It would be horrible. Simply horrible. I wish them both the best of luck for a healthy, happy lifestyle.
Oh yeah. I can't imagine. It's got to be even THAT much worse to have to face THAT amount of scrutiny and be judged publicly. HORRIBLE.
Okay. So they've suffered a relapse. It happens. Their fight is not over. They've lost it before. And just like every one of us - they CAN lose it again.
Yep. Sometimes people have to do this thing several times before they get it right; I know this is my second time trying to lose major weight and I feel confident that I will succeed this time. But I felt equally confident last time, so I know that my confidence is an illusion and the only thing that will make me successfull is my actions. I'm just glad I'm not having to do this on the public stage, because it's hard enough doing it privately. I can't imagine how awful it would be to have people laughing at unflattering pictures of me in gossip rags, calling me names, judging me publicly....::::shudder::::
I always say this will be my last diet. I have lost and regained more times than I care to remember. Desn't matter who you are, rich or famous when you have a weight problem it is hard to deal with. It seems like gosh, darn it! I am a grown up I should be able to eat what I want. I am having to change my thinking, If I can't eat what I want , to want what I eat. I have been at goal for 16 months but still must be aware of everything I eat ,planning. planning, planning, always planning. It is soo easy to slip into old ways, and that is what Kirstie and Oprah have done, only they have done it in public.
I have always felt sorry for celebrities like Oprah who fight their weight battles in the public eye. It is hard enough starting a weight loss plan knowing that family and friends are probably thinking," She is starting a diet again." That is until I really started losing weight. Everyone is very supportive now that I am really losing weight.
Having said that, I got the feeling that Kirstie is only going public this time because she wants to have her own weight loss line. She said on Oprah that she is researching for her own program that will come out in November. When she quit Jenny Craig she said that she wanted to have her own weight loss program.
How can she sell her product or program by saying, "I lost my weight on Jenny Craig, but you need to pay for my product or program."? She can't and she knows it. For her to have her own weight loss program, she needed to gain back the weight that she lost on Jenny Craig and then lose it again using her own program.
Maybe I am just being cynical but that is what I think. Time will tell.
After wanting to lose weight soooo badly. And then actually LOSING it, reaping the incredible benefits of it, at what point did they throw up their hands and say, "Nun-uh. Not gonna do it anymore. Not going to keep it up". I guess that same question could be asked of any re-gainer.
As I've mentioned before, I've never lost a significant amount of weight. But for the life of me, I just can't imagine saying, "This is not worth it. I'm going back to my old ways". Every day. Not the once in a while off plan day or even week or month - but from here on in. Before the 10 lbs turned into 20, into 50, into etc......
I have lost and regained - at least 3 times. And it's terrible. But at no time did I ever say "this isn't worth it." It's more of an insidious slide into former habits/lifestyle (well, one time it was a huge binge and then a quick jump back into my old lifestyle).
Mostly for me, it was just wanting to "diet" then "be normal." Diets were something people went ON then OFF. It has only been recently there has been more talk about "way of life" or "lifestyle change." I hadn't really made the connection that I couldn't get longterm results by temporary methods. Once I made that click - well, here I am! 4 years at goal weight
Mostly for me, it was just wanting to "diet" then "be normal." I hadn't really made the connection that I couldn't get longterm results by temporary methods. Once I made that click - well, here I am! 4 years at goal weight
Glory, I can honestly say that I didn't understand this, either. It makes perfect sense so I don't know WHY I didn't understand it, LOL. But I didn't. That's one reason I'm so grateful for 3FC; because I've learned simple but vital things like "it's a lifestyle, not a diet". Honestly, when I was watching Oprah the other day I was thinking, "I wonder if there is a way to contact Kirstie and tell her about 3FC!". She could join and not even tell anyone who she is; she would just be another chick trying to get healthy right along with the rest of us.
I don't watch much TV, so I don't watch Oprah, but this thread send me out to see what you were all talking about.
On Oprah's site, she gives a candid account of her struggle. She said something that was key for me on this journey - this is the year that she commits to "balance".
