Living Maintenance - No Excuses! Maintainers Food and Exercise Accountability 9/21-9/27

New week, more accountability!

Monday:
B - shredded oats, raspberries, skim milk
L - buttercup squash with multigrain "stuffing"
S - two small apples -- ended up throwing most of them away because they tasted funny :p
S - small piece of challah (so I wouldn't pass out before my run)
D - cooking light "unfried" green tomatoes
S - leftover squash with apples
E - HIIT run

I love Mondays! Had some babies last night. So fun!!

Today:
a ton of mushrooms and zucchini scrambled with 1 egg + 4 whiles, an english muffin with a wee bit of apricot jam
I'm a little aggravated this morning. I roasted a bunch of chicken on Saturday. We had it for dinner last night and then I raced out the door to the hospital. Do you think anyone bothered to put it away? Argh!!! 3 beautiful roasted chicken breasts just sitting there on the stove for me to throw away today. What a waste.

I digress. Exercise will be 1 hr at the gym.

Good morning!

I am really, really ready for the shoulder to be better. It took me about a week for the cortisone to really kick in last time...hopefully it's faster this time!

B - French toast w/ eggbeaters
S - Watermelon
L - Leftover super lean ground beef chili with beans, dollop of LF sour cream
S - Popcorn
S - Not sure if I will want or need anything - maybe a peach?
D - Soup - Chicken broth, variety of veggies (snowpeas, baby bok choy, carrot), oyster mushrooms, tofu, lots of lemongrass and ginger, touch of light coconut milk. On the side, two fresh spring rolls with veggies and poached chicken.
S - NSA Ice Cream, berries

E - 75 min incline trainer

Oh boy. I read what you guys write here and it seems great and quite sane. I have tried SO many diet plans. I'm sure many here have. I'm in a discouraged mode now though and I need some help.

I read about people losing weight but my question is...how many can maintain it? I hear the stats are very, very low.

I'm considering weight loss surgery again. I had a lapband once before but my body rejected the band...either that or it wasn't installed properly. I have 120 pounds to lose. I SO want to be healthy. Health issues have crept into my life. I'm desperate.

Am I exercising? No...cuz my knees hurt with osteoarthritis. I've already had one total knee replacement and believe me, I don't want the other knee done!

How can I 'believe' that losing the weight and most importantly 'keeping it off' is possible? Right now...I do not believe it...and of course that's not inspiring me to eat healthy either. The lapband is not an easy or quick way out, believe me. There are many very unpleasant things about it.

I really need some input from some of you. Thanks so much.

Welcome lookin! :welcome: You may want to check out some of the sticky threads in this forum for general information about maintenance -- for info about the number of people who can actually keep it off, check out the thread about the National Weight Control Registry. There is actually a large research study which monitors people who have maintained a large weight loss -- many of us here are participants.

I can tell you for one thing, losing weight and keeping it off IS possible, and there are a lot of folks right here in this forum who are doing it! It takes a lot of work, and you'll never be "cured" of weight issues, but it is possible. I for one can tell you that my attempts at dieting didn't work in the past because I had no idea there was such a thing as "maintenance." I thought, ok, I'll lose this weight, then my diet is "over" and I can eat "normally." Well, eating "normally" is what made me fat in the first place!

So I think it's great that you're thinking about maintenance first before trying yet another diet plan. The key is to find a plan that fits YOU, which you feel like you can stick with for the rest of your life.

As for exercise, there are some options for people with bad knees. If even getting up out of a chair is difficult, there are several exercise videos which you can do entirely while sitting in a chair -- google for Richard Simmons and "chair workout" and I'm sure you'll find one. Water aerobics is another great option for people with bad knees, or swimming, or (depending how bad your knees are) stationary bikes and elliptical trainers.

Anyway, I hope that helps some. Good luck!

Sending healing pain-free thoughts your way, Amanda.

Welcome, Losin!! One of the best things about 3FC is the daily examples of folks who have successfully lost and kept weight off. There are a lot of people around here with impressive losses. Some used WLS as a tool, some didn't. I know there's a lot of talk about how most people who lose weight will regain it. I'd guess that's probably true. But I can't do much about "most people." What I can do is commit to myself and my health, plan and prepare for success, find accountability, get back up and brush myself off when I fall, and repeat. The folks on 3FC have shown me what to do. They have shown me what is possible. I take my inspiration from people whose plans make the most sense in my life: strength training, running, eating often and choosing healthy foods to fuel my body. But not all successful "losers" do the same thing---sure there are similar themes, but the nuts and bolts vary. I don't know what you tried in the past. It might be worth considering what worked and what didn't. I'd wager that pretty much any plan will "work" if it is worked consistently.

