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Old 09-10-2008, 10:25 AM   #1  
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Red face How to keep doing this

Hi, everyone,

I have been on and off these boards for awhile. I am currently restarting WW for I don't know what time---been on it so many times, I lost track. I am battling a medication that causes weight gain---no other options, believe me I tried. So, here I am starting again. I am doing points, not going to meetings at this point--not sure if they helped or not---and don't have much money. I have lost three pounds and already hit a roadblock of my anniversary, etc. I am back on track, but I am starting to see that this is going to be really HARD. I have such a long ways to go---and trust me, I am starting out pretty discouraged.

How do you all keep doing this for the long haul? Does it get easier. I am so mad that I gained all this weight, and partly not from my own doing---the medication ----so, I need to do this and not get discouraged. Thank you so much for listening. Good luck to everyone.
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Old 09-10-2008, 12:42 PM   #2  
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Kathy,

You can do this! Once I lost 20 pounds and could see that WW was really workng, I knew I could do this for the long haul. It also helps that there are no off-limit foods -- that is, if you are on flex. I love that I can have a donut if I want; funny thing is, I haven't had one the whole time I have been on WW. Just knowing that I CAN have one, makes me not crave it as bad. I have lost 40 pounds since April 7, 2008. I had just got blown the South Beach diet and was feeling very discouraged. I never thought I would meet my goal, let alone make my new goal a weight I haven't seen since I was a sophmore in high school. I was in the best shape of my life then; volleyball. Now I've made this much progress that that is what keeps me going. I love not crying because I am so embarrassed of the way I look in a pair of jeans a lot more than I love any donut.
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Old 09-12-2008, 12:24 PM   #3  
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mamaspank-totally agree with all you said!! Congrats on reaching your Goal-you look Fantastic!!

tkdkathy-
Good Luck as you re-focus on getting healthy. For me WW does work, not sure if you are doing the meetings, on-line or something on your own, but this does work. The biggest reason is, WW is not a diet, it focuses on what is healthy, hence the 8 healthy guidelines. I also like that there is nothing off limits, of course, you must account for all that you put in your mouth, but I love you have options, with regular diets, it's about what you can't have, that gets all the attention, and I tend to focus on "never having", as a deal breaker, that's why those "diet plans" don't work for me.
I also find, going to the weekly meetings helps me so much, can't say enough great things about those weekly pep-talks.
So try not to get discouraged, but this is a slow and steady plan, yes, you might have a great weight loss one week and a gain the next and you did nothing to make that gain happen, but the body is so funny. I find when I hit that road block, for a bit, it does get to me also. Just don't give up, your body needs time to re-adjust to all the good stuff you are doing for it.

Best of Luck
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Old 09-12-2008, 06:06 PM   #4  
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Kathy I am right there with you. Medication has been my neimisis for 5 years now and this is...oh I don't know the 100th time I have started 'dieting' I am doing ww for the first time and this is my week three and alread feel (alot) discourged but the chicks here are so supportive.

If you need a shoulder to cry on use your own shirt to wipe your nose, if you need a butt to kick--look around and find some poor innocent then run like ****, and if you want ecourgement, support or just need to share whatever it is, we want to know all the gory details LOL bring it on!
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Old 09-13-2008, 09:53 AM   #5  
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LOL ^^^ nancylmrn!! too funny!

Kathy - I started WW April 8, 2008. When I started, I realized that this was going to be how I need to eat the rest of my life. Like many others, I have rollercoastered (<- is that a word? LOL ) up and down with my weight all of my life - since I was a teenager.

Keeping that in mind, I had to formulate a plan using WW Flex that would allow for me to keep eating favorite foods and not feel denied or restricted. I realized that I couldn't keep doing that for the long haul and be successful with any type of maintenance once I reached my goal.

I still go out to dinner at my favorite Mexican place, I still eat a candy bar every now and then and if I want to, I will still eat that piece of cheesecake. It took me a couple of months to incorporate those things into my plan, but I have done it successfully so far.

I am more AWARE now of how those foods effect my daily intake and compensate for those things with more activity. I don't stress about this at all this time around. Maybe that will change once I hit a plateau - but I don't think so. I will just adjust what I do and how I eat when that happens.

Nutrition is soooo very important for successful weight loss. I make sure that I stay with the healthy guidelines, eat fruits and veggies, proteins and whole grains. Educating yourself about healthy eating along the way is another way to keep on going without burning out. There are so many healthy foods out there and low fat/no fat, high fiber selection alternatives for what I ate on a regular basis. I just choose those foods rather than full fat, or processed foods. I am more mindful of portions sizes than I have ever been before. If I know that I am going to have steak, I do - keeping it in portion and then adding a lot of healthy foods to have along with it that are low in calories and points so I am satisfied. Keeping yourself satisfied is also very important.

Soon, this will become second nature to you. I truly believe that if this becomes a mindset for you, this won't be such a struggle to stay on plan.

I have charted my weight loss in excel. I have to charts, one keeping track of my weekly weight loss and another that projects how long it is going to take me to reach my goal. I started in April of '08 and it is going to take me until May of '09 to reach my goal - a little over a year losing approx 1.5 - 2 lbs a week. Slow and steady- and I am ok with that. It took me 7 years to get where I was at... I figure a little over a year to get back to that is an acceptable amount of time. Even if it takes me 2 years I will be ok with that. I am almost 1/2 way there now..

So many people who go on diets want the weight to come off in a hurry and then get discouraged when it doesn't. Most all of us didn't get to where we are at overnight, and it certainly won't come off overnight either..

