Living the Lifestyle Monday 10/29/18

imastar2

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 October below:

Monday imastar2 (Derrick)
Tuesday - whathapnd (Emmie)
Wednesday - minimyzeme (Kim)
Thursday - misterhub (Greg)
Friday - Jerdtrmndone (Jerry)

Today’s Topic: In the Zone and Out of the Zone: Many folks stay in the Zone everyday and seldom fall off the proverbial WW loss wagon. I have made it to such a place that I have totally been out of the Zone and for the lack of words flat out been messed up with my weight loss. So I had a scheduled Dr's annual physical this am thus partly the reason I'm running behind today.
Let's call it what it is weight gain gone wild! and my conversation with my MD this morning went something like this: My weight as far as I was concerned had hit the wall and I'm open for any help and any and all options except bypass surgery. I won't go into any further detail at this point about our visit except that all blood test, BP and other stats were exceptional for my age and weight.

So as I was thinking about my subject today I saw above If you're maintaining, or a long-term loser, your thoughts on the topic may be just what someone else needs to hear.

Knowing most of this is mental because this was my message from WW 9/6/13 You’ve lost 100 lbs! I pretty much have hung around 295-310 for over 5 years. Now needing to lose another 100 lbs I'm faced with losing that plus. Done the KITA on myself and so has DW that didn't work. I have been seeing a therapists and that's been going OK but not solved much.

As GoaDies we have always rallied around folks situations so besides Tracking watching Portions, Exercising What else would you do.

imastar2

Goadies I'm posting this because it's one thing to get off the wagon disappear then reappear weeks or months later with a weight gain and say I'm back!. I have maintained the check in and weigh daily and have watched this take place day after day and really struggled with it. It's not getting the best of me but as a shake up to LTL I thought I would though out the senario above as say what if it were you.

As I told my Dr. this morning during my annual physical that I had hit the wall and she has followed me with my journey only after she became my Dr. a couple to three years ago.

So I'm hoping this LTL is not too far out there as far as subjects go but we all at some point have had a similar fate or we wouldn't be here. Thanks to all I will soove this but am always open to any suggestions with the weight loss process and it is an on going process. I am considering startting with WW a new starting weight at today's weight 355.6

SW 400.8
CW 355.6 ☹
1st 340.0 Goal
2nd 300.0 Goal
Final GW 185.0

45.2 lbs Total Loss

EliteCoachKal

@imastar2 Derrick, Just so I understand: you were down to the 300 area and maintained that for over five years, but recently (?) despite tracking/weighing daily you have gained back up to 355? Is that correct?

I am admittedly not familiar with WW and their teachings/practices, but I'd ask you: What changed when the gain started? What is your 'why'?... What is it that makes getting down to your goal weight an absolute must?

gadgetgirlIL

In addition to what @EliteCoachKal suggested, I'd also be looking at what other factors in your life may be contributing to eating more food than you need.

For me, my large regains were always tied to emotional eating. Some of the factors were: I was working way too many hours, I was exhausted from working full-time plus going to school at night, my father's health was deteriorating and his dementia was causing him to blame me for all his woes (I'm an only child). Food has been my primary source of comfort since I was a kid (I was the fat kid when kids weren't fat) and that habit of turning to food in times of stress still persists.

Jimb376mfp

Derrick
I have known you as a Goad a long time. I can only tell you what I did, as you know, there are many considerations that may or may not help.
After my three years at WW I was happy to NOT gain but when WW started Smart Points 2016 I decided to get below 200 from around 260. I figured a pound a week would get me to about 208. Well I lost 37#

Again in 2017 my goal to lose a pound a week really taught me how to focus on how hard it is to CONSISTENTLY lose a little week by week. I lost -43#

2018 I Made GW and LT. Now learning how to do Maintenance.

You know the WW Program(s).
You have reached out for assistance with the psychologist,
You have stayed active in GOAD and LTL.
For me I look back on my Lifetime of eating and drinking and now can say I had enough. The momentary enjoyment of eating is not as satisfying for me. Knowing keeping the weight off is more important to my health. Seeing a pound or two or three go up is a wake up call how easy it would be back over 200 or300’

I have recently been noticing celebrities gain weight as they age. I don’t want to gain weight with age but know I know I will if I don’t LTL or st least Make the Better Choice.