Was there something that you really liked? If you stopped, why? I lost and regained twice before this last time. With both of those situations, I stumbled a little and then totally reverted to my old ways. I am trying very hard to keep awareness of that pattern in my consciousness. Now when I stumble (and boy, howdy, I can stumble), I get immediately back on plan. Pronto. Which has worked far better than my previous choices of giving up.

I'm an exercise nut, but I also believe that our bodies are 90% what we put in our mouths. I can exercise all day long, but if my nutrition is crap, I won't lose. I know you have a barrier to exercise with your knees, but don't be downhearted! Food is what counts more for weight loss. And you control that 100%!

I feel a tad uncomfortable spouting about my own plan. I've lost 50 lbs and I think most folks considering WLS are looking to lose more than that. So take only what works for you and disregard the rest. Cause I don't really understand what it is like to be in your specific shoes, but I do understand what it's like to completely reframe one's nutrition and movement, day in and day out, for years. :) I'd encourage you to check out the goal forum and read lots. Read Amanda's story. Surf around. Read some of Robin's posts. And Meg's posts. These are ladies who have lost impressive lbs and are keeping it off. Check out the WLS forum for posts from ladies who are finding success through the tool of WLS.

It is possible. These fine ladies (and gents) show me every day that it is possible.

Howdy :wave:

Weekend went pretty well, and pretty much OP.

B - oatmeal with raisins, walnuts, skim milk; 1/2 ww bagel with pb
S - ff latte
L - homemade chili, 1/3 cup brown rice, 1/2 apple
S - cottage cheese, 1/2 banana
D - ? depends if DH is around or not..... there is enough leftover chicken for 1, if he's home, I'll make dinner, probably salmon, rice, veggies.....

Ex: full-body workout

Losin, it occurred to me last night that you might want to start a new thread with your questions in it. There are a lot of people on the maintainers board who might have input, but not all of them read this thread.

Tuesday:
B - shredded oats, raspberries, skim milk
L - squash with multigrain stuffing
S - medium apple
D - sweet and sour cabbage soup, small piece of challah with honey
S - baked quince
E - NRLW S5W1A

Good morning! I didn't get washed away in the storms yesterday, but I ate awfully. I did exercise, so something good came from it. I'll admit yesterday's crazy, and the weekends crazy, in the sense of accountability... Being sick doesn't do much for the self control with me.

Losin - don't look at me this week or last week as a typical maintainer. I've obviously lost my mind. :) Welcome!

Friday - I think I posted it last week, stayed all in line, under even, until DH brought home "Imagine Whirled Peace" Ben & Jerry's, of which I of course ate the entire pint. Ended the day with 700 calories more than I wanted.

Saturday - went to visit my dad two hours away, so food was off track. Did okay until the end of the day.
B - kashi go lean w/ skim & berries
S/L/S - two small salmon biscuits, two small pieces of country ham, 30g cumberland gap baked ham, 2.5 mini candy bars
D: 3 fried ravioli, 2 slices of pizza, 1 small cannoli
S: 16g slice of cornbread
Oddly, with all the junk it still stayed lower than Friday... 500 calories more than I wanted.

Sunday -
B: coffee, banana
L: ham sandwich, apple w/ laughing cow
S: annie's assorted graham bunnies, coffee, coffee, mini bagel
D: 1 slice of leftover pizzza
S: popcorn
400 calories under budget for the day

Monday:
B: kashi w/ 2% (had to use the milk at work) & craisins, 20g baked ham, 16g slice of cornbread
S: kashi crunchy cinnamon coffee cake bar
L: pb&j
S: lowfat s'mores granola bar, two pretzel rods, popcorn
D: hamburger helper w/ skim milk and ground turkey breast
S: another pint of Ben & Jerry's - lots of weather anxiety and other drama resulted in more ice cream. I may have to stop bringing ice cream into the house for myself because I can't eat a little bit of a small carton if ice cream and quit.
E: 1:30 of strength training and stationary bike
385 calories more than I wanted.

Today will be better... as will the rest of the week. No more ice cream. Without it I would have been perfectly okay with the higher items of the last few days...

