Info I just learned from Thin for Life book. Everyone has a RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) of energy that our body needs for bare minimum things such as breathing, heart pumping and to regulate body temperature. Even if we aren't active this takes about 20 to 30 percent of our calories.

There was a research done with 5 women whose individual RMR was 1263, 152, 1778, 1979 and 2152 calories a day. They said if these women ate just 1200 calories a day for 3 months, they would lose 11, 20, 28, 35 and 40 pounds, respectively. This RMR explains why some people lose more quickly than others. One doctor says that if you are a slow loser that you need to learn to have the attitude when losing a small amount that "at least I did lose something and I didn't gain". The book says that even if you have a low RMR which you have no influence over, you still can control over the amount of calories that you expend in exercise. They also bring out the fact that as you cut back calories that your RMR slows down and when you reach your goal that you won't be able to eat as many calories you did before dieting. Example. If it took 2400 calories to maintain when you weighed 200 lbs, then you will never be able to go back to eating 2400 calories when you reach 150 lbs. Also, unfortunately, RMR drops as most of us age. The good news is that the exercise we do may offset at least some of this change.

This explains a lot for why we have difficulty losing and we lose so slowly when we do.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep so I just got up and continued reading Thin for Life. Then went over to IE thread to read and I've decided to go back to doing IE.

I've learned through the book that there seems to be 2 types of weight loss people who have learned to become masters at keeping the weight off after losing. 1) Those who use a formal diet program and 2) those who do not. However, those who lose and learn to keep it off also have learned how to eat only when they are hungry and even how to include their favorite foods so they never binge.

IE is the way I ate as a child and every time I've been thin as an adult. If I was hungry, I ate and if I wasn't hungry then I did not eat. And I ate whatever I wanted. That is the way I want to learn to eat again. I want to get back to the place where I can enjoy what I eat and not feel guilty about it and not feel that there are good/bad foods. Just let it be food. Does that mean I won't eat healthy? Of course not. I also think life will be a lot less stressful when it comes to food.

Trish, the thing about IE is...it's normal eating behavior. It's the way our bodies were programed to eat. It's the opposite of mindless eating, which most overweight people do. It can be done with Low Carb, Weight Watchers, calorie counting, or most other food plans.

Another thing I saw posted on another thread is, when trying to lose weight, cut your calories back to the amount needed to maintain your goal weight. By the time you reach that goal weight, you will be accustomed to eating that many calories.

In the long run, I don't think it matters what weight loss plan you follow, as long as it is one that works for you long term.

Carol Sue I agree. I've often thought that if you start out eating the amount of calories that it takes to maintain the weight you want to reach would be helpful in maintaining because you wouldn't have to change anything. It seems like that the people who have learned how to maintain and not gain their weight back seem to pretty much eat the way they did when dieting. Also I read that you need to think of it as eating the way you will eat for life and not to think of it as a diet. It really makes sense to me. It is also about taking your favorite foods and working them into you eating plan so you don't get tempted to binge and lose the tendency to eat off. I think this is the way for me because it will keep me from feeling deprived and having these feeling of rebellion concerning a diet.

I'm kind of learning how to put those foods into the amount calories I need to eat each day.

We made it safely to our vacation destination :-) my daughter is high as a kite (from excitement) and will not sleep. It is going to be a rough morning tomorrow. We have to be at a timeshare presentation (we are at a timeshare and want the $100 incentive for going to it....will NOT be buying one!) very early and then will go to Busch Gardens after that. Eating has been okay, not "low carb" but reasonable. I did indulge in a super yummy dessert tonight at a nice steak place we like in this area. Hubby says when we get back he is ready to lose weight. We'll see.... Hope you are all well!

I'm glad to hear you're having a good time Shannon. Don't worry about not staying low carb. You will do fine. It's good that your husband brought up that he wants to lose weight. It has to come from him. You can't force him, but you are setting a good example and that should inspire him. Good luck! Enjoy the rest of your trip.

Trish, when I lost weight the first time I maintained the loss for 10 years by eating primarily low carb. It wasn't until I married my husband that I eventually started eating carbs again and gained it all back and then some. Carbs are NOT my friend. I know that many people say that you need carbs, and it's true. I eat carbs in the form of vegetables and beans. It's the starchy carbs that get me in trouble. Numbers don't lie. That's just me. I envy those like my husband who can eat carbs and not gain weight, but I'm just fooling myself if I think I can do it.