@imastar2
I hope you find the help you want.

Jim

imastar2

@EliteCoachKal and @gadgetgirlIL let me see if I can answer both of you with one post. Correct I originally was stated at 400.8 in 2011 and hit the 100lb loss with WW's late 2012 about a couple of years. Still had to lose another 100 lb down to around 185 but would have been happy around 200. Been struggling to stay around 295-300 lbs since around September 2013. So along comes 2018 I'm now 71 yrs old stay very active with my present company but in January of this year in addtion to my regular business I opened another business which has more potential than my current business. I was running very hard for the first 6-7 months and took no time to slow down. It was enough to knock me off track with tracking and portion control and then the benge eating set in on certain occassions till you now have the results. @ElteCoachKal you bassically hit on it as to why I lost my why? Not sure but yes that is a big part of it. So thank you and @gadgetgirlIL for responding and yes I'm sure some of it is stress which I have never admitted to being a stress eater.

Mainly I think that I just really lost my prority for weight loss and even though I weigh in daily it never seem to phase me. WW did change their program at least twice over the last 10 years and this last change left very little room to follow a basic diet without sacrificing most bread and sweets altogether.

Thanks! Again and as this is an ongoing situation you'll be the first to know how things are going.

SW 400.8
CW 355.6 ☹
1st 340.0 Goal
2nd 300.0 Goal
Final GW 185.0

45.2 lbs Total Loss

88olds

Are you currently tracking? If not, why not?

If you are tracking, are you consistently over your number? If so, how?

If you are stuck, the what else to do is the two list exercise. Spend as much time as you need to get to the don’t want to side down. Then forget about KITAs. They don’t work. Instead try to make peace. Try to compromise with yourself and see if it gets you moving.

Starting at 285, I was stuck for years at about 215 lbs. Then my neighbor, a couple of years older than I was but much more active, sat down on the couch one day and died. I joined WW that week. I had heard that keeping a list of what you eat was an effective tool. WW did that. I thought I needed to count something. WW did that.

It wasn’t the fear that I would just up and die because of my weight that did it. It was the realization that I did not have unlimited time to finish my WL project.

Limits. I wish I had copied Charlie’s post about limits. Life has all sorts of limits. If we think we can eat without limits we will gain weight. It’s how our bodies are designed. We’re just operating in this physical universe and it’s ok. Just embrace some limits.

minimyzeme

Kudos to all who responded previously and to you Derrick for your creativity in this LTL.

The only thing I might add is to really focus on mindfulness, especially when your on the verge of the "binge" (or in or beyond). When does that switch flip, and more importantly, WHY?

I think in your situation, it might be more important to know WHY you want to eat, (despite everything you know) than WHY you want to lose weight. I'm being just being a little glib so forgive me, but don't we all generally want to lose weight for similar reasons? Clearly, those WHYs haven't been enough incentive for you to change your behaviors and / or choices.

So now I want to know, WHY is it that you want to eat when you do? Are you hungry? Are you stressed? Are you pissed at yourself and just "punishing" yourself since you by that time you already went off your tracks? What exactly does the food satisfy for you? Or does it satisfy anything? When you're done eating, how do you feel?

Paying close attention to what's going on in your head and heart might help to unlock this WHY. Once you've got that figured out, maybe you can figure out how to defuse it in constructive ways, even if you start with 'making a better choice'.

Keep us posted, Derrick. I'd love to see you meet and maintain your target weight!

