Robin said ....When I say that I've maintained my weight for the better part of 8 years, I don't mean that I've held steady at 142 pounds for all of that time. There are those heady days when the scale reads 138, and then there are those days when it says 144. That's a 6-pound swing. Do I prefer 138? What do you think. But can I live with 144? Yep, because like it or not, my body goes up and down. Up and down. I noticed in Thin for Life that a majority of the Masters had learned to live with similar swings.
I guess I still have some 'head work' to do concerning the 'maintainer's life'. I've hovered between 120 and 124 since September. But after the holidays I weighed 126 and immediately convinced myself I'd gained 5 lbs. I didn't. I probably only gained 2 or 3.
The thought process then went something like this ... 5 lbs ... I haven't been able to lose 2 lbs a week for some time now. It'll be the middle of February before I get back down. This is what happened last year and by Easter I was 140 again. Did I throw out those bigger jeans. Thank goodness I have sweats. What if everyone who thinks I did really well notices that I haven't been able to maintain ....
I got ticked. Revisited fitday. Cut the fat and salt. Exercised. And I'm already back down to 122. It wasn't even fat weight for heaven's sake. It was fluid.
My best friend would never have talked to me the way I was talking to myself.
Robin, Thank you. You're posts are amazing and you're right, up/down is the way it goes. I'm back on track and in a few weeks, I'll be fine. We all will be fine.
Susanb - I tell myself all the time, I would never talk to others the way I talk to myself. My Mom struggles with maintainence too and when she's struggling, I encourage her like crazy. Yet, when I face the same struggles, I tend to berate myself. So, positive self-talk. Can't wait for that TFL book discussion.
Robin, what a fantastic post Learning to live with the swings as a natural part of maintenance is a head game. It's so easy to see the upward numbers as failure and become depressed by them, or try to crash diet or frantically exercise them off, rather than just accepting the swing as the other end of the wave. The trough, when we saw that lowest number, is so tantalizing...but unrealistic to expect that your body is going to stay at one static weight every moment day to day.
Easy to write, but my New Year's dinner pound and a half is still with me, and it doesn't seem to want to leave despite spot on eating and exercising!
Ali- Sorry to here you're down for a bit. You definitely made the right decision!
Sashenka- Congratulations on the new bikini! Woohooo!
Lessismore- Please keep your snow up there! We had enough the last two years to keep me for a while. What do you teach? I have an 8th grader whose attitude towards school is driving me to drink...forget about food!
Meg.....where....are....you.....?
Yes, all kidding aside Robin that was a great post...
SusanB -- After reading your post and Robin's , it got me thinking about my mind set with my scale numbers...... I'm back to 148 since the holidays and in 2004 at one point for a nano second I was 142! I was more on average at 145-146 the rest of the year so in reality I'm only up 2-3# of my average weigh for 2004 .... Thanks for making me stop to think and breath, and YES Robin I will knock off those measly 2-3# plus more for prosperity, in no time....
Oops, soory Meg. I havn't been any help, I know. I've been swamped at the gym and re-learning Algebra I with my son, almost as reluctantly as he is . That's the good news and the bad news.
Susanb - I tell myself all the time, I would never talk to others the way I talk to myself. My Mom struggles with maintainence too and when she's struggling, I encourage her like crazy. Yet, when I face the same struggles, I tend to berate myself. So, positive self-talk. Can't wait for that TFL book discussion.
Hi all, good discussion about up/down weights. Very valuable for this maintainer in training.
Years ago I was reading about a woman who made a break-thru about always mentally berating herself. She was saying how badly she talked to herself all the time, and that if she spoke to her pet dog the way she talked to herself she would be ashamed. I broke down and cried when I read that because I thought about my sweet little kitties, and how much care and love I consistently gave to them, yet I treated and talked to my very own self so badly all the time. I treated my animals better than I treated myself. How sad. For me that was a major turning point.
Good morning and sorry to have been so scarce this week. I’ve been here – you just haven’t seen me! I’m in the process of moving the posts from this forum to our new section of the board, a little further down the main forum page (hopefully you’ve all had a chance to find it). The extra space will give us some room to expand and create some subforums for easier reading. If anyone has ideas for how to organize and grow Maintainers, please speak up! This is YOUR Maintainers Forum and all suggestions are welcome.
