Maintainers Chat: March 30 - April 5
 

Here we are at the end of March and it's snowing in Pittsburgh. :rolleyes: I am so over winter! At least it's supposed to be in the 60's tomorrow.

We had Chinese food last night -- I skipped the rice and carbs and still am up almost 3 pounds overnight due to soy sauce. :dizzy: I'm seeing lots of water in my future today!

My exciting day off will start off with the gym (Leg Day :carrot: ) then the dentist, finishing the cleaning, and a bunch of errands. Now that I have knee replacements, I have to take antibiotics before I go to the dentist, so I parked the bottle right in front of the computer so I remember.

DH and I were talking about weight loss last night, specifically about the commonly tossed around statistics that 75% of people who set out to lose weight don't, and of the ones who succeed in losing, that only 5% manage to keep the weight off. Putting aside the accuracy for the moment, he pointed out that it means only 1% of people who seek to permanently lose weight actually manage to do so (it's probably easier to climb Mt. Everest!) I had never thought of it that way but it's the way DH's mind works. :lol: So for everyone here, even if you're not exactly where you want to be with your weight, think about how remarkably successful you are for not putting it all back on. We're all beating huge odds just by maintaining! :cp:

Looking ahead to April, anyone have any goals or plans? I'd like to lose about three pounds to get to the bottom of my maintenance range and have a little wiggle room for vacations this summer.

Time for another mug of coffee, then the gym. :coffee2: + :strong: = :cloud9:

Happy Monday everyone!
 

And, like on a lot of Mondays this past winter, I'll have to undo the damage from yesterday. I was totally OP all weekend until my cousin and his family showed up for brunch.

I ate one piece of french toast and one piece of bacon and a few cubes of fruit. Great so far.

Then, after they left, I started in on the box of Belgian chocolate :devil: they had given me for a gift. That is the one thing I absolutely can't refuse and I can't stop eating once I start. Ate the whole thing in about an hour :o and felt like cr*p all afternoon and evening.

The sad thing is that I didn't even really enjoy it while I was eating it. In hindsight this morning I should have marched straight down to the grocery store and put it into the food bank donation box.

My goal for April is the same goal I've had for a year - get down to goal weight. This is getting ridiculous :tantrum:! It's sheer laziness on my part. I can lose 4 more lbs.

My body has been ready to do this for a year. It's my darn mind :dizzy: that just won't get on board.

Have a great Monday all!

Dagmar

I'd better catch this thread early, while there isn't much to catcu up on yet. ^^

Dagmar -- I guess my week-end was pretty much "not OP" as well (except that I have no plan, so of course I can't be 'off'). But I'm not worried about that, because I now know that the way I usually eat, whatever I might have gained will be gone in no time. I enjoyed both the food and the company, anyway. And now I remember that the Trappists make pretty darn good beer. :D

Among other things:

For once I had some money left at the end of the month, so of course, instead of putting it in savings (silly me), I blew it up on a couple of books about uniforms and battles of the English Civil Wars. Don't ask. Don't ever ask what my priorities in life are. :lol:

I've also realized that I am a compulsive shopper, but what is amazing is that 1. I do some of my compulsive shopping at *Decathlon* (a French store selling sports and gym articles) and 2. I actually *use* what I buy there, not put it on a shelf to gather dust. :rolleyes: (Oh yes, yes, it's much more convenient to run now that I have that cute belt with a cute little black bottle to carry my water. ^^)

As for the friends I mentioned the other day, it's a catastrophic situation, they've broken up for good and now there are heavy money and family problems on top of it, but I prefer not to enter into details about that. :( (At least the one who was the most devastated is now recovering, and much decided to find another job to fight those money woes. In itself, it's better than to be totally down, right?)

Good morning Meg, Dagmar and Kery. Happy Monday!

Saturday I took my 6-yr old daughter to see Swan Lake and she absolutely loved it. Then yesterday I had a stomach bug relapse so I'm going to be taking it easy for the next couple of days.

Spring break is next week and we'll be hitting the beach. :)

Good Morning Ladies. I am just about to get the kids up and get them off to school. Hubby is headed for Atlanta so I am on my own today.

I ate off my usual plan on Saturday. The sodium took me up 2 pounds yesterday morning. The scale went down one pound this morning. So, I have one more pound to get off--LOL. I ran for a ways yesterday. Today I plan to do two DVD'S and maybe do some walking.

