For those of you with significant weight loss....

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  • twinmom430
    twinmom430 Posts: 457 Member
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    You are on a slippery slope. Many of us have been there and afterwards we wish we could go back to where you are right now! let me say to you what I wish someone had said to me in 2007 when I lost 68 lbs. (I went off the diet the week of Thanksgiving. Ironic, right, since that just happens to be this week. My mom and I decided to enjoy the holidays and restart the diet in Jan '08. We never did.) Mom gained 75% of her weight back. I gained ALL of my weightloss back over the next few years plus about 20 lbs worth of bonus blubber. Many times I have wished I had taken only one free day for the holiday and resumed the diet the day after.
    Like a game of Chutes and Laddders I climbed so hard toward success only to backslide all the way back to the starting point. Don't let that happen to you.

    I suspect the awesome results you have had is contributing to your feeling of complacency toward dieting. You gained confidence as you lost weight. You love looking at progress pics. And with good reason, you've done a great job! When you were at your highest weight you could look in the mirror and see the changes you wanted to make, it served as motivation. But now you look in the mirror and see RESULTS and you feel proud and happy and you are loving yourself more than you have in a long time. It's hard to look at your current self and see room for more change. I'm glad you aren't picking yourself apart. I'm glad you are happy. But if you want to reach your goal weight you need to remind yourself why you picked that goal. Maybe its a healthy weight according to BMI charts. Maybe it's a certain size you wanna fit into. Whatever the GOAL is, focus on that. And scrape up whatever motivation you can muster and recommit to this process. Set some specific goals for the rest of 2012. Don't wait till New Years to set some resolutions.

    Or you can re-evaluate your original goal. Even though you haven't reached it yet, do you still want to? Or are you happy in your skin now? Is your health good? If so, go to maintenance now.

    Wow, you hit the nail on the head, and I didn't even realize until I just read this. But you are sooo right!! Thanks for the brutal honesty.
  • Celticsnowflake
    Celticsnowflake Posts: 28 Member
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    I could have written this post myself! I had a goal to loose weight before a trip at the start of November and when it was done I got busy and lost my motivation. I am trying to get back on board right now and so I set myself another couple of goals (a race in a couple of weeks and now a trip in about 3 months...swimsuit...eek!!).

    My MFP friends (lots of whom are struggling right now) and a running group that I joined on here are helping me!! At least we are all in this together!! you can do it!!
  • BarbellBlondieRuns
    BarbellBlondieRuns Posts: 511 Member
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    bump
  • heathercicle
    heathercicle Posts: 91 Member
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    You're probably hungry because you need more energy. 61 lbs is about 177 days worth of calories, give or take. That's kind of a lot. While you've got that much stored, it's not too hard for your body to decide to go ahead and use up some of those stores. When you don't have them, it would rather you give it some fresh energy and not ask it to give up its little bit of remaining reserves.

    Which is all the long way of saying: eat more food. Figure out your maintenance calories and ramp up to them. You and your body can stop fighting each other and be friends again; if you haven't hit your goal after, say, 6-8 weeks of that, then you can lower a little bit (like a 250 daily deficit, not a 1000 one) until you get where you want to be.

    The options aren't just "diet" and "eat all the food" - you know this, but right now your body is getting nervous and yelling louder than your brain can. Be kind to yourself and trust that you can do this the right way. :smile:

    Thanks for this! I'm no where near my goal but this makes sense for me. :)
  • CrystalFlury
    CrystalFlury Posts: 400 Member
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    I am literally right there with you. Sometime in October my willpower and can-do attitude went right out the window. I'm in the Midwest- don't know if it changing seasons, impending holidays, work travel, burnout or a bit of it all. It has been a fight to exercise and maintain calories pretty much every day. We can do this. Maybe just need a little extra encouragement and a listening ear?

    Same here! Good, I'm not the only one feeling this way for the last several months. I keep thinking, MAN, I was SO motivated before and had willpower to either A. avoid the bad or B. portion control and not want to go back for a little "bite".