Patience grasshopper...
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Old 09-14-2008, 12:00 PM   #6  
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I so agree with everyone here. None of us got this way overnight. There are no quick fixes but the food we eat on ww is not "diet food" it is just food. This is not something we go on and off of it is a new way to eat. Enjoy the journey....we will all be here to back you up.

-Phil
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Old 09-14-2008, 07:18 PM   #7  
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Thanks so much for the encouragement. I just want it to be easier...maybe it will get easier. I lost a pound this week, after fighting tooth and nail for it! But thank you very much.
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Old 09-14-2008, 07:26 PM   #8  
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it does get easier.

May 2006 I started south beach diet. at frist it was hard. very hard. but i kept at it. even when i did not lose I kept at it. even when i went off plan I kept going right back on....

finally i realized i needed a bit more structure to my eating so i added weight watchers points to my food...

i've been eating this way so long, it's second nature. it's easy now.

dinner for my DH and girl child tonite was junk they wanted (mac and cheese and beef) Me: a huge plate of spaghetti squash a side salad w/feta and some chicken on the spaghetti squash (with spices and parmesan and a touch of smart balance) I eat what I LOVE now.... find food you love and eat that in the right amounts. get some movement... today i did my exercise bike and i played wii fit a bit.


at first it's so hard, you have to think about everything but KEEP GOING eventually it becomes second nature and putting the junk in your mouth is what you will think twice about.
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Old 09-14-2008, 07:35 PM   #9  
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I just joined WW on July 31 and it's by no means my first time, but it is for the points. I just love the points system. Like you, I am on meds that affect my weight - 3 to be exact. I'm also 53 and they say it's harder to lose as we get older. But since I joined I've almost got 20 off. Of course I started out at 322 so it will come off pretty fast at first with that much weight.

My WW leader told me the first day "Just don't quit." She lost 175 pounds on WW and is a great motivator. These boards are awesome too. Good luck! I'm just taking one day at a time and I think that as others said, WW is not even a diet - it's so healthy and a great way of life.
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Old 09-14-2008, 08:42 PM   #10  
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Staying on this for the long haul is truly as mental as it is physical. How bad do you want it????? I want it bad. Last week after working so hard and being very careful not to go over my points I weighed in at the meeting to find i gained .6. I wanted to give up right then but I realized that I commited to this and there would be times when I wanted to quit. SO I chocked it up to muscle gain and kept on trucking. I don't mind losing it slow if it will stay off. Just keep telling yourself you can do this just take one day at a time and YOU WILL SUCCEED> JUST DON"T QUIT.
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Old 09-14-2008, 09:29 PM   #11  
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I, too, get so discouraged when I don't lose any weight in a week, but I just try to think of this as a forever thing. I have to eat like this forever. If I am not accountable, then I binge on junk and feel sick. It also feeds my obsession with food need. I still fuss over what I am going to eat all of the time, but now it is healthy foods. Someday I hope to have to not think about food all day long.
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Old 09-14-2008, 11:29 PM   #12  
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I really think that one thing that helped me see that I have to "keep going" forever, is to think of my weight maintenance work like I do washing my face, brushing my teeth, showering..... and giving up on it would make about as much sense as giving up on personal hygeine.

Mostly though I do have to remind myself that weight maintenance is nearly as much (or perhaps even more) work than weight loss, so giving up really isn't an option unless I'm willing to gain it all back plus an extra 10 or 15 (as has been my pattern all of my life).

Much of what I do has become so routine that I do it without thinking. Yesterday I went to a chinese mega-buffet with my husband and his friend. I was really concerned that I would overeat, and after the meal I thought I had, but my choices were a lot different than they would have been in the past, and this morning I was half a pound lighter rather than heavier (which was quite unexpected, as I figured the sodium in the meal would at least add some water weight).

I barely even felt a twinge of disappointment when I passed up the general tso's chicken and crab rangoon. I chose hot and sour soup, peel and eat shrimp (lots of those), stir-fried green beans, grilled ribs (surprisingly not very fatty) a small piece of grilled chicken, a couple small pieces of sushi and one gyoza dumpling.

I was fuller than I usually let myself get, so I was a little concerned, and some of my choices were very conscious (giving up my favorites), but some of them were second nature (like chewing very, very slowly and taking a few seconds before bites).

It's been astonishing to me that some of these good habits have become so ingrained that they truly are unconscious. I can't take it for granted that I will do what I have to without paying attention, but it's amazing to notice when it happens.

What's the secret to sticking with it? There isn't any. You don't give up, by not giving up.

For me, though - I sometimes feel I have to trick myself into it. It's why I asked hubby to go to TOPS with me, and then decided to accept the nomination for co-leader. When hubby accepted the nomination for treasurer, I was shocked (as he said he'd support me if I wanted to be an officer, but he wasn't interested). He's actually enjoying it. And the responsibility does keep us going, because on days/weeks when we don't want to go for ourselves, we go for the good of the group. And if I'm going to be there anyway, I might as well put as much effort into the process as I can. And I do feel a little extra pressure as co-leader to lose weight, as how embarassing for a leader not to lose weight in a weight loss group.

I think it's really the little things, often that make or break a weight loss effort. You've got to find ways that keep it doable for you. Everyone has different motivations, so what keeps one person motivated may have no meaning at all to someone else. You just keep experimenting until you find what does it for you.

Last edited by kaplods; 09-14-2008 at 11:30 PM.
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