When Maintaining Turns Into Gaining
 

Frustrating news--I have gained 2 weeks in a row. http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/newt...wthread&f=123#
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/newt...wthread&f=123#
FrownThis is not the end of the world, but it's troubling. My WW leader reviewed my (very detailed) food journal and made some helpful suggestions. Duringmy huge food shopping today, I included lots of fresh produce, plain ff yogurt and Wasa crackers. It seems I have been letting some high fat foods (especially cheese) creep back into my life. This week, I am focusing on decreasing processed foods, decreasing added oil and adding in add'l fruit/veg.

I also bought a new kind of hot cereal--a blend of whole rye, oats and barley. It looked good and I'll certainly get my daily dose of fiber.

Would love some encouraging words!

Don't be alarmed- I think it happens to all of us at various times. Things seem to be going so well that you figure all little of "x" in your daily diet won't hurt, or a slightly larger serving of something that has been part of your "diet" food. Then you take a little nibble of something that you wouldn't ordinarily eat that is being passed around at a gathering, or you decide you don't really need to exercise because it's cold/raining/you are tired/you're sick of the whole thing.... That's why maintaining is such a balancing act between making yourself crazy by thinking you are constantly on a diet, and becoming complacent and falling back into old or new bad habits.

I think what you did was perfect- you identified the trend and how to fix it before it got out of hand. Take a look at a lot of the threads on this forum and you'll see that we all do this, and lots of ideas about how different people deal with it.

Mel

I suspect Mel's right because she describes exactly how I get myself into trouble -- "little" of this, "taste" of that, "just this once", whatever. It doesn't take much of the "littles" to really add up to something BIG! Recently I found the scale going the wrong way myself and cracked down on all those little slips and it's making a big difference. And it made me realize how far I'd strayed from my basic plan without even realizing it. :o

What she said. :yes: :yes: :yes:

Elana, congratulations on your terrific response! As you'll see from my sig, I've got a ways to go to reach maintenance, but in lurking here and doing research elsewhere, I've come to fully expect to have a little trial and error at that point, as you did. My hope is that I can respond as quickly and wisely as you did in identifying the cause, coming up with the solution/modification, and then implementing it quickly.

I think you're doing beautifully, and while I completely understand your frustration, I warmly suggest that you're doing just FINE and will be back down to your goal weight in a jiffy. :goodvibes

Thanks to all for the encouragement. I made an absolutely fabulous dinner (if I do say so myself)--haddock fillets baked in foil pouches (flavored with dill and lemon slices), sweet potatoes and spinach. It all tasted great, and ofcourse it was very healthy. Good to remember that the nutrient-dense food is what I actually prefer. i think my biggest challenge will be stabilizing my daytime eating at work so that I get home not starving. The after-work eating has been spiraling out of control.

So, I am satisfied from dinner and am done eating for the day. Ice water will carry me thru til tomorrow. I will try out my new hot cereal tomorrow.

Thanks again. This forum is always helpful.

A bit late on this thread - but as has been said, I think the important part about maintaining is to be diligent and if you gain a few pounds - NIP IT IN THE BUD, but GOOD. It's easy to become complacent and before you know it, the 2 lb gain quickly becomes a 10 lb gain. IMO it's FAR easier to maintain a weight than to gain 10-20 lbs and have to work to lose it all over again!

Yay! I love to hear from our expert maintainer (is it 15 years now, Karen? :D ) and she's so right about falling into the complacency trap! Karen wrote a wonderful post about complacency last winter -- if you missed it the first time around, you might want to check it out here: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37148 .

Yup, been 15 years since I lost the big chunk o' weight :) and again, I have to stress that it DOES get EASIER over the years, with diligence - making efforts to change those bad habits, then it becomes more natural. I don't ever forsee myself, say, eating half an extra-large pizza or a quart of ice cream in one sitting ever again!

Elana - I would totally suggest that you read (if you haven't done so already) the book Thin for Life by Anne Fletcher. Key to Success #5 is titled "Nip it in the Bud: Break the Relapse Cycle" and the chapter on this key begins:

What I do these days - I weigh myself once a week. (I had been NOT weighing myself at all, but this summer I started weighing myself - on Wednesday mornings - just to keep track - I do NOT advocate weighing every day - for me that would freak me out!) If my weight goes up, I bring up the water, salads and veggies in my diet, switch up my exercise a bit, and write down everything I eat in my journal at night, every night, until those couple of pounds come off!

That book sounds like exactly what I need--I'll look for it today. I have definitely made the mental shift into "I am losing weight now"--it's a better way for me to think about it instead of "Well, I have failed at maintenance. This is bad." I tried to reframe it into a statement I could live with. After all, I know I can lose weight because I just did it successfully. Maintenace is a new skill for me to learn, and I've learned plenty of new skills before. And all of them took practice, so why shouldn't this one.