    Still working hard and trying to keep myself accountable like everyone else here. We can do this!
  • stubbysticks
    stubbysticks Posts: 1,275 Member
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    I think pretty much everyone who started out wanting to lose a lot of weight & had some success has been here before. There's nothing wrong with taking a break from weight loss, as some of the others said your body is probably tired of being in a deficit. (Congrats on your progress to date, by the way!) There's nothing wrong with maintenance for a while until you're ready to lose again.

    What does concern me a bit is the "I hope it changes soon" attitude I'm sensing. Hope this doesn't sound harsh but it won't change on its own. If you wait around for motivation to come back, you may find yourself undoing much of the progress you've worked so hard to achieve up to this point.

    I am not currently trying to lose weight even though I do have more to lose. I am by no means "done," but I took an honest look at myself & my circumstances & decided I do need a break from it. However, since I don't want to do too much damage, I am placing limits around it by setting rules for myself that I can realistically stick to:
    - Even though I'm not logging food, try to keep water intake in the 1/2-1 gallon range to help control appetite & moderate effects of high sodium days
    - Continue to follow workout program - this is not optional. I may be eating whatever I want, but if I wasn't exercising I would be guilt-ridden & that would make it not worth it
    - End the year at a lower weight than I started - ideally there's a range I'd like to land in, but I plan to enjoy food this holiday season & have registered for several races to keep me accountable for the exercise piece

    Only you can determine what will work for you. But I guarantee you if you have no plan, your results won't be what you want. Keep in mind that you don't NEED motivation to lose weight. Sure, it makes it easier, but you can get yourself to work or school even if you don't want to go on a given day, right? Don't accept excuses from yourself. You might fake it till you make it for a while, but the motivation will return. Hang in there girl, you can do it!
  • Bevkus
    Bevkus Posts: 274 Member
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    You are on a slippery slope. Many of us have been there and afterwards we wish we could go back to where you are right now! let me say to you what I wish someone had said to me in 2007 when I lost 68 lbs. (I went off the diet the week of Thanksgiving. Ironic, right, since that just happens to be this week. My mom and I decided to enjoy the holidays and restart the diet in Jan '08. We never did.) Mom gained 75% of her weight back. I gained ALL of my weightloss back over the next few years plus about 20 lbs worth of bonus blubber. Many times I have wished I had taken only one free day for the holiday and resumed the diet the day after.
    Like a game of Chutes and Laddders I climbed so hard toward success only to backslide all the way back to the starting point. Don't let that happen to you.

    I suspect the awesome results you have had is contributing to your feeling of complacency toward dieting. You gained confidence as you lost weight. You love looking at progress pics. And with good reason, you've done a great job! When you were at your highest weight you could look in the mirror and see the changes you wanted to make, it served as motivation. But now you look in the mirror and see RESULTS and you feel proud and happy and you are loving yourself more than you have in a long time. It's hard to look at your current self and see room for more change. I'm glad you aren't picking yourself apart. I'm glad you are happy. But if you want to reach your goal weight you need to remind yourself why you picked that goal. Maybe its a healthy weight according to BMI charts. Maybe it's a certain size you wanna fit into. Whatever the GOAL is, focus on that. And scrape up whatever motivation you can muster and recommit to this process. Set some specific goals for the rest of 2012. Don't wait till New Years to set some resolutions.

    Or you can re-evaluate your original goal. Even though you haven't reached it yet, do you still want to? Or are you happy in your skin now? Is your health good? If so, go to maintenance now.

    ThIs

    Wow, you are so insightful.

    Years ago, I lost 100 lbs. Due to an injury I had to stop running and the weight came piling back on. I vividly remember telling myself Id start watching my weight and figuring out a new way of working out "tomorrow".... but then Id look in the mirror and still be pleased with myself for what I had accomplished, even as I got fatter and fatter. God I even remember saying that to myself after I had gained back HALF of what I lost.

    Now here I sit with almost 100 lbs to lose again.

    Dont fall into this trap...just dont!
  • ZoobityBop
    ZoobityBop Posts: 22
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    This happens to me on occasion until I learned some motivational secrets from different sources of fitness and success. My favorite one was the diet solution program. Heck I still go back to it when I'm feeling stuck in a rut! Seriously, read about it here: http://fantasticfitnessreviews.com/the-diet-solution-program-review/

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