How do/did you transition?

Sthsidirish · April 2018

Desperately needing some feedback from those who have experienced this. I had been overweight to some degree my entire life. Last year I made the commitment to finally change that for good. I set a goal to lose 120 pounds and on March 17th of this year I reached that goal. What follows is the issue/s I'm having. I know what the scale says, I know how much better I feel in everything I do, and I know what how my clothes fit tells me about how far I've come. But nearly every time I look in a mirror I still see that same 340#+ guy. I have updated all my numbers and moved to a goal of maintenance in MFP but I still find it mentally draining and almost frightening to eat what I'm supposed to be eating calories wise everyday. My exercise routine has remained the same and in the month since reaching my goal I have managed to maintain within 1.8 pounds up or down of my goal, but it has been for lack of a better term been exhausting. I fear that eating more will put the pounds back on and compounding that with still seeing myself as the old me I find daunting. I also don't desire to have any more substantial loses. I receive compliments regularly on my lose but it is usually followed by some comment to the effect that if I lose any more I'd look sickly. So, how did you adjust tot he new you? Thanks in advance!

rj0150684 · April 2018

If you’re weighing yourself regularly, you should be able to notice a trend in either direction. If it starts to go up, cut back a little. If it keeps going down, add in a little. Unless you go to town on a plate of deep fried butter, you won’t have any dramatic swings and you should easily be able to spot a trend (if there is one) within a week or two and adjust accordingly.

seltzermint555 · April 2018

Time helps a lot, especially with the psychological, but also somewhat with the physical. I find that a lot of that "shocking" change in your face and body becomes normal after awhile. It balances out over time.
I'd go so far as to compare it to adolescence and getting used to your "new body". It takes a little time to adjust in all ways.

I lost a similar amount and like you, sometimes I still feel like that same person from before. Instead of setting up my calories for maintenance, I still have it set to lose 0.5 lb per week and I am just less careful with my logging than I was during the losing process. I would change things up (to actual maintenance) if I found that I was losing more than a little weight, but as it is for the past several years I probably eat a bit over what I ought to be and bounce around the same 5 lb...which is fine with me. I lose 1-2 lb some months, then gain 3-4 lb during holidays or vacations. I am happy with this but everyone is different.

88olds · April 2018

I lost 100lbs and have been at goal 11yrs. This is some of my experience.

In the end, I joined Weight Watchers, a mixed bag. But WW was where I learned to track. They count WW points instead of calories but it’s basically the same. You don’t say, but do you, or did you, keep a food diary?

I made goal and kept tracking for 5 years. Initially I kept losing too. All the way down to 170lbs from my 184 goal. I had to make an effort to eat more. I was happier at about 178lbs. In the 11 years I’ve maintained I’ve been as high as 186 and as low as 168. 175 on the nose this morning. The 186 was significant because I was still attending WW and they give you a 2lb cushion. Any more and I would have had to start paying.

Long way to say not much changes on maintenance. If you track, don’t stop. I’d expect fluctuations of more than what you’re currently getting. I’ve found myself a lot happier lately 9-10 lbs under my goal.

Expect to be tested. Read these boards much and they are loaded with people who regained all the weight and more. It’s a real problem. But the day I hit that 186 was it for me. My red line was real. After 5 years I was able to maintain for long periods without tracking. But I’ve gone back to it 3 times and it has worked every time. If I find myself in trouble again someday, I know I have a backup plan.

My biggest challenge is calorie creep. There was a post yesterday I think of someone who regained 50+ lbs in a matter of months. I couldn’t eat like that now. For me it’s a little here, a little more there. Pretty soon the scale is creeping up and Its tough to summon the energy to resist. It’s the main reason I hang around these boards, a reminder.

An odd thing. It took me years to get rid of my fat clothes. Maybe because I had so many in so many different sizes. I would go through the closet, fill up a bag and say done. Then a couple days later I’d pull something out and couldn’t understand why I’d kept anything so big. It went on for years.

So congrats on hitting your goal weight, you’ve done something few people manage to do. You lost a lot. Now you have to do something even fewer do, stay there. My advice? Change nothing. Pay no mind to what people say about how you look, how you feel is what counts.

I’m not all that happy with how I look. All the fat in my body is right at my middle. Odd but if I put on a couple of pounds now I start thinking of myself as fat. Actually, I think it’s a good thing.

Keep your head in the game. You’ll meet new people. Sometime you may mention that you were once 340lbs, they won’t believe you. It’s fun.

Sthsidirish · April 2018

88olds wrote: »

You don’t say, but do you, or did you, keep a food diary?

Yes, I have tracked my food through the whole process and still do.

I never had understood eating disorders before. I knew they were real and legitimate, I'm not down playing the seriousness of the struggle for those who fight that battle everyday. But now I can definitely see how they can manifest. The mind can be a terrible foe! If over time I were to lose another 10 or 15 pounds I wouldn't have any strong feelings about it. But the fear of regaining is very real. As is the fear of not being able to stop losing at the pace I was because my brain keeps seeing the overweight guy nearly every time I look in the mirror. It is the rare exception that I glance at my reflection and the thought is "Wow, I really am thinner".

To try and keep up with the maintenance calories MFP says I should be eating I will have, for example, a little extra dressing on the salad or another helping of broccoli. I haven't changed what I've been eating, only tried to add a little to the quantity. The downside then is when I exercise I find myself doing more to "make up" for those extra calories. I have almost never eaten back any percentage of the calories I've burned from exercise.

I am self aware enough to know that if I don't find a better way to wrap my head around this it could develop into a larger issue.

88olds · April 2018

How did you deal with stuff like this when losing?

You follow your plan to the letter and get a .4 loss? Isn’t that a point where your emotions want to wallow in disappointment, but the reality is if you lost anything, you’re succeeding?

Emotions diverge from the facts on the ground quite a bit in weight loss. How is this different?

And since you keep a diary, why not let the diary drive the process?

Don’t know that I did a good job explaining, but I kept losing to a place I just didn’t like. That’s when I called a halt to losing.

Sthsidirish · April 2018

Oddly, it wasn't really an issue in the year I was working toward my goal. Probably because I still had that goal to reach so that's what I focused on. I set the bar high when I laid out my plan. Did the 2 lb a week setting on MFP and, with the exception of a vacation to New Orleans and Christmas, I didn't have a week where I didn't lose at least a pound. Most weeks trended right on that 2lbs, occasionally more but not often and not more than 3. Except the first week where a whole lot of water weight was pouring out.

What I'm facing now is new. The logical side knows I've reached my goal on the scale, in clothing sizes, and in how I feel. The emotional, and what is apparently the irrational, side keeps telling me the same things. You need to lose more, you're still obese, keep going or you'll gain it back, etc. Perhaps it is I who is the one not doing a good job of explaining it. It is all just very frustrating and on some levels frightening to not be able to adjust.

One would think that having the same program that helped you achieve your goal tell you that you can eat more would be a good thing, lol.

How do/did you transition?

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