Non Scale Victories
Replies
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Ok, how about this for a NSV.
We've had an OPENED box of Cadbury Creme Eggs in the house for 200 days and apart from the one egg that my husband ate on the day his mom gave us the box, we haven't so much as sniffed the remaining 47....
They're now 2 weeks from their expiry date....
I guess I could do this:
https://www.ladbible.com/news/food-bloke-creates-giant-creme-egg-using-32-normal-sized-eggs-202002263 -
Ooh - I think I’d throw them out quickly. Never did like the gooey runny centers. Perhaps yours aren’t as sweet as in the US. Besides at this point they might be stale tasting? Mom will never know and you can save the calories for something else. Like dinner.2
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I'm thinking they may be OK for trick or treaters.....
After 200 days I'm not about to crack and eat one now, not when they're past their best...
Must say they haven't really tempted me at all - I'm not a great chocolate lover, especially rubbish quality chocolate. If I were to indulge it would be in some Venchi Extra Dark Gianduja with hazelnuts. But as I don't have any, there's no temptation to withstand...2 -
Date reached ... have to go!1
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I’ve successfully managed to giving up the role of chief cook and grocery shopper. I’m a darn good inventive cook and I’ll get in there for special meals or sides. However letting hubby plan and cook makes him happy in retirement. I get to avoid thinking about cranking out three meals a day. Hubby is naturally normal weight and tends to make better choices.2
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I’ve successfully managed to giving up the role of chief cook and grocery shopper. I’m a darn good inventive cook and I’ll get in there for special meals or sides. However letting hubby plan and cook makes him happy in retirement. I get to avoid thinking about cranking out three meals a day. Hubby is naturally normal weight and tends to make better choices.
That is a great NSV!2 -
I have 2 NSVs to share.
1) We got a call from the hospital at 5pm on Friday, asking my husband to come for an urgent appointment with one of his medical teams today (Tuesday) at 08.30. No explanation as to the urgency. Cue hours of worrying in the intervening 90-odd hours (unnecessarily as it transpired - all is fine).
The NSV is that I didn't soothe my anxiety with food. I kept on track, did my usual walks and bike rides, kept within my calorie budget. For me - a comfort eater to the core - that's nothing short of miraculous.
2) The appointment was at 08.30 and he was advised to bring someone who could drive him home after the procedure. Which meant a quick, light breakfast to get to the hospital in time and find a parking space. COVID restrictions meant I had to wait in the coffee shop/waiting area. I whiled away 90 minutes with a cup of tea and my Kindle. By the time he re-emerged, it was gone 10.30. We popped to see his mom and she offered cake or a toasted cheese sandwich. My stomach was growling and I was properly hungry. I knew we wouldn't be home to eat lunch until at least 2pm. I declined.
The NSV is that I was hungry, but I'd learned enough about my hunger over this past month to realise that the pangs would come and go. I was fine. I didn't die of hunger. We ate lunch at 2.15 and I lived to tell the tale.4 -
Those are two wonderful victories! And you have learned two skills in dealing with overweight.
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OK you'ze.
Not only do I WANT Garfield to go SPLAT! (without a bounce back), but I am counting on her to be around so that she can become my cycling advisor when I eventually start doing cycley stuff!
My verbal non visual not in vivo virtual voyage to be vicariously examined by my doctor yesterday was more verisimilitude than veracity and verily and verifiably has now been postponed to November 22!
So no cycling stuff in the near future and great self interest to ensure that Garfield succeeds, right!?! So she can help me---duh!👍😹
Garfield, as long as you're losing more or less adequately, whether you get to goal in six months or two years doesn't matter nearly as much as what happens then.
And maximum reserves of will power and willingness to apply such is mostly going to be needed in the first few months / year or two of maintenance when suppressed hunger seems to rebound for a fairly sizeable percentage of successful, to that point, dieters.
Sure. Discovering things about one's self is not only useful, it's vital. Verily.
But the time where you're already losing adequately and improving health is also a good time to take an opportunity to coast a little, while keeping reserves of effort for when you really need them.
To me, from the outside, all your goals lately seem to be ratcheting the effort.
Consider coasting a bit and ratcheting the effort during your diet break to make sure that during that time you don't stray too far from target.
The above is not offered as a prescription; but it is being submitted for your hamster management team to take into consideration as a view-point next time they meet and strategize! 🐹
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Hmmm, my hamster management team have been debating this very issue for a week or two, and we have a hung jury.
Arguments in favour of Pav's recommendation:
A pregnant woman would be foolish to deprive herself of sleep in her 3rd trimester in order to get used to being kn*ckered once the baby's born. She'd be much more sensible to get as much rest as possible, as she'll need reserves of energy to draw on in the months to come.
