Welcome Catharus! What a great story! You said that you're 'hoping to be able to add something insightful to this forum from time to time' - I think you just did. We're glad you found us and hope you can join in as often as possible.

Hi All,

I've really learned a lot reading though the threads here. I gain a lot of re-assurance knowing others have lost weight and have the same fears and same "fat feeling" as I do. Thought it was time for me to put up my story, as much for myself as for others. Sorry, it starts to babble at the end, but I thought I'd leave it in in case others can relate.

I always thought I was heavy as a kid, though I probably wasn't. I just wasn't athletic, always picked last on teams, etc. I preferred to read books, and also didn't get glasses until 6th grade, which might explain my sports difficulties. I remember being 140 pounds my sophmore year of high school, at 5'4". Soon after that, I just.... wasn't hungry. For about a year I ate less. Not a particular diet, but I dropped down to 117 pounds and a size 8. That lasted until I started college, and realized that I was an adult and could eat whatever I wanted. At home, my Mom was always on and off Weight Watchers, and my Dad went to the gym regularly and ate his Oatmeal for breakfast. I left this perfect world of skim milk and egg white omelettes with canadian bacon, and fresh fruit always available, to a world of lucky charms and soft serve icecream. My weight started to cycle: I'd gain weight during the school year, when food was abundant and I was sedentary - a campus 3 blocks long doesn't make for a lot of walking. In the summers I would work 2 jobs, with barely a break in between, and no break at work for a meal so I lived on 2 cheese bagels and a plum every day, every summer for 3 years, and the weight would slip off. I couldn't tell you what I weighed, but I think I was an 8 or 10 going into every school year, and a 10 or 12 by the end. I wasn't really worried about my weight, didn't have a scale, it just sort of happened.

When I left college for "the real world" in 1999 I had that "I am an adult, I can eat what I want" philosophy ingrained. Yes, they taught nutrition and exercise at my college, it was a required freshman class. No, it didn't kick in until last year. 1999-2003 my menu was filled with Banquet Pot Pies, Lunchables, Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, and Pringles. And a lot of healthier stuff, like bean soup. I hadn't forgotten the good healthy food my parents made for me, it was just outshined by slick pre-packaged foods. We had free pop (soda) at work, and a can of Cherry Coke a day adds up. I was up to 172 pounds (2 pounds under the "obese" rating). Work got rid of the free pop and at my next annual physical I was down to 162. In the summer of 2002 I was single, and dropped a lot of weight; again without thinking about it. I was probably back to a size 12. How did I do it this time? I was no longer dating someone long distance, so I had time for ME on the evenings and weekends. I saw friends, I enjoyed life, didn't go to bars and restaurants as much. Oh, and I instituted a "no eating after 8" rule, because that was when I ate unhealthy snackies.

Then I started another long distance romance, and travelled a lot, and ate good food when we were together, and generally enjoyed life. I moved from Michigan to Massachusetts, and 2 doors down from a Dairy Queen, and started to telecommute. You can see this is a recipe for disaster. I realized that I couldn't keep eating DQ Blizzards 2-3x/week and not moving more than 100 feet/day. I started walking for a half hour on lunch, a mile and a half. Not exactly Extreme Cario, but it got me off my duff. After 3 months I had lost 7 pounds, and realized that I could DO SOMETHING about feeling fat. I tried the "special K challenge" (awful marketing ploy!) and maybe a couple other things, but just felt deprived. My friend Laura had done Weight Watchers on her own (instead of attending meetings) and loved it, and did very well. I finally broke down and got the info from her in December of 2003. I don't think I actually started until February, but I can't find my first journal. When I started working my first outside-the-home job in Massachusetts at the end of February I was at 155 pounds, down 9 from my start. I just wanted to get out of the "overweight" range into a "healthy weight" BMI of 24, which is 140 pounds. I gave away all my old size 8 and 10 clothes that I hadn't worn in 5 years and didn't want to move again. But as I progressed, the goal kept shifting. I made 140, and stuck there for a couple of months, while trying to get down to 134 - according to Weight Watchers that's the max ideal weight for someone 25 years old and 5'4", and I was 25 when I started the journey. I made it in time for my brother's wedding in September, and just days before I officially joined Weight Watchers at work in order to get the info on the new Core Plan. I now weigh 5 pounds less, because in order to earn lifetime status you have to lose at least 5 pounds. I'm 3 weigh-ins into maintenance, and at 6 weeks (if I'm no more than 2 pounds over goal) I'll earn Lifetime status. Surprisingly, at 132 pounds I'm a size 6, both smaller and heavier than I was in high school. Yay muscles!

