I thought I would blog a little bit about re-gain. At some point in a weight loss journey and
even in maintenance a person can gain some of the weight back. Sometimes a person can even gain all of the
weight back.
This is not my first Weight Watchers (WW)-rodeo. I attended WW when I was a teenager. I don’t remember much of that journey, but obviously
I gained the weight back…and then some.
The last real weight loss attempt before I lost 130 lbs was in high
school. Mom was always on some sort of
diet and this time it was The Prism Diet.
It was a diet where you could eat neither refined sugar nor white flour
for 6 weeks. After doing so you were
then to add it back in slowly. I did
lose 30 lbs in a few months. I also
craved pizza and couldn’t wait for the 6 weeks to be over. Sort of like a “Last Supper” type
situation. I was a size 14 and about 180
lbs. I remember being happy and I even
got asked to the homecoming dance by a fellow band member. Then, I gained the weight back…and then
some. It happens slowly. You don’t even really notice it and/or really
even pay attention to it. You just start
buying bigger pants and swear to make some changes and lack follow through.
Thankfully, this time is different. But I did have some re-gain even in this
journey.
After I made it to goal I spent my first year not really
following the terms of maintenance. In
order to stop you from losing you add back points and start to balance
everything out. I, like most women,
still wanting to lose a little more. I
find it is quite common for women to “just lose 5 more pounds.” Plus, I wasn’t yet at WW’s goal (my goal is a
doctor’s note) and therefore I couldn’t actually work for WW or become a leader
until I got to their BMI goal. So I
continued to lose and found myself 10 lbs below goal. Talk about semi-care-free. I didn’t have to worry if I was going to be
in goal range for my weekly weight-ins.
I had such a large buffer that red flags didn’t go up as I started to
gain. I must remind you that the gains
happen slowly. And sometimes they aren’t
even consecutive gains but a gain and a loss and a gain and a loss so you
really don’t notice it.
I found myself back at goal and having re-gained 10
lbs. I wasn’t very nice to myself. I would yearn to be back at that low
weight. Eventually I had to just say “enough”
and stop stressing over those size 12 jeans I would never wear again. It was just too much work to try and get that
low again and I was happy with my new healthy eating lifestyle and current food
plan.
For the most part, everyday life is pretty good. Sure, just like a bad hair day I still have
fat days. In fact, I just looked at our
photos from our November vacation to Florida and The Bahamas. I saw the photos of me sitting in the chair
and all the excess around my middle and thought, “I look fat.” Silly me.
I have lost 130 lbs and kept it off for almost four years but I LOOK
FAT?
I read a blog post by Suzi Storm. She is a WW member who lost 100 lbs and was
featured in a WW campaign. She even went
to NYC to get photographed!! How
exciting! Suzi has posted a new blog
about gaining all her weight back and the shame that goes along with it. There is no shame in re-gain. It is life.
Life happens and sometimes we adjust our focus and put unhealthy foods
into our body. Sometimes life changes and
we don’t have the energy to get to the gym.
And sometimes life changes and we have a re-gain. But we are all still a WW success story and
we are all still fighting!
