losing weight and regaining it...What am I doing wrong???

I am 5'5, 29, and I currently weigh 249. I am so tired of losing the weight just to turn around and regain it and then some. What am I doing wrong, and what can I do to keep from starving and then excessively overeating. I am so tired of losing the same weight over and over again. I would love to see the number on the weight scale drop again. Thank you in advance for you help in solving this matter.....

What are you doing when you are losing weight?  Without knowing that, I'm going to guess that you are probably being far to aggressive.  Slow and steady wins the race.  Figure out your daily caloric burn subtract 500 calories and eat that much, lose a stead pound per week. 

^I wouldn't call cutting 500 calories/day or losing 1lb/week slow & your advice is not one size fits all. If I cut 500 calories from my calories burned that would leave me with 1100 calories.

OP: I would try to keep within your maintenance calories for a while. Use this time to try out new nutritious food choices & experiment with healthy recipes. When you get used to that, or whenever you feel you're ready, try cutting out 100 calories.

You can go back & forth, one day eating maintenance, and on another day when you don't feel as hungry, cut out whatever makes you feel comfortable. Most importantly, don't feel guilty about eating or like you're "cheating" if you eat when you're hungry. Your body is doing it's job of keeping itself fed. If you cut out 500 calories, your body is going to notice & try to get you to eat it back. It wont freak out that much if you cut closer to your calories burned.

Weight loss doesn't have to be a strict regimen, in fact it's better if it's not. You want a healthy life, not a diet. Focus on making healthy choices, walking, whatever exercise is comfortable to you & not depriving yourself of the things you enjoy.

Thank you both for your response. When I am losing weight, I am eating anywhere between 1600-2000 calories per day with excercising. When I gain, I am just excessively overeating like around 3000-4000 a day. I feel starved after doing so good all day long, and then at dinner I mess it all up by eating everything in sight. Maybe I am trying to restrict myself too much by I definetly would not thing so if eating 1600-2000 calories per day. I am 29 years old, 5'5, and 249 lbs. I know I do not need more than 2000 calories if even that much.....

Overeating is really hard to cope with.  

If you can, next time you find yourself overeating try to stop yourself at any time. Maybe you just finished the bag of potato chips. Instead of telling yourself "well I already blew it, I'll enjoy this while I can" give yourself the option to stop.

Regardless, brush those crumbs off & pick up where you left off. Exercise is awesome. You are making mostly healthy choices. Be proud!

Maybe you're a night eater. Are you hungry during the day? Or are you eating because you've heard it keeps up your metabolism? Maybe you could try keeping it light during the day & having your dinner & dessert of choice & see what happens.

As you continue figuring out what works for you, you might consider preparing some excellent dishes composed of low energy foods so you can eat more of them at a time. You can also figure out lower calorie versions of what you love so you can consume them without breaking your bank. For instance, you can make a full package of sugar free pudding with skim milk & eat the whole thing for the calories you'd spend on 1/2 cup ice cream. I don't think there is anything "wrong" with wanting a "mess of food," you know?

Life's a journey. I can't tell you it will get better or easier, but as you can see you're already getting to know yourself better. That's a gift not everyone gets.

#4: that was really an inspirational read for me. i also have a tendency to overeat when i reach a good weight (which is about 2 lbs before i reach my goal), resulting in a weight increase over a few weeks- reading your words made it clear for me, that yes, of course we're not all the same, and while it works for some to eat all day and then restrict themselves at night, that doesn't work for me - and that's okay!!! Funny how that never occurred to me. This just means that i have to work with what works for me...

So thank you freshbakedpi for the motivation :-)

Start with consuming about 2200 calories for a week.
Make sure that about 90% of your calories come from nutritional foods and have 10% for a treat.
Do you have a food scale?
When I started I ate about 2000 calories a day for the first four months.  In those four months I lost twenty pounds that have not come back.

