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Old 11-12-2007, 01:44 PM   #1  
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Default Maintaining--Advice needed!

I've been with LA for the past 9 nine months and am ABSOLUTELY THRILLED to say that I've made my goal--lost 86 lbs. Now, I must admit that I am scared of the future. Perhaps others can relate to this idea--I've lost weight before and let it gradually creep back on. I don't want that to happen again. It was much, much harder since I'm approaching the big 5-0!

I need advice. How do you move on? I'm doing the stabilization thing with LA, but I had an AWFUL weekend away staying on program. I passed up so many things and felt really, really cheated. My weight, and whether I will gain, lose, or remain the same, is on my mind almost constantly, and it's making me CRAZY!

If there are others who have reached maintainence, I could sure use some ideas for how to not be quite so obcessive or at least some assurance that I will learn to quit thinking so much about food and feeling "cheated" so much as I get used to the new me and my new lifestyle eating habits.

For those of you still losing, keep going! I have read so many hopeful things and have read so many supportive ideas. I've appreciated, and will continue to appreciate, it all!
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Old 11-12-2007, 03:14 PM   #2  
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Hey, I don't know much about LA Weight Loss, but you are more than welcome to join us in the general maintainer's section of the forum

As a nearly 3 year maintainer, I'm not sure if you will be relieved or upset to know I'm still very obsessed with food, eating, planning meals. I look at it like this - if I were the kind of person who could "eat intuitively" and naturally eat just enough I wouldn't have been heavy in the first place.

I'm very happy maintaining though! Food journals and all
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Old 11-12-2007, 04:51 PM   #3  
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I followed plan as obsessively as I did for the first 2 months I was maintaining. Then I graadually started adding in maintenance foods and cut back on my amount of diarying. I'll be very honest when I say I've fluctuated like crazy during the last 3 months, however I'm also down a size so I know the excess weight is muscle.

How I do it now is I try to be POP at least 4-5 days a week. I'm not as obsessive as the scale, but at this point I pretty much can eyeball 8 ounces of chicken or 2 1/2 Tbsp of Cashews. I make it a point each day that if I don't eat all my exchanges (I'm maintaining on Red simply because of activity level) to get in at least the exchanges I would've eaten on the weight loss phrase.

I personally look at it this way, if I had been able to maintain my weight loss in the past I wouldn't have needed a weight loss program in the first place. It's just a matter of keeping up the same mindset.
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Old 11-12-2007, 05:53 PM   #4  
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Megan,
You're absolutely right about it being a mindset... It's also about trusting yourself...

I've been gradually adding in things I used to abuse, like fries, pizza, etc... Now, instead of eating them constantly, I treat myself to an occassional indulgence.. The result? My body deals with the added crappy food in a way that it didn't used to.

Throughout our time on the plan, our body goes through changes that allow it to better deal with foods we shouldn't be eating a lot of. As a result, it's better able to kick the crappy stuff out instead of adding it to our body mass..

Granted, if we go back to abusing these foods like we used to, we'll undo the good we've done, so that's where what we've learned comes in...

As you go through stabilization and the early parts of maintenance, you have to be careful.. You can't just start adding bad stuff in to your occassional diet.. There's still some willpower here, but it's not so bad that you have to obsess...

You know what you can and can't eat. You also know what you can eat occassionally (such as at a holiday party)...

If you continue to obsess, it becomes a chore, rather than a lifestyle...
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Old 11-12-2007, 07:33 PM   #5  
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Hi, I can sure relate, as I'm 46 and have been maintaining now for quite awhile. 86 pounds is an awesome accomplishment. You are NOT cheating yourself to stay on plan during stabilization, you are learning how to maintain. The fact is that after 9 months of being on plan, you would feel horribly ill to eat that junk (believe me as I've tried it and thought I was poisoned). Anyway, if you managed to lose so much and stay on plan for 9 months, you can manage another 6 weeks of slowly adding back in food. It does get easier and you will figure it out as you go along.... and sure there will be times when you have to cut back to make up for indulgences... but now you have the tools to lose weight again if you need to. You can do this. Just go ahead and obsess as much as you need to, and eventually you will need to do so less. It IS a time to be extra vigiliant with yourself, if you are like me and had fantasies that when this diet is over I will eat... all sorts of things... and well, the thing is if you want to keep the weight gone, it can't ever be totally over, but you can as you add calories back in have room for more treats and it gets easier. Anyway, congradulations on hitting goal, don't let it scare you.... Life goes on and the journey does continue.... You made it this far, you can keep going, and don't you just feel great?
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