Why You're Gaining Weight Back After Dieting (Explaining the Science of How to Keep It OFF!)

Hey everyone I’m Abbey Sharp welcome to Abbey’s Kitchen. In todays video, we will be talking about why people tend to gain the weight back after a diet. Is permanent weight loss impossible? We deep dive into how science explains weight loss and how you can keep it off for good!

Thank you to Eric Williamson, PhD RD for all his help with the research on this topic!

A FEW DISCLAIMERS
1) The information in this video is for education and entertainment purposes only, so you should always speak to a health care provider about your unique health needs.
2) Please use this video (as with all of my review videos) as educational, not as unique recommendations.
3) Please be kind in the comments.
4) Trigger warning to those with disordered eating tendencies.
5) Don’t forget to subscribe to this channel and ring the little bell so you never miss out!

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If you liked this video, please leave me a comment below with your thoughts and let me know who you want me to review next!

With Science & Sass,
Xoxo Abbey

[mockingbirdnightingale]

"If you've dieted down to 150 lbs, you're always going to have to put in more work than someone who was just always 150 lbs" YES THIS THIS THIS. This is the thing that not enough people talk about. Very few people realize this. Especially people who track calories and food on apps. The apps will give you a calorie range based on your weight but their algorithms assume you were always that weight (even if the app is literally watching you lose weight, it doesn't seem to matter). I used to be 262 lbs, now I'm 130 lbs. If I eat like a friend who was always 130 lbs, I will GAIN weight. It is ESSENTIAL to understand this. This is the key that I think I finally get now that I never understood in years past. Thank you for saying this. This leads so many of us to beat ourselves up and to fail at this stuff!

[audball]

My body’s preferred weight range is about 165. 9 years ago I was 135, but I worked out for hours a day and thought half a donut once a month was a splurge. So much mental space went to scheduling my workouts and questioning if I should eat something. Which stressed my body out so much, I developed acid reflux and would be in bed throwing up for days. When I was throwing up, I’d cry to my mom that I was going to gain all the weight back, and that I needed to get back to the gym. It took years to unlearn that that point in my life was not healthy, and the fact it was so hard to stay 135 showed me my body doesn’t want to be that. After a lot of therapy, introspection, and abbey sharp videos; I eat fairly balanced and healthy (while enjoying life), and I workout 3-5 times a week, with walks every single day. I trained for a marathon in 2021 and half marathon in 2022, and I stayed 165. If I didn’t lose weight, even after all that running, something’s are just meant to be 🤷🏼‍♀️

[rockinrolldog]

I've been on my weight loss journey for over 2 years now. I have lost 30 pounds, and I can definitely tell the difference in how I am eating (in general, more fruits and veggies) and how I am feeling (less joint pain!). At 200 lbs I still have another 20-30 pounds to go, but I was able to roughly maintain my weight loss the entirety of 2022 even through a foot injury that limited my mobility for months. Making those small lifestyle changes (like easing out of my reliance on soda) makes a huge difference. (And so does having empathy and kindness for yourself.)

[kaleido]

"Weight loss is not useful unless it can be maintained." That really stuck out to me when you said it. I having a difficult recovery day today... but that little innocuous sentence really helped. So thanks.

[RosieGrantlovesmusic]

This is really helpful and laid out in a clear and nonjudgmental way. Thank you for breaking it down! I saw a dietician once who said the most successful and sustainable changes her clients had made were additive, not reductionist, as in adding in more fruits and veggies, more fiber, more sleep, ect.

[bergsquerg]

Thank you for this Abbey. I know weight loss is not your main focus, but I think it's helpful for you to talk about it for those that are interested, rather than the often VERY problematic info we are likely to get from other creators. So again, THANK YOU!

[brookewiles]

SO GLAD you acknowledged the problem with the 95% statistic. I started my fitness journey in 2020 with sustainable lifestyle changes and slowly lost 60lbs, and so far it has been quite easy to maintain because I made sustainable changes. I'm SO grateful for choosing to lose weight the way I did, it took longer to see results but was so worth it!

[brittniep]

Appreciate this!! As someone that actually is truly fat, and does need to lose weight for MY OWN comfortability and ability to do activities (e.g. weight limits for many activities, small airplane seats, etc.), I really need educational videos on doing this in a balanced way as someone that was able to maintain and then let all of it go in 2020 and is finally working my way back to it a maintainable fitness level, moderation, more intuitive eating with recognition that I am at a negatively impacting my life weight in 2023.