Onward and downward! (Well, I thought it sounded funny so I hope others do too).

As I read this thread, I had a major lightbulb moment. This is exactly what I've been doing over the past two years, without putting a name to it. Several times, I've noticed the "weekly treat" turn into the twice per week treat, then the three times per week treat, and when I realized that I had gained a bit, I would look and realize that several different small treats had gone from "occasional" status to almost daily status. I just can't tolerate that without gaining. It is amazing how insidious it is. I didn't realize how much it was happening until I stopped and took a good look at things.

I wish I could say it happened once and never again, but I've gone through the same process several times. Perhaps this is simply part of the maintaining process. I do think I am quicker to see it starting now, reign it back in to manageable levels.

I really do enjoy my treats just as much, if not more, on an occasional basis. They really don't satisfy me any more when I have them more often. At that point, they become less special and really aren't worth the calories.

Dawna

That is soooo true... *I* just got the light bulb moment from reading that!!

Thank you!

Elana: planning out my eating day has helped me loads. Even if I do come home hungry after work, I am usually not starving and can feel satisfied with say an apple until dinner comes.. geez, now I remember my mom suggesting that exact same thing to me when I was in my teens, yet I'd still go and make myself a can of Chefboyardee or have half a dozen cookies. If I had only listened.

I still have about 7-8lbs to go until I am where I want to be (maybe more today, I am bloated since TOM should be visiting later this week), it's harder but now I am deliberately going slower and catching myself when I slip. No more binging because I had one cookie. I just keep going. I also stopped eating after supper. Evenings were my week point and I eat late anyway and this has helped me loads.

Dawna: yup, treats are just that... treats. A sometimes food as they called it on children's education TV and in elementary school.

Cheers!

Ali

I started the day off with an exercise video at home, ate a healthy breakfast and brought lunch to work. Hit a trouble zone last night when I ate a 2nd slice of pizza (which I wasn't truly hungry for, but hey, it was right there), so dipped way into my Flex Points for the week.

I have tried pre-planning the entire day of meals/snacks and putting it in my journal ahead of time. For some reason, that doesn't work well for me.

After school snack: an apple, cut up, with a very little bit of peanut butter.

Thanks, as always, for wonderful encouragement.

Elana,

The only thing that helps me when I don’t plan out my meals is the fact that my pantry and fridge are stocked with healthy things to eat. Plenty of times when I haven’t planned my day’s food, I still end up eating the right amount of calories simply because whatever I grab is good for me. So, for instance, I might grab a pack of instant oatmeal and a piece of fruit for breakfast. I’ll then grab a 2-cup container of homemade chicken soup I’ve made and put in the freezer. I’ll take some of those small, pre-peeled carrots and a piece of fruit for snacks. Even if I haven’t planned this, when I add up all the numbers at the end of the night, my calories are right where they should be.

Keeping the right foods around
 

So true--that is something I have gotten vigilant about again. I bought lots of fresh produce, washed and chopped some veggies so I could keep them at work. Also bought plain nonfat yogurt in the 6 oz. size. I had kept a 32 oz. tub of it; half of it spoiled in my fridge at work. Aggravating. I keep mini packets of instant oatmeal, Grape Nuts, small boxed dried fruit, Wasa crackers, a jar of natural peanut butter and some Odwalla bars in a mouse-proof container in my classroom. Somehow it really helps knowing it is there--even if I am too rushed to pack a lunch, I have what I need to eat healthily during the work day.

I also made and froze some lentil-eggplant dip and a miso-barley-mushroom soup.

So, I'm sure all these good intentions and actions will translate in weight loss this week. Or at least stabilizing without continuing to gain. Either one would be fine!

Yes, Elana, my fridge is stocked with healthy food . . . now if only I'd stick to eating that instead of stopping at Starbucks for their pecan carmel chocolate tart as I did today! Arrgh!

OMG -- I've seen those little :devil: s when I go in Starbucks for coffee (though I'm usually staring fixedly at the ceiling or any place BUT that horrid bakery case) -- do NOT under any circumstances say if they're any good or not!! I don't want to know!! :D My philosophy is that if I never taste it, I'll never know how good it is, hence I'll never crave it. My downfall started with my first bite of chocolate chip cookies (perhaps my first bite of chocolate?) -- kind of like Adam and Eve and the apple? :lol: So ... "don't take the first bite" is what I tell myself.