I've been reading about maintenance since June, when I hit 140. It sounds hard. And scary. I've read "Thin for Life", and have been reading through the Skinny Daily Post archives. Between those, and the forums here, I've learned that Maintenance involves a lot of exercise, and dedication to monitoring your weight, and a regular eating routine, and no rewarding thrill of pounds lost. Sorry to be a sad sack, I'm really a lot more chipper in person & would definitely recommend Weight Watchers to anyone. After a year of it, I don't really want to lift weights and do yoga and use the elliptical anymore. I don't want to track my food. I've put in my time! I've paid my dues! I want to be free to eat whatever! *sigh* I am a little kid who thought it would be great to be a grown up because you could do whatever you want, and am slowly learning that adults have to be responsible too. I want to live a long, healthy life. I enjoy my new found strength and flexibility. I really enjoy feeling sexy, instead of frumpy. Yes, there's still the "phantom fat" that only I see, but really, for me, it goes away when I look in a full length mirror, naked, and see how all that hard work as paid off, how great I look. When I see the truth, instead of the spell my mind casts as I look down at my thighs.

Right now I am testing my limits, seeing where I have leeway, how much can I eat before I gain, how little exercise do I really need? I think my maintenance motivation will come back, that I'll rechannel my competitiveness from the scale to the weights, to bench more, squat more, have more defined triceps. I went to the gym this morning, then showered, and was fascinated and slightly horrified to see my pumped up pecs giving shape and size to my chest, and then my breasts on top of that. "Two part boobies!" I'd say the hours at the gym are working, and hopefully someday that will mean I can eat more than 1500 calories (29 points) a day to maintain. I miss those Dairy Queen Blizzards.

-Amy

Hi Amy
Welcome to Maintainers It sounds like you've learned a lot on your journey, but the journey isn't over! Don't worry, you CAN have a small Blizzard (they are one of my weaknesses, too) sometimes, but as you've read and discovered on your own, each choice has a price and a pay-off.

Uh-oh. That's the biggest lesson we all have learned. You have to learn to love the process because you didn't magically become someone else by dropping fat

Good! You KNOW how- you got strong by using your body and that's how you'll keep it strong, healthy and sexy

Glad to see you here.

Mel

Hi all. I’ve been reading all of the Maintainers threads since Day One, but I usually post over at Ladies Who Lift. Lately, however, I’ve been bedeviled by maintenance issues so I thought I’d hang my hat over here for awhile.

My name is Robin, but since there are a number of Robins, I often use my sign-on name, Airegrrl. My husband and I have only furkids -- Airedale terriers -- hence the name.

Like many of you, I’ve battled my weight for most of my life. Up down; up down; up down. Chubby as a child, chunky as a teen and a yo-yo as a college student (in more ways than one) . Although I was convinced that I was obese in high school, I was stunned not too long ago to look at some old pictures and discover that while I was no Twiggy, neither was I obese. Yet another example of poor body image.

It was after college that I began to encounter the worst of my problems, which should have come as no surprise seeing as how I was living on cigarettes, coffee and junk food. Fast forward to my 30s when, post-divorce, I packed on 50 extra pounds and began a vicious cycle of losing and regaining those same pounds over and over again.

The ensuing 25 years (I’m 56 now) brought about a number of changes: ditched the cigarettes and husband No. 1. Remarried, this time to a wonderful fellow. And, thanks to WW, finally lost the 50 pounds, although I continued to swing up and down by 12-15 pounds annually.

I’m no athlete, but I’ve lifted weights off and on for nearly 30 years. However, it wasn’t until I discovered 3FC 15 months ago that I realized I was lifting about as ineffectively as possible. Sigh. Too many light weights, no real training schedule, thus not much progress. I’ve learned a lot at LWL, which has been a source of inspiration, comfort, motivation and giggles. My progress, however, has been impeded by a series of injuries, aches and pains, brought about by age, fibromyalgia, arthritis and sciatica. As a high-energy, fast-moving humanoid, I find these conditions perplexing, confounding and irritating, but I can’t seem to find a strategy to effectively cope with them. I *have* taken up yoga, which has been a real discovery. It makes me feel good; it makes me feel balanced; and it makes me wonderfully aware of the unity of body, mind and spirit. I hope to be practicing for many years to come.

When I was tipping the scales at 185, I believed that all would be right in my world if I weighed 140-142. Well, that’s what I usually weigh these days, and all is not right. First off, my weight is oozing up again, and I’m not very fit and I’m not very strong. Although I’ve (blessedly) learned to eat clean – and manage to do so a fair amount of the time, which is why my weight is oozing up instead of skyrocketing – I just don’t have this maintenance thing totally wired yet. Very annoying, given the time I’ve had in which to practice. As Meg said in one of her typically clairvoyant posts: Losing weight changes your body, not your head. I still have head work. A lot of head work.

