Maintainers Weekly Chat January 30 - February 5

[Shannon in ATL]

Pageta - It is so easy to throw an entire day off track with just a few moments. I'm working on forgiving myself for those moments and moving forward, I found myself getting too bogged down in them for a while.

Megan - I hope the play goes well this weekend!

Iris - that reminded me that I need to wash a load of exercise clothes... LOL

[pageta]

Well, let's talk about what IS working.

Yes, it is hard to lose or maintain weight when you can't nail down what your intake should be every day (due to the unpredictability of part-time nursing).

I also reached my WW goal and then went down 20 pounds below that. There was the ever-present question of whether or not that was "realistic" for me to maintain, which led to some of my lax standards, especially when I seemed to be able to eat quite badly and not gain excessively.

I gained weight my 9th grade year and hit 170 pounds. The summer before my senior year, my mom and I used her old WW materials and I got down to 145. I gained it all back by Christmas and stayed at 170 pounds for many years. So that was my previous experience with losing weight. My regain this time has been quite slow compared to that - 20 pounds over 18 months vs 25 pounds in 3 months.

With those two obstacles in mind (how much should I really be eating and what do I really want to weigh), I have accomplished a lot in the past year.

I've experimented with different styles of eating and what types of food keep hunger at bay and which ones make me really hungry. A big light bulb moment came last fall when I read In Defense of Food. We eat out very little, and I didn't have a lot of processed food around (no Hamburger Helper or frozen tv dinners or that sort of thing). But we still had a lot of things with ingredients you couldn't find individually in a grocery store. I've always struggled with low blood sugar. Just making the switch from skim milk to whole milk has greatly slowed the binge cycle I've struggled with all my life.

I must say that with eating those chocolate caramels, I totally felt the sugar high, which I never used to notice except that the shakes went away. I didn't do any holiday baking this year (normally that is the highlight of the season for me) and the longer I eat "real food," the less I miss the other stuff.

So now eating OP basically means eating "real food" or following WW Simply Filling except that I eat full fat dairy products (and thus still count points).

In the realm of food, I still struggle with finding balance with indulgences (such as the chocolate caramels - if I make them again, I will half or quarter the recipe). I also struggle with getting enough for breakfast. Both are works in progress.

For exercise, I am great during the warm months. I was always horrible in PE and to this day I hate anything competitive. I do enjoy the challenge of seeing if I can do something (like walk a half-marathon or ride my bike 20 miles) and that keeps me motivated. I still, however, struggle with how to exercise in the cold months.

So compared to where I was when I started losing weight about 2 years ago, I would say I have laid down some serious rails to follow in my new lifestyle. I still have a few pesky challenges, though, which leads me back to my lament that you can be good for almost the entire day and blow it in just a few minutes.

[iriswhispers]

Megan, break a leg this weekend!

Pageta, did you like "In Defense of Food"? I've been meaning to get around to reading it. I've read Pollen's "Food Rules" which I found really interesting and on point. Still, I have to admit there are some highly processed goodies that I just can't give up!

This weekend my bf's uncle is coming to town - should be fun but indulgent. Last time he came he showed up before noon and we all started drinking right away. His uncles are strong French Canadian men who can easily pack away an obscene amount of alcohol with little visible effect - I can't even attempt to keep pace. This time I will refrain from the drinks until later in the day. However, I do plan some food indulgences like a buffalo chicken dip I just found a recipe for and some loaded potato skins....mmmm.

[EZMONEY]

Originally Posted by iriswhispers

Megan, break a leg this weekend!

THIS!

[pageta]

Originally Posted by iriswhispers

Pageta, did you like "In Defense of Food"? I've been meaning to get around to reading it. I've read Pollen's "Food Rules" which I found really interesting and on point. Still, I have to admit there are some highly processed goodies that I just can't give up!

I loved In Defense of Food. Food Rules is actually a condensed version of In Defense of Food, so if you like one, you'll like the other.

He doesn't ban processed foods entirely - I believe one of the last rules in Food Rules is that sometimes you should break the rules. I do have my handful of indulgences, but eating real food most of the time makes the cravings keep more at bay. I can really tell when I've indulged because they kick in again really quick.

[Mudpie]

Megan I hope you enjoy your performance tonite

Dagmar

[Megan1982]

Thanks all! Opening night went really well last night! I'll do it again tonight. I plan to spend my "free" day walking the dog and going to the gym (surprise, surprise, I'm such a gym rat). Maybe clean the house a bit as it's been suffering during my long hours at rehearsals. I did go back to bed after getting up early for the dog, and let myself sleep in. Ahhh. Glorious sleep.

Iris, is it this buffalo chicken dip? Ohhh.... that is food porn that doesn't belong here. It is good. I brought it to the Christmas party last year and will never make it for anything other than a large event, because I'll eat it all. I used reduced fat cream cheese & Ranch dressing to help lighten it a bit. Have fun w BF's uncle!

Pageta, it sounds like you do have a really good foundation of health and what works well for your body. Thinking about your struggles made me want to repeat a thread I've participated in in the past, to help us all appreciate what we're doing well for our health whether we feel like we're struggling or are staying OP. I posted it here. Hang in there, keep doing what is working and tweak the rest until it falls into line. You can do it!