Great discussion about setting up "no-fail environments" -- who coined that phrase? I can't remember -- Karen? Dr. Phil?? -- but I love it. I'm the same way as all of you -- if the food's planned and prepared, that's what I'll eat -- it's my "no-fail" environment". But ... when I come in the house from the gym and find myself rummaging through the frig and cabinets for food, that's when I run into trouble.

Starbucks, on the other hand, is definitely a "fail" environment; it's set up that way on purpose. I have to be careful when I go in there -- like the grocery store -- if I'm too hungry, the goodies are just too tempting. :devil:

It's funny, coffee houses were my worst enemy before WW. I'd go have a coffee and something yummy with it. I remember while losing weight my best friend decided to buy some gifts from a Second Cup (a Canadian coffee chain) and I was dying... the smell of coffee with baked goods, but I resisted and lost weight during that Christmas time....

I know Dr. Phil mentions a no fail environment, not sure if he coined it. It certainly helps though, yes, you can binge on healthy stuff, but I personally find when I binge on healthy stuff it's due to having something completely unhealthy before.

Cheers!

Ali

Yup - that's one of Dr. Phil's keys: "Create a No-Fail Environment". Before that, though, Rosemary Green's Diary of a Fat Housewife (1996 paperback edition) talked about 'practicing environmental control':

Starbucks Survival
 

:coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :coffee:

If you ever want a bakery item at Starbucks, you can get the nutrition info, including WW points, from the Starbucks website.

I go there frequently for the overpriced iced mocha coffee drinks. With fat-free milk, I get 2 dairy servings, some chocolate, plenty of caffeine; it only costs me 3 points (and, of course, the wasted $3.00--but that's a separate issue). :coffee:

:D :D :D

Okay, Meg, I'm not going to say a word about how it tastes . . . I'll just let all of you imagine!

Starbucks is definitely a "fail" environment. And it's so funny how easy it is to get sucked in. The other day when I went there, I redeemed a free beverage coupon. I told the clerk that I wanted a kid sized hot cocoa (I was craving chocolate & figured a kid-sized cocoa was only about 170 calories). Anyway, I show her my coupon and she says, "Why don't you get the bigger size since it's free anyway?" I told her I was watching my calories so "no thanks." Believe it or not, she persisted: "Are you sure? The kid-size only comes to 1.06." I can't believe I did it, but I caved and ordered the tall size. I ended up dumping half of it before I could drink it, but it's interesting how I succumbed to temptation at a weak moment.

I definitely think I should limit my Starbucks visits to once a week!

I think all stores and restaraunts and deliberatly set up to be "fail" environments- they know most people can't pass that bakery case as you walk in, or ignore the candy right at the check out. It's the same marketing strategy as putting the sugary cereals at kid eye level.

Blinders! We all need a set of blinders :D

Mel

I'm kinda the opposite. I've tried the failsafe environments before, and the moment I'd get around chocolate or, God forbid, cheesecake, I'd overeat it. This time around, I'm not going without it. I'm having it in small doses so that I don't actually crave it like I have before when I was "dieting". Just yesterday, at a friend's and my weekly Ruby Tuesday's dinner date, she ordered the chocolate lava cake. And I won't tell you how that was either, because you'd shoot me if I did. She wanted to share it. and I did manage to eat less than a quarter of it. Afterall SHE ordered it, not me. LOL

LOL- Which just goes to show that this whole process of losing and maintaining is "whatever works for YOU". If I ate a 1/4 of anything I'd either be craving so bad that I'd cave the next day, or feel so darn virtuous for having stopped eating, that again I'd eat 2 the next day. Somehow, not starting in the first place is for me, what I have come to regard as normal- not virtuous. Therefore I don't get any reward (more food) for having done what I was supposed to do.

Obviously from your signature, your way works for you :) Again, we all have different paths to the same destination.

Mel

Good point, Mel - it seems that the maintaining world is pretty evenly divided between the "two bites and I'm satisfied" crowd and the "two bites and I'm binging crowd". I'm firmly in the binger camp, so what works best for me is to forget how good something tastes. This may sound completely crazy, but it takes about six months for me to stop craving something after I've tasted it -- six months when I WANT to eat "X" and have to fight it. Then I guess my brain forgets how good it tasted and the craving goes away. Six months!!! :dizzy: But I've been that way my whole life ... like Mel said, know what works - and what doesn't - for YOU. For me, eating even small amounts of trigger foods is playing with fire.

"Different paths to the same destination".. Well said Mel... At times, depending on the circumstances or my mood, no TOM, no pressure, whatever... I can have a bite and be happy with it... other times, OMG, one bite leads to a binge and roaming the kitchen looking for anything, thank goodness I do keep a clean food cupboard because I'd be doomed...

