.

Gulp, I guess I belong here now. The idea of weight maintenance is pretty intimidating to me after the past 6 or so years of up and down the scale.

After 7 months, I've finally lost all the accumulated weight of 4 relatively close pregnancies. My littlest one is now 9 months old and I started my weight loss journey when she was 2 months. I lost all the pregnancy weight, plus about another 5ish lbs, so now, at 31, I'm at my lowest adult weight ever. And I like it here.

I've known how I should be eating to feel at my best for a long time, but I didn't always choose to eat that way. Plus my portion sizes, even of good food, tended to be huge. Other than a crash, barely eating at all diet when I was 17-18 I'd never really dieted, although I'd thought about it. I didn't follow any diet plan. I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian, and lost the weight by keeping junk to a minimum and eating moderate portions of whole grains, low fat dairy, legumes, and lots of fruit and vegetables. It was both easier and harder than I expected.

I've been reading posts in this forum for a few weeks as I approached my goal weight. I'm nervous about maintaining, even more so than losing I think. I can lose weight. But after 4 pregnancies in the past 6 years, I also know how to gain weight all too well. Working out how to eat normal portions of mostly good food so that my weight stays relatively stable is my new challenge. Somehow the motivation of the scale staying the same isn't as impressive as the scale moving down.

My new way of challenging myself (for the past few months too) has been by taking up running. Rather than watching the scale, I can watch the distances and speed I can run slowly increase. I plan to run a 10K or 1/2 marathon at the end of next summer, giving me a new long term goal to work toward health-wise.

Hi,
I never introduced myself here, even though I posted...

Well, here is my story. I was a skinny kid, and analyzing it now i can say I stayed skinny because I did not like to eat. I simply would eat crust from favourite rye bread for breakfast, meat for lunch, and mashed potatoes for dinner. If I did not like food, I will never put it in the mouth - so my first encounter with rice and pasta occured in my early twenties at the University cafeteria. And you know what - i do not like them even now... Why do i eat it than?

I started to gain weight when I was 24 (i already had one child) and when I moved from Soviet Union to Austria. All of a sudden all those nice pastries, cookies, etc. around - I easily gained 10 kg and thought - well, I am 25, what do I want??? I gained another 10 kg at 30, when I moved to Canada. Easily - by living 1 month on McDonalds 49c hamburgers when you buy 10! I did not have a job, and having 10 hamburgers for 5$ made sence. Well, new size of jeans was expensive. I had 2 more pregnancies and ended up in 170-180 pound range... Eyeopener was when my 4 y.o. son and I watched a video from last summer and he said - Mom, who is this woman with huge bum there? Well, it was I, and he could not recognize me - first I thought it was because camera adds pounds, but than I looked so much like a pig there!!!

When my third child was born, I thought - I do not want to look like standard overweight North american nother of 3... I wanted to look cool and feel cool. So I enrolled to the gym for my birthday. i ended up going there 2 times a week and in 6 month (still breastfeeding) my weight dropped to 156 pounds. After that I could not loose no matter what I did. In a year I dropped to 149 (after finishing breastfeeding) or so - but again, it was so slow and so hard. So On sept 29th I joined Jenny Craig. In 3 month I reached my goal of 128 pounds and right now I try to stay in 5 pounds area around it.

I exercise at least 30 min every day, I also teach yoga (certified in order to keep myself busy - after all instructor can not skip a class), I bike (this year my daughter and I finished 100 mountain bike tour on Sunshine coast). I also work full time. Anyways, I am very glad to find this forum (thanks funniegrrl)!

I find keeping weight off is harder than loosing, so this forum is a big help for me! Knowing that youa re not alone makes it so much easier, and having people around who lost and maintained just makes it real!!!

Sandy.

