# Do you tend to gain back the weight you lost? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 5, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360 "2012-07-05T23:20:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/21 "2012-07-06T20:59:36Z")
I didn’t vote in this, you seem to be asking two different questions. Did I keep the weight off after I lost weight? Yes, mostly. Was it easy? Hell, no. I’ve been up and down a few times, after 7 years I seem to have finally settled in at -125 out of the 150 that I lost. So yes, I “tend” to put the weight back on, but I fight the tendency tooth and nail. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/22 "2012-07-06T23:58:11Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I would be interested in hearing more about this. By cutting out sugar do you mean all sweets, products with added sugar like sauces, etc? Yes, basically, but that doesn’t include fruit, which we eat with wild abandon. We eat essentially zero processed food. I do keep sugar in the house for sweetening (very lightly) homemade sauces, but we go through maybe a cup of it a year. I think a lot of what foods you love is just what you get used to. We used to eat a lot of sweets–I think much less than the average american, but that isn’t saying much. We’d drink diet sodas, eat granola bars, pancakes occasionally, sweeten our coffee, stuff like that. Once we cut out all sugar for a couple of months, we both (husband and I) find that those sweet things taste sickeningly sweet–pretty awful, really. Now, --and if you told me 5 years ago that I’d be saying this I’d have called you insane–I’d honestly, truly rather have a big elaborate salad, resplendent with bacon and avocado and cheeses and nuts, than a brownie. Note that we eat a very high-fat diet, everything is ridiculously tasty, it just isn’t sweet and it isn’t bread. Since we’ve started this, 18 months ago, neither of us has been sick a single day. We don’t catch colds anymore. It’s kind of weird. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/23 "2012-07-07T00:26:48Z")
Twenty years ago I was over 200 pounds. I lost 40 pounds in 1992, and have maintained my weight around 160 ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/24 "2012-07-07T00:27:41Z")
I read the Cracked article and at the end there are 3 pictures of Jared the Subway guy, one very fat, one thin, and one just regular fat with the tagline 'Did we mention that Jared got fat again?" But he isn’t _as fat_. As a formerly morbidly obese person that’s the best possible outcome for me. I’ll never be thin but I think I can be simply overweight. I have the tools and I know what to do to mitigate the damage when I start to backslide. I bought a scale after giving birth, the first scale I’ve ever owned. I’m never going to be 233 again, but I’ll probably always be a little fat. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/25 "2012-07-07T02:13:18Z")
[NYT article on said topic](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all) (Warning: you may hit your monthly article quota). ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/26 "2012-07-07T03:21:01Z")
I lost 15 pounds close to six years ago. I’ve kept it off ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/27 "2012-07-07T07:17:25Z")
Voted other. I have no idea. I have never owned a scale. I get weighed every so often when I go to the doctor, but I never remember what the number was by the time I leave the appointment, I just register it long enough to think ‘huh. that sounds okay to me.’ and then overwrite it with more interesting things, like what’s going on the Netflix queue next. My dress size hasn’t fluctuated much in many years, though. What size it is exactly differs between brands, and whether I’m basing it on my bust, waist or hip measurement, but it’s always approximately the same as I remember it from the last time I went questing for pants. The last person who tried to tell me that my metabolism would go downhill when I hit 25 boggled when I told them how old I actually was. I suspect it’s mostly because I walk everywhere, and always have. I can’t get a straight answer on how active “active” really is when I consult those calorie-burner calculator things, but I can easily go 3-5 miles on foot, if I have the time to justify dawdling outside. I expect if I ever busted a leg or something I’d probably either gain a lot or burn so few calories I’d forget to eat while it healed. ---
**Author:** ![Arien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arien)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/28 "2012-07-07T23:06:30Z")
I voted no but the truth is closer to “yes, a little”. I’ve only lost a significant amount of weight once, got down to about 131. There were a few times where I would gain back 5 pounds or so until I became dedicated to losing again. Since I lost about 40 lbs total, I think a gain of 5 isn’t too significant. It’s only been a couple of years but I feel hopeful that I can keep most of it off. I may gain back 5-10 lbs here or there but I don’t think I’ll ever gain much more, barring some sort of change in my medical condition. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/29 "2012-07-07T23:44:42Z")
I don’t just gain it back. My body welcomes back the weight like the prodigal son returning home. ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/30 "2012-07-08T04:18:27Z")
