The fear of going back to your old ways...

Does it bother you?

Right now I feel like I could never go back to how I used to be. I really like my new lifestyle and it's only been a month.

And then I think...wow, only a month. How easy would it be for me to slip once or twice, miss a couple of workouts and gradually find myself in the exact same position I was a month ago - miserable, fatigued, bored, 8lbs heavier...

Truly, it doesn't really get to me that often. I really like what I'm doing and I feel pretty strong and stable. But sometimes I am reminded not to get too cocky, and that I have to make daily efforts to sustain these changes. A few years ago I lost a fair bit of weight over 5 months. I did it healthily, but I completely gave up junk food in any form. Once I started eating junk again, I started out being pretty good at moderating it, but eventually I was back to my old ways and in another 5 months I had gained it all back plus some.

On one hand it freaks me out how quickly things can revert to what they used to be, but on the other hand, in this case it was because I made an unsustainable change in giving up junk food...I didn't form "normal" habits. Which is what I'm doing now!

But yeah, does anyone ever get worried about it? Do you ever panic and think something awful is going to happen in your life that will cause you to put all the weight back on?

every day of my life i think of my old ways and cringe. Personally, I find it being the main motivation to keep me going. So somehow you can view this as a positive thing. But at the moment I have enough willpower to never go back to my old ways ...and unfortunately every time i see someone who is bigger, it gives me even more motivation to stay on track. (i know this is horrible of me)

Ya know I know the feelings you have. When I first started out I was always worried I would just give up and slip back into my bad eating habits and not caring about myself.

My weight loss journey is almost 3 years in the making. I started training myself to accept different healthier food in at the beginning cause I got a lesson from the friend that with good prolonged training you are more likely to stick with what you have learned no matter if it's something good or bad.

So to aviod slipping back into bad habits I promised myself I would go into "eating training" for two years before I even try to lose weight. After the 2 years was up it was time to start exercising and really trying to lose the weight.

Now 2 years 8 months later I have a whole new way of looking at food and portion sizes I haven't eating anything "fast food" in 2 years and I'm always looking for healthier alternatives to some of the foods I used to eat before.

After 8 months and 60 pounds lost I feel I have an excellent grip on what I need to do to keep the weight off. But there is still that nagging thought in my mind that I can slip back into my old habits if something tragic happens as I blame the fact that someone shot at me and my boss missing me but shooting my boss a few years ago as the reason for my weight gain.

I worry about it all the time. Especially since once I lose my motivation it can take months to get it back. The last time I gained a ton of weight, it took me over 2 years to get that motivation back. I've been going since May and can't fathom going back to my old ways. I try to focus on the positive changes and never fall back into that void of not caring and binging.

The phrase I try to keep top of mind is 'don't do anything to lose weight that you can't see yourself happily doing for the rest of your life'. The crunch word being 'happily'.....that's the acid test.  If you're on some extreme programme, doing exercise you don't enjoy, eating foods you're only tolerating, following some latest complicated diet fad, depriving yourself of treats you normally liked... then you're not going to be happy and you'll go back to your old ways pretty quickly as soon as you're able.  

It's a middle ground.  Find ways to tweak your regular lifestyle that are sensible and enjoyable and you may lose weight a little slower but there's a much better chance that it's more sustainable.

This bothers me almost constantly.  Since April 2007 I lost alomost 40 lbs (thanks CC!) and I felt confident of keeping it off.  I gained back over 25 last fall and winter during extremely stressful times. 

Now that I'm losing again I ask myself, "What will I do different this time to keep the weight off?"

And I just don't have an answer.

I was thinking about this while I was walking this morning. What if I miss a day, and then another day... And then I just stop completely. What a waste all this time and energy would have been. BUT NO! I am determined not to ever go back to where I was. That is why I go everyday... And I will continue to go everyday. One day at a time!

I worry about it because I don't think I ever did anything that wrong in the first place. I seemed to eat the same as my friends at school and I was bigger than them (though not really fat). I cooked lovely homemade food in my early twenties and put on a couple of stone. I loved food with passion, I ate breakfast, I never liked junk food, never had a sweet tooth... I mean, obviously I ate too much of all that good stuff and these days I very carefully watch the amounts of what I eat, but I am always a bit annoyed that I put on weight!

Well said, gi-jane! For a year or so, I had restricted myself to 1200-1300 calories a day, monitoring exact percentages of fat/proteins/carbs and making sure I didn't eat anything fried or sugary while working out an hour a day, 5 days a week. Strangely enough, I didn't end up really losing weight during this period because I'd end up overeating the healthy foods that I didn't really enjoy and I was absolutely miserable. Now, I've been much more relaxed with my diet, eating foods that I like when I feel like it, but not forcing foods when I'm not hungry. I walk out of necessity (I live in a city) and have been losing weight naturally without even trying.

Yes most definitely. Each and every single day I fear of going back to the old lifestyle I used to live a couple of months ago. It was horrible but at the same time I was enjoying the freedom of eating whatever I want. I keep myself going everyday by thinking about how bad I feel after eating crap in the past. There is no way I'm going to ruin my lifestyle change, I been doing too well! :)

Yes thats why i weigh my self every day.


I write down everything i eat and the calories for i know exactl what i eat.


I actualy enjoy  writing and counting up my calories everyday now.


Ive lost 101 pounds =]

I do worry about slipping back into my old habits, every single day. I don't think I'll ever go back to where I was two years ago, because that was really bad and just thinking about it turns my stomach, but I do worry about not just getting back into my habits after I've lost the weight I want if I don't figure out a good maintenance balance, but never actually getting there in the first place.

