For all of us who have lost and gained weight back -- do you remember when you started to let your diet go?

i remember clearly. i was 15. i had lost a ton of weight and was a very healthy 135, working out daily. 1 woman (who in hindsight was very overweight) told me "you should stop working out like that. you're going to become muscular and look like a body builder. its very manly." -- at 15, this terrified me.. i didnt want to look lumpy and manly!!

- and i made a concious decision to stop.
and here i am.

any one else have that kind of thing? "oh mcdonalds wont hurt this ONE TIME"... or was it very gradual and unnoticeable ?

IN high school my moment came when I saw a picture of my self and I was too terribly thin, (I had been running a lot and restricting myself to one meal a day). I was gross, so I overcompensated by overeating and within a year I went from a size 4 to a size 14. I stayed at that 14 until I was 25, then after a lost pregnacy I went up to a size 20 after depression eating. After my daughter was born I went back to size 14, then I got two very positive comments (one from friend, one from hubby) and It made me spiral to my old eating habits, back to size 20, I stayed at that size through my second pregnancy and now my boy is almost a year and I am not going to self sabatoge. I hope to get to a size 7 or 9 and I will maintain there.

Oh, I remember clearly. I had had my 2nd child and had lost a lot of weight post pregnancy (got down to 128 which was 37 pounds less than my PRE-pregnancy weight). I kept off most of the weight (about 32 pounds or the loss) for about 5 years. I was happily exercising 3-4 times per week.

Then it hit. I went to another state for my sister's wedding. We were there for over a week. I didn't exercise. Then at the wedding, I had way too much wine and got quite the hangover the next morning. We flew home and after the week of not exercising, then not feeling well, I rationalized myself into thinking that I could keep the weight off without exercising. Within a few months, I had a little pot belly and I had gained 5 pounds. Again, I rationalized myself into thinking it was okay--I'm getting older, I can't expect a flat belly my entire life!!! Well, then the stress of my job got worse and after falling off the exercise wagon, it all came falling down and within a year or so, I was right back up there at 165 (which is what my weight has been most of my adult life).

I then quit my stressful job and thought that the weight would just melt off. Wrong!!! I gained to my all-time (non pregnant) weight of 173. I started walking and dieting and here I am. I am now formulating a plan to re-incorporate exercise into my life. Right now, it is impossible to do much, but my DD will be getting her driver's license in December (fingers crossed) and I won't have to drive her to and from school every day (an hour per trip). That will free up a lot of my time and I can get back on my NordicTrak or take my dogs walking!

About 13 yrs. ago, I lost 90 lbs. by doing a low fat diet and diet pills. I was down to 147 lbs. A friend introduced me to a male friend of hers. We started a very tumultuous relationship. He would get angry at me for dieting, said he liked his women to "have a little meat on them" and belittled me for trying to steal time from him to exercise. Eventually the diet and exercise went by the wayside. I was up to 195 lbs. 2 yrs. later when I left him. Funny thing is, the bigger I got, He went and started the same diet pills, started riding his bicycle religiously and lost about 65 lbs. It was one of my life's monumental mistakes to get involved with this loser. But, ditching the diet pills was one of my successes because it's now proven that the Phen/Fen combo. did a lot of harm to many people.