To those who have lost

literlover

Wow! Thanks for the responses everyone! Some great insight! Cheers!

Machka9

literlover wrote: »

Do you feel deprived? Do you feel like you obsess and are constantly thinking about your food, fitness, tracking? Or is it now "easy" and you're just living life?

Yes and no.

Most of the time while I was losing, I felt just fine. Most of the time, losing weight was easy. I was eating foods I like, logging my intake quickly twice a day, exercising lots because I love being active ... and the weight dropped off.

But there were occasions where I did feel deprived. We travel on weekends about once a month, and it is a bit of a custom for us to eat lots when we travel ... not necessarily a whole lot of junk food or anything like that, just big breakfasts, good-sized lunches with desserts, bigger dinners with deserts, and several snacks. Of course, we're active when we travel as well, but still ... ... So when I was sticking to my diet like glue, those weekends were difficult, cutting back how much I ate, trying to exercise enough to compensate, etc.


One of the things that helped was to take diet breaks.

I stuck to my diet like glue for the first 4 months. Did not go over my calorie limit at all. And I lost 15 kg which was my first goal. Then I took a 1-month diet break that coincided with a trip to Canada. I exercised lots, but I ate whatever I wanted. When I returned, I went back on the diet meticulously for the next 4 months, and got really close to my second goal, a total of 24 kg lost. Then, in November, I took two weekend diet breaks, but I exercised a whole lot both weekends. In fact, one weekend was a cycling tour. I was back on the diet for the first 3 weeks of December and lost another 2 kg (26 kg total), and I've been on another diet break for almost a month now. I'm kind of easing back into the diet again ... I think I'd like to lose about 5 kg now, but we'll see. I could stop now, I'm near the bottom end of my normal BMI range, so I'm kind of wavering between losing more and maintenance.


Interestingly, my tastes have changed. A couple weeks ago, I stood in front of the potato chip shelf of my local grocery store. I am on a diet break and can eat whatever I want ... so I could pack away several bags of potato chips if I so desired. But nothing appealed to me. I looked at everything, even debated about small bags of cheezies or something. But nope. Instead I walked around the corner and bought kidney beans for a slow cooker meal I made that evening.

markrgeary1

Wife and I dropped combined 94 pounds, never deprived. I think part of it was we completely changed our diet. We had nothing to compare it to so it became "normal". It may have been different I has tried to eat less of the same calorie rich, nutrient poor food. YMMV.

Like Machka9 our taste has changed, we drove 10 hours today so fast food it was. I didn't touch any of the my old favorites, ate lower calorie options.

srecupid

literlover wrote: »

Do you feel deprived? Do you feel like you obsess and are constantly thinking about your food, fitness, tracking? Or is it now "easy" and you're just living life?

Some days I do others I'm perfectly fine and yes but, at least it's a healthy obsession this time.

Lefty1290

Since I've lowered my carbs and upped my fat since November, I find myself obsessing about food and eating a lot less because I'm no longer constantly hungry. This whole thing has gotten easier and I'm now on sort-of autopilot where I automatically go for healthier options and the carb-heavy stuff I was eating before doesn't faze me as much. I'm the only person in my house trying to be healthier, so temptation is everywhere all the time; but it has motivated me to stay on this path.

JanetMMcC

Do I feel deprived? Not this time. I got down to my current weight maybe 20 years ago, using Weight Watchers, and felt deprived and obsessive. Eventually stopped obsessing, and regained everything plus.

This time around I'm again logging all I eat, but I'm not thinking about it nearly as much.

The first 40 or 50 pounds came off in about 18 months, starting in November 2012. Doc said, "No white carbs." It also meant no more stuffing candy, chips and cake into my pie-hole, but it didn't feel like dieting, and I didn't feel deprived.

The last 20-25 lbs, starting in May of this past year, required more time attention. BUt it's worked.

Good luck! You can do it.

airangel59

literlover wrote: »

Do you feel deprived? Do you feel like you obsess and are constantly thinking about your food, fitness, tracking? Or is it now "easy" and you're just living life?

Deprived? Nope, I eat what I want in moderation and fit what I want into my daily goals. I put what i want to have into the diary and plan the day around it.

Obsessing? Yes probably but I was always thinking about food when fat so no real difference now, I'm just a lot lighter. A yo yo dieter in the past probably is the reason I know I need to log and track my intake now and I'm fine with it, I actually enjoy it.

Fitness? I walk daily and wear a Flex & Vivofit. I don't eat back all the exercise calories. I enjoy the feeling I get from being able to go out and walk.

So for me, this journey I started mid 2012 is now easy and yep I'm living life and enjoying what I've accomplished here. Maintaining since March 2014.