[debbieg.]

After playing the 'up and down' game, at age 50, I finally figured it out. I lost over 40 pounds and have kept it off since 2006. My father figured it out at age 80! I have continued to lose more weight over the years and have gone up and down a few pounds, too. I don't believe in diets. I got rid of my magical thinking and realized I had to make a permanent lifestyle change. It has to be a 100% commitment. So it's possible to lose weight and keep it off, but the change is in your brain.

[rigelmoon]

Thank you, Abbey. For the first time, I feel like I'm actually on the right track to living a healthier life instead of obsessing over the number on the scale and calorie counts, and I really wouldn't be in this place without your channel. Thank you for your work and your videos!

[mockingbirdnightingale]

I've lost over 100 lbs twice, and the first time, I regained it. It was devastating. I can't even describe how disappointed in myself I was. I feel a lot more prepared this time around. For one thing, I got weight loss surgery to try to handle the hunger aspect. For another, I completely changed my mindset around exercise, so whereas in the past I used to beat myself up for missing a workout, now I NEVER do that. Now I'm very chill about it. I do what I want, when I want, which adds up to FAR more exercise than when I used to pressure myself. I had to go to extremes to get to a healthy weight, but I have no regrets. I'm so glad I did. Keeping the weight off is a major part of my life and will be forever, because my health depends on it. It's difficult but not a negative thing. I actually really enjoy it.

[TheTjoy]

You have helped me ENORMOUSLY in maintaining my ED recovery. Thank you for helping keep me in check. Not specific to this or any video, but all of them. Thank you for what you do ❤️❤️❤️

[omnipotentfaces]

I gained some weight back at the end of the summer and freaked out a little. I realised it was because I had been drinking a lot more than normal and living my best summer social life! It’s super reassuring to hear you talk about it in a neutral, normalising, long term kinda way. I took my original weight loss slowly, thinking I was healthy, but from using lifesum calorie counting I ended up developing an ED, luckily I noticed it 9months in bc I had to stay at someone’s house for a few months and was no longer in control of my food. But the thoughts remain and are a constant struggle, especially as many I didn’t even realise were actually disordered but ‘healthy and balanced’. My advice to everyone now is don’t even try, just eat veg based and lift weights not just cardio :)

[MySmallAdventures]

This is so well timed. I'm starting to try and lose weight after many years of battling with EDs and being uncomfortable in my body. I've been worried about whether I even have a chance. Thank you so much for your insight.

[MeloniousThunk]

We love an evidence-based, no nonsense report on meeting and maintaining goals in a healthy way to start the new year right! Happy new year, Abbey!

[gabrielacabrera]

Before I got pregnant I weighed between 180 to 190 after i had my daughter I weighed 235. I did keto got down to 160 stopped keto and returned to a more balanced diet and I'm at 165.

[Shanngella]

I went from 200 lbs to 145 lbs on slim fast in the late 90s. I maintained it 2 years. Went very slowly back up to 180 lbs over 12 years. After that, I did Atkins (the next popular trend of course!) and then yes...keto and lost 60 lbs. My goal was to lose more weight than planned to counter the weight gain after getting off of keto to return to atkins and end up at my goal weight (yes I tried to outsmart it 😅) I !maintained it 5 years with ease until Covid... Gained back 30 lbs. I'm in the process now of losing some of that covid weight, I am determined to beat the odds of science. I refuse my set point, period. My set point is unhealthy! I have the blood work to prove it! I felt great on Atkins; good energy, good sleep, best blood work of my life! I'd rather deal with ghremlin than cholesterol and high blood pressure!! I do not plan on doing keto ever again though...

[heistube]

I was a stable weight all my adult life until I gained 15% of my bodyweight very quickly after weaning my third son and it stayed for 5 years until I realized I needed to be proactive to lose it. I lost it and have kept it off now for 12 years.

Two things are crucial for that maintenance:
1) most important is exercise (my appetite stays fairly constant whether or not I exercise, so I put on weight if I am inactive).
2) I weigh myself first thing in the morning and then I can nip in the bud any gains that are not just normal fluctuations by cutting back a bit on the chocolate and cake. It's much easier to stay stable.

[illusiveamy]

Diet is a lifestyle not a temporary fix.

Thanks for your insights, Abbey!

[freekaaccount-jkyo]

I burned 50 pounds in 1 year and gained back 40 withing 4 month f*** . It feels like the weight that i loosed was just a dream😢.