1/25/13

The Stress of Re-Gaining Weight


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!

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