It's a dangerous thing for me, this slow pace. It's good for my body and it's good for my health and it's probably good for my mind too, because it gives me time to get used to it, but at the same time, it also means that I can go 'eh, I'll work at it tomorrow' because there's "so much time" and there's always another day to get it right.

It's still much of a mental struggle for me, but I've only just started, so I'm hoping that as time goes by and as I start to feel and look better, it'll get easier.

Though I haven't got the answer, I think GI-Jane has probably made the most valid point. My fear of regaining/falling back into old habits has made me think about all of the diets I've went on in the past (all of which eventually failed) and the most common thing between all of them is that there was an element of the diet that couldn't be sustained realistically for any length of time. I'd lose 40 pounds in 3 months, starving and exercising, but I'd also be tired, depressed, irritable, and when I did allow myself something I normally restricted (like cookies), I'd go into this rediculous cycle of eating a whole box of them, feeling sick, and then spending three days absolutely despising myself and subsequently starving myself to make up for it. It's rediculous. I don't hate myself anymore - ever. I don't obsess anymore. My husband made brownies last night, and I had one, and it was delicious. And I know one stupid brownie amongst all of the healthy food I eat in a week isn't going to make me gain weight, isn't going to derail my progress - it's just a brownie. *shrugs* Before I started on CC though, I spent months just trying to find the motivation to start a diet - I kept putting it off - it'd be nice if they would just bottle motivation and sell it. =)

Another nugget that someone (merylwhite? sorry, I can't remember) said that really resonated for me in terms of sustainability was "adding" good habits rather than "subtracting" bad habits.  I find that it really helps if I say to myself I am having another portion of these beautiful green beans picked fresh from my garden this morning, rather than, I am only having a half a cup of this delicious basmati rice casserole.  Even though I substituted the green beans for the extra rice I used to eat, I got some of it, and the addition of something lower calorie but still delicious satisfied my appetite.  Feeling that I am adding things rather than depriving myself seems to keep me on-track now, and I hope for the rest of my life.  Time will tell!

Coming up on the 1-year mark and 80 lbs gone for me. I've also quit smoking and taken up running and regular exercise. Diet wise I still slip up sometimes. I'll even go a few days at a time of eating junk, but I have very little fear about going back to the way I was. I've spent a year being deliberate about my health. It's had a lasting impression. I couldn't go back if I tried. A few times I let it slip and gained back five pounds or so. It just disturbed me so much to look at myself in the mirror and see it that I dived back into the diet hardcore until it was back off.

I won't say that it never comes into my mind though. I think part of me will always worry about that. Part of me worries that I'll light up a cigarette sometime when I'm out drinking or something. I have dreams where I smoke and feel really guilty about it. I wake up mad and dissapointed with myself. This happens probably several times a week actually, but I hear it's actually common among people who've quit. I think fear is just part of being human. Anyway, sorry to write a novel.

Yes, this worries me too, as I am getting close to my goal weight... how to make sure that I don't gain the weight back (as I have done several times in the past). What I am now realizing (and trying to fully accept :) ) is that eating smaller portions and mostly healthy foods is going to have to become a way of eating forever, and not just during the "dieting" phase.

I have been watching and talking to my three cousins (who are all like me - short in stature) who have been thin for many years now, and can see that they all practice healthy eating every day of their lives. When we go out for a meal to a restaurant, they will often split a meal with someone else, or they will ask for a half-sized portion (let's face it - many restaurants' portion sizes are huge). They will either skip desert or share with someone else. When eating a meal at home, they will take a decent-sized portion but will not go for seconds, and they are all fairly active. They enjoy their food, but it is in moderation. These are habits that now come naturally to them and it has allowed them to maintain their weight over many, many years.

I realize that these are the habits that I will need to adopt over the long term... it does scare me a bit because I still do crave a big bowl of ice cream and a loaf of bread sometimes! :) Once I reach my goal weight, I think that I will need to stay with CC for a while (months? years?) until these habits become a natural part of my everyday life. Yowza!

Original Post by 8sadie8:

Yes, this worries me too, as I am getting close to my goal weight... how to make sure that I don't gain the weight back (as I have done several times in the past). What I am now realizing (and trying to fully accept :) ) is that eating smaller portions and mostly healthy foods is going to have to become a way of eating forever, and not just during the "dieting" phase.

I have been watching and talking to my three cousins (who are all like me - short in stature) who have been thin for many years now, and can see that they all practice healthy eating every day of their lives. When we go out for a meal to a restaurant, they will often split a meal with someone else, or they will ask for a half-sized portion (let's face it - many restaurants' portion sizes are huge). They will either skip desert or share with someone else. When eating a meal at home, they will take a decent-sized portion but will not go for seconds, and they are all fairly active. They enjoy their food, but it is in moderation. These are habits that now come naturally to them and it has allowed them to maintain their weight over many, many years.

I realize that these are the habits that I will need to adopt over the long term... it does scare me a bit because I still do crave a big bowl of ice cream and a loaf of bread sometimes! :) Once I reach my goal weight, I think that I will need to stay with CC for a while (months? years?) until these habits become a natural part of my everyday life. Yowza!

 exactly my feelings. i also think that i need to reduce portion size and change my habits from this point onwards. there  is no other way. when i will reach my goal weight what will happen then? what will i do? i still have my cravings. i think of (and fear) this constantly.

the only difference is that i am losing weight for the first time in my life so i dont know what to expect? everything is good but new to me.