Arguments against Pav's recommendation:- An astronaut wouldn't go into space without getting as much zero-gravity experience as possible
- Only a fool would attempt a trek to one of the poles without first doing lots of training in challenging conditions
- You wouldn't attempt to do a really deep sea dive without first getting accustomed to what it feels like to dive at those pressures
- You wouldn't attempt to climb Everest without acclimatising at base camp first until your body is familiar with thinner air
I'm fully expecting an onslaught of hunger, mind-games, cravings, mental justifications for eating, feelings of insatiability in the months/years ahead.
Knowing what's coming, should I do as the pregnant woman should, and coast as long as possible until the onslaught arrives....or should I follow the lead of the astronaut/explorer/diver/mountaineer and have some practice runs at getting used to coping with the conditions I'll be facing?
Which course would offer me the better chance of success? My hamsters aren't sure...3 -
The hamsters are still ruminating.
They're interested in the theory - implicit in your post - that willpower and endurance are finite resources that can be fatally depleted, and thus must be carefully conserved until you have no choice other than to conscript them into service.
While I do believe that success is more likely if you remove all obstacles and make the task ahead as simple, easy and pleasant as possible - so that it takes hardly any effort - I'm not sure I agree that the endurance reserves will run out if you make a few withdrawals before you strictly need to...
I think I prefer to think of endurance as coming from a natural wellspring, that will replenish naturally when conditions are right...
You've given the hamsters much food for thought....3 -
Missing (though both unknown and unknowable) aspect is degree of neurotransmitter and hormone perturbation taking place right now... and whether intensity of bounce back can be modified by your actions.
I.e. trying to mitigate as opposed to power through the situation.
My pet theory is that hormones are... insidious and subconscious. And when they block the replenishment of the well you describe the action takes place below the level of one's awareness.
I've failed multiple times in my life to control the "rebound" as I would think have most of us who find ourselves participating in this forum.
And even though most of the failures happened before I was truly aware of what I should expect in no way should you think that I believe that going slow is a surefire way to succeed (I do believe it increases your chances; but not that it is a certainty)
I've failed at least once doing exactly that (going slow) and went through "a full normal rebound"... thankfully though it was a 155 --> 150 --> 157 deal as opposed to past 260 --> 235 --> 280 type deals.
Here are some other aspects for you to consider.
Concentric onions. Fall back positions. Health gains. Success in failure. Rear guard action. Bleep... if I haven't been drinking maybe I should have!
So here is the ultimate defeatist argument for going slow.
Factoid: You achieve the most health gains by reducing your starting weight what is it by 10%? 20%. You don't need to reduce 100% to have the majority of health benefits! Sure, it is beyond nice... but most/major/initial health gains are in the first 20%.
And, the rider? The longer you maintain that loss... the better off your health outcomes!
So let's assume that we are all destined to regain all our weight plus a rebound percentage.
We are buying into the ultimate defeatist argument: No obese person can permanently lose their weight!
We have conceded the fight.
But we still want to optimize our outcome during this defeat!
So how do we maximize time at lower than 80% of original weight during this 10 year cycle (5 year, 20 year, 30 year, 3 years, put your numbers).
Losing from obese to normal in a year and then rebounding back the next and repeating 5 times over the next 10 years? Or spending 9 years going from obese to normal and then giving up and going back up again over the next few months?
One leaves you 5 years at non obese weight (health gain) and 5 years at obese weight or gaining (no health benefit--probably the opposite. The other leaves you with 9 years of health gains... and 1 years of negatives.
9 is better than 5!
There are other benefits to be found in slow hamsters.
You are consolidating health gains.
You are increasing athletic ability.
You are embedding modified behaviours and making them your everyday reality increasing your chances of continuing.
You no longer have a "lose weight" "maintain weight" mindset... you have a "I watch what I eat and how I move and set myself in a trajectory that will help me approach my goals" mindset.
Yikes... somebody come and take me away!!!!
@psychod787 did manage to lose lots and fast and control the regain. With some cost and with a LOT of effort. He is one of the very few people who I have ever heard manage to fight with intense hunger for a good 2 years while engaging in controlled regain and strength training and actually reach an equilibrium. And now that I think of it, he should be part of this group, though he is sort of obnoxious and grumpy--not nice and fuzzy, and touchy feely like me!
---BTW: I do **not** truly believe that regain is inevitable.
--But I definitely believe that there exists a time component when moving the goal posts to what will become one's new normal--else it doesn't get to become the new normal.2 -
So here's the thing. In a prime example of hope triumphing over experience, I still believe that I can and will be one of the charmed 5% who manage to lose a significant amount of weight and keep it off over the long term.
This is despite plenty of evidence to the contrary.