Hi! I've decided to stop lurking and introduce myself. I recently my weight watchers goal on 10/19/04 and felt that it was time to share my story:

I was a chubby kid and an overweight teenager that blossomed into a morbidly obese young adult. I'm guessing that I was about 40-60 pounds overweight in high school weighing around 150-180 pounds (I'm a little under 5'2"). I was also completely uncoordinated and was always the last one to be picked for any game in PE. I dreaded the yearly "Presidents Fitness Challenge" because running the mile felt like torture. I was always the last one to finish...Even though I wasn't the heaviest in my class I was the most out of shape. I had no concept of good nutrition and I put myself on a number of crazy crash diets in my early teen years...like the NO fat diet. I often would try to restrict my calories to around 800 per day or less. I wasn't trying to be anorexic or anything...I just didn't know better. I thought that in order to lose weight I had to suffer. After 3 days of starving I would find myself so famished that I would just binge. I never actually managed to loose more then a couple of pounds with any of my dieting attempts so I can't even call it yo-yo dieting. By the time I was 16 or 17 I decided that I didn't want to torture myself anymore and that my body was incapable of loosing weight. I decided to accept myself the way I was, as someone that was a bit on the heavy side but also healthy and very voluptuous. It just seemed too difficult to fight with the scale and torture myself with it. From that point of I stopped paying attention to what I was eating and just ate whatever I liked and felt like eating. Between high school and college I ballooned, I was completely oblivious to how heavy I was. While I was in college I met my husband, I loved that he thought I was beautiful and didn't see me as fat. Unfortunately his acceptance of me and his love of high calorie foods didn't help my already expanding waist line. I graduated with my BA in Psychology and got a very high stress, but well paying, job working in the human service world. I knew even when I accepted the position that it wasn't what I wanted to do but it was an offer that most recent grads would jump at.

Several of my co-workers belonged to Weight Watchers and had had wonderful success. I decided to join too, in part to lose weight for my up coming wedding and in part develop a common bond with my new co-workers. When I stepped on the scale for the first time I was shocked to see that I was over 215 pound ( I can't remember my exact weight). I took to Weight Watchers quickly but soon grew tired of counting points. I didn't like paying for the meetings and I figured that I could do the program on my own. I also figured that since I have an excellent memory I could keep track of my points in my head...yeah right. I don't know who I was fooling but I know you all know what happened. little by little the 10 pounds that I had lost came back and then some. When I re-joined Weight Watchers again in order to lose weight for my wedding I was up around 225ish...but once again there was a part of me that was holding myself back. I think that in truth I didn't believe that I could really succeed. I convinced myself that I didn't need to lose weight...I had everything I needed. A wonderful husband-to-be that didn't care about my weight, a good job (even though I hated it by this point). I was going to the meetings and going through the motions even though I had no motivation. I was beginning to feel overwhelmed with work and wedding planning. Needless to say I didn't lose weight in time for my wedding on 9/26/02. I was close to my highest weight ever on my wedding day and I was in complete denial as to how big I really was.

It was sometime in March of 2003 that it hit me. I'm not really sure what happened...I think it was the culmination of many things. The stress of my job made me realize that I wasn't who I wanted to be or where I wanted to be in my life. I knew that I needed to change me. I decided that I wanted to get healthy and become physically fit. I didn't care about loosing weight to get a man or to be popular...which had always been my weight loss motivation in high school. I wanted to lose weight for me! I decided that this time I wanted to add something that had been missing before...exercise. The weird thing was that once I had resolved to get healthy nothing could stop me. The thought of exercise terrified me. All of my previous attempts had failed. I knew that I enjoyed walking but I didn't like doing it alone or outside. I promised myself that I would only make changes to my lifestyle that were maintainable and realistic to me. In order for me to be comfortable exercising I had to do it on my terms. I decided that I HAD to have a treadmill. I bought a treadmill and started walking...at a pace of 2.5 MPH for half an hour several times a week. In April I decided to join Weight Watchers again. This time when I weighed in my weight was up to 239.4. That is my highest recorded weight but I know that I was probably even higher then that since I had been walking on the treadmill for several weeks prior to joining and was making small healthy changes in my way of eating. In keeping with my new philosophy that I would only make changes in my life that I could maintain I decided that I needed to find a way to track my points without the hassle of writing them down. I liked the idea of the points bracelets that they sell at Weight Watchers but I thought they were ugly so I decided to make my own with pretty blue beads and a butterfly charm to represent my transformation...this also served as an anchor for me when I was going through rough times.

