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After a 7.5 month stint of MIA from both UAC and MFP in general ..... I am pleased to announce that I have passed the 23 consecutive days mark for consistently-signing-in-and-logging-all-food
The wondeful side effect of this is that I am down 4 pounds so far. I expect that to start slowing unless I add a higher percentage of stationary biking to my cold-weather daily routine (which will allow me to keep the caloric intake closer to eventual maintenance levels ... which are plus-or-minus 10 pounds away)9 -
Caroline_slowandsteady wrote: »@bradkcrew I am loving the podcast Maintenance Phase, though I find it not very good for my weight loss motivation since they basically make a pretty good case that losing weight is impossible and pointless.
@Caroline_slowandsteady
I let all that stuff keep me from continuing to try for too long. Harvard in particular said “better to stay heavy than yo-yo.” But now the thinking is each time we lose, we learn some more tricks & form some new habits that we then build upon next time! I found this to be true.
It’s not impossible.
It’s definitely not pointless. The health benefits alone - esp with COVID - are compelling.
It does require some changes (obviously), but those adaptations are different for each of us & often need to change over time. We need to develop a committed, nimble mindset!
One of my goals was to be accepted into the National Weight Loss Registry BECAUSE knowing there WERE so many who HAD maintained helped me beat back all the naysayers. I also reminded myself of all the people who have quit smoking, overcome alcoholism, etc.
All My Best,
Maddie4 -
My experiences are similar to what @MadisonMolly2017 said. I've lost a fair amount of weight and/or significantly increased my fitness a few times, each different (some more than others). Where I am right now is essentially the sum of all of the successful things which I know I can maintain forever if needed. While I have lost a lot of weight this year after a couple years ignoring my weight, this is not the result of radical new changes. Instead it's actually taking care of myself and being mindful of it, applying what I know has already worked and avoiding any bull*kitten* temptations to take shortcuts. I've tried the "lose X pounds agressively with [insert radical diet/fitness plan here] and then just stay thin and healthy" routine before, and never even reached the thin and healthy phase to start with before giving up because it's just a dumb idea. I only became obese and out of shape because I was already eating stupidly and not exercising, and even if I could magically become thin and healthy in an instant I would have immediately gained the weight back and lost the fitness because I had not yet learned how to live healthy. To get there, you have to go there. If you want to stay there then don't go back or start drifting towards anywhere else once you get there.
ETA - Most importantly though, it requires your life to change. In case that wasn't obvious. Until you change, you will stay the same.3 -
WhatMeRunning wrote: »
ETA - Most importantly though, it requires your life to change. In case that wasn't obvious. Until you change, you will stay the same.
If you always do
What you always did
You will always get
What you always got.
The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over, while expecting to get different results.
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MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »Caroline_slowandsteady wrote: »@bradkcrew I am loving the podcast Maintenance Phase, though I find it not very good for my weight loss motivation since they basically make a pretty good case that losing weight is impossible and pointless.
@Caroline_slowandsteady
I let all that stuff keep me from continuing to try for too long. Harvard in particular said “better to stay heavy than yo-yo.” But now the thinking is each time we lose, we learn some more tricks & form some new habits that we then build upon next time! I found this to be true.
It’s not impossible.
It’s definitely not pointless. The health benefits alone - esp with COVID - are compelling.
It does require some changes (obviously), but those adaptations are different for each of us & often need to change over time. We need to develop a committed, nimble mindset!
One of my goals was to be accepted into the National Weight Loss Registry BECAUSE knowing there WERE so many who HAD maintained helped me beat back all the naysayers. I also reminded myself of all the people who have quit smoking, overcome alcoholism, etc.
All My Best,
Maddie
pretty sure we were both joking since we are still here!0 -
MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »Caroline_slowandsteady wrote: »@bradkcrew I am loving the podcast Maintenance Phase, though I find it not very good for my weight loss motivation since they basically make a pretty good case that losing weight is impossible and pointless.
@Caroline_slowandsteady
I let all that stuff keep me from continuing to try for too long. Harvard in particular said “better to stay heavy than yo-yo.” But now the thinking is each time we lose, we learn some more tricks & form some new habits that we then build upon next time! I found this to be true.
It’s not impossible.
It’s definitely not pointless. The health benefits alone - esp with COVID - are compelling.
It does require some changes (obviously), but those adaptations are different for each of us & often need to change over time. We need to develop a committed, nimble mindset!
