From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbe back where you startedbe back where you startedPROGRESS#to try to do something and fail, so that you finish in the same situation that you were in before A lot of people who lose weight gain it back over time, and end up back where they started. → start
Examples from the Corpus
be back where you started• If we lose tomorrow, we'll be back where we started.• And if you decide that they are not, then you are back where you started.• So my client and I are back where we started.• To a large extent we are back where we started. 