I wish I knew what it was that was different for me this time and what really motivated me to loose the weight. I wish I could remember that "Ahh ha moment". I just know that I woke up one morning with a new resolve to do it. I knew from the beginning that I would succeed, unlike my half hearted attempts in the past. Exercise was a huge part of it for me too. Over the months I progressed from a slow short crawl to an hour of fast paced walking every day. January 04' marked the beginning of learning to run. I stared out by doing repetitions of running 1 minute and walking 3. After twelve weeks of increasing running intervals I ran for 30 minutes non-stop for the first time. This was nothing short of a miracle in my mind, considering that I had never been able to run an entire mile before in my life. Running has been a great way for me to change my focus back to my original goal of getting healthy, now that the excitement of loosing has worn off.

It's taken about a year and a half to get where I am now...and I'm surprised how quickly it all has happened. I now weigh 136, and wear a size 4/6 and run between 3-7 miles 4-5 time a week. On the days that I don't run I walk and have recently stared incorporating some light weight training into the mix as well. My life has changed in a lot of other ways too over the last 18 months. The "great job", where I was so miserable, laid me off in November 03'...talk about a blessing in disguise. I was unemployed for several months but it allowed me some time to focus on myself and learn about who I was and what I wanted to do. My weight loss gave me the courage to try a new job in a new field, it pays less then what my previous job did, but the benefits of not working in a high stress job are immeasurable.

I'm not quite where I want to be yet. The weight range for someone of my height is between 108-136 according to WW. I would like to be around 125ish I think...though I'm having a lot of trouble assessing where I'm at physically. I have some saggy skin, though it does seem to be shrinking. Even though I think the sagging is excessive my doctor seems to think it's not that bad considering how much I've lost. I think that has been the hardest thing for me to come to terms with. I don't have the perfect body....I'm not where I want to be. I still see myself as 240 pounds sometimes. Right now my plan for maintenance is to continue eating and exercising as I have been. I'm also adding some strength training into my routine...and hope to learn a lot from those of you that have more experience in this area. I'm going to continue to work on my running and increase my distance and speed. I still want to loose some more mass but I'm not going to be as concerned about my numbers as I have been. I'm healthy, I'm at a normal weight for my body and that is what is most important to me. There is something addictive about loosing and I'm going to miss the rush I get from seeing the numbers on the scale go down...though that happens so seldom now that I think I've become accustomed to it already. My biggest fear is that I will gain back the weight that I have lost. I think that by staying connected to other people that have lost weight and are maintaining their loss I will have a much better chance of succeeding. I'm glad to have found this place.

Dee, I loved your intro - thanks so much for sharing with us. So much of it sounded familiar to me. Especially having a husband who is so understanding. Mine never pressured me to lose weight so I was a little too comfortable with my overeating. It took many years to realize that I didn't have to wait for someone else to motivate me into weight loss - I could motivate myself!

Sandy, I'm so impressed that you stuck to your guns during the year it was so hard to lose more weight. It's so easy to stay motivated when the scale is fully cooperating! You should be so proud of yourself.

Only Me, I went from being a non-runner to running a 10k. It was a fantastic way to stay focused on my training and it was an incredible feeling when I crossed that finish line. You're going to love it. Good luck!!!!

Big congrats to you all on your weight loss and all your hard work!!!!

