[Trazey34]

an oldie but a goodie!

if a genie appeared and said *poof* you're your goal weight, tah dah!

but the maintenance is up to you.

A year from now, do you think you'd be the same size, or gained it back? Have you changed enough mentally to do things differently?


Me - 5 years ago, nope. I'd have it all back, plus 10 for good measure
Me - NOW - about a million% better chance of keeping it off!

[FeraFilia]

Right now? Probably not. Simply because I'm going through crazy stress of preparing to move, but not knowing where I'm going. I've gone 3 weeks without a stress-binge, but as we get closer, I don't know. The moving is what made me regain the 50+ I'd lost when I was here before.

In a year? Also probably not, because I'd end up pregnant as soon as possible

In a few years? Yes.

[ubergirl]

Good question.

I already maintained what I considered a lifestyle change for a long time. I took up exercise, I changed the way I eat, and I changed the way I thought about myself. I got rid of all of my fat clothes and I became like a whole new person.

But then all of the supports that had allowed me to make those changes fell away from me. I moved. I changed jobs. I had an incredible roller-coaster of family issues that fell upon my shoulders, I also experienced the biggest success of my life: in short, within 3 years of losing 110 lb my life had been pretty much turned inside out.

I did maintain the lifestyle changes through many of those ups and down, but then eventually one day, it was as if I just got tired, and I started going back to some of my old ways...

I guess if I had some advice for people, it would be don't change anything at all during your first two years of maintenance.

[LadyPetite]

I think it's way to soon for me to tell, especially since I only officially started two day ago. But even before my "official" start date, I noticed something different in the way I was eating. For a couple weeks, I was starting to pay more attention to my hunger. So when I did start for real, I was surprised to notice a loss already.

If I keep doing this - eating when I'm hungry, stopping when the actual hunger is gone - I know I'll be able to keep the weight off a year after I've reached goal. I thing I've finally found what works for me, now to just stick with this plan.

[GirlyGirlSebas]

I'm optimistic. I think I would maintain the loss. My frustration now is that I can't exercise like I want to. I can barely breath when I go up and down the stairs and everything hurts. If I were at goal, I'd be a runner again and I'd take up hiking. I think the exercise alone would help keep me accountable to myself.

[time2lose]

That would depend on what weight I chose. If I asked for the 135 that a healthy BMI would dictate, I may very well gain. That magic wand would tempt me to see what 135 felt like. If I asked for 160 or 170, I have high hopes of maintaining that.

I have been maintaining around 180 for several months now. This time around I have been working with a doctor that specializes in weight loss. Being at a weight that I can realistically maintain is a high priority. Even though I still have lots of fat, I am so much better off at 180 than I was at 300 pounds. My quality of life is much better. She projected that to maintain 180 pounds, at my age and height, I could eat about 1500 calories a day while keeping my carbs under 100. The doctor estimates that if I lost down to the 135 to 140 range, I will be able to eat about 1200 calories a day of low carb. She has been right about my calorie level to maintain 180 pounds. I just don't know if I will be able to stay at 1200 calories/day forever.

Since I have been able to fairly comfortably maintain 180 pounds, I am going to work on losing 5 or 10 more pounds and then maintain for 2 or 3 months. Then I will decide if I want to lose more. I don't want to yo yo any more!

[IanG]

Maintenance is easy peasy.

[lotsakids]

At this point I think I would maintain. I started this time because of my health and have managed to keep doing it for a year (it's my diabetaversary this month)

[GirlyGirlSebas]

Originally Posted by time2lose

. This time around I have been working with a doctor that specializes in weight loss.

How did you find a doctor? I'd love to see someone to work on this issue. But, the weight loss treatment is not covered by my insurance plan. It's very discouraging. Is your doctor helping you with the mental and physical part of this?

[time2lose]

This doctor advertised and I just took the risk. My insurance does not cover it either. I have stayed with her longer than I originally planned. I am about to start seeing her every 3 months to stretch the budget. I often tell myself that I am where I can do this by myself now but I am reluctant to let go.

[Streudel]

I've done the regain +10 cycle more than a few times. I'd like to think that I'm done with torturing myself like that. Only time will tell I guess.

I've been reading ( and rereading ) The Beck Diet Solution. My biggest takeaway from it has been that there is no " get out of dieting free card ". I always want to think I can start eating out more, eyeballing portions, not meal planning or calorie counting. Maybe some people can, but I can't. I'm hopefully at the point of acceptance of what I need to do to maintain. The book is helping me to counter my excuse making with cold, hard truth.

[time2lose]

Is your doctor helping you with the mental and physical part of this?

Missed this part. Both. At first she helped me find the diet that worked for me. She puts most of her patients on a low carb diet but she said that is not what everyone needs. She really pays attention to my hormone issues, fine tuning those. My family practice doctor does not think that is necessary. I am not sure how much that has helped. She does have some food products that can only be bought though a bariatric doctor. For the first couple of months, I had a low carb protein shake for breakfast and another midafternoon for a snack that she provided. She had me move off of them though.

I am not actually even sure why seeing this doctor has helped me so. We do not discuss personal issues so she is not helping mentally in the way that therapy would. When I analyze this, I do not think that I ever would have gotten my carb level as low as I did without a doctor telling me to. She convinced me that she could help me lose my cravings. She was right. She helped me tweat my diet to the point that I lost the cravings that had driven me all my life.

I thought that she was a little crazy when she told me to add coconut oil to my diet. But she was right, it solved my constipation issue and helped with satiety.

I also think that spending the money has helped me. When I was tempted to go off plan I reminded myself that I could not waste that money! I could not have possibly afforded this when I was raising my children. Now that they are grown, I can manage it.

I will have to say that once I started reading about low carb diets, hers is just a variation of them. So I think that she basically gave me the confidence to go low carb.

[Pattience]

I'd say yes except for one thing, i don't know if 60kg is my ideal biological body weight or just the ideal weight in my mind. I have yet to find out. If its not the right weight for me biologically, i would bounce back up, at least to a higher weight if not back to where i've been.

But my current diet is the way i plan to eat for the rest of my life. Its sustainable.

[time2lose]

But my current diet is the way i plan to eat for the rest of my life. Its sustainable.

I think that this is the key.

[wannaskipandlaugh]

I think that for the 1st time in my life I can say that I would maintain. I have had those days (or weeks) during this loss journey where I would eat things "off plan" and I might be discouraged when I see the results on the scale.. but I just tell myself.. Start over again and Get Going! I have always lost the gained lbs and have continued forward. I have been at this for 15 months now and I think with the time and also knowing that I Can lose those short term gained lbs, that I have learned what I need to do and still work thru OPPSY days! So Yep I can and will be able to maintain.. !!