Hey guys...me again stopping in
I dont come to 3fc very often...part of the whole IE thing....DONT OBSESS....quit counting, quit worrying, eat when you are hungry and one more thing....STOP THINKING OF YOURSELF AS FAT....I have found that that one thing has helped more than anything.
I was reading a post by Glory (I think) about her weight loss adventure...basically eating healthier foods and paying more attention to actual nutrition and one thing she said at the end really struck me...because its happened to me....she said
" I started losing weight in July 2004. I weighed around 195 lbs. The weight came off very steadily, 1-2 lbs a week (with a few weeks of no loss here and there). In February 2005, I began to plateau at 140 lbs. This was very frustrating - my goal weight was 135 and I had a huge desire to see the scale say something UNDER 140 lbs. Just 1-3-something.
I tried eating less, working out more. I weighed myself everyday. I was pretty miserable. But, I never gave up.
Around May, I realized something pretty cool. The weight may not be going down, but it wasn't going up either. I was maintaining, something I had never been able to do before.
I decided to quit being miserable and start enjoying all my hard work. I did look fabulous! I bought a bunch of cute clothes in size 10 and really enjoyed that summer.
I increased my calories very slowly to 1800-2000. Imagine my surprise when the scale said 138! I wasn't even trying to lose weight! In October 2005, I went on a 4 week business trip to Asia. I tried to make healthy choices and did a ton of walking, my pants were loose when I got home and I found out I weighed 135 (my goal weight!). I'm still not sure what happened, I think my body just started to feel like there was plenty of food coming in, no reason to hang on to fat reserves. In December - January, I lost 7 more lbs. I have been fairly stable at 126-130 since January 2006. My body seems to be very happy at this weight and so am I " Sounds like IE to me....
Well...I quit smoking and the eating went wonky for a bit, but after the initial binging to get over the nicotine cravings, i went right back to IE...Im below goal....I am a size 2 now and look and feel great. I eat whatever I want, whenever I want and my only rule is "dont eat anything bigger than your fist". I am glad I decided to go this route and just cut out all the fussing with calories and fats etc....just eat foods that I like....believe it or not, most foods that I really like are pretty nutritious. Now that the "junk" food is back on the menu and I have permission to have it or not...most times I choose not. I have struggled with keeping my weight at a managable level for years...started out in the 160's...plateaued around 148 for a few years...dieted, regained....dieted, regained... Im really glad its over with and I have found something that I can really live with.