Why so easy to put weight back on?

[Emerion]

Hi, I'm new on this forum and have been using a diet app to help me with my first diet ever. I thought it was going so well! It's a challenge, but weight has come off steadily with less food and more moving about. It took me 20 years to get 2 stone overweight, which was roughly 1.5 pounds every year. I'm ¾ of the way back to my ideal weight. But some weeks I can put 1 or 2 pounds back on when I really haven't overindulged much. I never feel so hungry that I can't resist stuffing my face. My app shows that I have gone over my target calories, but not by more than 100-150 in any one day, and I should still be losing weight, albeit much more slowly. Pre diet, I would not have put weight on this fast even when eating much more. How is my body managing to do this? Does this mean that I will have to diet strictly forever now?

[Hidden]

Some of that is water weight that will always fluctuate and the trend is still downwards. True especially for women.

[Emerion in reply to Hidden]

Do you mean that some of the weight that I put back on is water rather than fat? If that's so, I feel a bit better because whilst I'm happy to learn new, healthier eating habits, I know that a life-long strict diet is a non-starter for me. You do hear about famous beautiful people living on little more than lettuce leaves, and I was beginning to wonder!

[Hidden in reply to Emerion]

Yes, I weigh every M T W and it fluctuates a few pounds up and down with a big loss after several days. It our hormones.

[pcrw Maintainer Healthy BMI]

Dear Emerson

I think the truth is to get overweight one was overeating and not eating ‘ normally’’

I think we need to learn to accept eating ‘ normally ‘ in contrast to overeating and eating high calorie snacks and drinking high calorie drinks will feel like constant dieting until our minds and stomachs adjust permanently to the new way of living

[VickyDLM 2 stone in reply to pcrw]

I'm with you there pcrw!

Since starting the NHS plan I have found that I my stomach objects more when I overeat and that "overeating" is now a smaller amount than it was before.

[YellowRose55]

Hi Emerion and welcome to the weight loss forum.

You are invited to join our Newbie Club, where you can meet other new members who are just beginning their weigh loss journeys too. Here's the link for all the information you will need to find your way around the forum:

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

Write a brief note to introduce yourself to other newbies and I'm sure you'll be making friends, in no time.

Good luck with your first week.

[Pineapple27]

You need to eat 3,500 calories to put on a pound.... so it won't be "real" weight.

Body weight can fluctuate a lot in some people - some things that influence this are:

Takeaways (which usually contain a lot of salt)

Exercise (body retains water to repair muscles)

TOTM (usually only a ladies problem!)

Illness (when we are not 100% well)

Not getting enough sleep

Some medications...... etc, etc.

I weight myself each day first thing in the morning, but only log my weight once a week (same day). As long as the general trend is downwards, there really is no need to worry!

[Emerion]

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. It seems there is hope, and I'm feeling more positive. My mum's weight yo-yo'd for most of her life, gradually getting worse over time, which was why I swore never to try a diet because I thought they all made you fat eventually. But the practice nurse said I had to, so here I am. I've never been a big unhealthy food eater btw, just bigger and bigger portions of normal, healthy stuff - which still makes you fat unfortunately!