I think much of the backsliding that folk do is by thinking they don't need to focus on their weight, they can go back to "normal" - not only with their eating, but also with their exercise, schedule, stress level, etc. I think that my lifestyle change had to be bigger than just my food intake - it had to be across the spectrum, body, mind, and spirit. Without a commitment to all 3, I would have failed.
Without a CONTINUED commitment to all 3, I guarantee that I would not be a successful maintainer. Maintenance is easy, as long as I keep my focus and my commitment to living a balanced life.
Last edited by CountingDown; 05-02-2009 at 12:12 PM.
I must say, as one who as not yet reached maintenance for the first time, I'm finding this thread to be a bit disheartening. I do feel like I am 100% committed this time. Hearing that several of you felt the same way,only to gain it all back is sucking the wind out of my sails. I am greatful that some of you have managed to lose the weight and keep it off. That does give me a smidgen of hope.
Last edited by GirlyGirlSebas; 05-02-2009 at 12:25 PM.
I think stories of people losing a significant amount of weight and relapsing - especially when it's done in such a public context, as with celebrities, etc - are simultaneously one of the most terrifying and *motivating* aids for me in this process... Like rockinrobin, I have never lost a significant amount of weight prior to this--I have been fat my whole life, but this is the first time I have ever done anything about it, and so far I have been (or at least I like to think I have been) fairly successful. BUT, posting on these boards also gives me an extremely heightened awareness of how young I am (19), and I have so much of my life ahead of me, SO MUCH time that will be spent in "maintenance," and quite frankly it scares the crap out of me sometimes. With all the stories and stats you hear about people not maintaining their losses, sometimes it seems nearly impossible to think that this will be the *last* time I ever lose weight--I feel like if I even hint at thinking that I'm not going to regain it, I'll just be dismissed as being young and foolish/idealistic, not knowing better, etc. And of course if it IS an unrealistic thought, I don't want to set myself up for disappointment--but then again, what kind of an attitude is it to think Okay, I'm currently in a "healthy" stage of my life that will last until my first relapse, then I'll have my "next" weight loss, and so on?! That can't be a healthy attitude either! All I know is that I just never, *ever* want to be "the girl who lost a lot of weight and gained it all back." I just don't think I could deal with the embarrassment... Seeing the disappointment in people's eyes... I dunno--it's just so frightening to me!
I must say, as one who as not yet reached maintenance for the first time, I'm finding this thread to be a bit disheartening. I do feel like I am 100% committed this time. Hearing that several of you felt the same way,only to gain it all back is sucking the wind out of my sails. I am greatful that some of you have managed to lose the weight and keep it off. That does give me a smidgen of hope.
Try not to be discouraged. Weight loss really isn't much different than other complex skills like playing a musical instrument or learning a foreign language - your skill set diminishes if you don't continually practice them.
I really feel that a large part of the horrible success rate for dieters (according to the statistics) is because we don't tend to look at weight maintenance and exercise as a skill that requires continued practice. As a culture, dieting is still viewed as a temporary measure, and without realizing it, the natural tendency is for people to follow the cultural stereotype - dieting is something you do UNTIL you get thin, and don't do again until you regain. The gain/lose/regain cycle is ingrained into our psyches that this is how weight loss is done.
Even the course of dieting we expect is skewed. Dieting is done "backwards" compared to other skills. We expect to be perfect from the start, most motivated and most loss in the beginnning (it's all down hill from there). Instead of expecting to get better and better at the skills of weight maintenance, we expect that our best days our behind us.
We're also expected for find dieting restrictive and depriving. Frustration is part of what we're taught to expect. "I don't want to do this, anymore," is a common sentiment, and yet we don't feel that way about other personal hygeine and routine skills (I'm sick of showering every day, why do I have to brush my teeth again? It's not fair that Joe gets to wear dirty clothes and I have to wash mine).
Rhonda, this is the time to put your blinders on and your fingers in your ears and focus only on yourself.
