{"id":39997,"date":"2015-05-14T11:15:05","date_gmt":"2015-05-14T15:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=39997"},"modified":"2021-11-18T11:23:41","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T16:23:41","slug":"weight-regain-how-to-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/health\/weight-regain-how-to-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Regaining Weight Is So Common"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Why
Photo: Pond5<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After Ashley Diamond lost 60 pounds from her 200-pound, 5\u201910\u201d frame during her senior year of college, she thought she was done with dieting<\/a> forever. In fact, she spent the next four years hovering around 140 pounds \u2014 even dipping to 128 pounds at one point. Then, newly engaged, she moved to Manhattan for a fancy office job and started to snack.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had meetings, I\u2019d have bagels from the breakfast tray, then sandwiches, then cookies in the afternoon,\u201d says Diamond. \u201cIt was mindless munching<\/a>.\u201d Within the next nine months, she packed on 20 pounds. \u201cWhen I got my wedding photos back<\/a>, I started crying. All I could see was rolls from my arms in my strapless dress,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen you gain weight after you\u2019ve lost it, it almost hurts more. You know what the confidence feels like. You know what it feels like to get dressed and feel good.\u201d<\/p>\n

For anyone who\u2019s seen the numbers on the scale creep up after dropping a significant amount of weight, the statistics aren\u2019t exactly encouraging. Studies show that most people regain the weight<\/a> they lose, whether they shed it fast or slow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And that can take a psychological toll. \u201cLosing and regaining weight is the natural cycle of weight loss through dieting, but somehow we\u2019re convinced it\u2019s out fault,\u201d explains Alexis Conason<\/a>, a psychologist in private practice in Manhattan who specializes in overeating and body image. \u201cWhen people regain weight, they struggle with feelings of shame, failure, low self-esteem and guilt. They think they had low motivation or didn\u2019t have enough self-control.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

But here\u2019s some good news: A 2014 study<\/a> of nearly 3,000 people who had lost (and kept off) a minimum of 30 pounds for at least a year found that 87 percent of participants maintained at least<\/em> 10 percent of that weight loss over a decade.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> How to Detox the Healthy Way: 16 Recipes You\u2019ll Love<\/a><\/p>\n

4 Tips for Weight Loss\u00a0the Second Time Around<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Getting back to your best body might require fine-tuning your eating habits and becoming more passionate about fitness. But it\u2019s totally possible. And it will set you for success in the long run.<\/p>\n

“You don\u2019t get that same high from losing weight the first time. But you\u2019re coming back to the best version of yourself.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1. Get started, ASAP.
\n<\/strong>As soon you notice you\u2019re slipping, take action right away. \u201cIt\u2019s easier to lose two to three pounds than 10 pounds,\u201d explains Linda Houtkooper<\/a>, nutritional sciences professor at the University of Arizona. \u201cYou\u2019ll stay motivated and will be more successful in getting it back off.\u201d\u00a0A report<\/a> in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition<\/em> that analyzed common traits among weight loss maintainers backs up this advice: \u201cPreventing small regains from turning into larger relapses appears critical to recovery among successful weight losers,\u201d it concludes.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> The 30-Second Trick That Might Stop Your Food Cravings<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Realize that your body is different.
\n<\/strong>If you\u2019ve got less to lose this time around, you might need to shake up your strategy. \u201cYou need fewer calories, since you\u2019re lighter than you were when you started the first time,\u201d says Houtkooper. When Diamond initially lost her weight, she relied on low-calorie (but less-than-healthy) staples like 100-calorie pre-packaged cookies, canned soup and diet soda. Or, she took advantage of the fact that she wasn\u2019t working in an office to make giant salads. But the pounds didn\u2019t fall off as easily the second time. \u201cIt was a slower process, and I had to find different tactics,\u201d says Diamond, now 31, who\u2019s since moved to Geneva, Switzerland and writes about living in moderation in her blog A Healthy Happier Bear<\/a>. \u201cI had to learn portion control and how to bring healthy snacks to work.\u201d She also started training for a marathon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> Are You Exceeding Your Daily Sugar Intake in Just One Meal?<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Exercise to tame your hunger hormones.
\n<\/strong>You know that exercise is critical<\/a> to keeping weight off \u2014 but did you know it does more than just burn calories? Some evidence<\/a> suggests that frequent sweat sessions might help you regulate your appetite and help you feel more satisfied after meals. This may be particularly crucial for weight maintenance. The American Academy of Sports Medicine recommends<\/a> 150 to 250 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week to lose weight and more than 250 minutes a week to maintain it.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> The Body-Sculpting TRX Ab Workout<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Aim for a sustainable goal.
\n<\/strong>Experts agree that one of the reasons people regain weight is to compensate for the deprivation<\/a> they experienced during their diets. Diamond was so focused on reaching 140 pounds during her first loss that she was super strict about what she ate \u2014 even skipping olive oil on her salad. The second time: She adopted a more moderate diet, which got her to a happy 150 pounds. \u201cI know I could be a size smaller, but I\u2019ve been able to enjoy wine and chocolate<\/a> and cheese<\/a>. I\u2019m focused on being healthy and strong,\u201d she says. \u201cYou don\u2019t get that same high from losing weight the first time. But you\u2019re coming back to the best version of yourself. It may not be defined by weight, but it\u2019s the best version of how you feel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thought you were done dieting? Regaining pounds is more common than you\u2019d think. Here\u2019s how to deal, plus the best ways to lose weight the second time around. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":39999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7,18],"tags":[41,103,341,352,285],"class_list":["post-39997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diet-nutrition","category-health","category-weight-loss","tag-diets","tag-motivation","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2weight-loss","tag-weight-loss"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}