Our Spring Break was two weeks ago. We did a "staycation" and went to a children's resort where we live. It was pretty good actually.

Meg, great points you have made there. I have lowered my goal several times and would like to lower it one final time to the 120's. I like your idea about "wiggle room" for vacations coming up. In fact, Ward Hog is where I would like to be.

Ladies, does anyone have advice for getting these last ten off. Specifically, what is your exercise regimen and what is your daily calorie intake. Thank you! :)

Good morning ladies,

I am finally feeling like I am back in control of my life again, after a very scary incident last Thursday...

I was admitted to the hospital at 10am on Thursday due to an infected cyst in a delicate spot :o that the doctors felt had to be drained and cleaned ASAP. My husband and I live in different cities during the week due to work and school commitments, so I was forced to face a part of this day alone. (It didn't help that my two closest friends in this city were in Europe for a conference!) I was not allowed to eat or drink (even water!) all day since I would be going under general anaesthesia. My husband finally arrived @ 4 pm and my surgery was performed at midnight. I was released from the hospital @ 8am on Friday, and told to eat only clear foods. Now, let me tell you... I was SO HUNGRY. So, I attempted a small portion of regular food and let it sit for 30 minutes. When that didn't make me sick, I started to eat regularly. I went back on plan, although I did eat 4 (WW) pts over on Friday. Of course, I only ate 4 pts TOTAL on Thursday, so I was not concerned about this at all.

Anyway, I have been tired and in pain for much of the past few days, and I have not exercised at all. I think I will go back to yoga tonight, though. I know I still need to take it easy, but I am getting antsy now. :dizzy: I am actually down 1.6 lbs from where I was Thursday with official weigh in tomorrow. So, I guess I am on the mend.

Goals for April... Nothing specific, I guess. Keep on plan and continue losing. I have a mini goal of 158 lbs by Mother's Day.. that is 5 lbs from now, and 6 weeks away. No problem.

Have a great day, ladies

Peace, Heather

T G I M (not)
 

Meg - Thanks for the grim statistics; I've never heard those two numbers combined, and I'm hoping that that's not right. Five percent is already a small set to aim for and one percent seems seriously problematic. Hopefully it's like the chances of divorce. Even thought the statistics there are also grim, the chances of staying married seem to improve after you've been together forever.

Dagmar (Mudpie) - Ouch for the Belgium chocolates. It's good to be reminded that it's the first bite that we crave since most stuff begins to taste blah after a bit.

Kery - Consider your purchase a contribution fighting the global economy. On the other hand, you're welcome to join the bunch of us in Amazon Anonymous (with the catchy acronym) who find [One Cllick Purchase] a compulsion of its own, LOL.

Wardhog - Congrats for taking your daughter to Swan Lake; most kids never get past The Nutcracker and, hence, never grow to love ballet.

Thighs Be Gone - Good luck with your last step; no useful advice from here.

Heather (MrsWolf - Ouch for your scary incident without your normal support system. Good luck mending and getting back on track with exercise.

Bill, the problem with weight loss statistics is -- who knows if they're right? Or even remotely in the ball park? When's the last time anyone surveyed most of us about weight loss? For sure, all the statistics we read are grim but for anyone who's spent time here at 3FC, they can't be much of a surprise.

But my point wasn't to highlight depressing statistics; it was rather to point out that anyone who's keeping any amount of weight off is doing a phenomenal job and should take pride in that achievement. And yes indeedy, all the statistics seem to say that the longer you keep it off, the more likely you will continue to. When we hear about regain, it's usually in the first few months or years, not a decade later.

But the fear will always keep me on my toes!

Good morning all! I feel somewhat refreshed after a weekend in the country. It was nice to not think about work at all for a couple days and to spend some quality time with DH. Of course, the weekend did involve a bottle of wine and a miniature cherry pie (hey, at least I bought the mini pie instead of a full-size one!), but I also got in a nice long run.

I have a funny story to relate about the run actually. DH's parents own this house in the middle of nowhere in southern Indiana. By middle of nowhere I mean that you have to drive down an unmarked gravel road for half an hour to get to the unmarked, unpaved driveway (going through two riverbeds in the process). On the other hand, it does have electricity and a telephone, but still, it's out in the boonies. I didn't want to go running in the woods because I was afraid of twisting my ankle so I went for a run on the gravel road (also not too friendly to ankles, but at least there were no tree roots or anything like that). So anyway I went running on the road, and a couple minutes after I got started I hear the jingling of my dog catching up (he was with DH when I left). He didn't have his leash on but I figured it was okay because we were in the middle of nowhere.

