See if you relate to what a Rebel named Michele says about where most programs fail you:

“What I love about CR is that once you lose the weight the program isn’t over. This program will teach me how to keep the weight off. The other programs I’ve done is lose the weight and they say good bye. Like Cristy says we don’t have a weight loss problem, we have a weight regain problem. I can and have lost weight many times, but never have I ever been able to keep it off. I’m sick of this roller coaster. This time is different for me. I haven’t been this small for 40 years, before kids. Now is my time and I will succeed with CR.”

Michele’s story is one a lot of people know all too well…maybe even you.

Like Michele, you’ve probably lost weight a million times.

But keeping it off?

THAT’s a different story.

I’ve fought with weight regain, too, so I get it.

My worst bout was in the fall of 2023. A bunch of awful stuff hit me all at once, and I turned to food to cope. (That tells you how bad things got.)

Re-losing the 30 pounds I packed on back then was horrible and took two freaking years.

That whole mess opened my eyes to one simple truth:

Weight regain is to be avoided at all costs, and here are three reasons why.

1) Every time you regain the weight, it gets harder to lose.

This is true for both your mind and body.

To be clear, I’m not saying you CAN’T lose it again. Hundreds of thousands of people who’ve regained weight before Code Red have joined the program and lost tons of weight (over 100 pounds, in many cases). So it can be done.

But those wild swings are hard on your body, putting you at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and many other issues.

Plus, each time you gain it back, your mind starts to see “staying fat” as inevitable, when it’s really not.

2) It slows down your metabolism.

When you quickly gain a significant amount of weight, it’s almost certainly fat tissue. 

I say that because gaining muscle mass quickly – especially for women – is rare without steroid use. It also requires eating and training in a very specific way that you’re highly unlikely to “stumble into.”

So when you regain weight, especially rapidly, you’re gaining back all fat tissue, which slows down your metabolism.

Plus, rapid weight regain – especially when it’s done over and over – makes your body both very efficient at storing fat AND less likely to burn it.

3) Weight regain is linked to increased inflammation.

Significant body weight fluctuations (losing and regaining weight) are linked to higher levels of systemic inflammation, which repeatedly puts stress on blood vessels and contributes to the long-term risk for heart disease.

Bottom line: Weight regain is bad news all the way around.

Whatever method you choose to lose weight, make sure it includes guidance on keeping that weight off.

And if you’ve already lost weight and are feeling burned out continuing right now, the worst thing you can do is say “screw it” and gain everything back.

Instead, stay where you are. Even if you never drop another pound, anything is better than gaining it all back again.