I was bored with what I was eating and I stopped writing what I ate.

Mine was- i just didnt KNOW what i was doing.

I had just finished highschool lost 40 lbs by eating healthy and exercising...i ddint have a goal or i didnt know what maintaining was! i was young and dumb.

as soon as people started to notice how good i looked, i stopped and started eating "normal" (not actually nomarl tho!) again. i thought because i looked to good i could eat whatever i wanted.

now i know..it is a life long journey that will always be hard

I think I did a bit of it all (although I didn't read every single post); I've lost weight and regained it many times. Lots of changes and stress; and then marriage and focusing too much on others instead of myself. I let others come before me; I'd eat to comfort hurt feelings (emotional eating) instead of telling people off or to get lost ...

I baked and cooked for others; and of course, I would want some too since I did all that cooking. And then for myself, I just snacked too much: I made unhealthy choices. I stopped walking and exercising like I done to lose the weight and keep it off. A lack of knowledge too: at first, I just didn't realize that it would all come back on if I didn't keep to the 'plans' diligently.

I was naive and kept believing 'the so-called experts' that if I just did this or that, that I would lose the weight and be slim for the rest of my life. Some plans I just couldn't stick too; they were just too restrictive. I lost a lot of weight and in 2008, started to gain again; huge sorrows and stresses came, and I started munching (snacking) too much. I think I need to find better ways to deal with negative emotions: like replacing them with love and positive experiences.

That's why I came here: I am learning. I am trying hard to eat healthy all the time, but it isn't easy. Christmas was hard for me, but I am doing better. I have a long way to go, but I'm looking at this as a life journey, not a short diet to a goal (like Glory said) and then I'm free. No, I wanna be healthy for the rest of my life, so I'm changing my mind and changing my ways. I need to make better choices: healthier ones.

I need to learn to love myself enuff to do what is good for me. I'm trying to find a balance between consistent healthy eating and a more regular active lifestyle ... it's a journey, for sure!

I stopped cooking dinners at home and started eating out a LOT. Steak dinners and pizza buffets on the weekends were the absolute norm for about 6 months. I started only working out every other day and just stopped caring about what I ate and how much I ate, so I gained about 16 lb.

I was just in a really relaxed place with food, and used it to socialize. It was fun but so, so unhealthy. I needed to find other ways to spend time with friends than eating.

fad diets! i never lost a ton of weight, but i'd lose 5-10 pounds constantly and regain them all back because i was depriving myself. i feel like i've finally found the answer though -- running! i can't eat tons of bad food because then i can't run, and running burns tons of calories and i love it. hopefully it sticks.

First time I regained was during a dark depression and I did a LOT of binging.

The last time I regained was when I first met my boyfriend. I wanted to spend all my time with him and he doesn't like exercising so I barely exercised. We also ate a lot of junk food. I wanted to act "normal" and being normal packed on 25 lbs.

"Redefined Normal." I like that. That concept has been hard to grasp for me since I quit smoking and drinking alcohol. I got it into my head that I only had to do it consciously for three weeks, the proverbial amount of time that it takes to make a new habit or break an old one. I keep thinking that I just have to make it so many more days and then I can have what I want, and then realizing, oh yeah, there is no end to this. This is the new way that I live now.

It's hard to accept the idea that I will not be indulging in one of my favorite weekend activities for a long time, if ever again (chain-smoking while sampling import beers and foreign foods at various restaurants). I'm on day 18 of the rest of my life, and I need to develop some new hobbies that don't involve eating or inhaling or consuming unhealthy things.

So-called "normal" eating has America in an obesity epidemic. That's why they call it SAD - Standard American Diet. Society shoves enormous portions of high calorie density foods in our faces at every turn. At the same time, most folks drive everywhere, use a clicker to change the TV channel, and spend their weekends sitting on the couch. Every social occasion revolves around food. We are seeing teenagers with heart problems and diabetes and obese TODDLERS for gosh sakes. It's scary!

Us chicks are the only ones that are trying to get it RIGHT! Redefining "normal" .... we are only trying to re-establish normal, our society has distorted normal beyond belief. If we eat like everyone else, then we will LOOK like everyone else.

Off my soap box now.

I lost a lot of weight and then gained it and went from my skinniest adult weight to my heaviest within a few years. I think for me it was a few things: what I call the all-or-nothing syndrome that I'm either going to be really really good or really really bad and nothing in between, the new-found attention and feelings about it (gossiping from jealous people pushing you back to a weight that people won't gossip about), and the feeling that "I deserve bad food" and a "break" from being healthy because of a bad day...or a good day.