The dog and I run along for a little while, then we get to the next house up the street, which is a farm with cows. Carter (the dog) has never been face-to-face with a cow before, and he was really interested in going to see them! But a dog who lived in the house came out to the end of the driveway and stared down Carter, who luckily backed off (along with me telling him "leave it" and "let's go"). I'm thinking, okay, safe, he doesn't care that much about cows. Well, further up the road we get to another farm with cows, and no dog to protect them! Carter took off full-speed running straight for the cows. Lucky for the cows, and for him, they were behind a fence, so he couldn't actually get to them. He stood there staring at them though, and the cows stared right back at him! Eventually one came over to take a look at him (the whole time I'm yelling at him to leave them alone, but he was too interested in the cows to listen). Then it mooed at him and he got scared and ran away! :lol: I need to upload my picture of him staring at the cow through the fence.

Meg, why do the knee replacements mean you need to take antibiotics for the dentist? Are you just at a higher risk for infection in general?

Dagmar, last night we had dinner at the in-laws house and their Dutch friends were visiting, and had brought homemade truffles made from Belgian chocolate. :drool: They were really good. I had two. :o

Heather - take it easy! I hope you recover well.

Hi Kery, Ward, Thighs, and Bill!

I had something of an aha moment today while reading Alwyn Cosgrove's blog (thanks for pointing me to it ages ago, Meg!). He says, "The plan used to get from 180lbs to 160lbs may not work to get from 160lbs to 140lbs." All this time I haven't been able to lose weight, and I've been saying, "I'm doing the same thing I did to lose weight last time, why doesn't it work?" Well, maybe because the plan I used to go from 185 to 130 doesn't work to go from 145 to 130.

Too bad I don't know what DOES work! Maybe I should give that nutritionist my doc recommended a call after all.

Jessica~your dog story is great! My dog found a lizard yesterday which scared the bajeebers out of him. It's too funny when our furkids get scared.

Meg & Bill~I certainly relate to the group that cannot maintain a loss. This year alone I've gained back close to 10 pounds. I really feel yucky about it, too.

My foot is still bothering me. Still no bruising but it is much more swollen today. I can't even wear flipflops without them cutting into the top of my foot, so I'm going barefoot here at work (inside only--I won't venture out to where there could be broken glass out in the warehouse). I hope this goes away soon, but in the mean time I cannot use the treadmill because I can't wear shoes.

My DD is home this week for spring break. She has a concert tonight and has a lot of homework to get done during the day, so I'm certain she won't get bored! I'd suggest we go for a pedicure some afternoon but I don't think I want anyone touching my foot.

Morning. We have snow this morning too. About 1.5" overnight, and it's still coming down lightly. It's warm enough that it'll melt quickly, but with the ash on the ground it's messy.

Our city has a holiday today - it's Seward's Day. Seward was the Sectretary of State who purchased Alaska from the Russians way back when. :) I have not a lot of plans. My current plan is to fly to Boston Tues night (well 2 am on Wed) so I need to do a little laundry, clean up the house, and repack. I'll also take another look at my taxes and make sure I didn't reverse any numbers or something stupid like that. Hard to believe we're getting a refund - that hasn't happened in years. I forgot to check if the gym is open so I'll give them a call in a bit. If not, I'll do a DVD here at home. It always amuses the cats. :lol:

Allison, I hope your foot improves quickly. Are you keeping it elevated when you can? It'll help.

My goals for April. Hmmm. I need to get my eating/exercise routine back to just that - a routine. I'll be on vacation the first 10 days, but with friends and family who eat pretty healthily and are all watching their finances, so there won't be many meals out. I'll try to get in as much exercise as possible, walking if nothing else. It's the 12 hour flights that get me. I have just one layover, about 90 minutes, during which I can do some walking around the airport.

I have a doc's appt on the 22nd, so they'll do the blood work the week before, and I want it to be good! Even with my off and on behavior the last few months, I've still been "on" more than "off." Now I'd like the improve that "on" percentage. :)

Hi to all of you. A quick fly by.........

The statistics scare me and they don't scare me. Wow, that made a lot of sense.

They scare me more then enough to keep me on my toes, that's for sure, which I kind of like. I definitely know that having lost the weight, means nothing about keeping it off and those statistics are a reminder.

