Living the Lifestyle Friday Feb. 1st.

Jerdtrmndone

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 February are below:

Monday - imastar2 (Derrick)
Tuesday - gadgetgirlIL (Regina)
Wednesday - minimyzeme (Kim)
Thursday - misterhub (Greg)
Friday - jerdtrmndone (Jerry)

Today's Topic: Weight struggles: When you were losing in your journey and had a major plateau how did you go about to break it and get back to losing.

Jerdtrmndone

I have been struggling for awhile. I now am trying to limit my calories to 1200 to 1500 a day in hopes with that goal it will put me back on track. Exercise is limited due to my severity of my back.

linmueller

When I'd stop losing, all I needed to do was weigh, measure, and track everything I ate and drank. Once I got that back under control, the weight would start to drop again. Guessing/estimating has never been my friend. It's way to easy to lie to myself, let me eyes fool me, eat 'just another bite or two' or 'forget'.

steve0mania

A real "plateau" boils down to one basic issue: you are taking in as many calories as you are using.

The strategies, then, boil down to fixing the equation, which usually means (as Lin suggested) going back to basics: weighing, measuring, and tracking.

I mostly follow an "intuitive" approach (i.e., I don't track anymore, but I still weigh/measure many items to ensure I'm only eating one serving/portion). Losing means "tightening up" my eating. When I'm really honest with myself, when I'm not losing, it's always because there are extra items I'm taking in (alcohol, snacks, etc.).

podkey

I am sorry about your back. I don't "exercise" to lose weight per se but I try to move the best I can. Even just sitting or standing up is better than being in bed. I would walk some too if I could. In my case I could do some stationary biking while my back healed up too.
I think it helped me mentally and a bit with blood sugar too.
Weighing and measuring portions as mentioned helps.

myallforjcbill

There is a difference to a true plateau and a stall slowdown. The only time I really plateaued I was on maintenance. But when I would be doing everything right and the scale wouldn't budge for a few weeks I would, first of all, keep on doing the stuff: tracking, measuring, planning etc. But sometimes I would change up the menu or exercise a bit. I am not sure this made a difference as much as it distracted me till things started changing. At least once I was frustrated and then realized I had dropped a pant size in the meantime I was likely adding some muscle and losing some fat.

Jerdtrmndone

I've been tracking. measuring and weighing mostly every thing But I think @steve0mania hit on the numbers . I still am taking in to many calories and not burning enough. As I said above I am trying to stay between 1200 and 1500 cals. a day. The last 4 days I have stayed near 1500 cals. and seems I am losing about 0.1lbs a day. Small but a start

imastar2

As @steveOmania mentioned I found either I didn't track correctly or I was eating about what my body was burning. I usually reduced my intake by approximately 20% and started losing again. This last plateau lasted a very long time @ 300 lbs then I blew it and gained 50 of my 100 that I had lost.

It's so easy to put the weight on and as we all know difficult taking it off. It doesn't have to be difficult I just make it that way.

minimyzeme

Weight struggles: When you were losing in your journey and had a major plateau how did you go about to break it and get back to losing.

I'm lucky not to have had this experience. But more importantly, I recognized early on that the lower weight shown on the scale was only one aspect of the journey. The more I understood how unhealthy my life had been prior to WW, the more I appreciated developing healthier habits. All my blood chemistry showed improved health. I slept and moved better. I felt better and more self-confident. I was in-training for a healthier life.

It's all relative. Hang in there Jerry, you're healthier for your efforts, no matter what.

88olds

I joined WW. Fortunately, it work beyond all expectations. I decided that if I was going to do WW, I was going all in and attend meetings. But mostly WW worked because I embraced tracking.

Since this is GoaD we can say stuff like this- if you want a laugh some day come over to Motivation & Support and tell someone complaining about a plateau that they’re eating too much.