Now that I'm almost done losing,

[Ms. Toad]

Guess I'll post my progress as I transition to the really hard phase of maintenance.

I've lost 49 lbs (28% of my body weight) since 10/1. I'm one pound away from my goal.




I've done a major weight loss once before. I kept it off for 5 years, then got really frustrated with food centered daily/periodic activities at work and gave up. Every celebration (averaging more than one a month) centers around unhealthy food - and every lunch day is an "optional" staff meeting at a restaurant that (until recently) had only one healthy dish. 50 lbs of my previous 65 pound loss crept back on over a the next five years.

Now I'm back wearing the clothes that I wore 10 years ago and am heading into what (for me) is a lot harder than losing weight - maintaining the weight loss. Wish me luck.

[lavenderdiva]

1. Congratulations on your success, Ms. Toad!!!

You've achieved a remarkable success with your weight loss plan!! You should be very proud of yourself! It must feel VERY good to be back into clothes that are much smaller, and now feeling much better about yourself.

Maintenance can be tricky. Like you, many years ago I achieved a 75lbs weight loss, kept it off for approx 7 years, and then gained it all back. I'm now in the process of re-losing that weight. My problem after keeping it off for a time, was beginning to feel too comfortable in my new size, and a bit too sure of myself. I gained it all back in less than a year! I think I'm going to have to make myself keep to a certain calorie count per day, even after I've lost it all this time. And, I think keeping a food journal is extremely helpful. It keeps you mindful of your intake. I'm sure others will have helpful tips to share with you too-

Well done on your journey so far!! :bounce:

[Ms. Toad]

2. I think there will be two keys for me

First, weighing myself every day - and cutting back on eating whenever I am outside the 5 pound range I intend to stay within for more than a day or two. I'll have to track weight variation once I get stabilized - my weight varies a fair amount even from morning to night. I don't want to fool myself into thinking a variation for X days is just bloating - but on the other hand I don't want to be constantly flipping back and forth from maintenance to loss eating.

Second, I have to continue one of the practices that has made this weight loss possible (and it was harder and slower at 50+ than than at 40+). I cannot partake in food centered celebrating just because someone else has decided a celebration is in order. I need to splurge when my body needs it and I have planned for it - not on someone else's schedule, and not on the all-too-many spur-of-the-moment opportunities for splurging. Following someone else's schedule just means I double (or more) the days I'm splurging. That doesn't work for either loss or maintenance - it is all too easy to let an externally imposed celebration that falls a couple of days before a planned splurge turn into a 4-5 day binge (which it is then hard to turn back off).

Although I know they work for a lot of folks, food diaries and counting calories are not terribly helpful for me. I am just not disciplined enough to count anything (calories, points, etc.) forever. I've had minor weight losses before (20 lbs, or so) that I have put back on almost immediately - partly because I counted calories to lose it and couldn't keep it up once I hit transition to maintenance. What worked for me when I kept the weight off for five years was non-counting based change in how/what I ate, then once I got to the maintenance phase adding back in calorie denser substitutes (whole grain breads, for example) for some of the bulky but relatively empty calories ( 94% fat free popcorn or rice cakes, for example) in certain categories.

My major downfall after five years of maintenance was switching jobs to a place that is food focused (including the "optional" {read: not really optional} daily lunches at a greasy spoon. I still managed to keep it off for 2 years after the switch - until the restaurant destroyed one of the two acceptable lunch entrees. I just got tired of eating the same thing day in and day out, and gave up.

[lavenderdiva]

3. I work for a very slim and beautiful woman-

she weighs herself once a week, and if she is 5lbs beyond her regular weight, she goes on a 'diet' until the extra weight is gone. She doesn't do anything radical, she still eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and has a snack at 3pm. Her meals are just lighter than what she would ordinarily eat. For instance, her regular lunch is perhaps a portion of a poached fish and a small side salad. When she is cutting back, it will be more salad-based with a bit of fish or chicken. Her afternoon snack is usually a cup of tea with half-and-half and perhaps a bit of fruit or a small cookie. When she is cutting back, she will just have the tea with fat-free milk. She is consistent about her weight, and always looks great. However, she is not eating some crazy plan.

