I have reached that ' fat as I want to be' state once again. I know I can lose the weight but I always, always end up regaining and I'm already feeling defeated before I begin. I have spent the last ten years gaining and then losing 3 stone. Has anyone been here - and gone beyond this cycle?
Thanks.
Most of us here are familiar with yo-yo diets, and understand that we need to change food and lifestyle habits for good if we want to lose weight and keep it under control. Good luck!
I had a good decade of YoYoing, possibly more, I would lose some then gain back more than I lost, the end result was I started off being a chunky 16 stoner but ended up at 30 Stone or 190 Kg - ish, I'm now 80kg and I've kept myself here for a couple of years now.
The blunt reality is that it's pointless in making changes if you can not carry them on in various forms for the rest of your life. It's far better to make very small manageable changes for life than to make a huge one that lasts for a short period of time. The reality is that almost all of us (including myself in the past) set off on weight-loss journeys with an end point or goal in focus and I just can't see now looking back how that can ever work.
The perfect weight loss program in my personal opinion is one that gets you eating healthy nutritious food and controls your weight with the amount of that healthy nutritious food that you are eating. Unfortunately it's never that straightforward because for most of us, it's a journey of discovery and a massive learning curve, so you won't necessarily end up eating the same types of foods that you did when you started out on your journey, especially if that journey is long long one.
Good Luck with your endeavours 
Hey you are in good company here, i think the trick i finally learnt was to make a healthy lifestyle change instead of dieting, its finally come off and staying off. The nhs 12 week plan is a great place to start. Good luck and keep us up to date. Lots of helpful supportive people here
I was always a yoyo dieter but I've found a free way to lose your three stone and keep it off. I did, and I've been the same weight now since April 2013.
I lost the three stone I needed to in six months on the 5:2 Diet after watching Michael Mosley's excellent Horizon programme in 2012, "Eat, Fast and Live Longer" tinyurl.com/qzgo7tq or tinyurl.com/a8ppjl7 and went from a size 16 to a size 10 by eating 500 calories two non-consecutive days a week. I've been maintaining my weight loss since April 2013 by just fasting one day a week - in the past I piled the weight back on as soon as I finished 'dieting'. I'd very much recommend you read Kate Harrison's book, "The 5:2 Diet" (tinyurl.com/qe6mz4u) - it really does work and it will save you a fortune (towards your smaller clothes!).
I'd also recommend a free app for your phone called MyFitnessPal. Counting calories is very important so you can see how much you're eating and therefore eat mindfully rather than mindlessly. There are excellent videos in the Help section on the app that show you how it works - there's even a barcode reader to scan in branded foods.
It's important you don't eat more than your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) on non-fasting days. You can work that out here thefastdiet.co.uk/how-many-.... If yours works out at more than 2000 then aim at 2000 on non-fasting days.
Here I am in the Daily Mail on 7th January tinyurl.com/m7rqecq. The other two ladies’ stories are inspiring!
Here Michael Mosley answers many questions on it dailymail.co.uk/health/arti...
This little video explains more youtu.be/W9Aj6hRYg4A
Thank you - this is very informative. I'll check out those videos. There is hope!
Don't really have any words of wisdom but just wanted to let you know that you're not alone. I am in the same boat having lost a lot of weight (4-5 stone) three times now and regained it so that I am now heavier than ever. I intend to go into this with a different attitude this time. Previously I got caught up in the excitement of losing weight, became compulsive about exercise and controlling my eating and then got bored when it was all about maintenance. Am trying to see this upcoming stage of my life as being about being good to myself and feeling how I want to feel, giving myself tasty, healthy foods etc i.e. i am trying to see it about gaining good things (fitness, comfort within my own body, positive self image, good food rather than junk etc) rather than being about control and denial. Well that's the idea anyway! Good luck with your journey and feel free to stay in touch
Thank you - good ideas. It is good not to feel alone in this.
I was rather ill when I was 13, and got all the way up to 14 stone (still ashamed of that today!), but lost 4 stone in the end, then put a couple back on, then lost a stone again, then put a few more on, etc. now I'm 13 and a half, because of my experience when I was younger, it has given me drive not to reach 14 stone again, but i'm still not happy at 13 and a half, I would like to be my healthy weight of 10 & a half. I know they say throw out your fat clothes when you lose weight, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking I have done that before, then put on weight again, and had to pay out for bigger clothes again. quite a few of my family tend to be Yo-Yos.
Yes - I've spent a lot of money replacing clothing I vowed never to see again. At the time it seemed like a positive demonstration of intention but I understand that feeling of keep them 'just in case'. 10 & a half sounds like a good number to me too. We seem to be at a similar staring place. I hope it goes well for you. My mile stone wouldn't be seeing the 10 & a half but being 10 & a half a year later.
The best way of looking at this in my experience is that firstly you are not "on a diet" because that implies coming off the diet. Secondly think about food and weight like a bank balance, I find that makes it less emotional. If you have overspent and become overdrawn then the only way out of it is to pay back. Unfortunately you still have to pay the basic bills in life (the food equivalent is you still need the nutrition) but you will have to cut back harshly to pay back and still pay everything you need to. Once the overdraft is paid off you need to stick to a budget or you will be back in debt and because you messed up before the interest rate will be higher and it will be harder.
It's working out that budget that's the hard bit, allowing yourself to enjoy life within your means. You can even look at exercise as being a 2nd job which helps you budget better but you still need to know what your basic income is and how to live on it.This worked well for me until I finished up having my life fall in round me, this time I can't rely on exercise and have to rely just on my "budget" when I looked at it differently it did make it easier because my brain had been filled with so much rubbish both about what I should be entitled to eat, what other people eat and by marketing stuff put out by slimming clubs designed to make us take longer and pay more to them.
I hope you find the concept that makes it click in your head this time. Not many do 97% of people who start a diet on 1st January will weigh more 1 year on. So if you need to forgive yourself if you do slide, it happens often enough to be classed as normal
Almost 2 months in and already yo-yo diet
Give up the YO-YO
Life after yo yo dieting?
Yo-Yo week for me
Yo yo dieter 
