There doesn't seem to be a place for maintainers' introductions, so I'll put it here in chat. I'm Alice in Central California. You might call me a professional dieter, since I've been doing it for 50 years since age 10. About 9 years ago I finally found the right formula and have managed to lose and keep away almost 60 pounds. Right now I'm at my lowest ever adult weight and hear people saying I'm "tiny" and "small". It's funny to hear, because there's no way I could ever be tiny, but I am lean. Exercise plays a big role especially since I'm still chained to a desk job and I commute 2 hours per day in my car. DH and I live in the "country" on 30 acres of flat land. We have 2 dogs, 7 cats (one we are keeping for my 21 y.o. son who is at army boot camp), several chickens and about 20 hair sheep (look like goats). I'm really looking forward to chatting with everyone.
PaperClippy, I hope the vet can figure out what's wrong with Carter. Or maybe it is something you can't hear but he can.
Welcome, Alice!
First of all, is your avatar a pic of you?!?!
We have much in common-- including our height and near weight.... I'm in Northern California and a huge animal lover. I currently have two dogs and two cats -- oh, that makes me sad that I wrote that-- we have one dog-- our Great Dane died this fall. We will hopefully be adding a puppy to the mix in the summer when I'm not working (I'm an elementary school librarian).
Alice--I'm Allison from Southern California (desert)! Also an animal lover, I have two dogs and three cats (which expands when DD visits with her two cats and now a dog).
Wow, thanks for the wonderful welcomes! I sorely need some new weight-focused buds and I know I have found the right place!
Michele, thanks for asking and I'm proud to say the avatar IS me. In fact it is from a photo session I had yesterday to celebrate reaching my weight/fitness goal and my 60th bd (last month) I haven't been to a salon since I got married in 1990, so I was WAY out of my comfort zone with hair/makeup, posing, etc. My husband thinks I'm nuts. But the photos turned out pretty well and I had a good time, although it was exhausting.
My formula? Not a big surprise - it was to lose slowly, accept long plateaus but not regain, begin resistance training, do more hiking, and finally accept that I didn't have time for both a sedentary job and sedentary hobbies. So the sit-down hobbies are on hold until retirement. If I was younger I'd consider changing careers to something more active. And last but not least, to make it my lifestyle, not just another diet.
I know the joy you will feel when you get your new puppy It's sooo hard to lose our faithful friends but unfortunately just part of being a true animal person.
Allison, great to meet you! How does it work when your DD visits, especially with the cats? Do they get along with yours or do you separate them?
JayEll, thanks - from the few posts I've read, I know I'll love it here!
I'll try to read back posts so I'm not always asking things that everybody else already knows.
Allison, great to meet you! How does it work when your DD visits, especially with the cats? Do they get along with yours or do you separate them?
Well, so far everyone gets along just fine. I have an "ambassador" kitty--he loves all people and animals. We haven't met DD's new dog yet but he gets along with her cats so I'm sure he'll be fine with mine. My concern is with his size--he's a terrier. I'm afraid he'll be small enough to fit between the slats in our gate. I know my neighbor's terrier fits because he comes into our back yard sometimes to visit.
Well, so far everyone gets along just fine. I have an "ambassador" kitty--he loves all people and animals. We haven't met DD's new dog yet but he gets along with her cats so I'm sure he'll be fine with mine. My concern is with his size--he's a terrier. I'm afraid he'll be small enough to fit between the slats in our gate. I know my neighbor's terrier fits because he comes into our back yard sometimes to visit.
Oh, that's so funny about the ambassador kitty! We have one too. One day I went looking for him and found him in the south field rolling playfully on the ground, trying to make friends with -- a skunk!!
You could always tack up a temporary piece of chicken wire on the gate for the terrier.
Allison, oooo a terrier, I have a bunch of those right now so I have to ask -- what kind of terrier? None of my terriers get along with cats, they think of them as overgrown squirrels, so it is nice that your DD's does!
Alice -- you look fantastic, love that you did a photo shoot for your 60th!
Welcome Alice in Maintenance-Land! I'm a more recent maintainer and am only gradually stabilizing. My 40-pound weight swings are down to more like 15 pounds over the course of a year, still too much but I'm making great progress. I've hiked up 1000 mountains, and my wife Karen and I bicycle up a small mountain near our home 5 days a week as long as it's 40 degrees, and indoor exercise biking otherwise.
It's great to have this group, we're very supportive and we care about each others' lives.
Michelle~I don't know that my DD knows what kind of terrier he is. I haven't met him. He's white and rather tall. They found him at the humane society and he's about 3 years old.