So, here I am. It’s a pleasure to meet those of you I haven’t met before, and to see so many familiar faces. Let the good times roll!

ROBIN!!!! I've been wondering where you've been hiding. Welcome back!

Oh I feel for you! As a similarly challenged humanoid, all I can come up with is that you just have to keep coping. Use whatever parts work on any given day, and be grateful for those days when they all seem to work together

Mel

You know, it's funny Mel. I find these assorted aches and pains downright infuriating. I find myself getting mad at them because they keep me from doing the things I need to do to maintain my weight. And then, I must also admit that I'm going through what Amy's describing: I've put in my time; I've paid my dues. I don't wanna fight it any more. These two things together are making me nuts. But let's face it: it's life. Ya gotta play the cards you're dealt. And all in all, I must say that I am extremely fortunate, and there's no sense in feeling sorry for myself. So, onward and upward.

Ohhh yeahhhh ... don't we all feel that way? But you're right - what's the alternative, after all? Robin, old friend, it's wonderful to have you join us here in Maintainers. You've been missed around here.

Welcome, Amy! What a great story! Yay, muscles indeed! - I agree on shifting the focus from scale numbers (since those aren't really going to change any longer) to gym numbers and achievements. For me, being in the gym every day keeps me in touch with WHY I'm working hard to maintain my weight: energy, feeling strong, and having a body that works (most of the time )! Isn't it such an amazing thing to be working WITH our bodies instead of feeling like they're the enemy? We're glad you're here - jump in and post away!

I've been reading posts here since before I reached my goal and decided to finally introduce myself.

As a teenager, I was considered painfully thin at 5'7" and 113 pounds. I ate non-stop, and never gained an ounce. Going back and counting now, I'd have to guess that I packed away at least 4-5000 calories a day, eating 6 square meals a day and snacking regularly. I must have had some supercharged metabolism then! ( wonder where it went?!)

I married early, right out of high school and started my family within a couple of years. I gained little with my first daughter and quickly dropped to somewhere below 120. It was my 2nd pregancy that got me. I gained a lot of weight when I was pregnant with my 2nd daughter at the age of 20 and I've been yo-yo-ing up and down but mostly up ever since.

Two times before, I've managed to reach my WW lifetime goal weight of 140 but each time, I fell back into old habits and all my losses came back and brought friends!

This time around at the age of 44, I'm determined that I will stay at a healthy weight from now on. I've only been maintaining a month or so and I'm still losing a little but much slower than before. I'm struggling with how to stabilize my weight and still keep up my brand new, healthy life style.

For the first time in my life, I am exercising regularly. (my idea of exercise used to be a good brisk sit!) I'm eating healthier with a happy balance of 'good' carbs and proteins. I have no problem eating all of my fruits and veggies every day (there used to be lots of days where I didn't eat any, unless you count french fries, or the toppings on my burger!). I drink lots of water (never did that before, i used to mainline coffee ) I never eat fast food (I used to live on drive-thru). I've gone from a tight size 18 down to a comfortable size 8 and even my old shoes are too big. And I've got to get to a jewelry store before I lose my rings!

Because of all the exercise I guess, I'm a full size smaller than I was a few years ago when I weighed the same and people are starting to look at me and say things like: "Hey, you're looking really good, but I sure hope you're finished losing weight. Anymore and you'll be too thin". So I'm lurking on this forum, still trying to figure out this maintenance thing, hopefully before I lose much more weight.

ROFL That had me laughing out loud. That used to be my idea of exercise as well. Congratulations on reaching your goal!

I loved the "brisk sit", too

Welcome, Barb. Don't lurk, join on in! It must have been tough going from super-metabolism to "normal". Congratulations on your journey and lookin' good!

Mel

Welcome, Barb! Another 'brisk sitter' here! Stick around with us - we're all trying to figure out this maintenance thing together.

BTW, can you tell us about your user name? Do you really talk to flowers?

Hi -- here's my brief story. I've always been active and liked to eat "healthy, " but like many I had little idea of the nutritional or calorie content of food. I figured as long as it was home cooked and included natural ingredients, I would stay at a healthy weight. Before losing weight, I spent a lot of time preparing exotic meals. I loved to bake, and never met a stick of butter that I didn't like. After 15 years of marriage my weight had slowly crept up. I'm 5'2", and I was starting to look pretty jolly at 130.

My husband is in the reserves and was deployed to Kuwait. Due to a combination of worry and just learning how to live alone, I unintentionally lost 20 lbs. I liked the result, but didn't really lose the weight in the best way. I often just did not eat or would subsist on mocha lattes. I realized that this would not be sustainable when my husband returned, and I worried that I had really slowed down my metabolism. My hubby got back safe and sound in January '04. Since then I have struggled to keep my weight at its new level and to learn about maintenance.