My husband always argued with me that carbs do not make you gain weight, using himself as an example. When he got sick recently he started to lose weight. Now he is trying to maintain the loss and I have noticed that he is eating very little carbs. When he eats a sandwich, he omits one slice of the bread or bun. And yesterday, when I went to make potato salad I noticed that my potatoes are all shriveling up because no one is eating them. He hasn't been buying any donuts or cookies, either. He would NEVER admit to me that he's cutting back on carbs. LOL

Shannon So glad you are having a good time. I lived in FL (not sure that is where you are or not as I think there's another one somewhere) for 4 yrs and never got to see Busch Gardens and some other places I still want to go see. Maybe if my son moves there like his companion wants to do I can see it then. It will really help if your DH decides to lose weight too. Enjoy your trip and I'm sure you will do fine with the eating.

Carol Sue In Thin for Life, they say many people lose weight with low carb, but they don't maintain with it. I don't think that is true because I see people on another site and also we have Kim on Atkins that have kept the weight down with it.

I too know that I have my limits on how many carbs that I can and cannot eat. I had a little more carbs the past two days... eating at Huddle House really derailed me, but I'm back to eating the way I know I have to eat. I still am eating low carbish Intuitively. I have my plan for today already planned out. I've changed some things on MFP. I lowered my calories to 1500 although I don't plan to go over 1200 most days and I changed my exercise to 20 minutes on recumbent bike 4 days a week instead of 30 minutes 3 days. Even watching tv, I get bored riding longer and perhaps 4 to 5 days at 20 minutes will be easier. Of course, cutting back the carbs back some will help me to feel more like exercise so I may do more some days and might also do 5 days instead of the 4 planned. It seems like if I'm eating right that I seem to have more energy.

I've decided that the only days on my trip that I will be at someone elses mercy on decisions of what to eat will be at Tony's son's house. After that I will have more leverage. When I get to my sister's house, I can eat pretty much OP. I'm thinking about doing CAD most days using the Atkins shakes. I could use the shakes for 2 or 3 times a day in place of meals and then eat whatever I have to eat when eating out. On the day we go we will be eating before we get to their house, so we will only be at his son's house for 2 full day when we will eat out with them. It isn't an exact CAD plan as Atkins shakes aren't really on CAD, but it will be a modified way to get me through those 2 days and keep me low carbish. When I get to my sister's, I can go buy eggs etc for my breakfast and sandwich meat etc for snacks. In fact, I've seen salads... egg/tuna salads in stores (probably not exactly low carb) that could be used maybe even in place of a shake. I think once I get even a Modified Low Carb plan in my head that I will be able to relax about all this. I just don't want to lose the ground I've gained up to this point. I sure would like to come back home at least at the weight I am when I leave and my fbs in a good range.

Carol Sue No the numbers don't lie. That is what my doctor said when I told him that I could not eat oatmeal. And neither does the way my body reacts to too many starchy carbs. I had too many starchy carbs yesterday for me. To someone else it would have been a good day, but not for me. When I got ready to go to bed last night, I found a rash under my right breast. When a rash pops out anywhere on my body, it is a way that my body is telling me that I've gone too far on the carby stuff. My fbs was 132 yesterday, but I figured that was because I was up at 4:30 because I wasn't able to sleep more than 4 hrs and took fbs early. Today after a good nights sleep, it was 135. So we know that our bodies have special ways of telling us to back off of the carby foods. Our numbers don't lie.

Trish, I think the studies show that 80% of people who lose weight aren't able to maintain long term, no matter what plan they follow. Look at how many people are on 3FatChicks who say they regained and are trying again. So it's not just low carb. This is why they say you should choose a plan you can stay on for the rest of your life, because you can't go back to the way you ate before and expect to maintain your loss. Anyone can say anything in a book. I think the Atkins book says that people who follow low fat or low calorie can't maintain. ...it's up to the individual person to find what works for them.

I think you will do fine on your trip. If faced with food that is not low carb, fill up on vegetables and water and eat small portions of everything else.

I agree 100%.

Still eating "reasonably" over here. The amount of walking and sweating is probably offsetting the carbs I am eating. Sticking to water and unsweet tea for beverages. Brought some Atkins snacks with me for treats. Even though I am not on plan this is probably the best I've ever eaten on a vacation, so far, so I have definitely made progress in my "lifestyle change".

Argh....reasonable ended at dinner tonight, it was a carb festival. I was HALT -hungry, angry, lonely and tired. Oh well, tomorrow comes soon enough :-)

Shannon, don't dwell on one bad meal. You just get back on plan. All the walking is very good! I'll bet Olivia is having a ball!

