Yup. Hit Scream Weight.

nowine4me wrote: »

I knew it was coming, but today was the day. My goal weight is 125 (5-7”f) which I hit last Feb. Late summer creeped up to 135, over winter hit 145. Today, BAM! 150, the weight I said I would never see again. Technically, this doesn’t even belong in this thread, but you are my people. Yes, I know what needs to happen, but implementation is yet be seen. I do have incentive with a vacation in 45 days and no summer clothes that fit.

Been there, done that, grew out of the T shirt [1]
I think your experience speaks to a bunch of us out here. You can do this! I know, getting into the mindset is easier said than done. Glad you're keeping with the running and lifting.

[1] The dryer shrank it along with the rest of my clothes. That's my story and I am sticking to it

sofchak wrote: »

@nowine4me - you are one of my favorite posters on MFP. Your OP definitely belongs here with us, your people.

I was thinking of starting a “challenge” for maintainers only to get back to maintenance range. I think we have a different mentality about the process ... and many of us know each other from being on this particular forum.

Would there be an interest if we created an accountability thread specific to maintainers trying to get back to maintenance? Maybe a focus on small goals like 2-4 lbs a month loss and nsv celebrations?

@sofchak
This sounds like an Excellent idea. I’m within 1.2 lbs of maintenance (and I’ve been learning from all of you since I joined NFP 9/2017, so I feel I know many of you - and am so grateful to have been able to learn from your insights)...

I am holding off officially joining in until I’ve reached my final weight (still to be determined - currently BMI 22.7 down from 34.2 a few years ago).

When I do, I hope I can join your new accountability thread to catch the 1-2 creep pounds in their tracks & boot them back out the door!

You are all Very Inspiring!

Thank you,
Maddie

PAV8888 wrote: »

Daisy_Girl2019 wrote: »

And here you are, I remember you mocking me for only having 1200 cal daily to lose weight. Hah! So your volume eating not working so great I see.
Some people pretend like they know so much. Oh well... and we are not your people. Your not a leader yah know...

You're so lovely.

I hope you have a very nice day.

Bless you sweetheart.

@PAV8888 No no no, it's "Bless your heart."

Ahhh Perfect Timing OP! After reaching my goal weight and transitioning into maintenance successfully for around 4.5 years, I had a job change at work that resulted in much longer hours, more travel, less time for exercise and an overall drop in my activity. The weight started to creep on last fall, but that took me into the holidays sort of at the top end of my maintenance range but I didn’t worry much, I wanted to enjoy the holidays and figured once the new year started I would buckle down and get back on track by mid Feb (my usual pattern the last few years which coincides nicely with my MFP-versary).

Well Feb came and went and the scale wasn’t going the right direction. Still didn’t stress too much - I’ve got enough work stress and the work life balance is so off that I can’t absorb much else from a stress perspective. Plus I had a work trip, a family vacation, and another international work trip coming up so I told myself I would take a hard look at things and reassess in early April. Well... here I am. My weigh in Monday morning was about 10 lbs above top of my maintenance range. It may have still been some water retention from my last trip and my cycle but Yeah - that’s my scream weight!

One of the reasons I was I initially successful in losing and then maintaining was that even as a 5’2 female with a desk job, I averaged around 15k steps a day at my most active and usually 12k even when I wasn’t trying hard. That has declined a lot, now I’m around 8-10k. That’s a big difference in calorie burn for my TDEE! I was around 2200-2300 at my highest, but now my FitBit says 1800-1900. Without adjusting my food intake, or even eating more than usual with all the travel - no wonder things were creeping up! Especially since I really didn’t have to restrict much if at all in maintenance, it’s hard to get used to going back to eating at a deficit and planning more carefully.

So anyway here I am, back on the bandwagon. Lowered my activity level, dropped my calorie goal. I never stopped logging, but I also wasn’t super diligent about it. Also to be honest - I’m not sure I’m going all the way back to my sub 120 maintenance range. I just don’t know if I can sustain the activity or will like having a lower maintenance cal target with lower activity. At this point I want to get back down to my original goal weight 125 and then make that my top end of my range.

Thanks for starting the thread it was definitely a catalyst for me this week.

just_Tomek wrote: »

pinuplove wrote: »

Daisy_Girl2019 wrote: »

And here you are, I remember you mocking me for only having 1200 cal daily to lose weight. Hah! So your volume eating not working so great I see.
Some people pretend like they know so much. Oh well... and we are not your people. Your not a leader yah know...

I don't think you're quite grasping what volume eating is about. Nor her 'you are my people' comment. Or else deliberately misunderstanding.

I think it's valuable and commendable to post here admitting she's struggling. It's easy to pretend you're perfect. A little more difficult to admit to stumbling a bit. Obviously, a lot of other people in this thread agree.

Nothing wrong with volume eating. I would not be able not to volume eat. Its what fills me up.
Also, she is not struggling. She simply showed that loggin and counting works. She knows she was over eating and thats why she gained. Volume eating had nothing to do with it, calories did.

And to the posted above, WTF!!!!!

I agree with you. I think? I'm a little confused by your post, to be honest. I'm not a volume eater, but to point and laugh at someone who is because they gained a little weight back is reprehensible.

I certainly didn't mean she struggled because she's a volume eater. Struggling as in, sometime maintenance is *kitten* hard. I'm on the last 5 pounds to get from the top of my goal weight range to the bottom. It's no fun

And the biggest question for you nowine4 is have you found your mojo yet? Seriously I hope you have and that you are starting to turn things around. This thread has been interesting because sometimes we think it's all about weighing and logging and exercising to maintain. But the biggest place it matters is in our heads. I read some excerpts of the book which were posted on a blog and it was a great idea to see what literature might be out there. The one BIG take away I got was that you have to commit to getting ALL THE WAY back to where you want to be when you go over your range. Increasing your range or only getting PART of the way there seem to be stair steps to being that serial starter many of us have been over time.

Thanks for the thread, OP. I had no idea I was in such good company. I have been giving others advice about getting back on track, and then I realized who needed to get back on track... It's never fun to reach your scream weight, but the good news is we know what to do about it.

Here we go again!

victoria_1024 wrote: »

We are twins. I maintained around 125-127 for a couple years and I swore I’d never get above 140 again. Then by January of this year, hit 151. I saw it coming. I don’t know why it was so hard to stop myself from overeating. It’s been up and down this winter trying to take off the weight and I quit a couple different times. I’m down to 143 now. The number is still way too high and my pants don’t fit, but hey it’s 8 lbs down so that is something. Slow and steady. I finally realized I wouldn’t be able to do it without buckling down and weighing my food again and that’s been helping. Good luck to you!

I think most of us have an inner 2-year-old who is a little *kitten* and throws really effective tantrums. Vigilance is tiring especially when life is giving us a hard time, and that little turd wears us down.

In October I was 2-3 pounds from my goal of 127-128, but someone broke heart and then with the holidays...I slowly got up to 144. That might not sound like a lot, but I am only 5'-2" tall. Today I saw 138, so I am motivated to log my calories and get my steps in!

I'm so glad I found this thread. I hit my scream weight, too, last year.... had several injuries during the year leading up to that which meant my usually very active exercise regime was less active and certainly less consistent, and I most definitely had tantrums over eating appropriately - just refused to lower calories to go with the reduced activity. In fact worse - I was very much in the idgad mode and ate lots of rubbish, basically anything I wanted as much as I wanted. So no it wasn't a surprise that I gained some of my weight back, I knew why and I knew what I'd need to do about it... just didn't want to actually do it. It took me until last autumn to get my head together and get on with it. OP pretty much everything you write, I could have written myself!

I've been losing slow but steady over the winter, got within 1 kg of my goal weight of 57kg (not the lowest I've been, but it was my happy weight a few years ago - not too hard to maintain but still looked and felt good). Not lost any in the last month, and really struggling to eat at deficit now. And not sure whether to have a diet break, switch to recomp or just tell myself to suck it up and deal with that last kg. I'm sure it wasn't this hard the first time around...

Anyway... very much relate with what is discussed here. Support group sounds like a fabulous idea!

Hey the food scale back on the counter is great! I have every faith in you Nowine. I do have to admit that the folks I worry about the most are the ones who have just completely disappeared from MFP. I could throw names out but we know who they are. I hope like all get out they just "got off the island" but I do worry that somehow they are just struggling and afraid or embarrassed to reach out here or privately to MFP friends. I really do applaud you for being able to step out of the tar pit you are in and at least raise your hand up!

nowine4me wrote: »

I was one of the tar-pit people my last go-round in 2013. Lost 75# while being very active on MFP. Hit goal and dropped out of sight. ONE short year it took me to gain it all back.

So after losing 75# again (at one point it was 99#) I’m taking a very different approach including leaning in to you with more experience, and weighing every day - even if i don’t like what I see.

If anyone is reading this that is uncomfortable about being in the same situation. Please either post, or PM. It feels so nice to know that this group has your back!

Been there, done that as well. I lost from 205 to 140 (briefly in the 130s) in 2012 then let myself drift back up to 185 over the next few years. Now I've lost it again plus some and am eying maintenance nervously. I feel more prepared this time around, but I also know how easy it is to slip back.

nowine4me wrote: »

I was one of the tar-pit people my last go-round in 2013. Lost 75# while being very active on MFP. Hit goal and dropped out of sight. ONE short year it took me to gain it all back.

So after losing 75# again (at one point it was 99#) I’m taking a very different approach including leaning in to you with more experience, and weighing every day - even if i don’t like what I see.

If anyone is reading this that is uncomfortable about being in the same situation. Please either post, or PM. It feels so nice to know that this group has your back!

I'll send you a friend request...

I've never been active on MFP, but having yoyoed quite a bit with my weight since the original loss, I've now figured that while I know how to lose weight, I'm not very good at all at maintenance. So trying a new approach of being more active in here to help me figure it out! Thanks for starting this post, it really can be very uncomfortable admitting regain.