HELP!!!
NOTE: Before you read this blog, I want to ask you for some help. I am currently writing a book on maintaining a healthy weight after weight-loss. I need to interview people who have maintained their weight-loss weight for a number of years. I am having problems finding such people because most dieters—up to 95%--gain back the pounds that they lose. If you have been successful in maintaining a healthy weight after reaching your diet goal or you know someone who is, please contact me through the comment section following this blog. Below is my struggle with yo-yo dieting. Hopefully, it will inspire you to avoid my mistakes.
If ever there was something that I learned the hard way, it’s that most everyone, myself included, gains back lost weight. I lost 170 pounds in 1997 and vowed that I would never, ever gain it back. I had assumed that I finally knew the secret to lifelong healthy weight. Ha! I’m just like the majority of the masses who lose weight, gain it back, lose it again, etc.
First I gained back 50 pounds. It was easy. I took on the mentality that I was “done” with all this dieting. I had reached my goal and now I was finished! This is the worse mindset for me or anybody else. You are never done with healthy eating and regular exercise. They must be part of a lifelong lifestyle. I knew this, but I forgot. I returned to my bad eating habits and the three C’s—cheesecake, chocolate and cheeseburgers (fast food ones, of course)—and I lessened exercise efforts. The 50 pounds didn’t magically return. I went out and brought them back!