Karyn Lee

This is such a great forum! I've been lurking for a while and thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Anne and I'm 35 years old. I've struggled with my weight my entire life. I was the fat girl in the corner, quietly reading a book, and trying not to draw too much attention to myself to avoid harassment. I grew into an academic overachiever, eventually get my B.S. in physics and a doctorate in astronomy. I also just grew, up to 289 pounds at my heaviest. I never had much success at losing weight, and at some point decided to just be happy with myself as I was. I switched to an engineering career, married, and had a nice comfortable, sedentary life. While life wasn't perfect, I was generally content.

I don't know what changed or why. We moved back to Tucson from Los Angeles--a much happier location for me. I was under a lot of stress at work and was eating myself to sleep most nights. I also had developed a painful condition, uterine fibroids, which were at most only loosely related to weight. While I was otherwise very healthy, it did occur to me my next diagnosis might be preventable. I decided to make some changes to my life, eat healthier foods, pay attention to portion sizes, get some exercise, and find better ways to deal with stress. While I did count calories and measured my food, I never viewed this as a diet or weight loss plan, but merely as an attempt to lead a healthier life. If it worked, great, if it didn't, well, I was happy.

My body changed to fit my new lifestyle. Over a year, I lost more than 100 lbs. The closest thing to a 'light bulb' moment happened when I was about 30 lbs down, and I was walking from my cubicle at work, and I thought "This is so easy!" and at that moment I realized just how much burden I had put on myself by living the way I had. I was energized. In that year I went from barely being able to walk my dogs around the block to running a half marathon. I dropped from barely fitting into a size 24W to being a comfortable size 12. I also had surgery to remove the fibroids without having the dreaded hysterectomy, so I feel absolutely great. I've maintained my new weight for just about a year now, though I'd eventually like to lose another 20 lbs or so.

My weight ended up around 170, give or take. My weight loss basically stopped when I discovered endurance sports, right after the half marathon. I fell in love with racing, not that I'm very competitive. I find it hard to train for racing, as opposed to exercising for weight loss/maintenance, and lose weight at the same time. I run distances from 5K to marathon, do triathlon up to the half-ironman distance so far, and I'm training for my first cycling century ride right now. I swim, bike, run, and lift weights. I'm a bonafide athlete now, with the finisher's medals to prove it. Maybe slow and still on the chunky side, but an athlete none-the-less. To say I'm astonished with all this is an understatement, and I wonder at my new condition in life every day. I never expected I was capable of this.

Exercise is a no-brainer for me now. I love it (well, 80% of the time anyway), and I start to feel jittery if I take more than a couple days completely off. I still struggle with food though. I love to eat. I love to eat good food, and I love to eat crap. I want to eat when I'm happy, when I'm stressed, when I'm bored and when I'm hungry. The three most evil foods in the world are Reese's Peanut Butter cups, Cheetos, and Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey. I think all ice cream and all chips are sold in single serving packages, no matter how big they are. I also still find work very stressful and there is lots and lots of junk food available in my lab. Every day is hard, and some days I beat it, and some days it beats me. I still count calories and measure my food. I keep track of everything I eat every day, even the bad days. The accountability is important to me.

I've learned so much from this forum over the last couple months. You are all such an inspiration to me. I find it very reassuring to read about how you go through the same struggles I do, and find ways to overcome them.

Welcome Anne and Dee! What terrific stories! We're looking forward to hearing a lot more from of both of you - you both have a lot of wisdom and experience to share. :)

Hi Meg and everyone -

I've been lurking in this forum for several weeks now and I have decided to join in, at least occasionally as time permits.

