Heya,

I'm on the same plateau as you only I'm not so bothered as I started a bit higher and I've not been 118 since I was about 14! I don't mind if I don't lose much more weight but I would like to be more toned, I know 24% fat isn't great at 20.

Dill

Hi, my name is Julie too. I am married 41 years, have 3 grown children and 5 grandchildren ages 19 down to 1 1/2. I'm 61 (hence my name, Golden Girl) but feel 40. (except for an arthritic knee LOL) I do exercise 30 minutes either walking or the treadmill. I have a little fluff dog, a 3 1/2 male Bichon Frise, named Bo. He is the apple of our lives. Such a wonderful dog. I haven't read all the posts yet but will go back when I'm done.
I live near Seattle in Washington state. I have lost from 155 to 115 and have been on maintaince since May 2003. I lost my weight by low carbing. It was easy for me and have been maintaining quite well until after Christmas of 2004. I got through Christmas ok but after that I've been gaining and trying to get it back off. I only gained 5# but it's 5# I don't want. I try and stay between 120 and 115. I seem to be stable at 118. Low carb was just not working anymore. On my other bb people suggested I should count calories too. Hmmm I am not going to do both. I missed a few foods like popcorn. I was unable to keep the carbs low enough now so I decided to just go with the calories. I really hate the thought of writing everything down again but am willing to do anything to keep the lbs off. I am back to 120.5 and in a couple weeks will start once again on maintaining.

I've been eating out of control this past month. I think I was just binging on foods I've been staying away from. Although I think the sugar is not something I should indulge in as I've had GERD so bad lately and am convinced it's mainly from the sugar and eating too much. I have probably forgot a lot of info about myself but I'm sure with me being so gabby that you'll hear all about more of me in the future.

I have been looking for a support group for maintainers and can't believe my luck finding this forum. I think maintaining is the hardest for me. I have lost and regained 20-30# so many times I lost track. I seem to be able to lose it pretty well when I make up my mind to it but keeping it off is my problem. Doing low carb was easy but I think I hit a wall. I want whole grains and love my apples. Thank you for welcoming me and hope I too can contribut to this forum.

Welcome again and we're lookiing forward to hearing lots from you, Miss Gabby!

Poke around and check out some of our threads - we do a lot of talking here about maintenance and regain. We also have a book discussion group going in the Maintenance Library right now and this week we're discussing Thin For Life (Anne Fletcher), chapter 5 - all about stopping relapses and preventing regain. It sounds right up your alley and it doesn't matter if you haven't read the book.

We also have a weekly chat thread that starts new every Monday and it's a great place to jump in and let us get to know you.

Hello everyone I am a newbie to this thread . I am so impressed with everyone's stories, such strengh and determination. Congradualations to each and everyone of you.
I have recently reached my W.W. goal (for the second time) I had lost 30 pounds several years ago. I was able to keep off the weight for a year, then I had some personal problems and my life was falling apart and so did I. I stopped caring about myself, returned to my old eating habits, stoppped exercising and quit going to meetings. Before long I put all my weight back on. In fact to the pound. I weighted the same on my return that I has when I joined three and half years ago when I first joined. Now 7 months later I am back to goal.
For most of my adult life I have belonged to weight losss support groups. I have lost and gained the same 30-35 pounds many times in the last 35 years. I had belonged to T.O.P.S. for many years, in fact I was a leader for 2 years and was crowned regional Queen one year with a 38 pound loss.
This time I want to keep off this weight. I think along the way I have finallly got it. This can not be a diet but a lifesytle. One that I must want BADLY!!!
I must continue to care and look after myself, choice food wisely and continue to exercise daily. I also know that I feel so much better when I am making good food choices and when I am sticking to my fitness routine.
Thank you for listening. You are all an inspiration for me. Any and all advice suggestions will be appreciated as I continue on my journey.

Welcome Honeyjoe! Congratulations on getting back to goal. It doesn’t sound like you need too much advice about maintenance since you’ve got the basics figured out already: just keep up the healthy eating and exercise that worked to lose the weight AND it’s got to be a lifestyle. That’s it in a nutshell for all of us!