Would it be possible for you to bring your lunch to these 'meetings' that happen to be scheduled at lunch time? I would think it might be hard for everybody to eat out all the time (kinda expensive too huh?). Others might be feeling the same pinch you are, maybe not in the waistline but perhaps in the pocketbook? Your lead might allow others to start bringing their lunch too? That way, you could control what you are eating and save some moolah as well. Does the restaurant have any salads that you could ask them to add some grilled chicken or shrimp to? Or perhaps you could ask them to create a salad for you specially; you never know, if others start ordering it, it could become a menu staple! There are restaurants here in my city, that this has happened: customers asked for a specially prepared dish that wasn't on the menu originally, but those clients kept coming in regularly and ordered it repeatedly, so they added it to the menu!

If you don't mind me asking: what was your plan and how did you lose the 49lbs so far? I think your method would be encouraging to me, and I'm sure other readers as well!! :hi:

[Ms. Toad]

4. How I've been eating

First thing I needed to do was figure out both what triggered cravings (made it harder to stick to my resolve) and what I needed to have in my system in order to feel satisfied enough to not feel like I needed more food. What I ended up with is pretty close to the diabetic food pyramid (although I created it on my own and only recently realized how close it is).

Sugars and fats trigger cravings - so I cut those out almost entirely. From the opposite direction, if I don't have fairly significant servings of carbs I don't feel like I've had enough to eat. Those two factors let me tailor what I am eating to a diet that leaves me feeling satisfied with relatively few cravings. If you have the same triggers and needs, it may work for you as well.

During the loss phase, I can eat any vegetable I want, in unlimited quantities, as long as it doesn't have any added fats or sugars. On a typical day during the loss phase I might eat a pound of vegetable or a whole bag of prepared salad (with low-calorie dressing). I eat a couple of fruits a day - more sometimes if the fruit is less calorie dense (strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, for example). Two small lean protein servings a day (3 oz of fish or chicken,3-4 oz of ham, 2 oz of low-fat cheese, 3-5 oz of tofu or bean based protein, 6-8 oz low fat sugar free yogurt). Two large carb servings a day (2-400 calories each). In the early phase both are relatively empty carbs - both to fill my stomach and because carbs make me feel like I've had enough to eat. 7 rice cakes (half a package), an entire bag of 15 calorie/cup popcorn for example. As I get closer to my goal, I start to substitute good carbs for the empty ones (currently a large slice of homemade whole grain brad for breakfast, and often a second one after work.) Once I reach my goal I'll add additional servings of healthy carbs - brown rice, whole grain crackers, for example, and perhaps an additional protein serving (or increase the size of the ones I'm eating.

I also allow myself a limited number of small treats a day - 15 small jelly beans, 40 red hots, for example. Enough to satisfy my sweet tooth, but not enough sugar to trigger cravings. Aside from the small treats, I try to avoid sugar and fats completely (which will continue during the maintenance phase).

If I were counting calories, it usually works out to about 1500 during the loss phase.

As far as the lunch situation, it's just something I have to learn to make peace with. Virtually all of us, including three of us with real food related health issues, have suggested changing the lunchtime routine - or started setting up lunchtime meetings. The requests have fallen on deaf ears, and it was strongly suggested that we schedule meetings for sometime other than lunchtime. Suggestions to the restaurant to add healthy alternatives have similarly fallen on deaf ears, and we had given up. (Although, on their own, the restaurant recently added two additional healthy items - not sure what got into them, but I'm not about to complain). It's as much the dynamics of the situation as the exhaustion associated with having to eat the same large plate of unadorned lettuce day in and day out that made me give up and do the slow weight creep over the past 5 years.

[a kennedy]

5. Oh my gawd......congrats, and good for you

:hug: and I'm so jealous......

[Ms. Toad]

6. Thanks. n/t