Perhaps a brief background at first. In July 2001, I found myself at 191, bigger than I had ever been. As I discovered a few months ago, 191 works out to a BMI of 30.9 or clinically obese. The causes were twofold - arthritis had robbed me of most of my ability and motivation to run and I was using food to make up for shortcomings in a failing marriage. I couldn't run any more but I could stop eating fried mozzarella sticks and jalapeno poppers. By October 2002, I had battled my way down to 151. I fought for every one of those 640 ounces, figuring that I was having such a difficult time because I was now 40 rather than 27. Last time I lost a significant amount of weight, I had been 27 and that was when I had taken up running. In November 2002, I, now divorced, started a new relationship and lost my tenuous grasp of the weight-loss process. By August 2003, I was back up to 169. I started the battle again in earnest. By September, when the WeightWatcher signs began appearing around work, I had lost a pound. When a friend told me she had once lost 23 pounds in 12 weeks on WW, I signed up for WW@Work. Maybe WW knows something I don't, I thought.

I started WW at 168 in mid-September; by mid-December, I hit my WW goal of 142. By early January, I hit my personal goal of 135. My current weight of 130 was actually a dream weight. It was my running weight, more or less, but I did not expect to ever see it again. I certainly did not expect to see it at 43. It is also an accident and it is why I am here, posting in this forum.

When I hit goal in December, the sum total of my leader's advice was "Add four points and read this booklet." (the _Going the Distance_ booklet) She assumed that all of us were familiar with WW's program inside and out, when in fact I for one knew next to nothing about the program. Other than the admonition to make exercise a daily commitment, I got nothing from the booklet. I was frightened out of my tiny mind! I needed guidance now, as I never had before. I knew I could lose weight but I needed to know how to keep it off. I had come to WW because of my inability to maintain a lower weight after I'd already lost it. I mean, sure, continue to stay away from the fried mozzarella sticks, but what else?

Deciding that at this point WW had no good solid advice, I decided to wing it, to listen to my own inner voice about my body, as I always had, just use familiar structures that WW provided, like points and weekly weigh-ins. I didn't add four points. I added two points. I still had a personal goal and four seemed too much. The step down from 22 to 20 points had been traumatic for me. To re-add four points? No. I continued, as I had hoped, to lose each week. I added a point or two each week that I lost because I could feel my body continuing to burn fat. I remained calm on the weeks I knew there was a water retention issue and the scale showed a bump up - and I held the line on points those weeks. As January rolled into February and the scale crept below my personal goal, I began to panic.

Without any other guidance for my panic, I had no choice but to continue to follow this philosophy of managing points, slowly increasing points. A trip through the WW boards taught me I wasn't the first to do this nor was I the only one to feel abandoned after hitting goal. As it turned out, I had also stumbled into what some considered to be the best way to re-add points to end up with the maximum number of points per day. Before I was done, I was up to 32 (1500 - 1700 calories, more or less) points a day.

The weight loss leveled off in April at 128 pounds. Now I bounce between 128 and 130. Lately I've been "bouncing" a bit above 130. I knew all along I was going to have to play with the daily points allowance, that 32 seemed ridiculously high. So with the scale bouncing above 130, I dropped back on points for a few weeks with a sigh. I did indeed lose weight again at a points level that should be about my base metabolic rate, not all the way back down to WW minimum. I seemed to have lost mostly subcutaneous fat. The scale is still bouncing above 130 occasionally. But now I am seeing new muscle definition and loose waistbands in (new) pants (again!) since I increased the cardio portion of my exercise and added in a weekly Pilates class a few months ago. So I am thinking this may indeed be real muscles. And I am thinking of increasing my defined "bounce range", of turning loose of a little bit of WW's fascination with the scale. And I added a weekly Yoga class, starting yesterday.

I continue to journal daily and I'm still using the WW Flexpoints system for simplified calorie counting. I continue to dispose of "crappy" food from my diet in favor of "clean", wholesome, minimally-processed foods. I do allow myself a "treat" from time to time. It's a hallmark of my different mindset to say that my idea of a treat has gone from a 20 oz. full-sugar soda and a full-sized candy bar to a fried scallop and a fried shrimp off of my significant other's plate at a seafood restaurant or a small order of fries that I share with the dog.

