I have lost 100 lbs. before on the Ornish program and 1-2 hours a day of excercise and believe it or not I did lose it rather quickly, about 6-8 months. When I reached goal I started thinking of myself as "skinny Chris" she could eat what she wanted and it was all in moderation and a good time. Plus I just was so busy with all the friends and attention "skinny Chris" got. Then things started going bad with DH. I would eat and blame him, I took no responsibility
Before I knew it I was tipping the scales at 180 lbs ( I wish I was 180 right now) and I just couldn't wake up. Before I knew it I was working a largely inactive job with long hours and blew up to 265 lbs I dropped 30 when I started at this company, because the baseline activity went up. Okay do I have a point here?
I learned quite a bit about myself and my priorities and how I must think in order to have success at all, maintaining is a large abyss to cross and I am a long way from there. Does that make sense? I just thought I would share.
I have the same concern. I too have not cheated once since beginning March 5th of this year. While I eat a good amount, I do worry about getting lazy once I have lost the weight.
At the same time, I really make an effort to eat healthy food and not diet food. I also make sure that all the food I eat is enjoyable. I am hoping that will make this a lifestyle change.
I have heard people say that they were finally able to lose weight once something just finally "clicked". I never understood it until now. I think that it clicked for me. This is hte first time EVER that I am really enjoying losing weight. I love the food I eat. I love the exercise and I love the way I feel. So it must have clicked. The question becomes, how do we keep it clicking? I worry that one day, it will unclick just as it clicked. The where am I?
Having said that -- this is also the first time I have had support like 3FC and I think that makes a worls of difference.
I honestly don't think I'll ever be there. I wish I could change that, but I never really grew up with a healthy body image or a healthy way to look at food. When I started this last time, is when I really realized that I will have to do this for the rest of my life. I will never be lucky enough to be one of those people that you see (and I had a friend in high school who was like this) that can stuff their face all day, and not gain a pound...in fact they are trying to gain weight.
But on the other hand I feel lucky in some ways. That being that although it may not take very much to gain the weight, but it takes a whole heck of alot to lose it. Courage, character, determination, will power and strength. And I believe in the end I will be a better person for it. We all will.
You echoed everything that was going on inside my own head. For the past few months I have not "cheated", because I allow myself to eat what I like, although it tends to be healthier and less than what I used to eat. In fact, right now I'm eating strawberries and angelfood cake, and about an hour ago I was eating a cheddar cheese burrito. However, I tend not to eat more than 1500 calories a day, so I've been losing weight. I've also re-fallen in love with exercise, particularly walking. Something has just "clicked" for me as well, and I know I'm never going back to where I was. I no longer eat for emotional reasons, and I can just eat a single potato chip or a single spoonful of peanut butter now, and put the rest away. Not depriving myself and focusing on what's really going on has helped me immensely.
Yup, that's exactly how I feel! Something just clicked for me this time. I spent years getting up every morning and promising myself that "today would be the day" and then failing every single day. Finally something just clicked and I've been totally faithful since January.
I finally watched my tape last night of the Dr. Phil show from last week where he said that a lot of really overweight people have addictive personalities and they eat in the extreme and then diet in the extreme. I'm worried that that might be me. I was feeling pretty good about how I plan to keep the weight off when I reach goal, but then I watched that show and now I'm a little bit afraid!
I was feeling pretty good about how I plan to keep the weight off when I reach goal, but then I watched that show and now I'm a little bit afraid!
Mthrgoos68 when I read this the first thing that came to my mind was NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO don't let this feeling sabotage your efforts. Don't worry about that bridge until you cross it...PLEEEEEEEZE... there's nothing worse than going backwards and thats the place you do not want to be. I would rather be healthy and thinner and worrying about keeping my weight off then unhealthy and getting fatter by the second. Besides you don't know for sure if this will happen to you.
You get those unhealthy thoughts out of your mind and keep doing what you've been doing to get this far !! You deserve to be at goal, you do not deserve this mental torture.
I hope that there comes a time when my subconscious will be a little bit more in control. Where I can trust myself to get through a day without losing sight of my goals, etc. I see my problems reflected in so many different parts of my life. I know that I have to find a way to stay on track.
My tools are friends, my husband, my trainer, my mother, my children, the internet, books, etc.
Thanks for the encouragement you guys!! No, I won't let it get me off track. I had a dream the other night that I had cheated, and I felt terrible!! I was so glad to wake up and realize that it wasn't true. Now I know I'm obsessed!!
Thanks again for the encouraging words. It really does make all the difference.
I'm trying very hard this time not to think of anything I do as cheating. As irritated as I get when people ask me, "can you eat that?" it's a phrase that pops into my mind too. Keeping the healthy thought that I can eat whatever I want in healthy portions is the biggest struggle for me. But I think it's also been the key--no more feelings that since I had a handful of Doritos I may as well eat the whole darn bag because the day is ruined. I CAN have a handful and my life will go on and I can still be a healthy person. I don't think this will ever be something I can take for granted, but it is starting to come more naturally.
What an amazing thread. I have been following it for days and I finally have time to respond.
I would hope that someday I could be normal in regards to eating. I could just do what came natural and I'd be thin. Food wouldn't be the main focus of my day.
**Sandi snaps out of la la land**
Ain't going to happen. See I tend to be an all or nothing gal. Either doing GREAT and losing, or doing bad and gaining. I NEVER maintain. But either way food is still the focus...as Matt said It's still the goal. If I am being bad it's what can I eat next. If I am being good it's still what can I eat next with a "that low cal" thrown at the end. My whole day revolves arond the food I am eating or not eating.
Right now I need to learn moderation. Nothing is off limits, but you can't have EVERYTHING and you can't have too much of anything. Dying for something, fine, have a small portion of it. But every day can't be a treat day. My goal is to lose 1 lb each and every week. But just 1 lb. If I could do that every week, that would be moderation at it's finest.
I think we place so much pressure on ourselves when we make a healthy lifestyle change. Food can be fearfull, and our thoughts can be just as consumed with what we can't have as it did before with what we *might* have. I agree that the obsession with food can carry over in unhealthy ways to the fear of bad food or things off limits.
Last night I was at the airport stuck (the weather was horrible in Atlanta and we couldn't fly out for several hours). We ended up missing dinner. Claudia (a waif thin co-worker) went to get some coffee and brought me and her back each a huge chocalate chip cookie. I looked at that damn thing and I got nervous. I wanted it (i was starving) but it was "bad". Since Claudia was nice and brought it back to me I felt bad about turning it down. So I ate it. You know what, IT DIDN'T KILL ME. I realized how silly I was being obsessing on how much damage this one cookie was going to do to me. I was just as compulsive in regards to food as I was before; just about what I couldn't have as opposed to what I wanted to have.
The other unhealthy pressure we place on ourselves is seeing that scale move down. You know what, not having a gain is an accomplishment! Sandi, 1 pound a week would be awesome! It takes each person a different amount of time to get to "goal", but in my mind getting to goal is not the important aspect of this journey. It is living healthier and making permanent changes. This journey is a lifetime change, it is not something that we can turn off when we reach goal. Its not like we are "dieting" and then it is over. Just by making better choices and being more active, we will naturally lose weight. However, we need to know that the occasional cookie does not mean the end of the world.
I hope that by making permanent the moderate and healthy changes in my eating pattern that food will not be the main focus of my day. That doesn't mean that staying healthy and monitoring my weight won't be an issue. There are too many other things in life I want to spend time doing and I can't afford to think about food 24 hours a day.
I think that experience contributes
I dropped 30 when I started at this company, because the baseline activity went up. Okay do I have a point here?
I just thought I would share.
