Regained weight after massive weight loss - Trying to get back on track

[Hitman911]

Hello anyone reading this.

So let's get straight into it.

I have been obese my whole life, genetics, pretty much everyone in the family has been bulky/fat.

So, 2013, I am 23, I am a 6'1", 130 KGs, broad frame, so at this pont I am more big than I am fat. Anyhow, have been fat my entire life and even though desperately wanting to, not all that motivated to loose weight.

Mid 2013, something snaps, and I say **ahem** it. I do some research online and figure out calories is the key. So I go at it like an obsessed man.

At that weight, I needed close to 3,500 calories just to maintain weight. I cut mine down close to 700 a day. Insane, I know, but I was a 23 year old Kid, who had never dieted before and the results were amazing. In a month, I lost close to 8 KGs. So that just spurred me, added some exercise, increased the caloric uptake a bit and kept at it. By end of 2013, I was close to 108 KGs. Yep, was a fairy tale to me. So, with some further ups and downs, I finally went the home stretch and in 2014, I reached 99 KGs. For the first time in my adult life, I weighed under three digits! Big moment.

So the key takeaway in all that, is I reduced calories to a dangerously low level and achieved my goal. BUT it didn't last.

Was at top of the world. Could only go downhill from there. Let go of the excercise routine. Am an auditor by profession so fast food and late nights was the life I had. Anyhow, since 2015 mid, I have gradually gained back around 20 KGs and need to loose it again.

Now motivation is not the issue. I am a crazy guy in that regards, I will drag myself if that is required. 
What I need from the community is how to go about it ? In my head, the similar routine is not working. Mainly as that time, my body was not used to it. But as you all know the body adapts. So, how do I go about losing the weight again ?

[WavyDavey]

---

@Hitman911 wrote:

Hello anyone reading this.

So let's get straight into it.

I have been obese my whole life, genetics, pretty much everyone in the family has been bulky/fat.

So, 2013, I am 23, I am a 6'1", 130 KGs, broad frame, so at this pont I am more big than I am fat. Anyhow, have been fat my entire life and even though desperately wanting to, not all that motivated to loose weight.

Mid 2013, something snaps, and I say **ahem** it. I do some research online and figure out calories is the key. So I go at it like an obsessed man.

At that weight, I needed close to 3,500 calories just to maintain weight. I cut mine down close to 700 a day. Insane, I know, but I was a 23 year old Kid, who had never dieted before and the results were amazing. In a month, I lost close to 8 KGs. So that just spurred me, added some exercise, increased the caloric uptake a bit and kept at it. By end of 2013, I was close to 108 KGs. Yep, was a fairy tale to me. So, with some further ups and downs, I finally went the home stretch and in 2014, I reached 99 KGs. For the first time in my adult life, I weighed under three digits! Big moment.

So the key takeaway in all that, is I reduced calories to a dangerously low level and achieved my goal. BUT it didn't last.

Was at top of the world. Could only go downhill from there. Let go of the excercise routine. Am an auditor by profession so fast food and late nights was the life I had. Anyhow, since 2015 mid, I have gradually gained back around 20 KGs and need to loose it again.

Now motivation is not the issue. I am a crazy guy in that regards, I will drag myself if that is required. 
What I need from the community is how to go about it ? In my head, the similar routine is not working. Mainly as that time, my body was not used to it. But as you all know the body adapts. So, how do I go about losing the weight again ?

---

Hi @Hitman911,

I'm sure more experienced posters like @Daves_Not_Here or @Dominique or others will chime in with the specifics. I did want to point out something that stood out from your post: motivation.

While many posts here talk about how to get motivated losing weight, your story is much different. The intensity that you applied to your massive weight loss is significant.

It also might be part of the issue. Our bodies can't adapt as quickly as our minds can. This came to mind reading words like obsessed and crazy to describe your level of motivation. Many people might really want that issue, but it has its downside when taken to an extreme.

You also realized that your calorie deficit was far too much to be sustainable, so getting that number more realistic is going to be key.  It's too easy to think of weight management to be a race, to get to the finish line. But the race never ends, so just rushing to the finish line doesn't work long-term, as you discovered.

So my advice is, whatever your goal weight is, double the time you think you'll need to reach it. Use that great motivation you have, but don't let it use you. Best of luck!

[Dominique]

---

@Hitman911 wrote:

What I need from the community is how to go about it ?

---

Welcome to the community, @Hitman911! You will likely get many suggestions as to what to do and what not to do. I don’t have personal experience with major weight loss, but one approach that makes a lot of sense to me is the one described in Losing All Your Weight At Once, a video by Dr. Mike Israetel. And no, the recommended approach is not to try losing it all at once,  but rather to structure your weight loss in phases, alternating periods of weight loss and periods of maintenance. It will take more time, but should give longer lasting results. I think it could resonate with you, based on your past experience.

[Daves_Not_Here]

Thanks @WavyDavey for tagging me.  Welcome @Hitman911 .  We have very similar stories (lost a lot of weight, stopped paying attention, gained it back, need to lose it and keep it off), although I'm older.   Also, I gained all my weight back, but you've only gained back 2/3 of yours.  My mistake was assuming that because I am physically active, I could eat mindlessly.

I think you'll find that taking the weight back off is going to be pretty easy, once you get to it.  Keeping it off -- that's the challenge, and I encourage you to review the responses  at https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Manage-Weight/How-the-heck-are-you-keeping-it-off/m-p/2284461#M60196 for great ideas

To take it off, this is what works for me:

• Focus on food - log all eating, weigh calorie dense foods
• Light daily exercise - short enough that recovery eating is not needed
• Avoid foods that increase appetite (high GI carbs, rice, bread, cereal, donuts, chips)
• Eat foods that reduce appetite (fats, nuts, avocados)
• 8 glasses of water a day
• 8 hours of sleep
• Daily weighing
• Sustain moderately aggressive calorie deficit (1000 calories) to eliminate measurement error problems
• Cook meals in bulk
• MInimize eating out
• Avoid late-night snacking

[EmjayH]

@Hitman911 Don't look at it like a diet. If you wanna lose the weight and keep it off then you need to change ur lifestyle habits permanently. Eat healthy stay active and watch ur calorie intake. What you did previously was too extreme and in no way manageable permanently. Relax a bit have a slightly aggressive calorie deficient as @Daves_Not_Here mentioned and do activities you enjoy. Working out at the gym or wherever is only a small portion of ur exercise. How active you are throughout the entire day is more important imo.