I am now on day 2 of losing weight now that I'm at my heaviest and I'm hoping to break this cycle too and not care what people say and be healthy for myself. My new focus wont' be to look good but to be healthy because I deserve to live, be happy, and I deserve to stop putting things in the way of trying new things.

I find my attitude towards weight loss is different compared to in the past when I would lose weight and then regain it all.

First off, I realized that this was a lifestyle change, not a diet. Before, I dieted for a short while, and would then go back to my old ways of eating. So of course I gained.

Second, if I got bored with exercise, I gave it up and didn't get any exercise at all. Now if I get bored with a particular exercise, I make the effort to try to find new exercises that keep my interest. I don't do the same exercise every day. I try to mix things up to keep myself from getting bored.

As for exercise, if I didn't feel like doing it in the past, I didn't do it. I had many of those days. I still have days when I don't feel like doing it, but I make myself. I just come home from work, change into my workout clothes right away so I can't talk myself out of it, and do it.

As I've said, my attitude towards weight loss has changed. In the past, I'd stick with a plan for maybe a month or two and give up. Now, I have been in this lifestyle change for two years (I started in January '07) and while I have had setbacks, I haven't given up. Before, I was like many people, wanting a quick, easy way to lose weight. I came to the realization that, for me, it wasn't going to be quick, and it sure wasn't going to be easy. I realize now that weight loss is uncomfortable at times (sure I'd rather eat the chocolate someone offered me, but sometimes I can't) and if exercise is hard, then that's a good thing; I don't get to the point where I feel like I'm about to have a heart attack when I exercise, but I know I have to challenge my body. If I found it too hard in the past, I gave up; now, I know that when an exercise gets easy, I have to find something harder to challenge my body once again.

As I've said, I've had setbacks...sometimes I let the tempation win. Then, I pick myself up, and get right back on the horse (I did't do this in the past). For me, it has mostly been my attitude change, I think, that made me stick with the lifestyle change that is different from what I did before that made me regain in the past.

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thisisnotatest - you are so right. Mine just kinda snook up on me too. At first I was like 10 lbs over weight and I figured that it was no big deal and I'd go on a mini diet and lose it in a few weeks but never started that diet or exercise plan and then before you know it, I was up 75 lbs. Yowza!

But I like Ookpik's take on not quitting with the exercise and finding new things. I think I will just automatically sign myself up for classes once I am my goal weight so I keep up the activity: like dance classes, karate or something else that I like. Trying new ways of being active and avoiding boredom or lack of motivation is definitelythe key like Ookpik said. It even sounds like fun almost.

Almost! Aw, you'll find something you like, Healthierme! Yeah, I joined a softball league a couple of years ago, and this Winter I am joining a volleyball league (two sports I loved in high school and handn't played since--June will be 20 years since I graduated, so it's been a long time!) when it starts. I plan on getting back into swimming too.

Some days I gotta do the exercises I don't like when there's nothing else but I keep an eye out for things that look fun!

HI there,
I didn't read all the posts, but my personal experience is

I had a child, was 188 ish pounds and depressed. I started walking a lot, never really paid attention to food.

I HAD to walk to day care and back everyday to get to school, wich was about 30 minutes. did this twice a day, along with a pill of zantrex before each walk... next thing you know i am down to 137 lbs.

so, i did change my lifestyle by walking every where, getting a good work out wherever i could, etc.

but i gained it all back because 1 i got a car 2 i stopped taking diet pills.

i regained all of the weight in 2 years, and am now 184!

This time around i am not seeing it as a diet. im seeing it as a life style change. with out the pills. I am working out, and I dont have a car again. Also I am taking nutrition in school, so it is making me much more aware of my food choices. i want to do it right this time.

Well I guess its what rightly said FOCUS, PURPOSE & PRIORITIES in your life which takes you to any direction. I have gained and lost 4 times in past and this is the fifth time I'm doing. Last four times I never had long term focus & purpose to stay fit, I just wanted to lose weight & as soon as my priorities changed I lost the complete focus. Today my biggest priority other than my family is my Fitness, I know I have to stay healthy if I have to live longer, this gives my a purpose & I'm able to focus my mind & energies in achieving it. One thing I've realized is what the age old saying says, company affects company..staying in the company of people who are fit, talk fitness and live healthy makes you same. This time whenever I lost my determination I came to 3FC and every time I was pulled by the success of so many people over here and came back on track...so here's the recipe for weight loss, spend your 30 minutes daily at 3FC and Extra 2 % Fat loss is GUARANTEED !