Here is my woeful history of weight management:- Between 20/4/2011 and 24/7/2012 I gained 17.2kg (a gain rate of 0.6lbs/wk over 66 weeks)
- Between 24/7/2012 and 03/11/2013 I lost 40kg (a loss rate of 1.3lbs/wk over 67 weeks)
- I maintained that 40kg loss for 22 weeks
- Between 04/04/2014 and 06/07/2016 I gained 28.2kg (a gain rate of 0.53lbs/wk over 118 weeks)
- Between 07/07/2016 and 12/04/2017 I lost 19.4kg (a loss rate of 1.1lbs/wk over 40 weeks)
- Between 13/4/2017 and 17/03/2021 I gained 27.2kg (a gain rate of 0.3lbs/wk over 205 weeks)
So why am I still hopeful - in the face of this overwhelming evidence that I'm useless at weight management - that I can do it this time around?- I've definitely learned some lessons from my past failures. e.g. that I can't wing it, and that to have a hope of succeeding I MUST keep logging and tracking, I MUST have a support network and I MUST weigh myself regularly.
- I've more knowledge. Until a year ago I'd never read about hormonal changes, adaptive thermogenesis etc. Improved knowledge = improved understanding, awareness, vigilance, mitigation.
- I have more leisure time to devote to exercise, meal planning, cooking etc. Last time around I was working full time in a stressful and demanding job. I'm now retired, which makes things so much easier.
- Environmental factors have improved. Last time around, I spent 70+ hours/week in an office where there was an entire table devoted to biscuits, cakes, sweets etc. Mea culpa - as Head of Department, I was one of the worst culprits for 'treating' my team - but we were also given loads by the public (we worked in a hospital) and many of the team members added to the smorgasbord. This time around, I'm at home where I have full control over the treats available.
And I'm a natural optimist. I can't and won't believe that failure is inevitable.6 -
Like Bella, I agree with #1. This is what works for me. I’ve learned over a lifetime that I am incapable of eating intuitively. Have no internal regulator! Also learned that diets that are too restrictive usually work well but don’t last.
So I’ve finally accepted that I must track, weigh and log. I’m am not going to suddenly develop eating talents anymore than growing wings to fly. Acceptance doesn’t mean feeling like I’m slogging along or punished. It’s more of an external control and check mechanism that I MUST use. I have to stay aware of what I’m eating daily. Some days are more successful than others but the tracking is essential to not regaining.
I just am too darn old to do this again or invest in another set of clothes.3 -
Amen to that!3
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And that's why I am tracking too.
The environmental factors and head-space are major Bella.2 -
I've lost 60 pounds and maintained that for several months. Am currently using what I call the pants sensor. When my hard pants get tight, I'm snacking too much. (grin) I fell out of logging and am working on getting my head to where I can log again. I'm working on viewing this current state of affairs as practice for being at maintenance, and so far it's not that bad. I'd be happier if there were less of me to maintain, true, but 60 is better than nothing at all. And I can get back to it after the thyroid surgery.3
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Sounds like a great strategy Alexandra!
The 'pants sensor' method never worked for me (I just buried my head in the sand and bought a size bigger) but good for you if you notice them getting tight and act on that information.
That's the place I'm hoping to get to....habitually monitoring a situation and then acting promptly if the data shows I'm going astray (rather than monitoring poorly/not at all and completely failing to act if things start heading in the wrong direction.2 -
option 3....
data shows you're going astray and promptly binging in response to the doomsday message and impending calorie lockdown.2 -
It usually doesn't hit me like that, though, Laurie. I'm not taking away anything that will trigger a binge, and a few days of restriction will show me whether the tightness is water retention due to monthly cycles or due to being blown up with gas. So at the same time I usually increase fluids and watch my salt and look at my diet and avoid anything else that might annoy my gut further, and usually it resolves one way or another in a few days.3
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I have to measure and weigh everything I eat….if I could eat “ normal “ I wouldn’t be overweight!…2
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lauriekallis wrote: »option 3....
data shows you're going astray and promptly binging in response to the doomsday message and impending calorie lockdown.
Oh yeah. Hello option 3, old friend.2 -
Missing (though both unknown and unknowable) aspect is degree of neurotransmitter and hormone perturbation taking place right now... and whether intensity of bounce back can be modified by your actions.
I.e. trying to mitigate as opposed to power through the situation.
My pet theory is that hormones are... insidious and subconscious. And when they block the replenishment of the well you describe the action takes place below the level of one's awareness.
I've failed multiple times in my life to control the "rebound" as I would think have most of us who find ourselves participating in this forum.
And even though most of the failures happened before I was truly aware of what I should expect in no way should you think that I believe that going slow is a surefire way to succeed (I do believe it increases your chances; but not that it is a certainty)
I've failed at least once doing exactly that (going slow) and went through "a full normal rebound"... thankfully though it was a 155 --> 150 --> 157 deal as opposed to past 260 --> 235 --> 280 type deals.