This site is a godsend. There is so little information on maintaining weight loss. Two lessons I have learned: (1) I cannot just have one big cheat meal. My body thinks I am "refeeding," and gears up for days of overindulgence. After a meal where I overdo it, I will be ravenously hungry for the next 2 to 3 days; (2) balancing my carbs, fat, and protein in the Zone fashion keep the hungries at bay and lets me eat a pretty big volume of food. I've been working with the Zone plan the last four months and have felt much less deprived and had better energy.

Maintaining is hard. I look forward to learning from all of you and to helping others in the future!

Welcome, Laura Leigh! We're glad you found us here! We're all figuring out maintenance together so look forward to your input too.

That hunger over the next few days happens to me too! That's a great way to describe the problem (for some of us) with cheat meals and one of the reasons I do a lot better in my little day-in, day-out rut.

Good to hear the Zone plan has been working so well for you! I met Barry Sears last month and was very impressed with his research and thoughts on dieting. Fascinating guy and super-smart. I was surprised to discover that I've been pretty much eating the Zone way without even realizing it. He has a new Zone book - The Anti-Inflammation Zone - coming out on January 1 that I plan to read and you might be interested in.

Jump into posting and feel free to start a thread on anything that you've been wondering about or that interests you. We're all looking forward to getting to know you.

I've been reading your posts for a few weeks now and it's been a great inspiration to me. I reached my goal about 2 months ago and it was almost a letdown because I didn't know what to do once I got there/here. There are plenty of sites that will tell you how to lose weight, but figuring out how to keep it off seems to be a guarded secret. :-)

A little about myself. My name is Brenda and I'm 37. Married, with 2 kids. I was the skinny kid with glasses forever. In college I lived near campus so I walked miles every day to/from class and up/down stairs. When I graduated I got an office job, finally had money to spend on more than the basics to eat and could afford fast food whenever I wanted. Mysteriously I gained about 30# in a short time. I weighed more than dh when we met, but together we managed to add to our collective girth(s?).

Two years ago he weighed about 220 and I about 193. His sister was diagnosed with brain cancer and died in a short amount of time. I had also just taken a part time job at a health club's child care center (spending $$, kids can come along and a free membership). It was just good timing --realizing you're not immortal and having some tools at your disposal to preserve yourself a little longer. Dh decided to try Atkins while I was sure he was nuts and did WW myself. The weight poured off of him, while I struggled to lose 10# over about 6 months. This included going to the gym and doing a full body workout plus cardio about 3x a week.

Sept 2003 I went to my annual and the CNP told me I should continue doing WW & working out because I needed to lose more weight. At that point I decided to try Atkins and, after a long weekend in St Louis (fried ravioli -- ahhh...) started the next morning. Dh was very supportive. He even went back to an induction style diet nights & weekends (got his other foods in at work) for the first several months so I didn't have to look at him eating something I'd die to taste. Sometimes it was slow and sometimes it was slower, but by early Oct 2004 I was down to 134 -- a pound lower than my goal weight of 135.

At that time I decided to start adding back fruits and whole grains. Now I try not to limit myself on fruits & veggies and I'm definately more of a low calorie (and by default low fat) eater. I've managed to lose another 3# more or less and sit at around 131-132 most mornings. Yep, I'm still a slave to the scale! :-) This is the first year that our kids have been involved in sports at school and dance, etc. so we're finding it harder to make it to the gym as often as we used to but we still use our indoor bike and get there a few times during the week.

I still feel fairly obsessive in my counting. First it was points, then carbs and now calories. I'm trying to let go a little bit and trust my instincts but that losing control is a little scary. I've been promising myself that 2005 will be more loose and trusting -- I want to make it through the holidays first because I think this is a time that would be easier to go crazy.

I've thought about working off a few more pounds in 2005, but I'm not sure yet. We'll see how it goes and if I'm feeling deprived or thriving. My current BMI is 21, so I'm at a good spot. I think it's just being curious about what I could do/look like and I like the idea of having a buffer zone.

So that's the story... Thanks for providing a place where maintenance is the norm. I've looked on other sites and when people ask a maintenance type question they're derided by those with plenty left to lose rather than helped.

Brenda

Hello Everyone-
I have been lurking about a week and thought I'd introduce myself. I am a 23 year old young woman who has been maintaining a large weight loss for about seven months now. My top weight was 190 something when I was seventeen (I am 5''6''). I now weigh 140-145. I have lost tons of weight before, but never maintained more than 1.5 years. I need support from people who want to make their lives about more than food and weight loss.l I want to really live a life free of food and weight obsession. I want to go out and be of service to this world.
Thanks for listening!
courageousincolorado