But I also know that those statistics are BEATABLE. Those odds are beatable. And luckily, we've got the upper hand. Because it's in our OWN hands. It's up to us.

Losing weight and keeping it off is a doable thing if you DECIDE to do it and see it through. Plain and simple. Being fat is a choice. Being healthy is a choice. Losing weight is a choice. Keeping it off is a choice. Choice. Choice. Choice.

And as long as I (we) keep on choosing to keep it off - I (we) will.

Statistics be damned. I WILL be keeping this weight off. I am doing it!!! Nothing can stop me - but me of course. And I choose not to stop me. And I'm dragging each and every one of you along with me. ;) :hug:

Good morning,

It's cold here (for Seattle) but at least it's not snowing! I'm ready for summer and we haven't even seen anything that resembles spring!

Goal for April: May 1st is my 1 year maintaining anniversary. Makes me nervous, but excited too. Last March (2008) I decided that my goal was to get to and stay at or under 135 for 1 year, then join the NWCR. Technically I could weigh more than that and still meet the "30 lbs" criteria, but 135 is my personal red-line so that's what I set as my goal. Still, I'd really like to get back under 130 both for my "anniversary" and for peace of mind and "wiggle room". So, that's my goal - under 130 by May 1st. I know I can do it.

Meg: Thanks for the reminder that maintaining any loss is success! It's not easy. Hope the dentist goes well. I hate dentists.

Dagmar, chocolates are evil. :) I'm with you on the 4 lbs. Come on - let's do it!!

Kery, since I'm a book addict, I don't believe spending money on books is ever "blowing it". And I think "that cute belt with a cute little black bottle to carry your water" will definately help you run better! Absolutely!!

Wardhog, Swan lake sounds beautiful! Enjoy the beach.

Thighs be gone: I'd like to be where Wardhog is too - no advice for the last 10, except maybe we should start a "last 10" challenge or something?

Heather - ouch! I hope you feel better soon!

Hi Bill :)

Jessica, That seems true to me, about the plan to get from point A to point B not always being the same. Whenever I hit a plateau it seems that shaking things up is often required to get moving again, and when I've gained back (which has happened many times) I've always had to modify my routine to get back in the groove - ie: trying a new/different exercise, exercising at a different time, switching up my menu, random high/low calorie days, oh, and a biggy - I don't always "track every bite" b/c I tend to eat very much the same foods over and over, but whenever I'm trying to get over a plateau or lose after a gain I'll measure and track every bite on fitday for a week or two just for a reality check.

Allison, hope your foot feels better!

Waterrat - enjoy your day off.

I better get to work!
ttyl,
Shanna

Rockinrobin - GREAT post! Thanks :D

Good Monday everyone!
Already I am super behind on the posts. And a super terrifically busy day here but I want to at least say "hello" to everyone that had good, bad, or otherwise weekends!

I had a funny story with my kitty last night too. Not as funny as Carter with the cows though-- that must have been hilarious!! I was in bed just falling asleep when I heard a terrible noise. I thought a piece of furniture had collapsed or we were having an earthquake! Next I see something flying through my bedroom, over my bed, through the bathroom, out the room, in the room..... I realize it is my cat with a bad on his head! He got stuck in the handles and was panicked! My dh was in the bathtub yelling at me. For some dumb reason he thought I had put the bag on him. I had to catch the dumb cat before I could "save" him. :flow2:

Bill-- I order so much from Amazon it is scary. I am a librarian and I have books sent to the house for my school, plus all of my personal purchases. I swear I get a box or boxes everyday. It is not an addiction!

My spring break is next week. I CANNOT WAIT!!!

Today we are starting a WW meeting at my school (I will be the receptionist if we get enough members signed up). I am crossing my fingers that we get enough people as I would love to motivate my friends and colleagues. It looks promising but makes for a super busy day for me as it is after school and I don't want to miss my evening gym class.

Maintaining is like walking a tightrope. So tricky. Two weeks ago I was up 3 pounds so I worked to get it back off. Usually it would take me a month. Last week I was down 2.2 pounds and this week, I was down another 2.2 pounds. If I let up, I seem to gain. But if I work hard, I lose. I cannot seem to find the balance. I am only 4 pounds above the minimum (120) that WW says I can weigh and be a member or an employee so I have to try not to lose more. Plus I went clothes shopping and had trouble finding clothes to fit. Still can't wrap my head around that problem. Still don't think I look thin. Mental games, I tell you!