Have any maintainers overcome a long stall?
 

Hi to all you lovely maintainers! I am a long-time lurker. I was wondering if I could pick the minds of people who have "been there" with regards to weight loss in the long term.

Have any of you had a long stall but then overcame it and went on to lose more weight?

If this has not happened to you specifically, then what are your thoughts on this concept?

(Background: I have lost 65 pounds; I started in July 2008. I have been bouncing around the low 150s (with occasional peeks of the high 140s) for over a year now. I've been trying different approaches but have not yet found one that works. I'm open to anything - even tough love. :) )

Any thoughts you have are appreciated!

Welcome, Elixabeth, you have come to the right place. I can't promise that you will find an answer but you will find people that understand.
My story is similar to yours, right now I am trying to recover from a regain of 19 pounds I have lost most of that ( 13 pounds) but the last few pounds are being very stubborn. I am not giving up, though, I did it before and I know I can do it again.

If you figure it out, let me know! Good luck! :)

I guess I could call what I did a several-year stall - I did maintain the majority of my original loss from 2009. Perhaps what stalled was my motivation to continue the loss mindset. :D It was probably a case of the "good enough" mentality - I was close to goal, felt good, and looked okay. Only recently have I found the drive to pick back up with the routine and take it to its conclusion. I can't say I've had to change much of what worked before - it's still calorie counting with a focus on whole foods, and getting up off the couch now and then. What I'm eating to lose isn't much different from what I ate the last few years; there's just less of it.

About 14 years ago I lost around 65 lbs...and maintained there for 10 years. Good enough was my mantra. I was wearing a 16, which you can find as most stores, so I didn't view my weight as an issue. It was only after a regain of 15 lbs with some accompanying health issues that I decided to make some changes that resulted in my current weight that I've maintained. Only you can decide at what weight you wish to maintain. What's "good enough" for one person is unacceptable for another. It's all about personal choices. :hug:

Drop the bad carbs!

By the time I started my junior year in high school, I had ballooned up to probably over 200 pounds. I was wearing a size 18, needing a 20 and wasn't actively exercising. I was already overweight growing up--this gain pushed me well into obesity.

I started exercising and going to the gym when I started junior year. By the end of high school I managed to drop down to a 14/16 (just by exercising, not watching what I ate). I stayed at that point for most of college until I picked up weight training. Still not watching what I ate, I managed to drop a dress size to a 12/14.

I was pretty much "stuck" at the same weight/size for 5 years until I decided to start watching my diet. I realized that I could exercise forever and still be stuck unless I watched how much I ate! I also watch what I eat now and try to stick to whole foods as much as possible :)

ElizabethLC, thanks for delurking -- I already know that I like you because you've got my girl RuPaul in your avatar. (I love RuPaul's Drag Race sooo much, it's by far my favorite TV show.)

Tell us what you're doing now, so you can give credit for yourself for all that you're probably doing right. (And you had to have been doing it right to lose as much as you have.) What is your Way of Eating -- what does a typical day of eating look like for you? What is your exercise routine like? What have you already tried to end the stall-out?

My own stall-outs have been more like rest intervals. I don't stop what I'm doing but I don't change it or kick into a higher gear. It's more like, "Let me just do this for a while & see what it feels like & then let me check in again." As such, they feel voluntary and not something that I need particularly to "fix." It's hard to be "on" all the time.

Stall? Perhaps. But I think it's more my own complacancy. It's as if I feel like I'm okay, even though I want more, so I relax and don't try as hard. Or perhaps I get bored with the program, so I stop in search of another. I'm kind of there right now. I know I need to do more, but lack the determination to kick it up a notch. It's really mind over matter in this regard.

Thanks for the responses all!

bargoo, thank you for the encouragement. Your stats are amazing!! Congrats!

hatgirlie, LOL! Will do.

ICUwishing, very nice work on keeping it off, not regaining, and starting it up again. That is what I want to do too!

losermom, LOVE your stats too! And 10 years, that is some long term maintenance. Very inspiring. Can you share any thoughts on what you did for the second round of weight loss?

Bellamack, YES! Carbs are evil!

sontaikle, GREAT stats! So for you, you had the exercise down but dropping lower was all about the diet? Good to know.

saef, Thank you for the warm welcome, I appreciate it. :) Look at you, 100 pounds down! Way to go!

To answer your question, I lost my weight by changing my thought processes, eating low carb whole foods, and exercising.

Emotionally:
I changed my life radically with regards to:
- what foods I will keep in the house (very strict on this - zero junk food)
- what I eat and when
- food boundaries/food pushing from other people
- being aware of societal "food cues" and not responding (See Barbara Berkely's blog posts titled "Life on the Island" and "Tied to the Mast" for more on this)
- not using eating as a response to good/bad events in my life. Having emotions instead. :D

Food:
I eat low carb. I weigh and measure my foods with a food scale, down to the gram. I track on livestrong. Food wise, I have cycled through trying all these things: gluten free, grain free, super low carb, moderate carb, high fat, moderate fat, high protein, and adequate protein. Books that have inspired me nutrition-wise are "The Paleo Diet for Athletes", "Refuse to Regain", and "Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It". Currently, I eat between 1500-1800 cals.

Typical day:
B: coffee with half and half, eggs with veggies
L: Oat bran pita with avocado, tomato and swiss. Raw veggies. Berries. Unsweet tea. Omega 3 supplements.
D: meat (ex: grass fed beef) with low carb side veggie. Greens with plain olive oil. One square of Lindt 90% chocolate. Magnesium supplement.

Exercise
I started with Couch to 5k and worked up to spending several months training for and running a half marathon. After that I did Body for Life lifting and cardio for 8 weeks (not the full 12). Then I did just distance running for a few months, then distance running + weights again. I currently am seeing what happens if I nix the distance running and focus on heavy weights 3x week, sprint intervals 3x week, and recreational walking 2x week.

This post has gotten quite long! And contains a lot of navel-gazing!

In a nutshell: I eat healthy foods and enjoy my regular exercise! I think I just may have hit a natural set point with weight. I think I have to do some meditation on if I am willing to go lower with calories or not.

Elizabeth, I'm not sure that I deserve any kudos for my 10 year period of maintenance. I think I got there and got complacent. I fit into a size 16 which I could find in just about any store and I figured it was good enough.

I feel like I have now finished off the job. This time I made super slow changes that I was willing to continue for life, like drinking lots of water, sleeping more, exercising more, eating better. But most importantly I addressed the emotional side of my weight struggle. I quit beating myself up when I overate or binged. I am now much kinder to myself and take much better care of my body. This in turn allows me to take better care of my family. Best of luck to you! :hug: