lauriekallis wrote: »

Hello, everyone!

I'm about eight months into this round of weight loss (been here once before!). I’m 57 years old - 5’9” – 190 lbs (woohoo!)- vegetarian/relatively clean eater – accustomed to being very physically active.

Quitting smoking 4 years ago just about did me in. Along with a messed up head, I gained 85 lbs. I wasn’t thin to begin with, but was living comfortably at a pretty muscular 190. A few months after I quit smoking, my brain and then body went haywire. I was gaining 4 lbs a week – like clockwork – every Sunday morning I used my neighbour’s scale to weigh myself and I was 4 pounds heavier than the previous week. My eating didn’t justify the gain, but it happened. I've spent the years since then freaking out. Yo-yoing up and down the same 20-30 pounds.

In these same 4 years, I’ve been hindered by a few injuries. The first compelled me to quit smoking and then there a few more so that I had to give up my work as a landscaper/renovator. So I’m adjusting to new activity levels and figuring out how to fit physical activity back into my life.

I finally managed first to stabilize my brain and then my body and have lost 85 pounds!

I'm back to 190 lbs. Most of this weight loss has been since the covid lockdowns began, and I have faithfully used MFP to track and make nutrition decisions. Now that I have hit my original goal, I am not happy with how this weight sits (hangs!!) on me. I have lost a lot of muscle because of my lifestyle change, so 190 doesn’t feel or look as good as it did. I want to work toward 160-170 pounds. I’m not sure exactly because I don’t know how that weight will feel, nor how hard it will be to maintain. So 170 will be my next goal and then I’ll take stock again.

Since April I’ve been eating 1000-1300 calories – aiming for 50% carbs / 25% protein / 25% fat. I walk a lot – somewhere between 2 or 3 hours of brisk walking a day. Occasionally – maybe once a month? – I’ll have a pizza night with a friend, and maybe once a week a sweet treat of some sort, a Big Daddy cookie or a chocolate bar. This has not been too terrible of a system to maintain. Until recently. Now, I just can’t seem to do it anymore. I think when I had lots of extra body fat to use as fuel my body tolerated this deficit, but lately I’ve been ridiculously hungry – to the point where I have started eating before bed. Not junk. These are not snacking cravings – but actual hunger.

So it seems the best bet is to change things up.

With the wealth of information available on this forum, I’m a bit overwhelmed and feel unable to make a decision on what to do now. I’m terrified of having the pounds roll back on.

I’ve messed around a bit the past month with “refeeds,” eating at maintenance two days a week which MFP pegged at 1900 calories when I chose sedentary which seemed the safest bet. But eating like that left me feeling really anxious, and guilty! I think I do better with a consistent routine.

I’m considering:

• a deficit break for a few weeks or a month and then getting back to what I have been doing up to now. But I just hate giving up the exhilaration of losing weight and am really afraid I’ll completely lose control and not be able to get back on track.
  
• accepting that I really can’t maintain this deficit and up my daily calories to something manageable (1500 – 1600??).

Both of these options feel like I am copping out. (Yes, I probably have some disordered eating issues - always have and now even more so after these 4 years of eating/weight chaos.)


I wrote all of this in the Motivation and Support section and NovusDies gave me some excellent advice and invited to join this group.

The short version of his advice was to take a 4 week break. Eat at slightly above maintenance, and eat back my exercise calories.

I set MFP to do that last week - and the first day had me set to eat 2900 calories. I just couldn't do it - so instead I thought I would work up to it. The first few days 1600-1800 calories a day felt good - still a deficit but a world of difference.

But there are definitely some challenges with adding food! It is frightening.

Halloween day I had my four year old grandson over, and guests over for a late lunch type meal, in the backyard because of Covid - and it is cold, so we had a fire going and everything was lovely but not at all like the past months have been. Without my nicely ordered eating system things took a turn south. I was halfway through shelling out and I was getting hungry. I had opened a bottle of wine to have a glass with my neighbour (an old Halloween shell out routine of ours), but this year she wasn't interested - though she did give me a handful of little chocolate bars, which I didn't decline. Wine and cheap chocolate on an empty stomach wasn't the best idea. By the time I blew out the candle in the pumpkin I was ravenous. I wasn't prepared for that at all. I ended up ordering pizza and dessert and drinking the entire bottle of wine myself (I'm not usually much of a drinker).

So much for 8 months of mindful eating establishing new habits!

Anyway...things have been more under control yesterday and today. And I've left my MFP settings to "gain .5" and "include exercise calories" - most days that gives me close to 3000 calories to play around with. I'm trying to keep my focus on eating healthy foods until I feel comfortable and to not worry too much about how many calories I've eaten. I have lots of calories to work with! When I feel less anxious, I'll bring in a few treats and see how that goes. My grandson is back with me on Wednesday - I think he will help me choose something :-)

I'm thankful to be a member of this group. I've been peeking around a bit - and it feels so good to be in the company of others who seem to be on a similar journey to mine.

Thank you for the invitation!

jeeves19831 wrote: »

Hi Everyone

I was recommended this group from another so thought i would dive in and join. I am a 37 yo bloke measuring 6ft1in and 300+lb. I have an amazing wife, and between our previous marriages there are 5 children, even though there are now only 2 left at home. I need to shift this weight as i have worries that i wont be around if Grandchildren ever arrive.

My relationship with food is not the best. I do eat healthy meals, but i think i do eat far too much of said healthy meal which then, in turn, makes it unhealthy.

I also have issues with the little voice in my head which seems to have departed some years ago. I can travel home, fill up the car with petrol, and at the same time, pick up a pastie. At no point does the voice of reason in my head intervene and say "No!! You shouldn't eat that!!" Its almost as if i have zero willpower at all.

If i can conquer these issues i think i could do it. I mean i managed to quite smoking a few years ago, but the food seems to be a harder prospect. I have done CC before and it always worked better than any other method but for some reason, its never worked out over the long term

Anyway, thanks for having me.