We have a book discussion going in the Maintenance Library that you might want to check out – we’re talking about Thin For Life by Anne Fletcher. This week’s topic is how to keep lapses from turning into relapses and how to prevent the dread weight regain. It’s probably the Number One thing we maintainers worry about and your input would be valued!

Feel free to jump into any threads or start a new one with questions or concerns. We’re glad you found us and look forward to hearing more from you!

Hello Fellow Maintainers!

I really can't express how very thrilled and relieved I am to have found this site in general and this Maintenance area in particular!

Since I became a lifetime member at Weight Watchers in January of 2004, I've been adrift in the ocean of maintaining. Now, here is my life preserver! Finally, the information and support I've been searching for during this very long year!

My middle name is Cebelle (I used it as it is less common, therefore not taken as a user name )

I was always very skinny until I went to college. They had food there - lots of it - and they never tried to control my intake like my mom had! (Bless her - she was trying to help me, but never let me learn to help myself...)

I didn't become truly obese until several years after my son was born. A combination of emotional eating/stress, depression and undiagnosed hypothyroidism led me to my highest weight. I don't know for sure what the very highest was, but when I joined WW it was 186.

The program was a great fit for me - just enough structure along with freedom to eat food I liked. Then I made lifetime and felt lost. I still weigh in every month, and I've only (officially) gained 3 pounds above my lowest weight. But between weigh-ins, I'm up and down like you wouldn't believe!

Then I had surgery on December 30. Nothing serious - laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Since then, I've been slower than I should have been at getting back on track. Even though the recovery time is short, it hurt to exercise - at least anything that involved my abdominal muscles or any impact. Besides that, I felt the need to test my ability to digest. I would eat more and more fat, just to see if I could tolerate it! ! I could. And by then, I was used to eating a cruddy diet again. So, I'm trying to get back on track and I just feel so lucky to have found you all! !

I don't always get online regularly, but when I do I will come here first to read, read, read!

Cebelle ( who usually goes by Hannah )

Hi Cebelle! I also had my gall bladder removed (about a year ago) and rediscovered the "joy" of eating fatty foods. My weight loss has been slow since (as in, about 30 lbs during the entire year).

I've been hanging around the Maintainers and LWL forums for a while, posting off and on (more "off" than "on"), but the only intro I ever posted was in a weekly thread back in May (I think). So here's my introduction:

I'm 27 years old, single, and working as a technical writer. I was always "solid" as a child, but quite athletic, up until high school. I gradually got chubbier in high school, maintained (for the most part) through my undergrad college years, then shot up 10-15 lbs/year as a grad student. I ended up leaving my school (for many reasons) without completing my doctorate in environmental engineering.

I always recognized that I was overweight, but I fooled myself into thinking it wasn't that bad - mainly because I didn't want to change my habits. I occasionally played with the idea of dieting and exercise, but I never really did it.

Then, mid-July 2003 (I don't know the exact date, but I might be able to track it down), something clicked. I was looking at physical requirements for joining the Army because my brother was considering it, and I thought I might be interested as well. I was a little taken aback by how much weight I'd have to lose before the Army would even accept me. Suddenly I had a goal - to get fit enough that, if I wanted to join the Army, I could. I started running (jogging and walking, really), joined Curves, and cut back on what I was eating.

I'm not sure that I truly thought I could do it, but I wanted to do something with the motivation while I had it. When I saw that it was actually working - I lost about 7 lbs in the first two weeks - I was confident that I really could lose weight. I added weightlifting somewhere along the way, and it was at that point that I started to look a lot better.

Since I started, there have been a few bumps in the road. During the Fall of 2003, I started having severe abdominal pain, and after a few trips to the ER, they finally discovered it was gallstones. As I mentioned above, I had my gall bladder removed - on Christmas Eve. Other than that, the only problem has been consistency; some weeks/months I'm "into" fitness and eating healthy, but some I'm not. I'm still not at goal, but (like Ilene says ) I consider myself a maintainer in training.

I'm a chronic lurker, so if you don't "see" me much, I'm still probably here. I'll try to contribute occasionally, though, since I've gotten so much from reading what y'all have written.

I'm going to paste this in the LWL intro thread as well. See ya around!

hi, i've been around the forum for a little while now but haven't been in the maintainers forum yet. while i would like to lose 10 more pounds, I am not actively trying. I am runningand working out for sport and counting calories for maintenance, and am hoping that the last few pounds will comeoff naturally over time.

