Losing weight takes a lot of work, both physically and mentally. Keeping it off can be even harder. And no matter what you look like, having a healthy relationship with your body isn’t always easy.
One woman recently opened up on Reddit about how her weight loss journey didn’t go the way she expected. She finally reached the size she’d dreamed of for years, but after struggling with her mental health, the pounds returned and so did the shame.
Read the full story below.
After losing weight, the woman eventually gained it back
Now, she calls the experience the most humiliating thing that’s ever happened to her
Many people gain back most of the weight they lose, which means this woman is far from alone
On the surface, weight loss sounds pretty straightforward. Burn more calories than you consume, and sooner or later, the results will show up on the scale.
Real life rarely works like a simple math equation, though. Busy work schedules, family responsibilities, poor sleep, mental health problems, money worries and constant cravings all pile up over time, which makes the whole process way harder than just sticking to a calorie deficit.
As a result, even if you’ve managed to reach your goal weight, keeping the pounds off can turn into a whole new struggle.
According to a 2018 paper by obesity researchers Kevin Hall and Scott Kahan, an analysis of 29 long-term studies found that people had regained more than half of the weight they lost within two years, and roughly 80% of it after five years. So the woman from the story is far from alone in what she went through.
Part of the reason comes down to biology. Once you slim down, your body tends to fight back by making you hungrier. A 2016 study published in the journal Obesity found that for every kilogram lost, appetite pushed people to eat about 100 extra calories a day, an effect more than three times stronger than the slowdown in their metabolism.
Hall and Kahan also note that these hunger signals can lead to bigger portions over time, a change that’s hard to notice from one day to the next. That lines up with the “food noise” the woman described creeping back in as soon as she stopped dieting.
The more people get shamed for their weight, the more likely they are to put on even more
Then there’s the emotional side of things. A seven-year study of Finnish adults found that both depression and emotional eating predicted bigger increases in BMI, with emotional eating acting as the link between the two.
Researchers at The Miriam Hospital’s Weight Control & Diabetes Research Center spotted a similar pattern among people who had successfully slimmed down. “Those who report emotional eating are more likely to regain,” lead author Heather Niemeier explained.
Shame can make the cycle even harder to break. One study found that people in a weight loss support program ate more when they faced discrimination over their size, and family members were the most common source of it.
“Stigma and discrimination are really stressors,” Rebecca Puhl, then deputy director of Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, told NBC, adding that many people turn to food or bingeing to cope with that stress. Sadly, the woman experienced this firsthand when her mom’s harsh comments only made her want to eat more.
Her advice to have a plan for life after weight loss actually has some science behind it. In one study led by researcher Corrine Voils, people who used maintenance strategies like regular weigh-ins and preparing for situations where they might slip were nearly 14 percentage points more likely to hold steady or keep losing.
Data from the National Weight Control Registry also shows that people who had fewer bouts of depression did better at keeping the weight off. In the end, taking care of your mental health might matter just as much as anything you put on your plate.
People in the comments sympathized with her and tried to lift her up with advice and encouragement
