I am so overwhelmed you all have no idea!!! I have lost a good amount on Weight Watchers Core like a good 50 lbs. last year, regained it back, started recently, lost 5 lbs. in a week and then regained that back. I really hate that Plan even though it is supposed to be good food with the brown rice and whole wheat pasta concept. The trouble is that I really do hate that kind of food and find myself overeating, binging on what I truly like and just not enjoying the Plan. I also weigh a lot. I need to lose a good 50% of my body weight. My weight as of this morning is 285 lbs. I know, I know, this isn't healthy on a 5 ft 5 in tall woman with a small frame.
Many years ago in High School, I did go on a calorie controlled weight loss Plan. I went down to about 115-118 lbs. I had a knock out figure and gained over 100 lbs. when I stopped activity, went to College and became one of the youngest Nurses in the State of FL. At age 19 1/2 y/o, I was in my profession and a few years later earned my RN. Trust me, all the walking alone does not prevent weight gain or promote weight loss. Instead, bad eating habits are learned, the hurry up 30 min. meal at work, no breaks, grab the candy bar and go mentality set in, became the learned way to eat and exercise? What's that????
Anyways, at age 48 1/2 y/o, a young looking gal (that's me) with 28 years in the medical field is looking to go back to the times when I was at a normal weight with the invisible eraser to erase the one big mistake I made and that is gaining all this weight. When you're slim, you don't think it would ever happen to you. Boy was I wrong!!!
I saw the Wendie Plan in calories and points. It actually is what would make the best sense for me because it allows lower cal days and higher cal days with the convenience of just counting cals or points, whichever I choose to do but I wanted to publicly thank Steels for making the effort of putting this in her blog. You never kniw when you are helping someone else a lot.
I also know that you all have a very nice group of people on all of these Boards. I've been a lurker for a short time. Everyone is supportive and I can see you all are my kind of people to get to know and I am hopeful I can help you in my way.
I am starting this Journey tomorrow. I want to start a blog of my own and will let you all know where it is. Thank you all for being there because I really need your help badly!!!
Stacy -- I hear you. My story is the same but different -- I yo-yoed myself into losing and gaining about 250 pounds over the last 27 years. Last spring I decided once and for all I had to do this and do it on my own -- be accountable only to my journal, my online calorie counter and myself. For the first time in my life I lost weight and kept it off for a year -- I am now working on my second 30 pounds.
I wish you so much strength to do it -- its not easy -- I tried all the easy methods, Jenny, Nutrisystem, pills etc etc I never got close to my goal and I never ever maintained -- I always found a little bit more weight than I lost. Counting calories (the right calories), exercising and drinking water is the answer. Be accountable to yourself - never give up and remember being on a diet (I hate that word -- for me its my lifestyle I will maintain forever) 100% of the time is only setting yourself up for failure -- try to be good about 80% of the time -- don't beat yourself up for doing bad one day -- just get back to plan the next. If you need a cheerleader I will be here -- just put a link to your blog.
Thank you fro your reply. I keep saying there's a slim gal under here but I have to find her. I'm ok with the fact that I have to say the word DIET. It isn't an ugly word, really it isn't. It's a fact of life that my body doesn't burn the amount of food calories I am ingesting so I am here to do something about it and accept fact.
I am grateful that I didn't get sick. That's one thing I can be thankful for.
Diet is an ugly word, because diets only work short term. You need new words for what you are doing. Lifestyle change.
I was the former Queen of yo-yo dieting. I always wanted to diet (ugly, hideous, painful word!) for a little while, lose weight and then eat normally again. It took me 20 years to figure out that my "normal" eating made me heavy.
I quit dieting and lost 75 lbs and kept it off for over 2 years now. I completely changed how I ate in a way that still made me happy. For example, I don't get the venti caramel latte with whip, but I still can enjoy a tall non fat sugar free vanilla latte. Everything I did to lose weight (count calories, food journal, pack lunches, eat 5+ servings of vegetables a day), I still do to maintain my weight loss. It's a lifetime commitment.
Hi Stacy,
I am a yo-yo dieter also, I have been doing WW Flex points for almost a year and a half now (this time), I love the plan because it does not restict what I can eat. For me that big, I can't imagine never having some of my favorite things. I can treat myself to a candy bar ocasionally, but now I split it with my husband instead of eating one,or sometime more, a day. I have also found many subsitutes for the things I use to eat. Instead of a large bowl of ice cream I can have a "Skinny Cow" now and then. It's all about choices, I'm eating musch healthier now and have those sweat treats only once in a while. I have to admit that I really don't journal or track points as well as I should but I have changed my outlook on food, I only hope that I can continue this till I reach goal and beyond. I also get in much more exercise than I use to, I really believe you need both exercese and a health eating plan to be successfull in weight loss.