I am running again. The arthritis only allows me to run two miles (3 1/3 km) at a time now. Sometimes, when I get a little sad that I've only managed a four mile (4 2/3 km) week (which is my weekly goal - running two miles for two days a week) when I used to run 20-25 mile weeks, I remind myself that four is a bigger number than ZERO! I may try again to stretch that out to three miles per run when the spring and the light return. But I have become able to hike without looking for easy trails or avoiding some places because the terrain is too difficult. In late September, I hiked up South Carolina's second highest mountain, a 2000 foot (600 meter) elevation increase over about 3-4 miles (5-6 km).

I am hoping I'll be able to add something insightful to this forum from time to time. It would only be fair as I've already learned so much from you guys, mostly the all-important thought that I am not alone in this struggle to keep up the "new me".

So, the summary:
High weight: 191 (86.8 kg)
WW start weight: 168 (76.4 kg)
WW goal: 142 (64.5 kg)
Current weight: 128-131 (58 - 59.5 kg)
Height: 5'6"
BMI top/WW goal/current 31/23/21

Welcome Catharus! :) What a great story! You said that you're 'hoping to be able to add something insightful to this forum from time to time' - I think you just did. ;) We're glad you found us and hope you can join in as often as possible.

New to Maintenance
 

Hi All,

I've really learned a lot reading though the threads here. I gain a lot of re-assurance knowing others have lost weight and have the same fears and same "fat feeling" as I do. Thought it was time for me to put up my story, as much for myself as for others. Sorry, it starts to babble at the end, but I thought I'd leave it in in case others can relate.

I always thought I was heavy as a kid, though I probably wasn't. I just wasn't athletic, always picked last on teams, etc. I preferred to read books, and also didn't get glasses until 6th grade, which might explain my sports difficulties. I remember being 140 pounds my sophmore year of high school, at 5'4". Soon after that, I just.... wasn't hungry. For about a year I ate less. Not a particular diet, but I dropped down to 117 pounds and a size 8. That lasted until I started college, and realized that I was an adult and could eat whatever I wanted. At home, my Mom was always on and off Weight Watchers, and my Dad went to the gym regularly and ate his Oatmeal for breakfast. I left this perfect world of skim milk and egg white omelettes with canadian bacon, and fresh fruit always available, to a world of lucky charms and soft serve icecream. My weight started to cycle: I'd gain weight during the school year, when food was abundant and I was sedentary - a campus 3 blocks long doesn't make for a lot of walking. In the summers I would work 2 jobs, with barely a break in between, and no break at work for a meal so I lived on 2 cheese bagels and a plum every day, every summer for 3 years, and the weight would slip off. I couldn't tell you what I weighed, but I think I was an 8 or 10 going into every school year, and a 10 or 12 by the end. I wasn't really worried about my weight, didn't have a scale, it just sort of happened.

When I left college for "the real world" in 1999 I had that "I am an adult, I can eat what I want" philosophy ingrained. Yes, they taught nutrition and exercise at my college, it was a required freshman class. No, it didn't kick in until last year. 1999-2003 my menu was filled with Banquet Pot Pies, Lunchables, Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, and Pringles. And a lot of healthier stuff, like bean soup. I hadn't forgotten the good healthy food my parents made for me, it was just outshined by slick pre-packaged foods. We had free pop (soda) at work, and a can of Cherry Coke a day adds up. I was up to 172 pounds (2 pounds under the "obese" rating). Work got rid of the free pop and at my next annual physical I was down to 162. In the summer of 2002 I was single, and dropped a lot of weight; again without thinking about it. I was probably back to a size 12. How did I do it this time? I was no longer dating someone long distance, so I had time for ME on the evenings and weekends. I saw friends, I enjoyed life, didn't go to bars and restaurants as much. Oh, and I instituted a "no eating after 8" rule, because that was when I ate unhealthy snackies.