I am 23 years old. at my heaviest i weighed 215 pounds (i'm 5'8'') about two years ago i dropped down to 150 pounds through working out and food journalling and have been at this weight for 2 years.

i ride and race bikes, i have just really gotten into running as a sport and am training for a marathon. thats about all. just wanted to say hey.

Welcome Cebelle and hiya Laura and JCH ! Old friends, new friends - we're happy to have all of you here with us.

I have been doing WW's off and on since my mom introduced me to it at age 16. I'm now 46. I was at gaol weight in 1992 for about one year. I stayed there only as long as I over exercised, i.e. 3 hours per day. Needless to say this did not last. I re-joined WW in January 2000 and lost 80 pounds in about 14 months. Since then I have been gaining and losing the samme 7 pounds. I've upped my goal weight and hope to get there in 2005.

Hi everyone, I just found this forum a couple of days ago and boy am I glad to find a good maintaince board!!

My name is Cory, I'm 32 and a SAHM to 3 kids dd 7yr, dd 5yr, and ds 21 months. I've been married to dh for 12 1/2 years now. As a kid I was never overweight, I was always the tiny one. I am 5'1" and in high school never weighed above 100 lbs.

Dh and I got married the summer after my first year in college, I was 5 days away from turning 20. He ate a LOT and boy I did my best to keep up! By the time I got pg with dd#1 I was about 70 lbs overweight. I did manage to keep my weight gain below 20 lbs with both girls. In 2/01, when dd#2 was 20 months, I had an epiphany. I realized that *I* was worth more than any cookie or chocolate out there! On 3/26/01 I started WW At Home and made my goal on 2/18/02. I was a frequent visiter to the BCB forums and only went off program 3 times while losing.

I maintained for 7 months with no problems whatsoever. Then in 9/03 I got pg with ds. I counted points throughout pg with my ob's blessing and kept my weight gain to 25 lbs. I was back at goal the day he turned 3 months.

I look forward to getting to know everyone here!
Cory

Hi Everyone- this board is great!! Have been looking for an inspirational maintainers board.

I have lost 45 lbs since Summer 2003, I reached my goal of 130 lbs in Summer 2004 and have maintained since then. My weight gain was due to 1) getting comfortable in a relationship 2) University and all the drinking and bad eating that happens there!!

Having never set foot in a gym before I am now an excercise nut, I love the way it makes me feel and look, I do cardio and weights 3 times a week and Pilates 3 times also. I also walk EVERYWHERE, FAST

I have cut down on exercise due to obsessions that started rearing their ugly heads so I'm happy now and still maintaining and that's what's important to me.

Plus, I'm 23, have been married for almost 3 years
and am hoping to start a family soon. I work with children with learning difficulties and love my job!!

So that's me, lovely to meet you all...

Suzi x

Hi Suzi! Glad you found us here.

We have a weekly chat thread that we'd love to have you join in on. Also, poke around our old threads and feel free to post about anything that interests you.

And congratulations on your weight loss!

Tell us about yourself!
Is this the first time or one of many times that you've tried to lose weight?

i was 100 when i got married in 1998, and reached my highest weight in 2004 at 154.

i have tried to lose weight many times throughout the past 6 years. i succeeded twice.

once in 2001 i lost 25 pounds. then i got depressed and gained it all back + an extra 15 pounds.

second, in november 2004 - april 10th, 2005 i lost 37 pounds.

then i got pregnant, so my diet stopped. i ended up miscarrying so now i am working to get off the remaining 4 pounds to get back to where i was pre-pregnancy.

Are you where you want to be?

i am, but i would be happier at 115. i said during my last diet that as long as i stayed below 120 during maintenance i would be happy. and i'm 119 now, so i'm alright.

How has life changed for you since you've lost the weight?

hubby likes my body more
i feel better about myself
i can wear cutsie clothes again
i no longer have high blood pressure and absolutely no heartburn either

If you're maintaining, what's that like for you?

maintaining isn't too hard for me. i got used to my eating habits and knowing howmany calories i can eat daily. so i just count them in my head and know if i've overeaten or not...which i rarely do.

