Hi Chicks, I really need help. I started out weighing 173 lbs. I started eating whole natural foods, counting calories and walking, I was so determined to do this, I stuck to it w/ no cheating. I lost the weight in 10 mo. I have been maintaining my weight for 10mo. now. I've been going up and down, my range is 104lbs to 109lbs. When I hit 104 ( 5mo. ago) I thought I was looking a bit too thin and I was 1 lb. from being considered underweight, so like an idiot I took a day off of my diet and ate as much as I wanted, I binged big time! thinking I'll gain a little weight back. Well that day started a problem that I am still trying to fix. I did gain weight from that day and it scared me cause it was 3 lbs. So I got right back to my routine of sticking with my diet. As soon as I lost what I had gained, I found myself binging again. I have been doing this ever since. I'm binging, gaining, then dieting and losing. Back and forth for the last 5 mo. I binged again 2 days ago and I did it too soon, I weighed 106.2. Yesterday I weighed 109.1, yes I gain almost 3 lbs. when I do it! I did good yesterday with my calories, and today I wanted so bad to binge again. I did go way over my calories today, but didn't binge. I just ate way too much through out the day. I am losing the willpower I had when I was trying to lose the weight, and I don't know how to get it back. I just want to feel normal, and this doesn't feel normal to me. I would like to maintain at 105 or 106 and stay there, that's my feel good weight. Why am i so afraid of 104lbs. that i have to binge every time I get there? or lately not even getting down that far and still binging? How do you get yourself back under control?? Has anyone else had this problem?? Any advice ?
I go through this a lot. My brain thinks my ideal weight is 130 and I try to diet to get there. My body thinks my ideal weight is 135. It fights all of my efforts to get down to 130 lbs. So I maintain in the 133-136 range in the winter and 130-133 in summer (when it's warm and I don't want heavier food).
Maybe your body wants to maintain at a slighly higher weight than your brain wants?
For me, the way to maintain is to eat a certain level of calories for two days and then increase the calories by about 400 on day three. I write down what I eat and make sure I'm within the ranges I've set for my days.
And there are successful days and failure days. But overall I do tend to maintain a fairly constant weight. it's about 10 lbs. over what I thought was my ideal body weight but I like my body and can live happily with it. The alternative is to be starving all the time and that's not living. I like food too much!
You have to figure out what is right for your body through trial and error and changing stuff up. There is no one way for everyone.
Hey there Fruitlady, I don't have any advice or great words of wisdom because I do almost the exact same thing you do. I think it's Jayell who calls it yo-yo dieting on a very short string. For the last several months it's been either feast or famine for me. The one bright spot is, I have maintained my weight for the last 9 months...so is it really wrong? The very few naturally "thin" friends I have live like this. They might over eat one day and then work it off the next.
Just hang in there and keep the off days to a minimum. This maintaince stuff is HARD, but we can do it...
Maybe you are a little scale obsessed? If seeing 104 makes you binge, stop getting on the scale for a month or so. Find a pair of pants that fit beautifully and let them be your guide.
Eat healthy foods, stay on plan, be accountable. Have a pants plan. If your pants fit comfortably, continue the course. If they are a tiny bit snug, make a plan to reduce calories for one week.
Honestly, I don't get on the scale much these days, I don't want to be obsessed by numbers. I have a gorgeous, very sexy black pencil skirt. I make a point to wear it to work at least every other week. If I ever yank it out of the closet and it doesn't fit beautifully, I am very careful for a week. The next week, it fits again!
I just want to feel normal.
I would like to maintain at 105 or 106 and stay there, that's my feel good weight.
How do you get yourself back under control??
Has anyone else had this problem?? Any advice ?
What do you think "normal" is?
My take is that even "normal" people don't always feel "normal".
"Normal" people don't become obese, don't lose lots of weight,
and don't maintain their lost weight.
I've done all those things, and personally, I am not a "normal" person.
My experiences insure that food will always be an issue with me.
I don't think of food "normally", and I don't ever expect to be able to do so.
I think that Unrealistic Expectation is one of primary causes of weight regain.
I also would like to maintain at the exact weight you quote as your ideal,
but during the past 4 years I can rarely get my body to even go there.
I am maintaining at 10 to 15 lbs heavier than that, despite my best efforts,
which is eating a daily average of about 1050 calories,
and low-impact exercise of about an hour per day.
No matter how I cycle those calories, high/low days, or consistently the same day after day,
no matter how much I increase my exercise time or intensity,
my weight stays about the same when I am eating that calorie number.
What I have realized is:
I weigh and measure everything, carefully use label info,
and I log all my food in my software food journal every day.