Moving all the posts makes me take a look at them all again – what a wealth of information, thoughts, and opinions we have here! I’ve been struck over and over again by the fabulous insights and by all the ways that we’re alike. Even though we’re each tackling maintenance in our own unique way, there are SO many common elements that bind us together. It may seem like no one else in the world understands what we need to do to keep the weight off … but come here and we’re all speaking the same language.
We have a remarkable number of posts about weight loss and skin – I hadn’t realized quite the extent – and it might be worthwhile to create a subcategory within one of the new forums to gather them all together. I’m thinking that exercise might be a worthwhile subcategory also, since it’s such an integral part of maintenance. We definitely need a place to collect “Best Of” threads because there are some real gems buried in the back pages of the forum. Lots to keep Mel and me busy this year!
The new year has brought me an exciting and unexpected opportunity! The manager of my gym came to me last week and asked if I’d be interested in working there as a personal trainer. I guess she noticed that I basically live there anyway and figured they may as well give me an official shirt! It’s an idea that I’d casually kicked around before and the more I thought about it, the more I knew it was something that I want to do (and there’s so much I just plain want to learn). I see all the overweight women who join our gym looking just as terrified as I did on my first day and I think – HOPE – that I can help them. So, as of yesterday, I’m enrolled in a PT certification course (it should take me 3 – 4 months to complete) and probably will start working around the end of February. The twists and turns that life takes sure can be amazing sometimes – I never would have guessed this when I walked into that same gym weighing 257 pounds and hating exercise three and a half years ago!
Feel better, Ali! When I had surgery, I panicked about not being able to exercise but found that my weight stayed the same so long as I ate clean. The surgery was something you had to do and you’ll be back in the gym in no time.
Speaking of the universal truths that we all seem to share – what is it with fat being so easy to gain and so darn hard to lose??? Our wise Robin is so right that these weight fluctuations are a normal part of maintenance (especially around the holidays). I’m a member of the Few Extra Pounds Club too, so let’s all take it one day at a time, like Anne-Lessismore said, and get it off together.
Off to move some more threads! I'll move the most recent ones last of all, but if you come here and there aren't any more threads - or forum - look down the page for the new Maintainers section of the board. The Thin For Life book discussion begins in the new Maintenance Library on Monday with Chapter One - Key #1: Believe That You Can Become Thin For Life.
Ali, good luck with the recovery. I also had a minor cervix procedure some years ago because my Pap smear came out bad. Have had none of that trouble at the checkups ever since. So don't give up! You did absolutely the right thing and now you have to recover. i remember I felt that my body had betrayed my in some way at the time, but now it's reacting well to all the healthy choices I have made lately so I think my body & I have made up!
SusanB- actually there is a method against those nasty thoughts that I tried and worked well for me: You sit down with a pice of paper, & put a vertical line to divide it in 2 halves. On the left you write the tought, on the right you analyse if it contains any truth. For instance on the "what would everybody say ..." thought that you wrote down, that would be a common "thoughtreader" mistake. You imagine people think that but they probabely think something like "its raining today". Also present" "all or nothing" thinking, I notice on your post you originally come down from 162. So the way you react is like you get all that back again. But you did not. You gained back about 5% and you will loose that again. I find that analysing the negative thought in this way really helps for me. I got the method from a book "feeling good" by burns, which also contains a list with the 10 most common mistakes in such thoughts, and I find that yes, I make most of them in my negative thoughts.
This post is getting long, so just some short reactions:
lessismore: could you get a large salad out of the fridge for comfort food? Just place it there so its waiting for you after a hard day ?
Anne: Remember Churchills motto: Never give up! Never ever give up! One day at a time does it.
Meg: congrats on you new job opportunity! I think you'll be great as a personal trainer !