Then I started another long distance romance, and travelled a lot, and ate good food when we were together, and generally enjoyed life. I moved from Michigan to Massachusetts, and 2 doors down from a Dairy Queen, and started to telecommute. You can see this is a recipe for disaster. I realized that I couldn't keep eating DQ Blizzards 2-3x/week and not moving more than 100 feet/day. I started walking for a half hour on lunch, a mile and a half. Not exactly Extreme Cario, but it got me off my duff. After 3 months I had lost 7 pounds, and realized that I could DO SOMETHING about feeling fat. I tried the "special K challenge" (awful marketing ploy!) and maybe a couple other things, but just felt deprived. My friend Laura had done Weight Watchers on her own (instead of attending meetings) and loved it, and did very well. I finally broke down and got the info from her in December of 2003. I don't think I actually started until February, but I can't find my first journal. When I started working my first outside-the-home job in Massachusetts at the end of February I was at 155 pounds, down 9 from my start. I just wanted to get out of the "overweight" range into a "healthy weight" BMI of 24, which is 140 pounds. I gave away all my old size 8 and 10 clothes that I hadn't worn in 5 years and didn't want to move again. But as I progressed, the goal kept shifting. I made 140, and stuck there for a couple of months, while trying to get down to 134 - according to Weight Watchers that's the max ideal weight for someone 25 years old and 5'4", and I was 25 when I started the journey. I made it in time for my brother's wedding in September, and just days before I officially joined Weight Watchers at work in order to get the info on the new Core Plan. I now weigh 5 pounds less, because in order to earn lifetime status you have to lose at least 5 pounds. I'm 3 weigh-ins into maintenance, and at 6 weeks (if I'm no more than 2 pounds over goal) I'll earn Lifetime status. Surprisingly, at 132 pounds I'm a size 6, both smaller and heavier than I was in high school. Yay muscles!

I've been reading about maintenance since June, when I hit 140. It sounds hard. And scary. I've read "Thin for Life", and have been reading through the Skinny Daily Post archives. Between those, and the forums here, I've learned that Maintenance involves a lot of exercise, and dedication to monitoring your weight, and a regular eating routine, and no rewarding thrill of pounds lost. Sorry to be a sad sack, I'm really a lot more chipper in person & would definitely recommend Weight Watchers to anyone. After a year of it, I don't really want to lift weights and do yoga and use the elliptical anymore. I don't want to track my food. I've put in my time! I've paid my dues! I want to be free to eat whatever! *sigh* I am a little kid who thought it would be great to be a grown up because you could do whatever you want, and am slowly learning that adults have to be responsible too. I want to live a long, healthy life. I enjoy my new found strength and flexibility. I really enjoy feeling sexy, instead of frumpy. Yes, there's still the "phantom fat" that only I see, but really, for me, it goes away when I look in a full length mirror, naked, and see how all that hard work as paid off, how great I look. When I see the truth, instead of the spell my mind casts as I look down at my thighs.

Right now I am testing my limits, seeing where I have leeway, how much can I eat before I gain, how little exercise do I really need? I think my maintenance motivation will come back, that I'll rechannel my competitiveness from the scale to the weights, to bench more, squat more, have more defined triceps. I went to the gym this morning, then showered, and was fascinated and slightly horrified to see my pumped up pecs giving shape and size to my chest, and then my breasts on top of that. "Two part boobies!" I'd say the hours at the gym are working, and hopefully someday that will mean I can eat more than 1500 calories (29 points) a day to maintain. I miss those Dairy Queen Blizzards.

-Amy

Hi Amy :wave:
Welcome to Maintainers :) It sounds like you've learned a lot on your journey, but the journey isn't over! Don't worry, you CAN have a small Blizzard (they are one of my weaknesses, too) sometimes, but as you've read and discovered on your own, each choice has a price and a pay-off.