Modifying the formerly off-limits foods
 

I really like carrot cake and cheesecake, tho. I rarely eat them (even before I gained that pesky 15 lbs). I have since modified both the recipes so I can bake them at home and they are tasty and low-fat.

For carrot cake, I found a recipe in an American Heart Assoc. cookbook; it uses applesause in place of oil (among other changes--like whipped ff ricotta for frosting instead of high fat cream cheese).

I made a cheescake with tofu--yes, it's delicious, and top it with fresh berries (when in season), or thaw some frozen organic berries from Trader Joe's.

Anyway, I tend to make faster things like muffins or quick breads, but it's nice to know I can have the 2 things I love if I make the effort to bake them.

If anyone wants either recipe, just let me know.

Have a great day!

I am like Ilene too, I am in neither camp or both camps. Sometimes I can have a little and feel great and stop, other times I'll eat anything and everything. I find eating treats with a meal is better than having them by themselves. This could be just me though. I found that adjusting my thinking has helped too... getting rid of the notion of "since I ate a chocolate bar, I blew it, thus I shoukd have 7 now" and now being able to say "that chocolate bar was good, now I gotta do laundry".

Cheers!

Ali

Oh yes please, on both recipes! :)

Me, too, Lanaii! :D

Elana,

I would really like copies of your recipes too.

For myself, if I totally obstain from treats I will eventually go overboard so I've learned I'm better off allowing myself a taste so I don't feel deprived. My technique, for instance with ice cream, is to not have a 1/2 gallon of ice cream at the house. If I want a treat I go with my spouse to a Dairy Queen, have the treat and come back home. That way I can't go back for seconds. I'm not deprived and my environment is kept "clean".

Elena,
I'd love copies, too. One of the ways I've dealt with treats is by trying to figure out how to remake them so that they are a "meal". One of my favorites is cottage cheese, blended with an egg and some vanilla and splenda, then baked in muffin tins with a sprinkle of fiber 1 in the bottom of the tin. Add a little sf flavored syrup, and you have any cheesecake flavor you'd like :D

Mel

SF?

Sorry, do you mean sugar free? What's confusing me is "sf flavored". If you mean sugar free, I've found sugar free syrup, but not one that's flavored anything other than syrup flavor.

There are several brands of SF syrups that come in lots of different flavors, ranging from SF vanilla syrup (like at Starbucks) to exotic flavors like "toasted marshmallow" and "cookie dough". :T The brand I've bought is DaVinci (here's the list of their 50 SF flavors http://www.davincigourmet.com/742.html ) They're all 0 calories. I think that Toriani is another brand that makes SF syrups?

I'm a big fan of DaVinci's SF French vanilla - it's what I use in my chai tea, along with a splash of skim milk, for my mock chai lattes. :)

Hmmm, I've never heard of them before. But then we're in a small area and moving to a large city. So maybe I'll actually find some of them there. But I'm going to try this cheesecake. I LOVE cheesecake and that would be cool if that tastes good and makes an alternative.

Interesting knowledge, Ali. That could be what's happens to me. I'll pay more attention if it ever happens again (!). Thanks.

Cake recipes to come in the future
 

I have to watch the Red Sox tonight--hopefully a night of victory and jubilation here in Boston--so I will post the recipes later this week.

Big downfall today--snacked a lot while prepping dinner (nothing unhealthy--red cabbage w/some low-fat dressing, a few pumpkin seeds). The truth is, I was full by the time we all sat down to dinner. But, being a person who does not always take the time to assess her true level of hunger, I ate some whole wheat pasta, tofu and spinach w/a bit of soy sauce. Once again, healthy food. But if I'm not actually hungry, why eat? :( :(

I have certainly learned that lesson in the past, and it's never fun. Now I am sitting here stuffed to the gills and I didn't even especially enjoy the nice dinner I made. Reviewed my eating for the day: I am not getting enough calories in at work. That seems to be the big problem. My lunch doesn't keep me satisfied long enough. I should eat a snack at school before I come home.

Well, I hope you join me in rooting for the Red Sox. It's an exciting night!

I have a trick for after work. On the way home I drink either ice water or diet coke in the car. I'm not sure why it works but I'm not famished when I get home like I used to be.


Oh I probably should have said that I eat at every break. Every two hours or so ... just like at home.

I find Elana, that I must eat 5-6 meals/day to keep away the starvation ravenous mode I used to get just before dinner... Now I would much prefer to come home have 1/2 cup cottage cheese and a cup of strawberries at 4pm and then eat at 5:30 or 6PM again with the family... I am never ravenous anymore if I eat every 2-4 hours... I rarely let myself go past 4 hours with no food, that's just asking for trouble , for me...