I do know where you are coming from.  Last year I gained and lost the same five pounds four times.  I am trying new things to keep off that five pounds right now.  For me this means to weigh everything that goes in my mouth.  Make sure that I eat 1600 calories a day.  When I was eating 2000 calories a day, I had a different job discription and was walking ten miles a night at work.  Now I am walking about five miles a night, hence less calories. 
I try to eat calorie nutritous foods instead of just putting food in my mouth.  I plan my foods in my food log in the morning and tweak it to make sure of percentages and calories.

Original Post by riecee:

Thank you both for your response. When I am losing weight, I am eating anywhere between 1600-2000 calories per day with excercising. When I gain, I am just excessively overeating like around 3000-4000 a day. I feel starved after doing so good all day long, and then at dinner I mess it all up by eating everything in sight. Maybe I am trying to restrict myself too much by I definetly would not thing so if eating 1600-2000 calories per day. I am 29 years old, 5'5, and 249 lbs. I know I do not need more than 2000 calories if even that much.....

It sounds to me like you're not eating enough throughout the day, so when it gets late you eat extra food at dinner (based on your statement "after doing so good all day long," and "I feel starved...at dinner I mess it all up"). Have you considered eating a bigger breakfast, and light snacks throughout the day? If you don't let yourself get to the point where you're hungry, you're less likely to binge at dinner.

At least that's what has worked for me. :)

I'm going through the same exact thing..i lost 30 pounds gained it back and i lose than gain lose than gain..now im at 205..i started my diet at 209 and went to 184 now back at 205. i feel like im starving and then pig out. i hate it.  yes when i get home i act like the cookie monster. i dont get it.

Thank all of you for your responses. Overeating is hard to cope with, and regaining all of the weight that you have lost is no fun at all. Someone said that I might should try eating a bigger breakfast which is something that I haven't ever tried before. My breakfast lately has only been around 100-200 calories. I am going to try this and see how it works for me. Thank you....

I've been eating about 5 or 600 calories for breakfast, about 200 for lunch, and one or two snacks of around 100 calories each. Then I have around a 400 calorie dinner. I haven't gotten overly hungry or binged since my doctor recommended I try this. 

One thing I've noticed is that when my calorie deficit gets around 1000, I get hungry. And if it drops below that, I will binge. In trying to be good and not eat for long periods between meals, I took in way less than my body needed and it led to binging.

Another thing you might do is talk to your doctor. He or she can help you come up with a plan that will work for you, or point you in the direction of a good nutritionist.

You've got some great advice. Do some experiments, find what works for you, when it stops working change it. :)

Original Post by freshbakedpi:

^I wouldn't call cutting 500 calories/day or losing 1lb/week slow & your advice is not one size fits all. If I cut 500 calories from my calories burned that would leave me with 1100 calories.

OP: I would try to keep within your maintenance calories for a while. Use this time to try out new nutritious food choices & experiment with healthy recipes. When you get used to that, or whenever you feel you're ready, try cutting out 100 calories.

You can go back & forth, one day eating maintenance, and on another day when you don't feel as hungry, cut out whatever makes you feel comfortable. Most importantly, don't feel guilty about eating or like you're "cheating" if you eat when you're hungry. Your body is doing it's job of keeping itself fed. If you cut out 500 calories, your body is going to notice & try to get you to eat it back. It wont freak out that much if you cut closer to your calories burned.

Weight loss doesn't have to be a strict regimen, in fact it's better if it's not. You want a healthy life, not a diet. Focus on making healthy choices, walking, whatever exercise is comfortable to you & not depriving yourself of the things you enjoy.

Actually, she did provide her weight.  Her BMR is going to be above 2000 at that weight, and the first recommendation was fair.  A pound a week is totally reasonable at that weight.  In fact, that's close to my starting weight and I'm going to admit that losing a pound a week is easy peasy.  I eat 2000 calories a day, exercise moderately about 40 minutes a day five days a week, and more than a pound a week comes off.

Sigh, snippety sigh.