Jerdtrmndone

Derrick this is a great LTL. I also have been struggling as you gaining 60lbs. in 2 yrs. I took me a long time to figure out what I needed to do to lose. I found my why and what works and that is journaling the good and bad and slowly work on weeding out the bad a little at a time.
As a result this month I lost 4.5lbs. and feel great about it and encouraged and motivated to continue in this way. I weigh and measure everything I possibly can and estimate point values to at least show something.
It must be tough working two businesses so try to do your best in eating healthier and it will fall in place in time. Carry fruit with you for a snack to keep your hunger under control. You lost a 100lbs. so you know how. Just hang in there and don't get discouraged because that can damage you more and stay positive. You got this!

EliteCoachKal

The inherent problem with nearly all diet and weight loss plans is that they fail to address the underlying neural, emotional, psychological, and/or behavioral patterns that created the problem, to begin with. Our new behaviors are like a hiking trail that's only been walked a few times and is not easily traveled. Our old patterns are like the main trail that has been walked thousands of times and is very well worn and easily seen. It takes some conditioning to make these changes permanent, and our brains will always prefer the path of least resistance. This is why it's so easy to fall back into old patterns and find ourselves back on the roller coaster.

When I was in my 20's I lost close to 100 lbs on the Atkins diet. I was fairly close to my goal weight when the holidays rolled around and I started to indulge in some of my fav holiday treats. By the end of the holiday season (which, for me, includes my birthday that comes just after New Years) I'd regained a good 20 lbs. After that, I never truly got back on track and over the next 10(ish) years, I slowly put all the weight back on plus another 75 lbs or so. The diet didn't cease to be effective for me; I still do best on a lower carb diet. I never addressed the true issue, which, for me, was a fundamental lack of self-worth.

I'm not saying your situation is the same as mine was, Derrick. And I couldn't speculate about what, specifically, your patterns are without talking more, but I'd say you definitely have some old patterns that have kicked in. IMHO what you need, as @Jerdtrmndone Jerry, also suggested is to reconnect with your why and recommit to what you know works for you. You've done this before so you KNOW you can do.

imastar2

@EliteCoachKal thanks for writing the post. It seems you and I may have some diet similarities from our past. Including this time I have lost 100 lbs 5 times starting when I was around 18 years old. I'm an old veteran of low carbohydrate dieting even before it was called Atkins by Dr. Atkins. It worked for me 4 times till I hit about 50 years old. Then at that point for what ever reason it just wasn't working for me. I did stay at 185-200 lbs from age 20-40 but I ran 6 miles every single day and sometimes 10 miles on lots of Saturdays.

So as we get older things happen but by in large most comments about my why are largely on target. I know you have to want something pretty bad before you can move to take action. At this point I'm there with the why and pretty fed up but also realize that at age 71 your playing roulette because sooner or later being morbidly obese is gonna get you.

So I'm feeling a lot better about myself just posting and reading this thread. This is what's been so important about this GoaD board and I'm sorry we're only have a few participating compared to the WW board we had many moons ago. It's all good though b/c the ones who are here are suppose to be here. I really appreciate yours and all others who participated in this thread. It shows many people still have interest in this subject.

SW 400.8
CW 352.6 🙂
1st 340.0 Goal
2nd 300.0 Goal
Final GW 185.0

48.2 lbs Total Loss

minimyzeme

Alright, so I'm going to push you a little bit Derrick ( @imastar2 ). You haven't answered my questions. Obviously you don't have to, but I wonder if it might be insightful for you as well as me and maybe others.

I'm really curious what the eating / binging satisfies for you, if anything. I s-u-s-p-e-c-t that maybe your behavior is exactly along the lines as @EliteCoachKal suggested: a well worn path (otherwise known as a rut), but I don't want to put words in your mouth.

podkey

Good topic. I don't like to think of myself as either in zone or out of zone. Too much to me like the all or nothing thinking. I would of course like to be doing better but just deal with myself day to day.

imastar2

@minimyzeme wrote So now I want to know, WHY is it that you want to eat when you do? Are you hungry? Are you stressed? Are you pissed at yourself and just "punishing" yourself since you by that time you already went off your tracks? What exactly does the food satisfy for you? Or does it satisfy anything? When you're done eating, how do you feel?

