then gained up to 238 which I maintained for about 6 years with no effort.

A year ago I met my current bf who loves to cook and is really good at it! I gained about 20lbs in 3 months when he moved in. My highest non-pregnant weight was 255.

I am now 13 lbs lighter and really hope to do this "safe & sane", lose slowly, go into maintenance and stay there for the rest of my life. I don't want to gain again. I got tired of being the fat girl!

Way too many to count. The biggest loss though was the end of 8th grade through summer and into the start of 9th. I lost about 50lb. Needless to say it was back, and then some, by the start of sophmore year.

Well lets see...I've not really thought about this...but guess I've had a little struggle here myself

I was a very fat child...grandma raised the four of us and she was the type who made you eat everything on your plate...she was also the one who put it on your plate...At age 12 she found me a job and set me out on my own.

I lost weight really fast and hit 130 which I stayed at all through high school...Got married at 17 (barely) was preg after the first year..weighed 208 after that birth...lost back down to 140...bounced around up to 150 and back for the next 4 years...got preg again...very sick with this one..gained only about 40 pounds....when she was born she had collic...was up day and night with her..to tired to eat so went back down to 130...

Then at 22 I had a bout with a brain tumor, cancer...almost died...spent the next 16 years trying to keep my weight up ( what a crule joke) I weighed 106 and looked like walking death....

All of a sudden when I hit 38 I just spread out..got up to 185 before I really realized I was doing it...from there it has been quite a battle...settled at 160 for about 13 years...( my now deceased DH would get mad if I tried to get lower)...after he was gone went back down to 150 and held for 4 years...Found my wonderful new DH....and married in April 2006...July 9th fell and broke my back....put on 30 lbs

After got to where I could walk again lost 8 of those lbs...and am continueing the battle....so it goes....trying to eat healthy and do what exercise I can...But I will make it back to 140...failure is not an option!!!

tryingitagain, you are a hero! You've come through so much--what's a measly 20 pounds! Just hang in there, eat healthy, be healthy, it will happen!

Jay

ive been almost 200 pounds three times in my life, once when I was about 12-15, when I was 17, and again just last year. I have never let myself reach 200 pounds though, everytime the scale gets close I freak out and it motivates me enough to get in shape and eat bettter. But my downfall is getting lax once I start to feel that I am at a comfortable weight, and slowly it will start to creep back up again.

I've dropped down to my lowest weight (145) twice, once starving myself, and the other time just trying to eat better and not stuff my face with anything in sight. Neither has worked as far as keeping the weight off, so this time I'm throwing exercise in the mix. Hope this works....