Last year I lost about 40lbs in about 3 months, then struggled to lose 10lbs in the next couple months. My struggle was with my emotions, not my diet. Then I quit around the end of September because I was so sick of dieting.
I was up 3 lbs by December, not too shabby.
Then by March 17, I was up another 7lbs. That's when it hit me I'd better get back on track. Greatest motivator was not wanting to EVER get back to 165lbs and I was getting closer by the day.
So now I've been back on the diet for about 11 days and have lost 5.5lbs without trying all that hard. (I could have lost more, but there is an emotional adjustment period I had to go through.)
I wanted to come back on here because it was important to me to let people know, just because someone disappears does not mean they gained all their weight back or gave up. I remember that being extremely important to me when I first came on this forum and got discouraged when I saw people leaving and seeming to give up.
I knew I was going to gain around 10lbs back all along so when I hit that mark after 5.5 months, I got back on the horse.
I also wanted to mention, sometimes we just need an emotional break so don't feel bad if you take one. My biggest goal was 150lbs, a real landmark, even though my true goal is 125lbs. I think emotionally, I needed to hang out in my 150s for a while because it felt soooooo good to get there after having lost 50lbs.
Now I'm tiring of my 150s and am ready to begin again, one last time...
Now that I'm monitoring my weight and food intake even more closely than the last time, I've discovered a few things.
I do notice when I hit say, 157 I might stay at 157.6, 158.2 then 157.8 over a three day period, but if I hang in there, I'll dump 1.5lbs in a day after three days of tediously being stuck on 157. As an example I just lost 2.6lbs in the last 3 days after being stuck at 157 for five LONG days. If you are more stubborn than your body, in the end, it will give the weight up it was supposed to lose and then some during those days it was being obstinate.
My goal is 300 calories a day. Sounds crazy I know. But I average more like 700-1200 a day so I guess it's a good goal even though not very realistic, yet. On the days I eat 1000-1200 calories, my weight loss slows way down and it's not just because of the calories, it's because of the actual weight of the food.
In other words if I don't have a BM for one day that can show up on the scale as a GAIN, especially if I ate 1200 calories. If I don't have a BM for two days, it looks like I'm plateauing.
So keep in mind, the actual weight of the food you are eating if the scale is not moving and you are not BMing.
It feels really good to be back and in control again. I didn't go completely crazy with food over the last five months and I feel a 10lb gain is acceptable at any time in your life, however keeping that 10lbs on is not.
So this time I have a secret goal of gleaning bonus points. Crazy as it sounds, I know once I start eating regular again, I'm going to have a short term gain, so I'm thinking that once I hit 125lbs, if I'm in the mood, I may go for the bonus points and shoot for 120lbs. At least at that point I'll have 5 points in the bag and a leg up on that ultimate initial gain.
But then again, 3 months of intensive dieting can make me bat sh*t so I'll rethink the bonus points once I get there.
I honestly cannot understand how people are able to continually diet for a year at a time and only lose 30-50lbs. I think I would lose my mind and nearly did trying the slow method. I'm very grateful this works for me, otherwise there wouldn't be much hope and I do appreciate those who can endure the long haul.
In any event, I can't wait until I hit 125lb if for no other reason I'm planting vegetable gardens and am looking forward to doing some intensive FREE organic juicing! I won't juice now because bites are at a premium and I do NOT like vegetables much. The only thing I really like vegetables for is as a transporter for butter, fatty sauces, or creamy salad dressing I'd otherwise eat by the spoonful.
If I don't LOVE the food I put into my mouth, I feel it was a waste of bites and I somehow cheated myself.
So I try to make EVERY bite of food count so I feel I'm getting what I want and am satisfied. Variety is key for me, so any given day I might eat as many as 20 different things.
I also learned the hard way last year that exercise is out of the question for me. Every time I did it, I'd either gain or stall big time. However, if I'm doing something physical like rearranging furniture, gardening, etc., it does help speed things up.
I feel like the Lone Ranger at times because no one seems to be dieting the way I do, so if there's anyone out there who diets like I do please give me a shout out!
Best wishes and glad to be back!
Jude
I'm back!!
back, Jude!