E: cardio when I get home
B: kashi w/ 2% & craisins, coffee
S: pink salmon packet
L: grilled chicken salad
S: apple w/ laughing cow
D: turkey sausage over rice, broccoli
S: tea, maybe nothing else

:wave: morning!

Morning! Planning for today:

B - French toast w/ eggbeaters, 1 tsp apple butter
S - Peach
L - Tofu/veggie/coconut milk soup, chicken spring rolls
S - Popcorn
D - We are going out, to probably a nice restaurant, with Sarah's dad. My goal is to be moderate. I'd rather just stay in and eat something healthy (have a wedding THIS WEEKEND, and have rehearsal dinners and other uncontrolled food then) but it'll be good to see him.

E - 60 min cardio, 60 min strength

Amanda - how is the shoulder feeling today? Somewhat better I hope. :)

Yesterday's dinner got away from me, but today's a new day.

B - oatmeal with raisins, walnuts, skim milk; 1/2 ww bagel with pb
S - hard boiled egg, grapes
L - was supposed to go out with a co-worker, but it got put off til tomorrow. I think I'll go home for some chili.
S - cottage cheese, 1/2 banana
D - provided by the city because of a 6 pm city council meeting (which may go as late as 11 :faint: ) Hopefully it's sandwiches so I can eat the meat/veggies; otherwise it'll be pizza....

Ex: full body workout done :) (didn't do this yesterday due to a last minute evening meeting)

Shoulder isn't great, but its not as bad as it was the day he actually did the procedure. Hopefully the cortisone goes soon (it took about a week last time to work - I have 2 days to go until that time period has passed).

I had kind of a snack attack last night. I blame DH. ;) (just kidding!) What happened was that DH wanted to cook this quince I had bought, so he asked if I had room in my calorie budget for it. I told him I'd save room. With an upper limit of 1400 cals, after adding in the quince and two bowls of low-cal cabbage soup, I was only at 1150 . . . so I ate the last piece of challah that was sitting around with some honey. Total cals were 1396, so I'm still okay, but did I really need to eat that bread? No, I just ate it because I wasn't at my calorie limit yet. Now the question is whether my scale was up today because I ate extra food, because I put too many bouillon cubes in my soup, or because I'm retaining water from a strength workout.

Wednesday:
B - raisin bran, raspberries, skim milk
L - leftover squash w/multigrain stuffing, squash w/apples (this is the last of it!)
S - apple
D - small portion leftover brisket and tsimmes, bowl of leftover cabbage soup
E - HIIT run

Did very well last night at dinner, all things considered - had a lovely piece of grouper with some peppers and a bit of chorizo, started with a salad, and had exactly 5 bites of dessert. 1 glass of wine, and that'll wrap it up. Scale agrees I didn't overindulge (can't remember the last time I had a restaurant meal and wasn't way up afterward).

Plan for today:

B - French toast w/ apple butter
S - Orange
L - Openfaced tuna sandwich on light bread w/ jack cheese, pickles, grapes on side.
S - WW LC Tortilla, 1 tbsp natural PB
S - Popcorn
D - Grilled eye of round with a giant salad - grilled veggies, a few croutons, Brianna's light dressing
S - NSA Ice Cream

E - 60 min cardio (thinking I'll go for HIIT today)

Yesterday came in pretty much OP. I had a HB egg for an afternoon snack, along with a ff latte, but calorie-wise, okay. The City's dinner was sandwich fixings, so I had a turkey sandwich on 1/2 WW roll.

B - cheerios with walnuts, skim milk; toast with pb
S - grapes
L - Subway with co-worker - planning on salad
S - cottage cheese and banana
D - last of the chili, brown rice, and veggies

Ex: elliptical HIIT

Food today:
kashi w/skim and berries, protein shake
grapes
leftover turkey chili with beans & broccoli over cabbage
peach
pork chops, probably zucchini and peppers
1 hr weights

Last night wasn't as bad as the night before, but wasn't great. Ended right at 2000 calories, try for 1900. Improvement over my weekend, but slowly. I would like to blame DH too :) but can't - even if he is the one that buys the product I eat I am the one that picked it up and ate it. I did exercise, so that is good.

Today: (DSS tonight, so dinner will likely be sandwiches - I often come in under when he is with us... going to hang on to that. :) )

E: cardio when I get home I hope
B: kashi w/ skim & berries, half banana, 16g slice of cornbread that I really didn't need and was kind of stale... the rest goes in the trash tonight...
L: grilled chicken salad
S: lf vanilla yogurt w/ berries, maybe trail mix or maybe no second snack
D: pb&j or turkey hotdog, apple w/ light swiss laughing cow
S: yogurt or fruit

An OP day (and a KILLER workout! I did my sprint intervals at 9.4mph).

