I've lost twice before... just to get lazy and in a reward state of mind... then back up that scales

lo72ri

Add me plz... i need help and motivation.. thanks

geltner1

You need a good plan to make sure that you keep off the weight this time. That will motivate you to start. Something like; biweekly weigh-ins; re-start losing if you re-gain 5 pounds. Probably, you can do better since you know yourself and what exactly happened before.

swim777

I've been struggling with maintenance also. I do really well, and then I fall off with family events or weekend meals and I don't start back. I seemed to be doing better with eating at noon skipping breakfast, saving calories for later in the day before. I've decided that I'm still going from being too restrictive to giving up and overeating. I've added in a very small breakfast to my day at 12::30, putting off my lunch until about 3 or 3:30, then having dinner and a small snack. My calories are easily under but it keeps me from starving at night...not sure if this will help but it did today

llbrixon

Me too...it is a struggle when trying to balance holidays one after another, 2 birthdays in January. Then my weight spiralled upward. So, here I am again 35 pounds heavier.

I want to know how I can get past these special days.

Maxxitt

llbrixon wrote: »

Me too...it is a struggle when trying to balance holidays one after another, 2 birthdays in January. Then my weight spiralled upward. So, here I am again 35 pounds heavier.

I want to know how I can get past these special days.

Maybe it would help to think of them as "days" unto themselves rather than months. I have not always walked this talk, but when I have, it has looked something like this: Thanksgiving Day is a free day, Christmas Day is a free day, and the week between 12/26 and New Years Day is "aim for maintenance." Once the new year starts, I ease into slight deficit. What is challenging to me in recent years is that I don't get nearly the exercise in winter because I am not able to walk outside multiple times a day due to ice and me being a critter that doesn't bounce anymore when she falls. So my TDEE is at a place which "feels" like a deficit.

bingo_007

I think the trick is to make it a habit to eat less on some days so that you have enough calories to splurge on special days. If you have a nice dinner and birthday in one eat eat 5 days under maintenance to balance out the extra food intake. alternatively try to get more active on the special weeks and eat at maintenance.

I went for a 3 week holiday and despite eating a slice or two of cake almost every day I managed to maintain my weight by balancing other meals like a light dinner or generally more sport due to walking the entire day instead of a desk job.

mandrewes

Look at the research done on members of the national weight control registry and what they do. http://www.nwcr.ws/Research/default.htm

Quote:

---
There is variety in how NWCR members keep the weight off. Most report continuing to maintain a low calorie, low fat diet and doing high levels of activity.

78% eat breakfast every day.
75% weigh themselves at least once a week.
62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day.
---


The body only really has one function and that is to have enough food and energy otherwise it dies! So after a famine and it doesn't know that weight loss has been voluntary its task is to get back to where it was during times of food plenty as sure as eggs is eggs a famine will be on the way!!

It doesn't know that we now live in a time of food plenty all year round!!! And when thd body has food or access to it, especially after little food fhe wise thing is to gobble it up as quickly as possible as it may be gone soon.

There are a myriad of mechanisms that the body uses to get there. Including less leptin making food look more attractive, adaptive thermogensis making the body burn 300-500 fewer calories a day etc.

I believe a few things :

Maintenance is a different mind set to weight loss.

High fat at 40% reseach has shown may help counteract adaptive thermogenesis. Slightly contradicting the NWCR but it is obviously important that you don't eat excess calories above what you need for maintenance. High protein may also help this.

A plane is always slightly off its flightpath but continuous correction gets it to its destination. Similarly during maintenance a day or two of weight loss from time to time is a good idea to counteract days of feast and excess such as Christmas, socialising etc which are very important for good health in themselves. I also believe that a month of weight loss a year during maintenance is therefore a good idea may be at Lent etc.

dwilliamca

As a second time a rounder, I'm already concerned about maintenance and what I can do now to make it easier and effective when I get there. I read the above and was not that familiar with "adaptive thermogenesis", so looked it up. Found a very interesting, but long, article from NIH. What really caught my eye was this statement, "Thus, a formerly obese individual will require ~300–400 fewer calories per day to maintain the same body weight and physical activity level as a never-obese individual of the same body weight and composition." I had no idea this was true. Here is a link to the article for other scientific nerds like me. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3673773/

mrs_hedgehog

lo72ri wrote: »

Add me plz... i need help and motivation.. thanks

You got it!

