The weight keeps coming back.

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Edward Lee

Edward Lee

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In August 2017 I was at 248 lbs. I got serious with diet and exercise and lost down to 168 lbs by June 2018. I kept my weight under 175 lbs until September of 2019. By Christmas of 2019 I was back to 200 lbs. diet and exercise have not been successful this time. I try to keep my calorie deficit at 800 to 1,000 a day. I’ll lose about 4 lbs
in week or two then it is right back. Any suggestions?
 
Hi, Edward! And welcome to WLF! :) There are many very knowledgeable and skilled people around here - including men who've been or are going through the same tricky down-and-up you've described.
I'm not one of them (not knowledgeable, not skilled, not male) but till they get here, just so there's a clearer picture - what happened in September 2019? 25 pounds is a lot to gain in just a couple of months! Was it just that you thought "I've got this sorted now; I can just relax and eat what I like" - and then the end-of-year parties hit? Or an actual change in diet or routine - or even place of residence?
 
In March of 2019 the company I had worked at for over 19 years was bought out. My duties and schedule changed radically. I was placed in a very high stress environment, with very limited exercise time. I was allowed to go running 5 miles a day at lunch under the old management. In October of 19 I was terminated by the new management. I now have a kid we’re I’m at a desk all day. I tried to adjust my diet for the reduction in activity, but I was only taking in 1800 calories before my life was upended. Then factor in the holiday season and no diet support at home ( wife and mother -in-law eat nothing but junk) it has been very hard to stay on a healthy diet. I have been going to a gym 4 to 5 nights a week and doing as much exercise as possible in the week ends with the new job but no sustained weight loss.
 
Wow! That's quite a load of stress and change - no wonder your health/fitness has taken a dive. I don't think I'd have recommended cutting your calorie intake right then, but I am totally NOT an expert in nutrition - just a fellow-struggler. I do know that getting support in the home is really helpful - who buys the food supplies for the house? Can they make sure that there's good food there for you? Are you tempted to eat the junk food yourself at all? You must still be coming to terms with the new job - how are the people around you there?
What I'm getting at is that you've had to cope with a LOT of change and stress, so it might be a good time to look for ways to make getting healthier/leaner easier on yourself. The exercise - that might just be exhausting you, and adding to stress? And in the end, it's not exercise that makes the difference , I think - it's what you eat.
What's working for me, or has so far, is lots of fruit and veg, and from time to time cutting out sugar completely.
Looking forward to reading more of how you decide to tackle things (after you hear more from a few other people than me!). Best wishes! :)
 
My wife dose the food shopping. She tries to get me healthy options but I took a substantial pay cut with the new job, so buying for two separate diets is very hard. Yes, I am very tempted by the junk food, but I do a fairly good job with restraint most of the time. The 1800 calories was my daily goal before all the changes to my life. I have tried to stick to that but it has been hard. Most days I hit 20K to 22K calories. I do log all my food calories, but portion control has been hard. My wife doesn’t pay attention to that when she cooks. When I cook I measure everything based on calorie count, she not so much. We don’t have disposable income to cook two meals. Sugar, I don’t use it. I drink diet everything when I’m not drinking water. The only sugar I get is in food.
The exercise is the highlight of my day, and I try to moderate it so I don’t exhaust myself, but I get carried away sometimes after a stressful day.
 
Edward Lee said:
In August 2017 I was at 248 lbs. I got serious with diet and exercise and lost down to 168 lbs by June 2018. I kept my weight under 175 lbs until September of 2019. ...
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this is very common for eat less, move more dieting. what likely happened over your ten months of losing weight is that your basal metabolism decreased. in other words your body slowed down because it saw a diet similar in timing to your normal eating schedule, but with a reduced caloric intake. your times of exercise did a good job of burning fat (norepinephrine reaction), but at other times your insulin to glucagon ratio was likely too high to tap those resources, hence your metabolism triggered a slowdown.

look into some ways to boost your B.M. or else you will need to keep to your diet merely to maintain your weight. another way to solve your problem would be to add some fasting time to your meal scheduling. putting your body in a state of ketosis from time to time is generally a good way to recover.
 
What would be the best meal to skip? I have to watch my blood sugar level being hypoglycemic. It took me a while to figure out how to eat and not have a crash.
 
i don't like saying skip breakfast, for my personal definition of breakfast is the first meal after my daily 16-18 hour fast, so it's best to say move breakfast to lunchtime and skip lunch. i usually eat two meals a day, breakfast around noon to two pm and dinner sometime around 6 - 8 pm. then until breakfast the following day it's just water, tea (with only a sweetener) or coffee (same). i am basically healthy enough to pull this off, but if i were you i might talk it over with my doctor. just be aware that i've found the medical community full of adages and more than likely due to legal reasons, not willing to cough up any up-to-date dieting advice. i wish i had access to a more informed nutritionist.
 
Edward Lee said:
By Christmas of 2019 I was back to 200 lbs. diet and exercise have not been successful this time. I try to keep my calorie deficit at 800 to 1,000 a day. I’ll lose about 4 lbs
in week or two then it is right back. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Hey @Edward Lee
It looks like yoyo effect which isn't good for your organism. You can try a fasting method as overlandflyer said, but consult it with your doctor first.
What I would suggest is to choose one weight loose method which is suitable for your organism (with not a big deficit like 800 kcal or 1000 kcal- it is way too little for adult person), and stick with it for a long time. Your body won't feel like it is a diet and it won't turn on the 'starving mode', so it will save you from yoyo effect. Bu the most important here is that you have to feel good about your new eating style to calm your mind from thoughts like: 'it a poor diet- I need to eat, I need to gain weight to keep me alive'
 
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