Hubby opted to call his doctor and is now renewing a prescription he has for an inhaler. Apparently the virus he has lasts about 3 weeks. I hate that I have to threaten him in order to get any response but at least he did something besides complain.

Now at least I won't be anxious AND tired and so much more prone to overeating. I hope we all get a good night's sleep and that tomorrow goes smoothly for Trixie.

Dagmar

Hello!

Just a quick post to make this thread pop up in my 'subscribed' list and say that I hope to be joining you in the next couple of weeks after going pretty hard with the losing since 5th Jan. Just 2-3lb left to go and then I need to put some plans in place to figure out how a transition to maintenance will look, and more importantly what maintenance-proper is going to be! Great to have some experienced people around already so hoping I can pick up a few tips. See you soon!

Ange Welcome!

Dagmar

Welcome! Feel free to join us now!

Thinking positive thoughts for you today, Dagmar!

Let's start early then
How long have you all been maintaining, and what did you do to lose weight before that, and what period of time did you lose weight over?
And how hard is it to not re-gain? I'm really curious to know what i'm in for and whether it's easier or harder than the losing bit, and whether you can ever stop and it becomes second nature or whether it's a 'forever' thing. Would love to hear some of your experiences - i'm really interested to know and not just asking casual social questions that I don't care about the answers to!

I hope everything went okay today, Dagmar.

Ange, I lost 60 pounds very slowly over about 8 years. I have maintained for 3 years, and all I can say is that it takes daily resolve to avoid regaining. I figure one day of bad eating takes a week to overcome. IMO it is a "forever" thing but worth it.

Trixie got through her surgery and the vet was really pleased with how the lump came out. She is not a good patient though - will not pee while wearing the cone! I'll have my hands full with her for the next 10 days but it's not my first "cone rodeo" and I have coping strategies.

We won't know the biopsy results until Thurs/Fri. I'm hoping the margins are clean and that she has at least a couple of more years of life with us.

I'm setting up an air mattress for myself in hubby's office today. I have to sleep and hubby's virus continues to stop that happening. I'm hoping the floor space is just big enough that I can, with a bit of furniture adjustment, squeeze the mattress between the desk and bookshelves.

Dagmar

Why isn't hubby sleeping on the air mattress? Just sayin.

I joined here way back when I was dieting and hit a stall and found this wonderful forum with wonderful people who offered tons of advice. I lost around 30 pounds in about 6 or 8 months. After that, I was able to maintain for a couple of years and then complacency hit and I slowly started to gain. What I should have done but didn't do was to diet again immediately and stave off the extra pounds. Instead I justified it as "just a few pounds." But those few pounds led to a few more the following year, yada yada yada. So I'm here to re-lose those pounds plus a few more.

My advice (to you and my future self) is to not become complacent. Do not justify a small gain as "just a couple pounds." Instead, keep an eye on everything and if a couple pounds do come back, go back to whatever you did to lose it the first time and do it again (and do it quickly).

He's offered but he's too heavy for it.

Dagmar

thanks Howlin and Allison - I have lost before and my experience has been the same as Allison really - kept it off for a couple of years then gradually it went back on. I guess the excuse I've used to myself is that I like losing, but I like eating, so if i keep yoyo-ing then i'm happy both ways - except i'm not. Anyway, i'd never been anywhere near as high a weight as where i started this time, and i couldn't believe that i could get to where i am now when i started, so it's time for new efforts all the way. I really can't remember how i was able to maintain previously, so this feels like the big learning curve. I definitely did heaps of exercise before, but this time around hardly any (I've got a dodgy knee that i'm working on, but can't even go up and down stairs very well at the moment), so i need to experiment with increasing the cals a bit and see how it goes.

mudpie poor Trixie - i always feel really sorry for animals with the Cone of Shame. Especially when they have no spacial awareness and keep banging in to doors etc. Sounds like she's taking it really hard if she won't even pee with it on. Little sausage.

ange82much, exercise keeps your muscles active so they keep your metabolism high. Also, you want to be able to move around as you get older! But it's really about the food. You cannot out-exercise overeating, as I'm sure you have discovered. In some way or another, one has to avoid bad food habits. If I were you, I'd put together a sensible plan that you can stay with indefinitely. Heavy restriction doesn't work so well in the long run. Take it from me--someone who has regained.

You sound a lot like me! I love to eat and finding a diet that allows good food is difficult as I don't like cutting things out. In the past I just counted calories, but this time I'm attempting kept. We'll see how it goes, but I should be okay because it allows cheese! Also, I'm dealing with some hip issues. I definitely over exerted myself last week after taking several days off due to a short vacation and that caused me to have to stop exercising the rest of the week. I'm debating seeing a doctor about it as I'm sure they'll just tell me to take it easy and take pain meds, which I'm doing already. I certainly don't want this to continue though.

I am now in my "summer weight" range - 134.8 lbs. this morning. And it's 2 weeks ahead of my scheduled goal to reach it! :

Dagmar

what's kept? I've always been a calorie counter before too (and as you can tell from my avatar, have a weakness for cheese!)

Congratulations on reaching your summer range Mudpie!

Jay you're right, I should definitely start incorporating more exercise next. I enjoy it too, but have also enjoyed not feeling that I 'have' to exercise during this weight-loss period. I know if I exercise a lot I get hungry and end up wanting to eat more, so although it's not been as healthy for me, it's been easier to lose without the exercise because I've not been hungry!