I wrenched my back yesterday. I don't know how, either. We arrived for golf and I was doing my regular stretching routine and all was well. Then I went to the putting green to practice and my back seized up. Totally ruined my game yesterday. Slept well and thought it was all better this morning until I went to shower. Still a lot of pain, but less than yesterday. The weird thing is where the pain is--not my shoulders or small of my back where I've had pain before, but on the left side just under my brastrap. It even hurts to take a deep breath! So this weekend's golf was horrible. Ugh
Welcome Alice! Wow, you look great! I was a professional dieter as well. I'm almost at my one year mark of maintenance and this is the longest I have ever maintained a weight loss - and the lowest I've been since my kids were born (24 and 21).
Superbowl party tonight... lots of food and I'll have wine but I did bike this morning burning up a ton of calories (and yesterday) so I'll be okay.
I'm feeling gloomy over the forecast for Monday, which is for a snowstorm through the night and then a nice, thick glaze of ice covering it through the afternoon hours.
I'm dubious about crossing the courtyard sidewalk on my walker & then my mother driving me to physical therapy in those conditions.
This weather keeps cheating me out of my much-needed appointments.
Oh, and neither my mother nor I care about the Superbowl, so the TV's on AMC's "Walking Dead" marathon, in anticipation of the show starting up again next Sunday.
I finished watching "The Wire" yesterday, which meant the end of a 60-episode series. Think I'll start "Deadwood" when we return the DVD to the library this week (weather permitting).
Alice, welcome from me as well. I love your tag line- I too can intuitively eat my way to well over 3000 calories if I let myself. I'd been overweight nearly continuously since age 13 until my mid-40s. Finally figured out that maintaining a weight loss meant continuing to eat in "diet mode" forever (that is, few desserts, portion control and no seconds except on veggies). Been doing it since 2010.
2 hours a day commuting sounds brutal to me (I live 10 minutes from my office), but then, I live in a small college town in the very unfashionable midwest. I too have made a firm commitment to exercise, 5 days per week. From the look of your avatar, we share a love of weight lifting. Do you follow a particular routine? Saef and I have both completed the New Rules of Weightlifting for Women program, and I've done Stronglifts 5x5 as well. I'm currently switching it up with more HIIT and body-weight routines because I was getting a bit bored.
Snow day for my 3 boys tomorrow (they'd already called off school by 5 pm this afternoon) but my University would sooner forfeit the Rose Bowl (we won this year) than close the campus for something as insignificant as a foot of snow. So, I get to drive in by 8 am tomorrow even though I'm sure none of my patients will show up. JZJ, at least I'll get some writing in.
Allison/Michelle, I think any dog at the humane society with wire hair gets branded a terrier. Maybe he's part terrier and easier to integrate with cats.
Allison, sorry to hear about the back pain. It sounds like a pulled muscle. There's probably nothing to be done but give it a week of TLC and stay in a comfortable position.
ChrisMohr, I can't tell from your avatar where your mountain is, but it's great that you and your wife are committed to exercise! Where do you do most of your hiking?
Sharon, congrats on 1 year of maintenance! I'm not much for TV sports so I went hiking and left my DH to watch and figure out if I won anything in the office pool. I didn't. I ate three chicken wings when I got home.
Bill, I just LOVE your phrase "but I don't have to eat about it".
Saef, I'm still not sure what you are recovering from, but it sounds serious. The PT exercises are very familiar to me - I did similar ones after my knee surgery 3 years ago. And actually, I still do many of them a couple of times a week. Don't get discouraged - just keep plugging away. I took up swimming at the local public pool for about a year. I couldn't kick so I just swam with my arms, but it helped.
Andrea, thanks for the welcome, and congrats on maintaining since 2010! It sounds like you and I have the same approach - never take food consumption for granted! I have NROLFW on my bookshelf but there were too many things I had to modify to really follow it very well. My right knee is not very healthy and I have to skip exercises which put a lot of stress on it. That leaves out almost all squats, most lunges, and other stuff with bent legs. I can do wall squats and some deadlifts, especially stiff-legged. I was doing leg presses until a few weeks ago when my knee started acting up again. Fortunately, weekly hiking seems to be maintaining my leg muscles pretty well and I can do various glute exercises too. I work out once a week at the gym with a trainer for an hour, and 2 days a week at home for about 20 minutes. I try for 15K steps every day by walking round and round the cafeteria at work, and I do one hard hike on the weekend. Today I did 15-16 miles carrying a pack somewhere between 35 and 40 pounds.
I haven't been to a salon since I got married in 1990, so I was WAY out of my comfort zone with hair/makeup, posing, etc. My husband thinks I'm nuts. But the photos turned out pretty well and I had a good time, although it was exhausting.