I am so happy for you about your PT and gym offer! I had the same offer about 2 years ago - and I think it helped me a lot to loose the weight. I basically hired PT after I was going to the gym every day of the week, and she noticed that I am not only taking sessions with her but also take classes, use weight room, etc. and she suggested I become certified. At that time my little DD was only 1.5 y.o. - so it was tough. Due to my asthma, even though I certified in group fitness, I taught yoga after taking speciality in yoga. I teach now for 2 years - first i started with 6 classes/week, than downgraded to 4/week and this year I only left 1 class. I actually think that on this stage of the life when my kids finally can hike, bike and do a little travel, I wish I don't have to teach. I think my biggest frustration was that I can not change those people's life. Like my regulars come regularly, but they do not follow my suggestions for workouts at home, so we basically can not make progress. Now I totally understand why there are almost no intermediate/advanced yoga classes, or if they are available, they are way more expensive. Simply people do not commit, so they stay on the same level year after year. I have to recertify in March and I think I will not invest (here in Canada, BC, we have to take a course 8 creadits, CPR and first aid as well as pay 125$/year - so it makes up to 500$/year investment). In my case I barely make those 500$ - so I now more and more often just stay in my rec room and do my advanced class myself, sometimes with hubby. In whole I had a great satisfaction initially, but I had two or three clients who came to visit year after they took my classes and discontinued after - one of them gained about 50 pounds, the other one had neck injury and gained even more. Mind you, I have four 60 y.o. ladies who can do asanas better than I and never miss the class - but they were fit before they started. I learned my lesson - we are trying to help them any way we can, but it is up to our CLIENTS to keep exercising, it is up to them to take this consious decision - I want to be healthy and fit - so we can only influence them and give them positive example - but it is up to them to work hard... And most of them unfortunately do not work hard... I personally took it first as a falure, but later on I realized - I do my best, it is up to them to succeed! I am writing it here knowing you will go thru the same stages of enjoyment, satisfaction and frustration - so be prepared to it... It is a rewarding job, but it is also full of frustration when your client works hard for 3 month and all of a sudden falls off the wagon AND DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH STRENGTH TO GO BACK - basically refuses to go back. And it is only 20% who commit and stay. i always tell them - if you do nto see yourself exercising the same way in 5 years - spare yourself time and money, and don't start exercising now. Exercise does not stick unless we commit - I am sure it is doable - I started my first exercise on my 33 birthday and I am on it for 3 years - I lost weight, I look fit, look at me - you also can do it. Motivation works for the beginning, but they start to loose it with time and after some time drop off the class and either never show up or show up in a year with a pack of new extra pounds or extra new problem/injury...
Good luck, you will definitely benefit from doing PT, and also you might change people's life in a positive way...
4rabbit! ... you are absolutely right. Simply typing those words often is enough to show me what nonsense they are. When I think them (the negative thoughts) they're frightening but when I type them to tell you folks about them, I see right away that they're hogwash.
Gosh, this is an awesome place to come for support!
Oh and Ilene? Sometimes reading that someone else is thinking what you've been thinking can cause a lightbulb moment. Reassuring indeed.
Barb--Very fortunate you posted; I need to write in about the same thing. I continued to lose 7 pounds below my WW goal. Felt very nervous that I was heading toward obsessing about food way too much and going for a weight not realistic for me to maintain. I added in another 2 points (from 22 to 24); maintained a stable weight for that week. I am exercising 2-3 times/week--cardio/strength/stretching.
What I want: maintain at a healthy weight, keep exercising, keep tracking the food
What I don't want: associate a lower weight with positive traits--"I should lose more, it's good to be thin", etc. I am already where I should be, I need the confidence to stay there.
I knew I'd find you sooner or later 
!! 
Learning to live with the swings as a natural part of maintenance is a head game. It's so easy to see the upward numbers as failure and become depressed by them, or try to crash diet or frantically exercise them off, rather than just accepting the swing as the other end of the wave. The trough, when we saw that lowest number, is so tantalizing...but unrealistic to expect that your body is going to stay at one static weight every moment day to day.
. That's the good news and the bad news.
I’m in the process of moving the posts from this forum to our new section of the board, a little further down the main forum page (hopefully you’ve all had a chance to find it). The extra space will give us some room to expand and create some subforums for easier reading. If anyone has ideas for how to organize and grow Maintainers, please speak up! This is YOUR Maintainers Forum and all suggestions are welcome. 
… but come here and we’re all speaking the same language. 
When I had surgery, I panicked about not being able to exercise but found that my weight stayed the same so long as I ate clean. The surgery was something you had to do and you’ll be back in the gym in no time. 