20 years ago I weighed around 160 lbs. (I’m 5’5" tall.) Now I weigh 130. I think that’s pretty good as far as keeping the weight off. I don’t think I’ve “lost” the last 15 lbs so much as “temporarily misplaced” it. Over the past 20 years, I’ve fluctuated between 120 and 135. However, while the Cracked writer would probably consider me a failure because I haven’t stayed consistently at 120, I consider myself a success. The majority of the weight has stayed off, and I think the difference between 120 and 135 is negligible compared to the difference between 160 and 135. I’m a normal BMI at either 120 or 135. I’m healthy at either weight, I have the same energy level, and I look pretty good in my clothes–none of which was true at 160. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/31 "2012-07-08T13:50:18Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > Then I’d be up 20 or 30 lbs and think, why didn’t I stop when I was just up three pounds? So last time I did. This goes against all advice, but I weigh myself a lot. Boy, whomever gave that advice was crazy. Weighing myself every day is a tremendous help in keeping the pounds off. Sixty pounds off so far, twenty to go, and weighing myself daily is one of the main reasons why. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/32 "2012-07-08T14:27:28Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Sixty pounds off so far, twenty to go, and weighing myself daily is one of the main reasons why. I have a digital scale and weigh myself every day. That is the key to my success. I used to be anywhere from 200 to 215 lbs for many years. Last January I started a lifestyle/diet free of sugar, wheat, rice and potato and heavy on the meat and green vegetables. My target was 165. I allowed myself free rein once a week, usually on Sunday. I don’t want to live the rest of my life without experiencing toast, hashbrowns, icecream and holiday dinners. I never reached my target, but I’m looking and feeling great bouncing around the mid 170s for the past 3 months. Without the daily weigh in I just wouldn’t have the easy control that I now have. Mind you it help when you are married to a woman who is a great cook, and has become a believer in primal/paleo cuisine. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/33 "2012-07-08T14:34:04Z")
If you lost weight, you can keep it off, but it takes near-continuous vigiliance. Case in point, me. If I let things slide even for 4-5 days, my weight starts rising like a helium balloon. But as soon as that starts happening I aggressively head it off at the pass. Do I ever get to eat anything really good? No. Is food anything like a source of joy to me? No. But I keep the weight off, and as long as I stay on top of it, it will stay off. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/34 "2012-07-08T15:21:58Z")
Can’t lose. Used to lose but it came back except for 30 lbs which has stayed off for about 10 years. Need to lose another 60-70 lbs but it is now 5 off, 5 on, repeat. I still have hope but it is geting less every day. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/35 "2012-07-12T03:34:04Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > If you lost weight, you can keep it off, but it takes near-continuous vigiliance. Case in point, me. If I let things slide even for 4-5 days, my weight starts rising like a helium balloon. But as soon as that starts happening I aggressively head it off at the pass. Wow, what’s your definition of “letting things slide”? A pound takes 3500 unneeded calories to gain, and I can’t imagine eating enough over less than a week to gain noticeably. ---
**Author:** ![Slother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Slother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slother)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/36 "2014-02-28T07:59:22Z")
Is anyone still having this problem? I was losing weight, then gained a bunch back, and had to take an [ECA stack](http://www.zenfatloss.com/eca-stack/) just to lose it. I guess that boosted my metabolism, but now I’m gaining weight again. 😕 For what it’s worth, I’m specifically trying to lose weight in my arms. I’ve been reading this site, and following the workout it says to: [http://www.zenfatloss.com/lose-arm-fat-fast/](http://www.zenfatloss.com/lose-arm-fat-fast/) BUT, I’m still gaining weight back. It sucks!!! :mad: So if anyone figured out what to do, please let me know. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/37 "2014-02-28T10:53:05Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Wow, what’s your definition of “letting things slide”? A pound takes 3500 unneeded calories to gain, and I can’t imagine eating enough over less than a week to gain noticeably. That’s the thing though - with high-calorie processed foods, an additional 3500 calories is _easy_. A meal at Mcdonalds one day, a Frappuccino at Starbucks the next, a slice of pizza after that, a few extra beers, adding a few sodas. A cheeseburger, fries, and soda at Five Guys is about 2000 calories without a soda - pretty much a sedentary person’s entire daily allotment during one meal. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/38 "2014-02-28T16:39:23Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Wow, what’s your definition of “letting things slide”? A pound takes 3500 unneeded calories to gain, and I can’t imagine eating enough over less than a week to gain noticeably. It may not be fat that is being gained. Some people can easily gain several pounds overnight by eating something saltier than usual or something that their body reacts to with inflammation. Sure it isn’t fat, but it’s still weight that is making your clothes feel tighter or making your feel fatter. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360/39 "2014-02-28T16:54:41Z")
As the OP’er, I recently redoubled my efforts (cutting out some junk and putting in more stationary bike time) after backsliding a bit from 180 to 187-back to 183 now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tend-to-gain-back-the-weight-you-lost/627360.md?page=1)