Do you exercise regularly?

i just had a d&c last week to remove all the tissue from the pregnancy , so i just started biking again this weekend. hubby and i and a group of friends aggressively mountain bike in the summer 2-3 days a week. i am looking forward to toning up again. in the winter we snowborad.

Now that you're near or at your goal, what are your concerns?

that i will get depressed again and want to eat. but i am doing alright. i have learned many coping mechanisms over the years and i do know that eating is not the way to go. despite this being my second pregnancy loss in a year, i am strong........believe it or not. i want to look good and feel better physically and mentally, so i know maintaining my weight loss will help me with that.

And anything else that you might want to share with us!

no, that's about all. i explained my story in the introductions page.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently 22, single, no kids or pets, working as a marine research assistant on the Gulf Coast/panhandle of Florida. I’ve lived here for a year, where I moved after I graduated from college in Connecticut. I grew up in Pennsylvania, where my parents still live about an hour NE of Philadelphia. I was always a chubby kid, but never obese until my teenage years. Both of my parents, my older sis, and extended family have always had weight problems, but I was never pressured to lose weight.

Around age 11 I really started packing on the weight, and by 15 I hit 200 pounds at 5’5” and with a medium frame. I played sports 5 days a week after school, but outside of that I wasn’t physically active, ate a lot of junk, and ate a lot, period. I was also under a lot of academic pressure. Both of my parents are teachers at the middle & high school that I went to, and their daughters had to get perfect grades. I spent all of my “free” time studying, staying up however late I had to in order to get my work done, rarely going out with friends, and the stress definitely took a toll on my body. I should qualify that my parents certainly didn’t physically force me to stay in and study so much, and would have been upset if they realized how sleep deprived I was. My dad had lost quite a bit of weight, and kept it off, two years prior when the doctor told him that at 42 he was headed for early heart disease like the rest of his family. My mom and several friends had just had a lot of success with Weight Watchers, and disgusted with my ever-increasing weight I tried it. At age 15 I lost 35 lbs (putting me at 165), and settled in at 170. I still wasn’t happy with my weight, but the academic pressure continued and I just couldn’t find the time to put more effort into weight loss.

For my first two years of college I maintained between 170-175 without conscious effort, studying hard in school and not working out. I spent my junior year studying marine bio abroad, which was wonderful but I came back at 182 pounds. I blame the Australian beer. Just kidding, I know it was my own fault! I “got serious” again, and lost 20 pounds using the WW program again. I maintained a steady weight of 163 my senior year and balanced my eating, workouts, and academic life much better. After graduation in spring 2004 I moved the 1000 miles away from my family to Fla. I started doing the WW eating plan again and then switched to counting calories and looking at my overall protein/fat/carb intake. I also started running last winter, and strength train also. In March 2005 I decided that at 135, wearing a size 4-8, I was happy where I was and this was a maintainable adult weight for me.

I’m still getting used to what I can and can’t do on maintenance, and am terrified of regaining. I’ve found that eating about 1700-1800 cal/day, working out 5-6 days a week, and religiously keeping a food journal is what’s necessary to keep myself steady. So much has changed, emotionally and physically. Since I do a lot of field work in the water I often wear my bathing suit at work, and finally feel confident when I’m doing it. I do have more confidence in myself, but still sometimes fall into the trap of thinking of myself as the fat, ugly girl. My self-esteem is higher than it used to be, but not always. For example I’ve never really dated and find it impossible to approach men romantically. I’ve become a completely different person over the past 7 years of weight loss, but it’s so hard for me to distinguish what’s from the weight loss and what’s just from growing up. I’ve stabilized the mood swings that I used to have get from blood sugar highs and lows, and have hopefully headed off a lot of the health problems that run in my family. My friends and co-workers in Fla. have never had weight problems and only saw the last bit of my weight loss. They kind of laugh when I bring my carrots and celery to work every day and politely refuse the doughnuts, but they respect my healthy habits. My mom has regained some weight, and my sis has been unsuccessful at her attempts to lose, so I feel guilty about talking to either one of them about my struggles in maintaining. I’m glad that after lurking about for a while I’ve decided to join in here, with people who can really relate to me and offer me advice. I hope I can contribute too .

~Megan