One of my goals was to be accepted into the National Weight Loss Registry BECAUSE knowing there WERE so many who HAD maintained helped me beat back all the naysayers. I also reminded myself of all the people who have quit smoking, overcome alcoholism, etc.
All My Best,
Maddie
pretty sure we were both joking since we are still here!
@bradkcrew ok
But I know there are others like me (in the past) who are discouraged & quit before they find success. Hopefully my typing helped someone!0 -
@MadisonMolly2017 , @WhatMeRunning , @bradkcrew I was kind of joking but kind of telling the truth about my motivation after listening to the podcast. Thank you for your stories and added motivation because it does help. This group helps my motivation enormously.
I am mainly not questioning the 25 pounds I have already lost, just questioning the last 10 or so pounds I want to lose, as it gets harder. I think I will stop before I lose all of those 10 pounds. @bradkcrew can you talk about how you decided you were ready to be in maintenance?
I have also been listening to the podcast "You're Wrong About" from the beginning, which is also by one of the co-hosts of "Maintenance Phase", and mostly does not focus on weight loss, which I would recommend.
@BMcC9 I am not sure about android phones, but with iPhones, there is a podcast app already installed (it's a purple icon). You just go in the podcast app and search in the search bar by the name of the podcast (or you can browse by different topics too). And then hit play. Pretty easy.
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I picked a reasonable place to stop and then gradually started increasing my calories over the next few weeks. I ended up dropping more over the next month or so anyway. I don't really listen to podcasts but it was one of my better decisions to stop while I was ahead and proceed with maintaining.
I believe a lot of my failures in the past were because I just never got to my goal before throwing in the towel and usually that ended with disaster and regain. So I am not bradcrew or maddie but I like your idea to start maintenance on a good note and then you can always chose to lose more if you want.3 -
I didn't choose maintenance. It chose me.
On the positive side I've maintained a 119-122 (most of it between 120-121) since about March. I'm at the upper end of the range for my 5'3" height and small boned/top heavy body type. I'd still like to get to the lower weight range but it takes more work than I'm willing to put in at the moment. I base this on my behavior more than a conscious decision. Eventually I'll be in the right frame of mind. Probably in January. I'm not even going to bother to do anything but maintain for the rest of the year as I have my upcoming Thanksgiving vacation, some Christmas holiday events and ending the year with a short trip out of town with some friends for NYE.4 -
SummerSkier wrote: »I picked a reasonable place to stop and then gradually started increasing my calories over the next few weeks. I ended up dropping more over the next month or so anyway. I don't really listen to podcasts but it was one of my better decisions to stop while I was ahead and proceed with maintaining.
I believe a lot of my failures in the past were because I just never got to my goal before throwing in the towel and usually that ended with disaster and regain. So I am not bradcrew or maddie but I like your idea to start maintenance on a good note and then you can always chose to lose more if you want.
@SummerSkier sounds pretty similar to what I’ve done but I lost over 3 years, called maintenance, and then lost more “because I wanted to/didn’t need to.” Totally different mindset then!1 -
Caroline_slowandsteady wrote: »@MadisonMolly2017 , @WhatMeRunning , @bradkcrew I was kind of joking but kind of telling the truth about my motivation after listening to the podcast. Thank you for your stories and added motivation because it does help. This group helps my motivation enormously.
I am mainly not questioning the 25 pounds I have already lost, just questioning the last 10 or so pounds I want to lose, as it gets harder. I think I will stop before I lose all of those 10 pounds. @bradkcrew can you talk about how you decided you were ready to be in maintenance?
I have also been listening to the podcast "You're Wrong About" from the beginning, which is also by one of the co-hosts of "Maintenance Phase", and mostly does not focus on weight loss, which I would recommend.
@BMcC9 I am not sure about android phones, but with iPhones, there is a podcast app already installed (it's a purple icon). You just go in the podcast app and search in the search bar by the name of the podcast (or you can browse by different topics too). And then hit play. Pretty easy.
@Caroline_slowandsteady
I was not sure either. I decided to ask my doctor. Worked great & took away the mental confusion.1 -
One of the members of this group, I am sorry I can not remember who or exactly where, wrote something that I have been thinking about since then: that obesity is a relapsing illness. It made me wonder if that would help me do better if I thought of it this way, and thought of my eating as the treatment for it, than when I think about my eating more in terms of will power and nutrition. I previously lost 75 pounds, and then regained that plus some. The second time around, I thought my failure to keep it off must have been largely behavioral (or emotional) and focused on learning about the psychology around eating. I lost 85 pounds and managed to keep it off for 4 years, before again slowly regaining the weight.
