Quote:
Originally Posted by Meg
That's the thing, Susan -- the studies talking about regain don't focus on people who have lost down to a normal BMI. They look at people who have lost any amount of weight and whether they can keep it off. And the statistics are still dismal. Even the NWCR doesn't ask for someone to be at a normal weight to join. Their only requirement is that you've lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for at least a year.
I think this is a big part of the problem. We expect perfection. What is success? A bikini body? A "normal" BMI? Or is it a 10% reduction in cholesterol levels? A heart attack that is delayed 10 years? Being able to play with your children? Somebody who lost 100 lbs, but gained 50 back and settled in there, and is therefore still 50 lbs down? We fall prey to the tyranny of the goal weight. We didn't achieve perfection, even self-defined perfection, or drifted away from it, so why bother?
I don't have a "normal" BMI. I'm not even at the lowest weight I ever got to, i.e. I regained some weight. Too damn bad. I can do things I never dreamed I would do a decade ago. I lost more than 100 pounds and kept it off for 5 years, and if that isn't good enough for somebody they are welcome to kiss my well-endowed behind.
I'm not actually trying to be confrontational here, especially to Meg (even though I shameless quoted her post) because I know she gets it. I'm mad as **** about discrepancy between real success in terms of health and lifestyle, and the push of our culture that says I must be thin to be happy and successful, and if I don't have a BMI of 22 with 17% body fat, well then I need not apply. Just give up now, and please pass the Doritos. Sigh.
The people I know in real life who have been successful with maintaining weight loss in the long term have made modest, sustainable changes to their lives. They never got to a goal weight which would put them in a 'thin' category, but their health and quality of life are measurably better than before. And they are smart enough to know that life is not all or nothing, and that better is better, and, yes, hard-headed enough to be confident in themselves in the face of society's pressure. SusanB's friend is the perfect example of the undocumented success that is out there if we look for it. And no, none of the successful people I know are in the NWCR either.
OK, off the soapbox.
I actually don't think of myself as a maintainer--weight is never ever static. I go up and down, sometimes substantially, as the facts of my life change, as this pregnancy so clearly illustrates. But I will never be morbidly obese again, and to make sure that happens I have to actively manage my weight.
Speaking for nobody but myself, here's why I think I'm successful at achieving my own goals:
- I think of weight loss in terms of months and years (and sometimes decades) instead of days and weeks.
- I've given up an all or nothing approach to weight loss I had when I was younger.
- My goals are now about what I can do, rather than what the number on the scale says.
- I exercise consistently.
- I make more good food choices than bad ones.
- I'm (usually) willing to sacrifice immediate gratification for a longer term plan.
Anne