SezxyStef

dwilliamca wrote: »

As a second time a rounder, I'm already concerned about maintenance and what I can do now to make it easier and effective when I get there. I read the above and was not that familiar with "adaptive thermogenesis", so looked it up. Found a very interesting, but long, article from NIH. What really caught my eye was this statement, "Thus, a formerly obese individual will require ~300–400 fewer calories per day to maintain the same body weight and physical activity level as a never-obese individual of the same body weight and composition." I had no idea this was true. Here is a link to the article for other scientific nerds like me. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3673773/

adaptive thermogenesis happens with anyone losing weight...

there are ways to combat it....through exercise, doing resistance training while losing weight to ensure that the weight lost is mainly fat not muscle etc.

The issue I expect comes from those who want to lose as fast as possible and eat low calorie and lose lots quickly but fail to understand that they are losing muscle which helps keep the NEAT numbers up...

as well formerly obese may have to exercise more....

I guess that's our bodies way of giving us the finger for treating is badly.

lorrpb

It's important to come to terms that after you lose weight you cannot return to "eating normal" which to most people means overindulging on a regular basis, eating whatever they want, whenever they want. You gotta keep in under control for the rest of your life. I decided I could alter my diet to accommodate various current & future medical conditions or I could alter it to lose weight and stay at a healthy weight the rest of my life. IT took me 60 years to figure it out, but so far it's working. 150 lbs lost, successful maintenance 1 yr.

MsKenyatta101

I understand your plight. I have lost and regained 3 times. Each time I stated, no more, I was not going to let myself regain the weight because it was too hard to lose it. However, the next year, fighting the same battle. It has been increasingly more difficult with and more weight with each gain. I think that I am sick and tired of being "sick and tired" of it. I have reflected back to the time when I did not have this problem and realized that my eating is completely different. When I was slim, I ate 3 nutritious meals a day and was okay with it. I brought my lunch everyday and I never desired to eat snacks in between meals because I was not hungry. I have always worked in an office environment where there were always high calorie junk food available whether from clients or peers bringing in treats "just because" however I very seldom indulged. If I watched a home movie or reading a book, snacking during those times did not exist. Having these three major weight losses and gains, once this weight for the 4th time is off, I am going to adhere to a 3 balanced meals a day diet that worked without this yo yo thing going on. I will go back to always bringing my lunch because it was healthier than eating out. I think this is the road that I need to take to maintain once I am back to slim. It worked in the past when adhered to therefore I have no reason to think that it will not work in the future. I cannot and will not continue to go through this. I am older now and it is time for me to be wiser. Just sharing my thoughts for myself.

OhMsDiva

lorrpb wrote: »

It's important to come to terms that after you lose weight you cannot return to "eating normal" which to most people means overindulging on a regular basis, eating whatever they want, whenever they want. You gotta keep in under control for the rest of your life. I decided I could alter my diet to accommodate various current & future medical conditions or I could alter it to lose weight and stay at a healthy weight the rest of my life. IT took me 60 years to figure it out, but so far it's working. 150 lbs lost, successful maintenance 1 yr.

I totally agree. When I got to a weight that I wanted to be I did not go back to eating like I did before, but I was eating too much and not paying much attention to what I was eating. I weigh weekly and I do not deviate from that. In the span of about 3 weeks I had gained 10 lbs, which still was comfortable to me. However I was headed in the wrong direction. So I got realistic and I got back on my plan. I still eat, but I know how many calories I have and I make sure I stay within my limit.

psychod787

mandrewes wrote: »

Look at the research done on members of the national weight control registry and what they do. http://www.nwcr.ws/Research/default.htm

Quote:

---
There is variety in how NWCR members keep the weight off. Most report continuing to maintain a low calorie, low fat diet and doing high levels of activity.

78% eat breakfast every day.
75% weigh themselves at least once a week.
62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day.
---


The body only really has one function and that is to have enough food and energy otherwise it dies! So after a famine and it doesn't know that weight loss has been voluntary its task is to get back to where it was during times of food plenty as sure as eggs is eggs a famine will be on the way!!

It doesn't know that we now live in a time of food plenty all year round!!! And when thd body has food or access to it, especially after little food fhe wise thing is to gobble it up as quickly as possible as it may be gone soon.

There are a myriad of mechanisms that the body uses to get there. Including less leptin making food look more attractive, adaptive thermogensis making the body burn 300-500 fewer calories a day etc.

I believe a few things :

Maintenance is a different mind set to weight loss.

High fat at 40% reseach has shown may help counteract adaptive thermogenesis. Slightly contradicting the NWCR but it is obviously important that you don't eat excess calories above what you need for maintenance. High protein may also help this.

A plane is always slightly off its flightpath but continuous correction gets it to its destination. Similarly during maintenance a day or two of weight loss from time to time is a good idea to counteract days of feast and excess such as Christmas, socialising etc which are very important for good health in themselves. I also believe that a month of weight loss a year during maintenance is therefore a good idea may be at Lent etc.

