How Do I Stop Regaining Weight?

The downside of dieting (using a deprivation-based system to lose weight) is the subsequent regain. It's heartbreaking and predictable, especially for those who use calorie-counting or food-tracking apps.

If you’re stuck between the apps and steady weight gain, read on.

The method is the reason (and the trap).

Is your experience that the weight returns as soon as the app is put away? It’s an ugly cycle with long-term repercussions. Know that you’re not alone.

Estimates are that 90% regain and a dropout rate of up to 80% is common. I’m sure it’s not you or some deep deficiency of yours.

1. The device itself artificially causes you to eat less, often so much less that you struggle with hunger. People confuse the temporary success of the plan ‘working’ with what’s actually happening–the act of logging creates downward pressure on your eating. Once you stop, well, you know.
2. It encourages disconnection from your body’s cues. How often does your hunger match up to the allocation? Allowing yourself to go hungry causes a serious backlash. The denial of food sets you up to overconsume and feel hopeless about an issue you can address. You’re outsourcing your basic functioning to a computer program. If you’re thinking, but I’m hungry too much! That’s useful information you can use to calm it down, naturally.
3. It’s tedious. A few rare people feel good about doing this long-term (and if that’s you, disregard this piece, you’ve found your system). Personally, my dislike of food logging is what set me on the path to permanent weight loss. Who enjoys tallying up every bite and trying to jam it into an app? Very few.

“Yeah, but these apps are the only way I’ve ever lost weight.”

Good point. If the only way you knew how to put out a fire was to toss handfuls of dirt on it, would you say that’s the only viable method?

There are many ways to tackle an issue. Some are shallow and incomplete, others create deep change and understanding.

Diets (and that’s all these are) keep you from asking one important question you have to answer to find success.

Why am I overeating?

That question often triggers shame which is one of the many reasons diets are woefully inadequate for lasting weight loss. I could tell you that shame isn’t your burden to carry and that chronic weight gain isn’t because you’re deficient in some unique way, but the truth is that there’s a process to creating that kind of mindset shift. One article can’t do that sort of heavy lifting.

The clues to overeating can be traced to the triggers in your body and environment. Self-talk, relationships, food processing, entertainment, lack of boundaries, and an overstuffed schedule are but a few.

When seen this way, it’s a little more obvious why weight regain happens. You’re jumping from the frying pan (apps) to the fire (your life).

Why am I overeating (when asked without judgment), is how you start to uncover those triggers and make real progress in changing them.

If your goal is to have a sense of ease around eating and be able to keep a healthy weight without stressing about each choice, what’s the likelihood that begins with deprivation?

What I dislike about these apps is that they perpetuate the illusion that taking care of your weight is a breezy, part-time affair that can be accomplished with a few swipes.

Nothing is further from the truth. It’s a whole life orientation.

Done correctly, it can produce a joyful, sustainable, and deprivation-free approach to living, and it can also produce a healthy weight.

Simple, not easy. Totally worthwhile.