Living the Lifestyle - Thursday July 5

savignr

We meet here to explore, share, celebrate, and (sometimes) agonize over how we do (or don't) incorporate weight loss guidelines into our daily lives. "It's a lifestyle, not a diet" is easily and often said, but sometimes not so simply put into practice.

This is a thread for everyone. If you're new to GoaD, or to weight loss, your questions and comments are always welcome. If you're maintaining, or a long-term loser, your thoughts on the topic may be just what someone else needs to hear. If you're reading this, join in the discussion!

Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Thread starters for July

Monday - whathapnd (Emmie)
Tuesday - 88olds (George)
Wednesday -Imastar2 (Derrick)
Thursday -
Friday -Al_Howard

Today's Topic: Jumpstart

At one point or another, we all had a reason to start trying to lose weight - be it WW, Nutrasystem, South Beach, or on our own. Most of us had some success, most of us stumbled at one time or another.

So for today:

1) During your "stumble" period, did you keep any good habits from you weight loss period? What were they? Why those?

2) For those of us that stumbled and then restarted, what was your jumpstart moment/ What was that ultimate KITA that got you moving forward again?

savignr

My initial start was a WW membership as a birthday gift from DW. I did well for a while, going from 265 to 215 (for a brief moment). I hung around 220 for a while, then 230, then all the way back to 250. I kept two things going - daily weighing and consciousness of what I was eating. I ate three burritos, but was aware that I was doing it, and really should not be. I think I looked at my success, and kept what I felt were the primary reasons for it. Scale awareness was paramount, even though awareness meant watching the weight climb and calling myself a cow every day. Food awareness became ingrained during my WW success; I kept the awareness, just did nothing about it.

I had two jumpstart moments. First was a doubling of my BP dosage back in March. Second, I rescued that beautiful Great Pyrenees in my photo. She is very persuasive about getting out for a walk, and has really helped me get out of my chair on a daily basis. Her heartworm infection has been treated and cured, and together we are stretching out our walk time and length. After a few weeks of this, I began seriously tracking food and exercise again, and have gone back into weight loss mode again. Thanks, Kylie!

Jimb376mfp

@savignr Oops! Sorry I added a Bonus LTL Before I saw yours.

Jimb376mfp

2) For those of us that stumbled and then restarted, what was your jumpstart moment/ What was that ultimate KITA that got you moving forward again?

My youngest son told me I always “blew it off” whenever the family talked to me about health (weight)

It made me remember how my Mother was an alcoholic and she would never change and she died at age 54! It made me realize how I was affecting my family by not taking care of myself.!I promised myself that I would change. I began WW AGAIN at age 65 in 2013 @ 376 WI!

Lifetime.
My WI today was 181.2 I lost -195#
Age 70, better late than never!

gadgetgirlIL

) During your "stumble" period, did you keep any good habits from you weight loss period? What were they? Why those?

My most recent stumble period was from 2005-2011. I had lost 130 pounds in 2002-2003 but after about a year of being stable, my weight started to creep back up. This coincided with my father's death after a long illness and being in a master's program.

The good habit that I kept was to continue to go to my fitness center every morning. Even though I wasn't working out as long nor as intensely, it was enough to help slow the rate of regain.



2) For those of us that stumbled and then restarted, what was your jumpstart moment/ What was that ultimate KITA that got you moving forward again?

The jumpstart moment was June of 2011 when I was facing turning 50 and my right knee was hurting so much that it was impairing my ability to do my job. I had regained about 40 pounds of those 130 at that point. I felt like I was turning 80, not 50, and couldn't imagine living the rest of my life feeling so crappy. WW at Work was starting up that June and the rest is history.

Jerdtrmndone

1) During your "stumble" period, did you keep any good habits from you weight loss period? What were they? Why those? Yes

I've never stopped measuring & weighing food and myself.
These were my strong pts.
Journal about 70% of the time now.

imastar2

1) During your "stumble" period, did you keep any good habits from you weight loss period? What were they? Why those?

Good habits can flee when you stumble but like old memories they can come back and help you regain your composure.

1.Returning to tracking every meal. 2. Watching my portions. 3. Awareness of the points/calories getting the best bang for the point. 4. I weighed faithfully every morning even in light of gaining weight on a daily basis.


2) For those of us that stumbled and then restarted, what was your jump start moment/ What was that ultimate KITA that got you moving forward again?

I woke up one morning recently getting tired walking and finding myself running out of breath and knew the 45-50 lbs had taken it's toll on me and knew I had to stop and take control.

SW 400.8
CW 344.0
Next GW 300.0
Final GW 185.0

56.8 lbs Total lost

88olds

1) During your "stumble" period, did you keep any good habits from you weight loss period? What were they? Why those?

At some point I had adopted a low fat eating strategy. Although I’ve more recently up’d my fat intake, I think LF has served me well. Once it became a habit, a lot of stuff lost its appeal. Still recall the day I noticed a guy eating a giant pub burger and thought YUK! Something had changed for me.

2) For those of us that stumbled and then restarted, what was your jumpstart moment/ What was that ultimate KITA that got you moving forward again?

My neighbor, a few years older than me, not a workout person, but very active, particularly gardening, sat down on the couch one evening and died. I was 56 and still in the overweight camp after years of trying to lose. I joined WW and learned tracking.

minimyzeme

1) During your "stumble" period, did you keep any good habits from you weight loss period? What were they? Why those?

In a word--no. My only prior attempt was a short stint on South Beach Diet (I think) and I'm not sure that I even made it through the two week starting gate.

2) For those of us that stumbled and then restarted, what was your jumpstart moment/ What was that ultimate KITA that got you moving forward again?

On advice from GOAD, I've not stopped this since I started four years ago. However, I'm convinced that tracking has been key for me. I get a little cocky from time to time if caught without a scale or out of cell reception for the phone. I can do OK for awhile and fool myself into thinking "I've got this". However, I have read all the returnee posts carefully and most have something similar in the first few sentences. I may stumble at times and I'll never say never but I will track for one more day...