Kim....I got busy and was moving pretty fast with some of the post above and didn't ignore your question but it is possible when I read it that I didn't have a definite answer to any of the questions. This has gone on long enough to gain the 50 lbs but while I was in the fray I find it hard to explain exactly what I was thinking, Was I hungry when I ate the stupid choices ? Most likely yes. Was I stressed? Entirely possible in many of the situations. Was I pissed at myself or punishing myself ?could have been possible as well. I can't answer the question about what does the food satisfy for me because I don't know. All it may have satisfied would have been the fact that I wanted it and be dam***ned the consequences which I'm now suffering from. When I was done eating some of the bad choices I felt mentally terrible. Please understand that even though the bell rang every Friday @ WI I went up a little some weeks up and some weeks down a little but the end results was the scale kept sliding in an upward trend. One week I gained 12 lbs only to lose it all the next week. Who knows what that was about.

So to wind this up I've gone to hospital dietitians, talking it through with therapist and struggled with the journey. I realize this may not satisfy the answers but if I knew why I probably wouldn't have done it or like I've been holding all this at bay for almost 6 years. I believe the main thing here is to keep the main thing the main thing. That is to say track everyday, watch the portions be mindful of the right choices and jeep a good attitude about the choices that will continue to put me on the path to a steady loss on a weekly basis. That being said I really do need to be happy with my choices.

Kim....Thanks for the challenging questions and I am not thin skinned and look forward to great success with the journey. Truth be know I've most likely asked myself most of those questions as I was going along.

SW 400.8
CW 349.6 🙂
1st 340.0 Goal
2nd 300.0 Goal
Final GW 185.0

51.2 lbs Total Loss

minimyzeme

@imastar2 , I appreciate your reply. It's helpful to me in that I can nod my head and say "yup, I've done that too" in some circumstances. I suspect it may be helpful to others also. I feel for you because I know how much you want to lose, yet find yourself consumed by the moment or situation and maybe reaching for food as a source of something it's really not.

The one thing (related to the other thing) that still stands out for me that might give you some insight into the behavior (and thus how to change it) is mindfulness. Reading your reply, it's as if you're "taken over" by the urge to eat, and don't emerge from that drive until it's too late--until you've already eaten the types of things in quantities that make you regret your choices.

I wonder if there is some way or some thing you can make yourself more aware of what you're doing at that point in your path where you're diverging from your objective. While I'm not successful with it all the time, often that mindfulness--almost like an out-of-body experience looking down on myself--gives me enough pause to STOP what I'm doing and bring myself back to a more conscious state of behavior. I get myself out of my own rut or habit.

Case in point: I keep a little 1/2-cup (?-I think) tupperware of roasted cashews in my car. That's tricky for me in that sometimes I'm really on my game about metering out just a few nuts and they tide me over, preventing me from getting really "hungry" when I'm on the road. Sometimes however, once I start eating them, I just keep eating. I can easily eat the entire contents of that container. I started doing that the other day when I was stuck in traffic. When I had that higher state of awareness (mindfulness), I put the lid on the container and tossed it behind me, where I could no longer reach it. Problem solved, weight gain avoided. Only because I was able to bring myself out of graze mode long enough to physically remove the cashews from my reach.

I'm sure it's different for each person but for me, it really starts with mindfulness. I've had to practice it and I'm still not (and will never be) perfect with it. However, it has definitely helped me change my behavior around food while working toward my weight management objectives.

Thanks again for sharing some of your challenges here--definitely helpful to me. One day at a time, one healthier choice at a time. Hang in there, buddy!