This is a really interesting discussion. Thanks for your thoughts, Meg and Jay, and Dagmar, it helps to know that I am not alone and you feel the same way I do much of the time. I agree that having a red line is key and stop me from doing what I have always done in the past, which is reach a goal weight and feel like my job is done. Then go back to eating what I want all the time, gain a few pounds and then, rather than nip it in the bud, figure that all is lost and keep gaining until I'm back to where I started, plus a few. I hear people on this board talk about their maintenance calories and I honestly don't know what mine are because, like I said earlier, I've never really truly maintained. When I hit 137 or 138, I think it might be fun to shoot for 135 and so I keep restricting, then I fall off the wagon and gain and then after a bit go back into losing mode. I really want to reach a point where I'm happy with my weight and am shooting for fitness goals instead. I am doing a lot of lifting and that has contributed to my weight going up at times and then I have to work to bring it back down so overall my body fat is lower now than it was a year ago when I weighted 138 but still I want to finally get below 140 and stay there and have 140 be my new red line, NOT 145. I feel better, look better and my clothes fit better at 137-138.
I do think all of the restricting does lead to me falling of the wagon sometimes, but I'm not really sure how to get around that. I wish I could say that I ate as well as Glory (Jen, are you out there?) but I probably do still eat too many carbs and maybe tweaking my diet would help me avoid the cravings and the tendency to go overboard somedays. I also think that when I do go overboard, I feel like I've blown it and will have to be really good the next few weeks so that leads me to keep eating poorly the rest of the day because I know I won't get to do that for a long time. Bad way to think, I know, and I am trying to work on that. Say, if I have a handful of M&Ms, stopping there and telling myself it's okay and eating OP the rest of the day.
I would like to figure out what my calories for maintenance are and, the next time I get the scale back down to 137, to work on maintenance, NOT losing more. So that's my goal, but like you both have said it's not easy to do because our bodies are all so different and don't necessarily behave as the all of the calculators say they should. Plus, it's hard to know whether it's what you did over the last two weeks or over he last night that's making the scale read the way it is. So many factors are involved: water rentention from sodium and muscle repair, new muscle growth, waste, food in tummy, fat loss, the phase of the moon, yada, yada. I guess that will be my experiment: To really figure out what it takes to maintain at 137-8 OVER THE LONG HAUL.
Good luck to you Jay in figuring out what's making you feel so tired. Glad to hear you are going to the doctor. Haven't you mentioned before that you have low thyroid? Maybe it's time for a med adjustment. I have low thyroid and have always been treated for it by my ob/gyn. I think I am going to see an endocrinologist to get a more thorough evaluation. I feel okay but wonder if I could be doing better. Keep us posted.
Have a fun, safe fourth everyone. I'm off to cut up fruit for a salad and then to a barbeque.
Pam
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