This time around am nearly diabetic so researched more about hormones, insulin, and metabolism and am trying low carb for the first time. Most convincing to me was that low carb dieters have a better record of not regaining. What I was surprised to find is that on low carb dieting everything I learned about emotional eating is just plain easy-- I can tell when I am physically hungry vs emotional hunger and can deal with either so much easier. Apparently I did not forget everything I learned.
I want to recommend the book I just started reading, by Rober Lustig, who some of us who have been trying to lose weight for awhile might remember from his viral video, Sugar: The Bitter Truth. His new book is called Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine. In it one of his many arguments is that obesity is not the disease, it is the symptom. The disease he feels we should be concerned about is metabolic syndrome. After I lost weight the first time and was at a normal weight, I visited a specialist about food sensitivities due to my disappointment that my weight loss did not cure my fatigue. He diagnosed metabolic syndrome at the time (20 years ago now). For me, I am pondering whether I need to think of this a managing my metabolic syndrome.
Any thoughts on that? I would be especially interested in it if the person who shared their ideas about obesity as a relapsing disease expanded on their thinking in relation to this.1 -
the other thing I wanted to discuss was about the podcast which I did not listen to... LOL.. But altho yo yo ing over the years may teach us some hard lessons about what can work or not work, physically I am of the opinion that it wrecks havoc with us. Each time we lose and gain we gain back more fat and our body composition and organs suffer for it. So it really would technically be healthier to just stay at one weight than to gain and regain over and over again. Honestly the only thing I learned from each of my yo yos was that. MFP has been the only place where I have succeeded. twice. The first time I quit before I got to my difficult goal and just left. This second time I have stayed here and think that has lead to over 4 yrs of maintaining.
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I just saw this article in the MFP blog section. Its about using imagery to help achieve your health and fitness goals. https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/use-your-imagination-to-reach-your-fitness-goals/ I would like to know others' opinions about it.2
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@BMcC9 I have been using Spotify to listen to podcasts. I wasn't aware of the iphone app, so I will look for it @Caroline_slowandsteady. Thanks!
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@Caroline_slowandsteady @MadisonMolly2017 @SummerSkier @LazyBlondeChef chef I agree with all of you, although it is not the route I took. I probably should have transitioned to maintenance 15 pounds or so ago, gotten myself on track, and then resumed weight loss down the road if I decided I wanted to. What kept me going? Fear of failure. The concept of maintenance is so foreign and overwhelming to me that every time I thought about it was just easier (safer) to stick with what I have been successful with, which was losing weight.
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Question why does everyone get so frazzled over “maintenance “ I don’t even consider it part of my world I treat each day as it’s own I manage my food and exercise and life goes on. Why is this any different? If you are happy where you are at or want to lose a little more just make adjustments. I have stayed fairly consistent for over a month now but I don’t worry about maintenance I exercise and track/log my foods and I am happy.6
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@snowshoe072 I am not sure getting frazzled over maintenance is really the right description. Mostly what I have found is that EVERYONE has been successful at losing. Sometimes like me "over and over" again. But the more rare bird is someone who then goes on to maintain the loss. And I think a lot of the problem is that they do not have a plan. So it is important to start thinking about it during the loss phase so that when you get to where you want to be you know what you are going to do next. For you, your plan is to track your metrics on a daily basis. Others might have a different way to succeed. The idea is to at least be knowledgeable about maintaining for "you"/ 5
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snowshoe072 wrote: »Question why does everyone get so frazzled over “maintenance “ I don’t even consider it part of my world I treat each day as it’s own I manage my food and exercise and life goes on. Why is this any different? If you are happy where you are at or want to lose a little more just make adjustments. I have stayed fairly consistent for over a month now but I don’t worry about maintenance I exercise and track/log my foods and I am happy.
I am no longer frazzled, but after 45 years of obesity & (at least 5 times losing my weight - about once a decade) and gaining it back, I had good reason to be!
It’s taken some pretty massive changes to lose & maintain, and as you are, daily monitoring. Even with this, I gain & lose ~ 5 lbs ever 18 months - so far.
If we have always failed, maintenance is scary.4 -
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