People who lost 80+ and kept it off.

triciab79 · January 2015

Today is the 3rd anniversary of the day I started my change. I have been wondering a bit lately why it worked this time and not the dozens of times I tried before. I am different now in more than just the amount of air I displace. Once upon a time I would be angry if I got the wrong order at a fast food restaurant but now food is not such a big deal. I still love food but I remember needing specific foods that I no longer have an all consuming craving for. Something changed in me not just psychologically but physically to reduce the importance of food. Other things changed too. Boys stop reading if you don't like TMI but my periods became regular, I have less bloating, I have fewer headaches, but I have never actually experienced cramps or serious fatigue with that time of month and now I do.

I have always been a believer in the theory that the laws of thermal dynamics as they apply to weight loss (energy can neither be created nor destroyed only converted - calories are a unit of energy so calories in must be less than calories out to lose weight). This is obviously true but is it really applicable to weight loss for the population as a whole? If I asked why there were so many posts in the Chit Chat category you could say that it is because the number of new entries are greater than the number of deleted entries, and that would be true but it wouldn't answer the question. I think thermal dynamics provides the scientifically correct answer but fails to address the problem of why our previously advantageous evolution has suddenly turned so drastically against us. Why are our bodies not attempting to regulate growth? If you were going to try to avoid gaining 20lbs over the next 10 yrs you could not go over your calorie allotment by more than 20 calories a day. Since that is the case if thermal dynamics apply we should all be either very anorexic or very fat because no one can hit the exact number everyday. We are not all super fat or super skinny so something else has to be working in those people who maintain that does not work in those people who do not. I want to be healthy and I want my children to be healthy so it seems we need to address what changed to get there.
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I have some questions for people who have lost weight and kept it off like I did. I hope at least a few will respond.

1. Do you find that you are hungry more now or when you were larger?

2. Do you crave the same foods?

3. Did you notice any other physical changes (hair loss or growth, skin changes, immune changes, ect)?

4. What diet method did you use?

Feel free to share some before and afters too just because I am sticking this in the success story category

lenkearney · January 2015

way to go Tricia! (*)

mushie99 · January 2015

Great job. You look amazing.

Boris3944 · January 2015

So far I have only lurked on the message boards, but this post really speaks to me. I lost 40 lb on weight watchers in 2008 and kept it all off, plus or minus five pounds, without tracking or a real "plan," so to speak. It felt relatively effortless, because I found that I was simply not as hungry as I was when I was bigger. Or rather, I still feel hungry, but it takes less to satisfy me. This has really made clear to me the line between when I am eating for fuel (I feel hungry and low energy, I eat, I feel better) and eating for fun/emotional reasons (I'm bored, so I'll make a snack; it's a holiday, so I'll have pie; I feel sad, so I'll bake cookies). The way I think about it (hope this makes sense) is that the fuel line "floats" with weight changes. i.e. now that I'm smaller, I need less fuel to feel satisfied. The emotional reasons for eating don't float. I still want to eat when I'm bored or depressed in the same quantities and the same types of food that I did when I was bigger.

ksy1969 · January 2015

Nope, nothing has changed. I still have the same cravings and to be honest, I can still eat the same quantities of food now that I could when I was 341 lbs. The only thing stopping me is not wanting to be that person again. However, I can say, there are days that I still lose control and the fat me takes over. Right now the fit me has control

triciab79 · January 2015

Wow that is will power. If I wanted a burger and fries as badly as I once did I am not sure I could say no. I can remember being angry with my hubby for getting me a medium fry instead of a large or preferably an extra large. I remember being able to eat a large pepperoni mushroom and extra cheese pizza all by myself, and I think if I ate more than 3 pieces now I would throw up. More than that though, earlier today I was ordering pizza for dinner (its the little one's bday) and I don't want it. I want to eat a piece of grilled meat with a side of veggies and some wild rice. Honestly if I had to pick between the 2 I would take the healthier dinner not because it is healthier or because I would feel better eating it but because it is what I crave. I think about that heavy greasy pizza and it just doesn't sound good. I wonder if that is the difference between people who don't struggle with their weight and people who do. Is something making that food less appealing to them?

vanessalillian82 · January 2015

It's an interesting thought - about different foods being more or less appealing to different people - and all I can figure is that once you've fed your body one thing for a while, that's what it learns to operate on. I've started back at this in the last week after a pretty shocking Christmas and have been cutting down on junk day by day, and already I'm feeling better and also craving "better" foods and also have better impulse control. I don't plan to completly cut all junk out, but it's definitely only a treat now, rather than being part of a lifestyle like before.

Perhaps when you're eating junk you're somehow blocking out the signals for more nutritious foods?? They say that physchologists have found links between the consumption of sugar (or was it fat? Can't recall) and the part of the brain that responds to drug and alcohol addiction, so perhaps once you knock the sugar out and your body has grown accustomed to that and you're over the initial struggle, the cravings are still present but no longer all-consuming, so you don't struggle as hard...?? Who knows! Whoever figures it out will be a billionaire

People who lost 80+ and kept it off.

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