nxd10 Member

You lost by dropping 500 calories a day. Now you've put it back and should maintain. But I do understand. I went up by 250 and maintained there, so stuck at that for a year after maintenance. Then I started losing and added more in.

IF YOU BUY ALL NEW CLOTHES AT ONE TIME, YOUR WARDROBE WILL BE VERY DATED IN A FEW YEARS. Instead, buy some basics (you can get good quality ones at thrift stores if you look regularly, Target has plane basics that are okay, or invest in higher quality ones that you know will last). Then buy a new piece every month so…

Look at your mirror and feel your skin. Body fat measurement is very difficult and always an estimate. Even water displacement. My husband does tai chi several hours a day (he teaches it) and is built like a rock. But he's got a lot of 'bacon' - very very dense solid fat - under that muscle. No blub on him anywhere though.…

Congratulations!

You'll be much happier if you pick a zone. It's actually why I weigh every day. I can see I go up and down and up and down. I know my pattern and I don't worry about it. No pressure on any one assessment. From watching my scale fluctuate, I know that I'm going to be +- around 2 pounds. So I have a 5 pound 'zone'. So when I…

I am noticing how many old familiar avatars there are who have been here for a LONG long time.

I have a weight zone and if I'm in it I don't change my weight. If it drops below that a month or so, I change it down, then change it back when I'm back in the zone. Unless you recalculate it doesn't change your calories.

It helps a lot to look at your big calorie soaks and deciding which ones are worth it to you and which aren't. When I was at a little over 1200 (it might have been 1230), I dropped milk, bread, and cheese and got it me most of the way there. Couldn't skip the small serving of ice cream every day. You pick your priorities…

The good news is that your body does seem to recover after a while (we're talking a year or more, not weeks). So eventually you go back to baseline. Kind of like smoking :). The hard part is that relatively few people make it that far in maintenance. I saw it myself. My food intake was stable after maintenance. Then…

My husband and son don't have celiac (my sister-in-law does) but are extremely gluten sensitive and the whole family does gluten/dairy/egg free. It does cut down the calories. My son doesn't have a big appetite and is chronically ill from migraines (which hopefully the diet will enventually help). So he's had to really…

If you get a pedometer (fitbit zip is the cheapest bluetooth one I think) and link it to your MFP account it will add in more calories for your activity. It is pretty motivating for me. I've used them 6 years I think. (first mechanical pedometer, then zip ($39 from ebay), now apple watch. I like to eat. It helps me move…

Since logging in MFP almost never stops me from eating things I was going to anyway, and I'm always under, I am pretty sure I could maintain without logging. (I've been maintaining 4 years.) But it's a habit and it helps keep me mindful. And I still learn things are more or fewer calories than I thought. Strikes me that…

Age and height matters. So does activity. Eat back your exercise calories. I'm 5'10" but 56 and my base is only around 1700. But then I exercise and eat a few hundred more than that every day.

I'm 56 and have been maintaining several years. I walk to work. I had a fitbit, now an apple watch, and try to hit my steps. I always do in the spring/summer/fall. I lag in the winter. I eat modestly but work hard at making every bite as delicious as possible. I really like the watch feature that reminds you to get up…

I added back in milk, cheese, and bread. I ate them very very modestly when I was at a deficit. I started eating them in small quantities when I went to maintenance. I had never dropped ice cream or chocolate - you need to set your priorities! But I continue to eat them in small quantities. I added the cashews back in on…

One mistake a lot of folks make (I did) was to add in a lot of easily processed carbs - sugar, bread, etc - that you may have dropped out. I did. But you're better off adding more protein and fat. The easily processed carbs will make you hungry. So mix them in with protein and fats. And congratulations!

Just to follow up on that last post . . . I am on a facebook page all the time for kids who are chronically in pain. Many of their meds make them not hungry (others make them hungry all the time). But they have to eat becaue otherwise it triggers more pain. For me, food is a great pleasure. But even if it's not, food is…

Just to further this . . . I usually go over Friday by a few hundred but am always way under for the week. I've been maintaining 4 years. You can't 'average' your goal if you're always under.

Yes, you should eat a healthy dinner. You have lots of calories for dinner. Even if you didn't, you should eat and then make it up over the week. What kind of jerks stare at your weight over the holidays? They're too busy quaffing eggnog anyway.

That happens to me sometimes for a day or a week, especially when it's hot. I can also be a drug side effect - my son is on a med that makes him not hungry and he's lost 20 pounds. I also get it when I have eaten too much and I'm basically burning off stored fat. Have you lost any weight? If not, your body may know what…

Yeah, I've been like that for several years of maintaining too. I dress warm. I wear socks. I take a bath every night. It keeps me warm for several hours. I also eat more when it's cold. I need to.

Enjoy Thanksgiving. There's lots of healthy food. Go heavy on the proteins and don't take a second serving of pie. Do enjoy the first. I wrote this for Psychology Today a few years ago on eating over the holidays: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thinking-about-kids/201311/enjoying-holiday-eating

I lost 40 pounds and have maintained it almost 4 years. I learned a lot about which foods were calorie dense from logging. I started eating those in smaller portions. I monitor my steps my carefully. I very very very rarely use my log to stop myself from eating: I just use it as a check to make sure I'm not drifting off…

First, I pick the foods I like, budget them in first, and then fill in with lower calorie foods - including things like turkey. I put lots of veg on my plate so I can keep eating without burning calories. Second, maybe two years ago when I was newer to maintenance, I wrote this on holiday eating for Psychology Today. And…

I always get hungry this time of year. If I'm hungry, higher fat foods - even a spoonful of ice cream or a few nuts - satisfy me. When I eat easy-to-digest carbs (sugar, white rice, waffles), I get super hungry an hour later. It's insulin resistance - it goes up and overshoots. So I mix my carbs with protein and fat - all…

I'd always had a healthy diet and only gained weight after menopause - that took me to the top of the healthy weight range/very bottom of overweight. Losing weight, I just adjusted portion sizes and paid a lot of attention to things that were more or less calorie dense. That was a learning process for me. I thought sugar…

That looks right to me. I've been maintaining with those levels for 3 years now and lost with it too. You just walk a lot. But . . . Don't laugh, but do think about this. My husband and I walk together. We both have a fitbit. When we walk together, I got 75% of the steps he does. He is heavier than I am with shorter legs.…

You're anxious, you're not sleeping, you're worried about gaining weight, and you're eating. See a counselor. It may help you in more ways than you imagine. Lack of sleep makes everything worse. I have found melatonin (taken 30 minutes - 2 hours before bed, depending on your body) to be helpful if you're in a bad cycle of…

2 pieces of buttered toast and orange juice is 500 calories. A few handfuls of nuts. A cup of rice and a glass of milk. If it were hard to eat that much without noticing, we wouldn't all be here.

I'm a foot taller and never had trouble with my weight until I hit menopause either. I was eating less and suddenly gained. Gone now, thank goodness. Glad you caught it early. Yes, it's hard to find petite clothes. Ann Taylor petites go quite small, as do a lot of shops that cater to young girls or Asian women, who tend to…