Today, my FBG was 120, the best I've had in a while, so I've been no angel either. My weight is up 3 lbs. But I'll get it back down again.

I saw this article in our local newspaper and would be of interest to the older posters in our group, although it is also important to the younger ones long term. So many people say "I can lose weight without exercising" but it's beneficial for so many other things, such as mobility in later years.

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/hea...s/201405280057

Had a busy day yesterday. Had to go get blood draw for 3 month check up and will get results next week. We went to eat at Golden Corral after DH got his blood draw and I came home and was sick. I have always heard that buffets are not the place to eat because people touch the spoons and not everyone is clean. As much as I've always liked eating there, DH says that every time we eat there that one of us gets sick. So we decided to never eat there again. I was sick running to toilet until after 3am this morning.

Good thing that came out of it is that my weight is back down to 221.4. So I decided that I love this light feeling and I'm going to take advantage of being empty and get right back on my low carb plan. My fbs was 107 yesturday and was 104 this morning. So that is really good.

I've actually modified my plan so that I have my eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast, a balanced meal for lunch and then I have raw veggies with sliced FF sandwich meat for dinner and an Atkins shake or yogurt with fruit for snacks. Not low lowcarb but not hi carb either.

Shannon You are actually doing good and being a little off won't derail you if you don't let it. Life happens. We can't control everythng. Even you said yourself that you are doing better than you usually do on vacation. So give yourself a pat on the back for getting back OP today. How is Olivia enjoying the vacation? I'm sure she is loving it.

Carol Sue The fbs being lower is good. I guess we have to learn to take the good and those things we don't like so well. I'm sure the 3 lbs is just water weight, but we sure don't like it. I'm sure it will come back down. I just think we have these things along the way and lot of it is because we have to learn as we go what we can and can't do and dealing with blood sugar is even worse.

I didn't tell y'all that when I went to eat at the Huddle House that my weight jumped up almost 10 lbs. Was that trip to Huddle House worth it? Absolutely NOT and I will never allow myself to splurge like that again. It has taken me 4 days to get my weight back down and I had to get sick to even do that. In fact, I'm beginning to hate eating out more and more. A tough lesson learned.

I have started buying some lowfat products as well as light products. Then I realized that some lowfat foods substitue the fat with that olean (I think that is how you spell it). I don't think I've eve thought about that and will have to watch that. I've always thought I would use lowfat where I could and sub with good fat. I just may have to re-think that.

Well, I got a call from my DD yesterday that a lady was trying to get in touch with me. Something about my previous hubby's grandfather had acreage in TX that he still has mineral rights to. I talked to the lady and learned that she was looking for all his grandkids/descendents. I was telling her what I knew about different ones. I was so hurt to learn that my ex-sister-in-law, I had known her and Bill's brother since my early teens before I knew Bill, had died 2 yrs ago. Evidently she had alzheimers which really shocked me as she loved learning. I think she took every course that Sam Houston University offered. She was a wonderful elementary teacher who truly loved her students. I read the obituary and she had worked up to teaching 5th grade. I had not seen them since the day we buried Bill. My heart has really been sad for Bill's brother because he and she had been married 50 yrs, but they dated a least 6 to 8 yrs before they married.

Then I asked the lady if she had talked to Bill's brother David and I found out that he died this past December. So sad a day for me. I hadn't seen David in years because once he married his second wife, he never came around us any more except to plan his mothers burial. He didn't even call or say anything to me when Bill died. But at one time, we had been really close when he and his 1st wife were together and we were there for him during their divorce. An awful lot has happened since Bill died almost 14 yrs ago. I'm try now to get info to get in touch with Bill's one living brother because I want him to know that I didn't know and that he is in my thoughts and prayers. I remember how hurt I was that I never heard from David and I don't want him to be hurt by not hearing from me.

Well, I guess I am wordy and made up for no posting yesterday.

Have a good day.

Carol Sue I can't read the article, but the premise /title sounds pretty much along my experience/lifes philosophy. Exercise for me isn't about weight loss its about improving general fitness and quality of life (and now for me idealy about helping manage blood sugars).

Patty sorry you had all that hard news yesterday! Hope the bloodwork turns out positive for you though.

Shannon sorry you had a rough dinner


On me I splurged and bought myself a glucose meter and some test strips. So hopefully I'll find time to play with that tonight so I can start getting a handle on this.