Some help please as I approach maintenance

SuffolkSally

My problem with food has never been with overeating or cravings (except occasionally for salty stuff).

Mostly I get sad/depressed (lots of deaths in the family fairly recently, two suicides) forget to eat, have far too much to drink, and when I have remembered to eat it's been a Chinese takeaway. Or a pizza. Or something with chips

So I've done fairly well on MFP all thing considered; logging has really helped me - I've lost most of the weight I wanted to, and more importantly my nutrition is overall so much better.

I just yesterday discovered that at age 12 I was diagnosed with anorexia, which has been a bit of a shock as didn't know this before: so a bit worried now about going too extreme. Although I suppose I'm still far too fat too worry, LOL

auroranflash

Well, I think you know that when you stop drinking so often, everything else sort of falls into place. I have an awful time keeping my eating in line if I'm drinking too much.

That being said, you're trying to deal with death in the family and other life stress, so cut yourself some slack and just try to make the best decisions you can for yourself during a difficult time. Since the anorexia diagnosis was so long ago, I wouldn't worry about it unless you feel like it's actually affecting your eating habits now. Don't stress yourself more than you need to... but you know yourself better than anyone else.

Just have patience with yourself and try to make good decisions on a day-to-day level.

:flowerforyou:

nxd10

I agree. Stop drinking and much of the rest of your life will fall in line as well.

One of the best cures for stress is a regular schedule - and eating three meals a day - even little ones, even ones not 'optimally healthy' - is part of that. Baby steps forward.

KyleB65

First, don't sweat the occasion craving! A bag of chips or a pizza every now and then should not be a problem.

As for maintenance. Did you add in exercise to your routine to help lose weight? If so, try now to set a performance goal. ie If you have been running as part of your weight loss routine. Increase your distance or reduce your time for a distance. If you have been strength training with weights, look at adding weight to your routine. etc, etc.

If exercise was not part of your weight loss journey. Add it in now! Try a work out DVD, join a class, go running, go swimming, go biking, etc etc. Find some thing that interests you and give it a try.

I have found that by setting performance goals, I always have some target in front of me that requires my attention on what I eat and what exercise I should be doing. This all ties into my opinion that my weight loss needed to be a complete lifestyle change, rather than a "diet" to lose weight were there was a beginning and an end to the process.

Note also that regular vigorous exercise also helps immensely with my mental/emotional state. I have more confidence and I find that I am much better at dealing with problems (work & home). And, my mood in general is way better now than it was in my "Fat" days!

Best of luck on your journey!

SuffolkSally

I am bothered about it. I asked my boyfriend and he says in older photos I look like a walking skeleton. I don't have much sense of right-weight-for-my-height. Not in danger of wasting away anytime soon, of course, but I do need to to understand setting a sensible goal and not exceeding it.