Whether or not anyone else regains weight has nothing at all to do with whether you will or not. Ignore the statistics. Don't listen to the naysayers (though it's OK to listen to me because I'm saying it IS possible ). It all boils down to what you choose to do once you reach your goal weight. If you choose to continue doing exactly what you did to lose the weight, exercise and diet-wise, and add a few extra calories every day or a treat meal once in a while, you WILL keep the weight off. Fact. 100% guaranteed.
If you choose to let the old, bad habits slip back in, if you stop exercising, if you stop counting calories, journaling, weighing and measuring portions or whatever you did to lose the weight, then you'll gain the weight back. Also 100% guaranteed.
The power is completely in our hands. No one made us fat except for us. No one can make us fit and healthy except for us. No one can make us fat AGAIN except for us. It all comes to down to the choices we make, every minute of every day. Weight maintenance is for life -- it's 24/7/365, every day for the rest of our lives. We have to live our lives thoughtfully and mindfully. Forget what "normal" people do. This is our "new normal".
It doesn't make the slightest bit of difference what anyone else (even Oprah or Kirstie) chooses to do or not do. All that matters is what you choose to do today, tomorrow, a year from now and ten years from now. Permanent weight loss IS 100% possible and nothing and no one can stop you from achieving it.
May 12 will be my seventh anniversary of keeping off 122 pounds. And I will keep the weight off for the rest of my life. Look at me and believe that it can be done.
I must say, as one who as not yet reached maintenance for the first time, I'm finding this thread to be a bit disheartening. I do feel like I am 100% committed this time. Hearing that several of you felt the same way,only to gain it all back is sucking the wind out of my sails. I am greatful that some of you have managed to lose the weight and keep it off. That does give me a smidgen of hope.
I don't mean to discourage you at all! I'm sorry if that was the effect that my comments had. I did feel certain before, but what I lacked was the understanding that I couldn't just go back to my old ways once I got thin. (And I never really got thin; I lost about 30 pounds but I had another 30-40 to go). This time, I feel certain BUT I also have the knowledge that these changes are for life. There is no going back; there is losing and then there is maintenance which, for me, will look an awful lot like losing only with a few more calories perhaps.
So please don't be discouraged, because I think it's a combination of feeling certain, having the confidence and commitment to keep on track even during tough times and plateaus, and the knowledge that many of the successfull chicks here have been able to keep their weight off so I will, too, if I just follow their wise advice and stay on track.
This is the only time I've lost more than 20-25 lbs, too (the 20-25 lbs I lost both at my starting weight and when I was younger, going from the high end of my healthy weight to the low end).
But coming here and reading these things is good for me. It's good for me to be thinking about maintenance and reading about others' experience. I think that when I reach goal, I should not only keep tight with the scale and everything in real life, but keep posting here with a weight ticker. Live the maintenace, the world of weight and health talk.
Star2be, think of your age and lack of prior weight loss this way: You are essentially starting your adult life as a thin person. You will be thin for your entire adult life! The weight will be relegated to the memory of a few relatives who know "you were a chunky child." Like so many were ... It's the extra weight that is your blip on the screen!
I had a cousin who was always overweight when we were growing up, and she trimmed down tremendously sometime in her late teens. Now she's in her early 30s, a few years older than I am, and she has simply always been a thin and very active adult. That's her identity; that's how almost everyone in her life knows her.
I am kind of the opposite in that, having been thin until about age 23-24, I am looking at my recent fat years as the blip. But it's true, or at least it can be. Like kaploid said, it is perception ... we make our reality.
Being in the spotlight and having your weight in front of you constantly must be so much pressure.And to have everyone see you fail at a weightloss attempt must be horrible.I try to keep my tries to myself and my family so people don't know if I fail or not.This is my journey not theirs and I am going to make sure that I succeed but it takes more than the money they have it takes a lifestyle change that they may not be ready for.
). It all boils down to what you choose to do once you reach your goal weight. If you choose to continue doing exactly what you did to lose the weight, exercise and diet-wise, and add a few extra calories every day or a treat meal once in a while, you WILL keep the weight off. Fact. 100% guaranteed. 