Could you post the research study for me about the 40% fat please?

Momepro

Break things down into individual behaviors and habits. Instead of looking at this as an all at once, or all or nothing proposition, find ways to break things down into smaller and more sustainable habits. That makes it much easier to pinpoint where something is not working, and fix it, rather than staring at the whole jumbled mess of NOT WORKING. Plus, when you do backslide, you are less likely to drop everything, just one or two habits, that can then be fixed again. Otherwise, trying to everything at once, means that you are likely to leave out something important (like weighing food), and pay excessive attention to things that aren't. (Like fiber drinks and vinegar)
Don't demonize foods that don't actually make you feel bad. Obviously if you have food sensitivities avoid those things, but don't cut out all your favorite goodies because they are not "healthy". Think of your calories as a type of currency. You should purchase the nutrient rich stuff first, budget for regular treats, and don't waste any calories on stuff you hate, even if it is theoretically good for you.
Log EVERYTHING.
Don't JUST weigh (with a scale is best) everything you eat, also write why you are eating it (i.e, lunchtime, hungry, kind of bored, out with friends, watching tv) and how you are feeling right before, right after and an hour after (hungry, comfortable, normal, full, very full bloated, drowsy, OMG I am so damn sick of this crap I want to throw the whole plate out a window, etc).
This gives you a baseline pattern for your normal habits and routine. From there, it's just a matter of experimenting. Are you very full after dinner? Cut back on a few things. Does lunch leave you bloated and gassy after an hour, try less or no mayo, and see if there's something you don't mind dropping each meal (fries, or cheese, or maybe only 2 tacos instead of 3).Are you starving an hour after dinner?Maybe more fats during.
It's amazing how quickly these small and easily sustainable changes will add up to big calorie cuts. Only cut one or two things at a time, until they become habit instead if trying to do everything at once. That way they become individual habits instead of one big "diet".

swim777

Great advice here!! I gained 12 lbs back which I’m currently trying to lose. I’m looking at my average calories for this past week, and realizing that with one particular change, I’m so much more satisfied. I could keep this up for my normal and be okay. I also looked at my step count and I could easily see how a half a mile more puts me in a better place for losing. Moving from losing to maintenance has been a slippery slope for me. This time I’m practicing for maintenance as I lose. But small changes really do help you focus on what is really going on.

CarvedTones

I have yoyoed several times, though this is only my second time of 50+ pounds. Last time I was still losing quickly all the way and then tried to convert to maintenance all at once. I also did that on the smaller losses (smaller, but several times it's been 20+ pounds). This time I slowed toward the end and I decided not to accept my original goal and went lower. I call what I am doing now maintenance even though I am still at a slight deficit. I am down into the range I want to be but I am going to very slowly lose all the way to the bottom of the range before I try to stay at that weight. So I am still counting and becoming very aware of what it will take to stay at this weight.

I am eating things I like, just becoming better at portion control. I do weigh foods when I can and from doing it so much I think I am pretty good at estimating when I can't weigh food. I log everything every day and will continue to for some time. I am more firmly committed to making this time be the last time than I have been before.

kimny72

To me, the important lessons all involve that dreaded word - moderation. You need to find ways to fit foods you love into your every day diet. And you need to find a way to not allow that one special event from becoming a downward spiral.

For me the key is fixing the emotions that often muss up our diet and exercise patterns. Removing guilt, shame, and punishment were critical. I went a little overboard on New Year's Day, patted myself on the back for enjoying myself, and went right back on plan the next day. I have a couple of cookies or a bowl of kid's cereal as a night time snack almost every day. I find I don't overdo it because I know I can have more tomorrow and I don't feel bad about wanting a treat in the first place.

Another important part is planning ahead. I always have calorie appropriate snacks available. I don't keep stuff I lose control with in the house. I really like all the food I eat so I never feel deprived and end up going nuts in response.

I also have significantly increased my daily activity level and my purposeful exercise so I burn more calories and can eat more food. Finding easy ways to get more active and workouts I actually enjoy was super important. My goal is to get my TDEE up to 2000 before I turn 50 so I can eat the right amount even more effortlessly!

And that would be my final tip - continue to have measurable goals. I think a big reason weight loss is easier for many people than maintenance is the goal. Whether it's fitness goals or something else, keep giving yourself a meaningful reason to stay on plan every once and awhile. And also set a "maintenance range" for your weight. Don't wait until you gain back 15 lbs, as soon as you drift out of your range, use that as a goal to get right back down. Good luck!