This board is a great support. I haven't posted much in the last month or so, I been extremely busy at work and that is where I am on the computer most. I do try to jump on a read a little whenever I get a chance. The support and inspriation is super.
Good luck in your journey, never stop trying. That yo-yo works boths ways but maybe one day we can be on the down (in weight) end and stay there.
Glad my blog helped you- that's why I put it there, so others could reference it anytime they wish. Feel free to add the Wendie Plan to your blog, if you wish. It helps to know what weight groups need for calories per day.
I just lost another three pounds, total of 20. Although, according to my ticker, it should read 13 pound loss right now, as I started at 291 when I did the ticker. I am going to change it as my start weight was originally 298-it's confusing me, lol. Anyhow- you can do it! I'm here for you, and am willing to be your diet buddy, if you wish. We'll get ourselves down to a normal size within the year- we must have faith in ourselves to do it.
What is this Wendie Plan everyone keeps refering to? I tried to search for it but no such luck, can someone post a link to it, I feel like I am missing out somehow lol.
Another yo-yo dieter here. I've lost and gained the same 30-60 lbs. for a couple of decades now. My last attempt at losing weight was in 2002. I ate 1500 calories a day and loosely followed the food pyramid. I thought I'd NEVER regain the weight . . . but I did regain about 30 of the 50 lbs. I lost when I started a new, very stressful job.
This time around, I refuse to start anything that I do not think I can live with forever. For example, even on my last plan, I was exercising 5-6 days a week, for 1 - 1 1/2 hours a day. I now realize that I could never sustain that. So, this time, I've been dieting since April and haven't started an exercise program. I will when I feel like it, and when I do, I'll do something I know that I can live with forever.
Also, I'm zigzagging calories, and I'm finding that this is the best diet I've ever tried. I feel as if I can easily work in all my favorite things. I can eat "normally" (i.e., without feeling like I'm on a diet) at least half of the time. Luckily for me, I've acquired a taste for a lot of healthy things throughout the years, so that helps. However, I still have a taste for the bad stuff, and zigzagging calories allows me to have some of this bad stuff sometimes.
Don't feel as if you're doomed to yo-yo. I really do think that age and experience count for something. If you read the stories of people who've lost weight and kept it off, you'll find that most of them yo-yo'd for years before they finally kept it off. I think at some point, your mindset changes, and when you're ready for the weight to come off and stay off, it will. Good luck!
What is this Wendie Plan everyone keeps refering to? I tried to search for it but no such luck, can someone post a link to it, I feel like I am missing out somehow lol.
Stacy, I yo-yoed for years, and I even lost weight on WW Flex before and then gained it all back. This time I'm doing WW Flex again because it's the only thing that works for me. The reason for that is that it's basically counting calories but on an easier scale for me, because I'm used to points, and because you can fit in whatever food you like while always trying to make the healthiest choices possible. The Wendie plan, which is basically calorie cycling, can be good for breaking a plateau, but I haven't really hit a plateau and I've lost 96 pounds since last July. If you stick to your points, the weight will come off.
I strongly encourage you to check out the 100 lb. club in the Support Forum, if you haven't yet. It's my favorite place to hang out on 3FC!!
Thanks for the info on the Wendie Plan will have to look it up when I get to that point, right now I am just starting to seriously count my calories because I have finally decided its the only way I can lose, did it after my son and lost like 25 pounds but didn't want to "live that way". I have since decided (ds is 6) I would rather "live that way" than live this way!
I so agree with everything you said, Lynn. To me, I will not be what is called, a fat acceptor. I have to tell you that I enjoy food. When I was kid, quite the opposite. I hated it and would ask my younger sister to eat my dinner meal and I would pay her back some way like doing her homework or what have you. At puberty, things changed and omg food was in the picture but I wasn't fat at all until I went to college lol. I learned some of the worst eating habits you could learn. Now, I have to undo them and go back to the exercising and mindful eating. I keep flunking out with WW so I figure calorie counting will keep me more in touch with what I'm doing and also, I love Steels approach with her Wendi Plan in calories especially at my present weight. It's later on I will have the challenge but I figure I can fill up on veggie soups and smaller meals like 4 or 5/day.
I'd really to diet buddy . I also think you are one very kind person to get that Plan out there because it makes the best sense to me and definitely looks like fun.
I'm off from work today. It's 5:45 am and here I am on this Forum excited, motivated and can't wait to figure my day out and do some planning.
I am the #1 Yo-Yo dieter ,ever!!!!
