this is why im maintaining at 215 lbs!!! I'm terrified of gaining it back. (ok I could be more terrified. at this point I think I've got it under control... but I really really really really dont want to get cocky and jinx myself)

I would just take it as more motivation once you reach goal, not to let your old bad habits come back. Always be a conscious eater & stay active. :)

Maybe we pin all our hopes on life being perfect when we are slim and the reality is that being the right weight puts an end to some misery, health problems, self image issues etc but it isn't a magic wand. I put some of my weight back on after a bereavement and turned to food - my faithful friend - to get me through it. (Some faithful friend eh!!!) I know that I have to find different ways of dealing with stress or bad days etc without opening the biscuit barrell.

I am a "lost and found-er" too....lost 70 lbs on a liquid diet and gained it all back when life got tough.

Our addiction to food is not like any other addiction. We have to eat to live. We cannot NOT eat. So that means we have to be on our toes 24/7/365.

We have to say "thanks, but no" to those well meaning people that give us food as gifts or rewards.

We have to remember that "free food" at the office is NEVER free--we always pay a price.

We have to choose the best things to go in our bodies, not the most convenient.

We have to do what's BEST instead of what's EASIEST.

We have to put ourselves first. It's the only way.

I work as the Manager of the Phone Center of a Pizza Co here in Seattle. Everyday they bring up 7-8 pizzas for the crew (and I often enter the order). So I fully agree with what is being said about making choices, and about the fact that we do have to eat being tough, as everyday I have to bring food in and make the choice not to eat pizza, and it can be very hard.

I do make a salad with the toppings sometimes--but I eat low carb so it's the crust that I have to avoid and tastes so good.!!

I do also think that for many of us we lose the weight, get excited about our new figures and that keeps us for awhile, but then the problems in our lives and frustrations rear up, or life in general, and we slip back into bad habits. It isn't something we're even all aware of, which is why it is so sinister, and why talking about it and preparing for it will make us stronger and give us the tools to really be overcomers this time around.

I think we can change those statistics if we help each other!

That must have been very discouraging to see your friend regain her weight Trazey. You are doing so well; don't let it scare you.

Thanks for sharing that with us....that is courageous.

Wow. I cant believe your friend snickered. Thats just.. wow.. wrong. Has she ever lost a large amt of weight? Does she know what a battle it is? I surely would NEVER wish that on anyone.

Gaining the weight back is a fear of mine as well. Its so easy to do. Like others said.. when u relax.. it starts coming back on. I know.. Ive had it happen.

Well I had my friend over last night, and we had a great conversation. She’s like me in a lot of ways, very matter-of-fact and pulled no punches. She lost 100+ pounds “the right way” for sure, reduced calories and increased her exercise every single day for about a year and steadily lost 10 ish pounds a month. She said she never once fell off the wagon during that year, except for a glass of champagne to toast at a wedding! My jaw hit the ground, a whole year without a slipup! Weirdly tho, she said that was her mistake?!? That she never learned HOW to deal with a slipup or what triggered it, she never learned how to ‘negotiate’ calories, as in a big blow out on the weekend equals a pretty dismal eating work-week, etc. She said it wasn’t one big traumatic event that sent her scrambling, it was one or two screw ups because she felt “finished” dieting, and not knowing how to handle the screw ups kind of threw in the towel and boom it all came back! She’d never ‘failed’ at it and still had that all or nothing mentality I guess?

I remember 4 of us started losing weight at the same time (this was a while back) I dropped out after 10 lbs :(, she went on to lose 130, someone else lost 100 on Dr. Bernstein’s and we all ended up fat again :( ergh! Not going to dwell on it, it is what it is and I really do believe the stats collected on gaining the weight back after dieting is only from certain sources – it doesn’t take into account the thousands of people who lose weight on their own and keep it off but just don’t report it anywhere, right?

WEIRDLY (sorry this is so long!!!) the other woman in the group who lost the 100 lbs -- I told you guys about her a while ago, such a bizarre story – she gained it all back but joined weight-loss websites and posted her before/after pics in REVERSE just to get praise?! WTF??? She would write that it’s sooo easy to lose weight and tell people that were struggling they just had to do what she did, it was easy-peasy! What a weirdo!!! Going out of her way to make people feel crappy! People are strange :(

Anyway, my friend and I decided to keep in touch more now that she’s back in town. I don’t know if she’s ready to be a walk-buddy (or I don’t know if I want one to be honest) but I hope we can support each other. I mean, she DID lose 130 lbs., I’d like to pick her brains over that LOL

Thanks for listening gals!!! Sorry it was sooooooooooo long & boring LOL

I'm glad you were able to have a conversation with her. Sounds like she has some really good insight.

As for the other "friend"....she reminds me of that woman that started the kim-kinz craze a few years ago. She basically did the same thing.

Wow, her story does seem to illustrate the point that perfection is not all it is cracked up to be. We do have to have some experience with failure, don't we?

Yeah, I am scared too. I dropped 64 pounds and then I went nuts and have been battling up and down ever since.... regained as much as 23 pounds, then losing 15, then regaining again... so I can see just how easily it could happen. I am scared too but I have to just do the best I can. Better than doing nothing out of fear.

I bet most of us have done the lost and regain thing. Maybe not as extreme as losing 100 pounds but......

I have also lost and gained weight. I never lost 100 pounds, I think that 60 was my top amount. I know that I gained it back because I did not lose it in a healthy way. I took diet pills. While I still ate correctly and exercised, I depended on those pills to lose weight. This time I started with the pills but gave them up after a couple of months.

This time I am very afraid of gaining the weight back. I also know the pounds can come back on faster than I lost them. The fear is making a difference in how I am losing weight. I have realized that I need to make the life style change that we talk about so much. I am listening to my body and learning what I can do and not do.

I am eating 1600 calories a day. I think that I can do that the rest of my life. My end weight will be whatever weight I stop losing at while eating 1600 per day. I hope and think that I can lose the 100 pounds on this plan. I need to lose more but I would rather stop at 181 and maintain than to get to 135 but gain the weight back.

We will see when I get there. Any loss is better for my body than going on at 281 pounds.