[slecompte]

I am doing a 5 week LA Weight loss program to lose 10 lbs. I am down 7, have 2 more weeks to go. After that, my program is over. I would like to lose like 2 more after that, but not a huge deal, I will be happy to see 137 for the first time in many years. The lowest they will let me go is 133 anyhow, so not much lower.

My question or concern is, do I maintain myself or pay $300 for 6 weeks of stabilization and 1 yr maint. I am a little ticked right now because I thought I could just pay for as many additional weeks as I want and then stop - not so with my plan. So I feel a little screwed there.

BUT, I do not want to gain back either. I have now been exercising a lot so that is also helping me. I am just afraid once I get to 137 and try to add back normal foods, I will go back up.

For background info, I have had these last 10 lbs from a baby. I could eat ok and not gain, but it was hard for me to lose.

Anyone come off of a plan like this and maintain themselves, without their help? I am currently doing the 2 la lites a day and don't mind keeping that up (using luna or pria), but would think 1 a day would be better overall.

Just looking for some onsight on those who have been there done that.

Thanks!

Sheila

[MrsJim]

Sheila- first off:

to the Maintainers Forum!

First off - IMO, you DON'T need to spend another dollar, let alone $300, to LAWL or anyone you don't trust. I read your previous posts and to me it sounds as though the salesperson possibly did what is called a "bait and switch" to get you to enroll, thinking that they would be able to persuade you to re-up once the weeks ended.

If you feel it necessary to spend the money, I would encourage you to spend it on something more useful, such as a gym membership - check out the YMCA - I see that you're a mom/wife/mom to be - I've never joined the Y but I've heard WONDERFUL things from other folks (both here at 3FC and in 'real life') what a great place it is for families - most even offer *free* or very low cost childcare for kids from 8 weeks to 12 years old while you're working out - how cool is that? (actually I take that back - during my first marriage my stepdaughter attended Y day camp during the summer and had a very good experience, plus the price was very reasonable )

As far as your fears of gaining the weight back - we've ALL gone thru that here in Maintainers - check out some of the threads here and I bet you'll relate My first piece of advice would be to wean yourself off the bars and subsitute *real* food - maybe save the bars for occasional use - when you don't have time for a meal or snack, you know? (yeah I know...Luna Bars are natural and all that, but IMO they're too close to a candy bar for comfort - trust me, you DON'T want to rely on eating a candy bar or two each day and hope to maintain and continue to lose - my guess is that if you give up the bars and substitute for something like, say, a piece of fruit like an apple along with a protein such as cottage cheese (here's a yummy quick recipe for ya - chop up an apple, mix in some pie spice and Splenda - pop the mixture in the microwave for a couple minutes until it's hot and bubbly - meanwhile get a serving of cottage cheese and add cinnamon and Splenda (if you don't like curds, use a hand blender to puree the cottage cheese); when the apples are nice and hot, blend the cold cottage cheese with the hot apples...voila - healthy HOT APPLE PIE! :yum: ) that you will maintain and probably even LOSE the weight you couldn't lose when you were eating the bars.

SO many resources here...check out the Maintainer's Library and you'll find the archived posts from a book discussion our Meg ran last year on the EXCELLENT book Thin for Life by Anne Fletcher. You can get a lot out of reading the threads, but I would highly recommend getting the book - check your local library or Amazon for used copies (I know raising kids takes a lot of $$ so save those pennies!!!)

I know that others will have ideas...glad to see you here, stick around...the water's fine!

[slecompte]

Thanks again for your support! I am going to check out ALL of the above! So much info to get a grip on!

Sheila

[4rabbit]

hi Sheila,

Here is my 2c of opinion: I am not enrolled in a program to keep the weight off, and I observe that a lot of maintiners that post here also are not in such a program. This shows it can be done without the program. Instead, like mrs Jim says, I see people excercise a lot, use fitday (which is for free) and eat "clean". And of course post here for questions and support.

This is not to say that this will work for you, but just to show that it works for some people and maybe you are one of them.

Good luck,
rabbit

[slecompte]

Thanks rabbit, gives me some more incentive and optimism, I appreciate it!

Sheila

[Meg]

Hi Sheila and welcome to Maintainers!

My thoughts about your question whether to pay $300 for LAWL’s ‘stabilization and maintenance’ or do it on your own … ask yourself what you’d be getting for that $300. We’ve never had an LAWL maintainer here so I’m not familiar with their program. Is it some kind of special meal plan? Is it the accountability of being weighed in? Something else of value to you? Only you can decide whether what you’d be getting from LAWL is worth $300.

But as one of the moderators of Maintainers and having personally lived maintenance for 3 ½ years, I can assure you that there aren’t any ‘secrets’ to maintenance that LAWL (or any program) can sell you. Maintenance, as we say here, simply looks a lot like losing – you’ll eat the same way and exercise as much as when you were losing the weight. The only difference is that you’ll be able to eat a few hundred more calories per day and you’ll learn that through trial and error.

We did a survey a while back -- Survey – How Did You Lose The Weight? -- and discovered that most of the Maintainers devised their own plans for losing weight and especially did so for maintenance. Most of us keep track of what we’re eating (either through journaling or mentally) and we exercise a lot – along the lines of the latest government recommendations of 60 – 90 minutes per day. Outside of those general parameters, no two of us are doing the same thing. We’ve each created a unique plan that we can live with for the rest of our lives – since maintenance IS for the rest of our lives. I strongly encourage you to begin putting together Sheila’s Plan For Life. You can’t buy it – you have to learn it by living it, if that makes sense.

You see, there aren’t any secrets or magic to weight loss and maintenance. It all boils down to good old ‘eat less and move more’. But the special added ingredient to the weight loss/maintenance formula is the incredible support and encouragement here at 3FC. I can say without hesitation that I would never have been able to lose the weight and keep it off without this site. Until I meet MrsJim here, I didn’t really believe that it was possible to maintain a large weight loss. But here I discovered a group of people who have the same issues that I do, who feel like I do, react the way I do, and who struggle the way I do. When no one in Real Life understands … they do.

Stick around with us … check out some of the old threads … and decide what’s right for YOU. We’ll support you 100% whatever you decide is best.