Why O Why....

[Steeevestar]

Reached my target weight four weeks ago, had a brilliant weekend to celebrate my success and then fell back into the diet to maintain my target weight. First week was fine even lost a pound, weeks two, three and four I've put on every week. I've done nothing different, still maintaining my calories, exercising like before, alcohol the same yet a STONE heavier. What is going on? Any suggestions?

[fibronfedup]

Could be muscle weight gain? Or maybe try lowering your calories every other day for a week to 1200 to give urself a boost im sure the rosemary coneley diet says that sort of thing. Maybe try different exercises as ur body might of got used to the routine im not sure just a few ideas for u though. Hope it helps

[tootsiepops in reply to fibronfedup]

I am on maintenance now and still losing weight, albeit only 1 lb every 2/3 weeks. I don't want to lose any more as don't want the dreaded turkey neck that comes with skinny older ladies. I am going to give gingernuts 1 day fast tip a go..

[gingernut49]

I lost three stone on the 5:2 Diet (half a stone a month) youtu.be/W9Aj6hRYg4A(Not working as expected?) and the advantage of that is that I've since maintained by 'fasting' just one day a week, since April 2013. It's an extremely effective way of life (rather than a 'diet' per se) and is said to reduce the risks of dementia, cancer and diabetes - win-win. It's based on a brilliant Horizon programme which aired in August 2012 called "Eat, Fast and Live Longer" bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b... which is a must-watch programme.

[LeilaBrickell]

Boost your cardio exercises. Probably muscle gain. I have experienced this too. My fitness instructor add my cardio, lessen my weights, and change my program. When you are on a diet make sure you take supplements to sustain a healthy body.

[returner]

Hi Steeevestar,

My guess, for what it's worth, is that you have actually relaxed your regime more than you think you have.

It's a bit like the Secret Eaters thing, of being overweight and just not realising how much you are eating that is causing the overweight. And they all say things like "I eat pretty healthily" and "I don't eat that much" and "I just don't know why I'm not losing weight".

Maintenance isn't that easy and I, for one, have put on a bit of weight especially recently, but I'm nowhere near the huge size I was a couple of years ago. My recent weight increase is a lot about a severely changed routine as I recover from surgery and about not going to work at the moment, so I'm not too worried about that at least at one level, because once I get back into a more robust life routine, I'm confident I can deal with the extra few kilos.

Also, for me, it is possible that I may need further treatments and I know that some of those would be very likely to have weight gain side effects. So, I've kind of put on hold any decision about the weight until I know what ballgame I'm in.

My suggestion for you is to not fret about it too much, but just try to keep a keen eye on it and see what happens over the next couple of weeks or so. It might be a bit of a blip and perhaps you celebrated a bit too much!

Also, due to the hormone changes which occur as people increase in body weight, when you reduce your weight not all of the hormone changes 're-set' to the way they were before you were overweight. That can result in people who have lost weight having a greater tendency to re-gain it than those who were never overweight.