Wow, yeah! I don't know how I missed that! Woopsie. I was 180.8 this morning and am afraid I may have caught the stomach bug.

Well, I am very happy to report that I lost 3.8lbs at my second WI! My teenage son said, "Wow Mom, that's great! But, I don't get how you're losing weight because it seems like you're always eating". I laughed because he's right. I started off with 36 points, and am now down to 35, but it sure does make for several small meals a day! Speaking of.......time to eat dinner!

I hope everyone has a great Sunday evening and a wonderful week of weight-loss ahead

Hi everyone

It is nice seeing everyone's updates and seeing that everyone is keeping pressing on

I need to recommitment to posting more often. When I am stressed/upset I tend to shy away and keep to myself. After eight weeks of maintenance I still haven't reached lifetime. Right now I am seven pounds below my goal weight. It has been a stressful time and ultimately I decided to re-evaluate my goal weight. It is unrealistic to think that I'll make myself regain seven pounds...I know myself and I know I'll grow used to eating a lot and it will be hard for me to stop gaining. So I settled for a lower goal weight; I only have to gain one pound. So I do feel better about that.

Anyway I am hoping that my emotions and my eating/exercise program straighten back out.

If you are so easily staying below goal weight then it sounds like a lower goal weight is appropriate for you. If you feel happy with what you are eating and aren't unduly restricting yourself and still find it easy to lose and want to lose then there is nothing wrong with setting a lower goal weight.

Once you are at a point where eating how you can eat for a lifetime keeps you at a certain weight then you have found your goal weight.

Koshka,

You make a really good point there. I have had a hard time shifting my thinking from eating in more of a weight loss mode to eating in more of a maintenance mode. Am I satisfied with the amount of food I am eating? I'm not entirely sure. For the moment think that my weight and food intake is sustainable and enough. But truthfully I'd like to be able to eat a lot more. It's hard to know what is a normal amount of food. I think what I'll do is evaluate as the week goes on how satisfied I am. Thanks for your suggestions and I'll let you know how things work out

Everything is coming together for me finally. I don't feel that I am dieting as I really am not. I know that I can easily continue this lifestyle comfortably as I am not craving anything and it has now become routine. I feel really great.

I was reading in another thread that WW is not set up to incorporate other woe, but I do not see that true at all. I see it as scaffolding a person into understanding healthy eating and then that person can make any additions that fit for them. For me, my additions are Intermittent Fasting (IF) and bulking up my meals Volumetrics style. Works just fin.

momo: Nice job!

Autumnjana: "I need to recommitment to posting more often. When I am stressed/upset I tend to shy away and keep to myself." I know what you mean as I do the same. I always feel so much better and stay on track better when I visit and participate.

I have a question as I am really new to following this program. I thought that the point of the WW process was to teach you healthy food/portion sizes so that when you hit maintenance you are already in that mindset. Is maintenance such a drastic change from the rest of the plan? This question is especially important to me due to how I have been feeling as of late (1st part of my post) and I don't want to be blind-sided later on!

Sending supportive vibes to you and all who need it today! ----------->

Wow, Mom, Awesome

Autumn, I know you have been struggling with this "goal weight" issue for a while now. Hope you get it figured it out soon. Listen to your WW Leader. If you are happy with your weight now, and feel that you can sustain it easily, make that your goal weight.

Archy, I think the short answer is that when you get to maintenance, you will have more points to "play with". So if you want two glasses of wine, you will have the points and still not gain, or maybe you want to have a lunch with more points than you usually have, etc.

Archy, what Serenity said. Maintenance gives you more points so you can learn your own balance.

I got my bicycle and even got to ride it yesterday, which was wonderful and a great stress reliever! I wish I could ride again today, but way too much work to do and little time.

Thank you all for your support

Yes, I have been struggling with my goal weight for quite some time. Until Koshka pointed out, I thought I was happy with my food intake.

Truth be told, I think what is bothering me is not the fact that im going down in weight so much...but the fact that I am over eating on the weekend and taking from my daily points during the week to "cover it" for a little while now. On the weekend...it's all eating at home by myself. It's not like I'm going out and enjoying food or anything. It is basically binge eating.

I am so stressed out today I could cry. I started a new role at work (promotion) that in of itself is lovely...but i have been from my old teammates and it has thrown my routines out the window in every respect. Now I have I go the gym at night with all the buff guys there instead of in my safe zone in the mornings with the friendly seniors and the young moms. I just felt more comfortable with that set.

I am also scared about my past eating disorders rearing their ugly heads...I have had a lot of change and a lot of loss in my life and the removal of all my familiar people and routines is extremely upsetting. I know it's irrational but it how I feel. So I think all the loss and uncertainty is making me go crazy on food (mostly Saturdays).

I am not sure what to do. I want to keep exercising daily because it is good for the mind and body. I'll have to face my fears I guess. But also I have to get a handle on my eating disorder behaviours and just commit to ending them. They may have started up recently, but they don't have to stick around.

I want to be the person I was 1-2 months ago. Lonely and insecure but still having a goal to reach for and still knowing who i was at least in terms of eating and weight loss and daily exercising.

To be clear, in maintenance mode there is no specific points that you eat at. You have to play around to get your balance. The playing around was a huge mental leap that was unsettling. I'm just so unhappy

Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can turn this around thought-wise?

Ahhh, I get it. Thanks all for explaining.

PUPMOM5: Enjoy your bike! May you have beautiful riding weather.

Autumnjana: It all makes more sense to me now and I can better see how difficult it can be. It's good to know what is waiting for me on the other side before I get there. I will also be watching for the replies to you. I'm so sorry that you are having such a rough time presently.

Autumn, for me, I think that talking about and journaling about these feelings helps me to feel less alone on my journey. Even if we're in weight loss, we're all trying to juggle to find that point-range where we're accomplishing our goals - it's an anxious business for everyone. Like Koshka said, maybe you should consider a lower goal weight where it will be slightly more challenging to stay at?

Also, maybe you could find a support group for people recovering from eating disorders - they might have insights or better tips for success from personal experience.

Autumn, I think you need to choose a goal weight first, and then stick with it. If you lose more weight, then you are not eating enough, maybe because you are exercising and you are burning points that way. That is not a bad thing, just have a plan of a nutritious snack to make up the points from exercise. Maybe a protein shake with some spinach or an apple thrown in, or greek yogurt with fruit. From what I'm reading, it feels like you feel "out of control". You have a lot of changes and that makes many people anxious. You can get a handle on it. Plan to keep the points up, the same way some of us plan to keep the points down. Count your activity points if they cause you to lose and make adjustments.

Yay, March is over, it's April, here's to a successful April for all!

I am going through one of the most stressful and emotionally turbulent times in my life at the moment. I let myself eat what I wanted, but I kept it controlled so that I didn't go out of bounds by measuring everything and keeping track periodically. I also didn't choose unhealthy food and I didn't over-carb. I only lost 1lb this WI, but I lost, not gained. This is a milestone for me because much of my weight gain was due to emotional eating, especially carbs, without any control over it. I'll take the win.