Here are some other aspects for you to consider.
Concentric onions. Fall back positions. Health gains. Success in failure. Rear guard action. Bleep... if I haven't been drinking maybe I should have!
So here is the ultimate defeatist argument for going slow.
Factoid: You achieve the most health gains by reducing your starting weight what is it by 10%? 20%. You don't need to reduce 100% to have the majority of health benefits! Sure, it is beyond nice... but most/major/initial health gains are in the first 20%.
And, the rider? The longer you maintain that loss... the better off your health outcomes!
So let's assume that we are all destined to regain all our weight plus a rebound percentage.
We are buying into the ultimate defeatist argument: No obese person can permanently lose their weight!
We have conceded the fight.
But we still want to optimize our outcome during this defeat!
So how do we maximize time at lower than 80% of original weight during this 10 year cycle (5 year, 20 year, 30 year, 3 years, put your numbers).
Losing from obese to normal in a year and then rebounding back the next and repeating 5 times over the next 10 years? Or spending 9 years going from obese to normal and then giving up and going back up again over the next few months?
One leaves you 5 years at non obese weight (health gain) and 5 years at obese weight or gaining (no health benefit--probably the opposite. The other leaves you with 9 years of health gains... and 1 years of negatives.
9 is better than 5!
There are other benefits to be found in slow hamsters.
You are consolidating health gains.
You are increasing athletic ability.
You are embedding modified behaviours and making them your everyday reality increasing your chances of continuing.
You no longer have a "lose weight" "maintain weight" mindset... you have a "I watch what I eat and how I move and set myself in a trajectory that will help me approach my goals" mindset.
Yikes... somebody come and take me away!!!!
@psychod787 did manage to lose lots and fast and control the regain. With some cost and with a LOT of effort. He is one of the very few people who I have ever heard manage to fight with intense hunger for a good 2 years while engaging in controlled regain and strength training and actually reach an equilibrium. And now that I think of it, he should be part of this group, though he is sort of obnoxious and grumpy--not nice and fuzzy, and touchy feely like me!
---BTW: I do **not** truly believe that regain is inevitable.
--But I definitely believe that there exists a time component when moving the goal posts to what will become one's new normal--else it doesn't get to become the new normal.
You no longer have a "lose weight" "maintain weight" mindset... you have a "I watch what I eat and how I move and set myself in a trajectory that will help me approach my goals" mindset.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This I think is the key to permanent lifestyle change sir.
Grumpy? OBNOXIOUS?!?!?! Really!?!?! Well.... I think that might be an accurate description. So, fair enough. Anyways, I think that the body will come to a body weight homoeostasis, according to diet, lifestyle, and activity. Basically we have to find ways to overcome the hormonal and physiological maelstrom that happens after significant weight loss. I would add that if one is having "hunger" issues, take a look at protein intake, dietary quality, sleep, and stress. The evidence is really high that dietary quality does effect how those nasty "hormones" effect us. I would also go with @PAV8888 , that a dietary break could be in order. Take 2/3's the time you were in a deficit and eat at maintenance. Learn to tweak your diet and lifestyle to help manage hunger. Then, decide if a new fat loss phase might be in order. I don't have hamster issues. I have a damn herd of ferrets..... @PAV8888 , sometimes we need to know TRUE hunger. It can help mold us into a stronger person! LOL3 -
Survived the window/ curtain/ mini blinds washing marathon yesterday. And felt well enough to hit the gym at 6 am today. In the past I needed a week to recover. Next week carpet shampooing!4
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Wow Yoolypr, you go girl!4
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One of the good things to come out of the pandemic was spending more time with son. During the worst of the lockdown, we three were each other’s only social contacts and support. Son observed my weight loss. Coming over almost daily for meals, watching me use MFP and lifestyle changes motivated son to begin doing the same. He had about 30 lbs to lose.
Well, he’s lost the weight, got a Fitbit, and logs in every day. So my NSV was being able to set a better example to my middle aged son.
His office partially reopened for in-person work two months ago. He needed to buy some dress pants!4 -
Wow, Yooly. What an great NSV that is. SO happy for you and your son. Good going momma bear.2
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@Yoolypr that is the best NSV of all! So fantastic that you're a living role model! My weight loss has inspired my husband to lost 32lbs (he's now only 1kg from goal) and one of my sisters to lose 18lbs...she still has another 70lbs to lose, but she's doing great! Inspiring and being inspired by others is so vital for remaining motivated...5
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Went to a Christmas lunch with a social group. It was catered lasagna, salad and garlic bread. I had a large serving of salad and boxed my lasagna for hubby’s dinner.
Although I was really hungry, I managed to avoid 600-900 calories of pure cheese and noodle.
Ate a decent early dinner and still have calories to spare.4