Planning for tomorrow:

B - French toast w/ eggbeaters, apple butter
S - Grapes
L - Leftovers: Grilled steak and veggies over a gigantic salad
S - Popcorn
S - WW LC Tortilla, 1 tbsp PB
D - Pork and long bean stirfry, brown jasmine rice
S - NSA Ice Cream

E - 60 min cardio, 60 min strength

I exceeded my calorie limit yesterday. I wanted the leftover brisket and tsimmes for dinner, so I very carefully portioned out just enough to stay within my calorie limit. Of course, since the brisket is a pretty high-calorie food, it was a pretty small portion. I ate my dinner, and I was still hungry. :sigh: I ended up eating a bowl of cabbage soup too, which is only 125 calories and filled me up and is nearly all veggies, but it put me at 1516 cals for the day, 116 over my target.

And of course, my weight is up again today. But only a little, and it's still down from last week. Today is a new day!

Thursday:
B - raisin bran, blueberries, skim milk
L - cabbage soup
S - apple
D - pasta with sauce, mushrooms, green beans, and roasted cauliflower.
E - NRLW S4W1B

This morning, I saw my redline for the first time since last February. Onward and downward!

Amanda - :high:!

Yesterday was OP. Whew. No exercise, as I went a little crazy on another project.

Today:
E: cardio when I get home, maybe some DB exercises
B: smoothie, coffee
S: berries, string cheese
L: grilled chicken salad
S: lf yogurt w/ berries, apple w/ laughing cow or trail mix
D: ground chicken breast w/ peppers over rice, broccoli
S: peanut butter graham cracker, tea

DH was gone last night, and my dinner - once again - went downhill. Sigh. I need to learn to cook well for myself. Grazing is not the answer.

B - oatmeal with raisins, walnuts, skim; 1/2 banana; 1/2 eng muffin
S - hard boiled egg
L - chili, brown rice
S - cottage cheese, banana
D - leftover grouse, veggies, potato

Ex: Full body - done!

Friday:
B - raisin bran, blueberries, skim milk
L - @work, the most disgusting lunch ever, Bellacino's grinders. I had one piece veggie and one piece chicken.
S - apple (if necessary)
D - I *was* going to cook but after that gross lunch I think I'll just have cottage cheese and some fruit for dinner.
E - HIIT run tonight if it's not pouring rain, if it is raining I'll put it off until tomorrow morning

Yay! Under redline!

Planning -

B - French toast w/ eggbeaters
S - Grapes
L - Leftover - Pork and long bean stirfry
S - If needed, ww tortilla w/ PB and sliced apple
D - Rehearsal Dinner. I'm pretty sure I ordered the chicken breast. Goal is moderation, like any other restaurant meal (but I will have a glass of wine or two for toasting).

E - Did my lifting yesterday so I'd only have to do cardio today - 60 min.

Today:
E: something when I get home, today is scheduled to be a cardio day so might sub cutting the grass. It keeps my heart rate around 170 for the hour or so it takes to do it.
B: kashi go lean w/ skim & berries, light tuna packet, coffee
S: string cheese
L: grilled chicken salad
S: trying not to have one as we are having dinner out
D: mexican food, will probably get seafood fajitas with corn tortillas
S: probably none

And a little show and tell...last night, we worked on the centerpieces for the wedding we're in this weekend (yes, we're also doing the flowers). The colors for this wedding are BRIGHT blue and BRIGHT green. The bride found a photo of an arrangement made with blue roses somewhere, and asked if we could do it. Roses? Don't come in that color! So I was up until 2 last night individually spray painting (with floral spray paint) twelve dozen roses bright blue.

The arrangements definitely aren't traditional, but I think they came out fun and cute enough to match the couple (and not chintzy looking, as a spray painted rose might tend to be). The bouquets/personal flowers for the ceremony are a lot more traditional, but the centerpieces are all quirk.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/mandalinn82/photo.jpg

But this morning? I blew my nose and it was blue. God only knows how much spray paint I inhaled (we were in the garage with WIDE open garage door and side door AND a fan blowing, so I did try to be well ventilated)

Pretty flowers Amanda! :)

Amanda,
I love the flowers!