Even when doing this, all calorie counting is still, at best, only an estimate.
Whatever my calorie records say my calorie numbers are,
Even if my calorie records say I'm eating an average of 1050 calories..
then I have to eat LESS than 1050 calories to weigh less.
Right now, my best efforts are just keeping me around my current weight.
The ULTIMATE TRUTH is in order to weigh less, I have to eat less.
And...especially based on my past experiences with food...
I feel that I'm already eating very little.
I've discovered that, personally, I have to deal with calorie AVERAGES.
Some days I eat more, sometimes I eat less.
How do I regain control after overeating?
My maintenance weight is a range of numbers,
and when I see my weight at the top of those numbers,
I become highly motivated to eat less than I've been eating.
Unfortunately, when I see my weight at the middle of those numbers,
that motivation is overtaken by my strong desire to eat more,
so I can rarely get down to the weight I feel I'd like to be...
I just don't want to be there bad enough to consistently...
for weeks and months...eat a calorie average of LESS...
which for me would come in at about 800 calories...
...although of course, this is only an ESTIMATE...based on what food labels say, even with my accurate weighing, measuring, and recording my food intake.
I'm never going to be able to be "normal" with food.
After 4 years of maintenance, am I tired of it?
Am I tired of the enormous effort it takes me?
Do I wish there was a way I could expend less effort to maintain my weight?
Yes.
But, for me, that is the price required to stay small,
and I want it bad enough to pay the price.
Thanks Chicks, Lori bell- I guess there would be nothing wrong with having days that I overeat, except that I am afraid that if I overeat, even if it's just once a week, I will want to do it all the time. Then I will gain all the weight back. Glory- Thanks, I am scale obsessed, I know that. If I don't weigh myself everyday, I won't know how much damage I have done til I have way too much weight on. Then it will take longer to lose it. I need to catch it right away or I could be in trouble, I gain really fast.
You may have scale fluctuations, but no one gains 3 lbs of fat over night. It takes a long time for the body to process food and deal with excess.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fruitlady
Glory- I do, I even measure myself to see. My measurements around my waist, hips and thighs are all up 1/2 in.
Fruitlady - that happens to me all the time. My weight goes up 3-5 pounds, my measurements go up by .5-1.5 inches overnight. I weigh and measure obsessively, so could give you 18 months of charts and graphs. It isn't fat gained overnight, that just isn't possible, I promise. That is water retention and gas bloating from the over eating the day before, particularly if you overate on salty, sugary, processed or highly carby foods. I promise you. Believe me when I tell you, I've been tracking and charting it for over a year now. A few days later, even if I make no other changes to compensate, I 'lose' the weight and the inches. It often actually takes longer to lose if I compensate by drastically cutting calories the next few days. The only thing that really helps move it faster for me is water water water.
On the other questions - I have to weigh daily or I go a little nuts. I used to have a low point that panicked me if I reached it and made me overeat. Then I had a high point that panicked me if I reached it and I underate. Now, even though I weigh on the scale everyday and chart it, I base my feeling about myself on a pair of pants rather than that number. I eat around the same number of calories most every day, track every little thing, yes, sometimes I overdo it. Like yesterday - I ate too many salty snacks in the afternoon. And yes, this morning the scale was up 3.5 pounds and my waist, tummy and hips are all 1.25 inches larger than yesterday morning. But, it will go down, and my pants still fit fine this morning, so I'm not panicking. Big change for me.
You have to let go of the fear and trust yourself to be able to maintain the process. If you feel okay physically at 104 and you aren't depriving yourself then stay there for a few days. I don't imagine you will set at that point, I didn't set at my low. I did sit right at it for a month or so until I evened back out. Freaked me out a little, but did me some good I think.
Shannon in ATL- Thanks for the info. I'm the same, If I get to my low point of 104 I panic and eat too much. If I hit 109 I also panic and cut my calories to lose it. I'm just afraid one of these days I'm not going to panic when I weigh 109 and I'll just continue to overeat everyday. I don't want to lose control, I don't trust myself.
I will tell you that it took almost a year for me to lose that panicked feeling, it didn't happen overnight by any means. Unfortunately, it led to me being a little more complacent in the last couple of months than I wanted, which I justified by saying I was training for a half marathon. I'm getting back into the swing of things now that I survived that event. As I've built up muscle mass I loosened my range from the original 4 pound swing to allow for 6, I just haven't updated my stats. I find I put on larger amounts of water now than I did, which took some getting used to as well.
You will get more comfortable and start to trust yourself more as time goes on, though you may find you are a daily weigher forever like I am. I don't feel threatened by that.
I'm losing my willpower! Please help me