Uh-oh. That's the biggest lesson we all have learned. You have to learn to love the process because you didn't magically become someone else by dropping fat :?:

Good! You KNOW how- you got strong by using your body and that's how you'll keep it strong, healthy and sexy ;)

Glad to see you here.

Mel

By way of introduction!
 

Hi all. I’ve been reading all of the Maintainers threads since Day One, but I usually post over at Ladies Who Lift. Lately, however, I’ve been bedeviled by maintenance issues so I thought I’d hang my hat over here for awhile.

My name is Robin, but since there are a number of Robins, I often use my sign-on name, Airegrrl. My husband and I have only furkids -- Airedale terriers -- hence the name.

Like many of you, I’ve battled my weight for most of my life. Up down; up down; up down. Chubby as a child, chunky as a teen and a yo-yo as a college student (in more ways than one) :D . Although I was convinced that I was obese in high school, I was stunned not too long ago to look at some old pictures and discover that while I was no Twiggy, neither was I obese. Yet another example of poor body image. :eek:

It was after college that I began to encounter the worst of my problems, which should have come as no surprise seeing as how I was living on cigarettes, coffee and junk food. Fast forward to my 30s when, post-divorce, I packed on 50 extra pounds and began a vicious cycle of losing and regaining those same pounds over and over again.

The ensuing 25 years (I’m 56 now) brought about a number of changes: ditched the cigarettes and husband No. 1. Remarried, this time to a wonderful fellow. And, thanks to WW, finally lost the 50 pounds, although I continued to swing up and down by 12-15 pounds annually.

I’m no athlete, but I’ve lifted weights off and on for nearly 30 years. However, it wasn’t until I discovered 3FC 15 months ago that I realized I was lifting about as ineffectively as possible. Sigh. Too many light weights, no real training schedule, thus not much progress. :shrug: I’ve learned a lot at LWL, which has been a source of inspiration, comfort, motivation and giggles. My progress, however, has been impeded by a series of injuries, aches and pains, brought about by age, fibromyalgia, arthritis and sciatica. As a high-energy, fast-moving humanoid, I find these conditions perplexing, confounding and irritating, but I can’t seem to find a strategy to effectively cope with them. I *have* taken up yoga, which has been a real discovery. It makes me feel good; it makes me feel balanced; and it makes me wonderfully aware of the unity of body, mind and spirit. I hope to be practicing for many years to come.

When I was tipping the scales at 185, I believed that all would be right in my world if I weighed 140-142. Well, that’s what I usually weigh these days, and all is not right. :mad: First off, my weight is oozing up again, and I’m not very fit and I’m not very strong. Although I’ve (blessedly) learned to eat clean – and manage to do so a fair amount of the time, which is why my weight is oozing up instead of skyrocketing – I just don’t have this maintenance thing totally wired yet. Very annoying, given the time I’ve had in which to practice. As Meg said in one of her typically clairvoyant posts: Losing weight changes your body, not your head. I still have head work. A lot of head work.

So, here I am. It’s a pleasure to meet those of you I haven’t met before, and to see so many familiar faces. Let the good times roll!

:cb:

:wave: ROBIN!!!! I've been wondering where you've been hiding. Welcome back!

Oh I feel for you! As a similarly challenged humanoid, all I can come up with is that you just have to keep coping. Use whatever parts work on any given day, and be grateful for those days when they all seem to work together :D

Mel

You know, it's funny Mel. I find these assorted aches and pains downright infuriating. I find myself getting mad at them because they keep me from doing the things I need to do to maintain my weight. And then, I must also admit that I'm going through what Amy's describing: I've put in my time; I've paid my dues. I don't wanna fight it any more. These two things together are making me nuts. But let's face it: it's life. Ya gotta play the cards you're dealt. And all in all, I must say that I am extremely fortunate, and there's no sense in feeling sorry for myself. So, onward and upward.

Ohhh yeahhhh ... don't we all feel that way? But you're right - what's the alternative, after all? Robin, old friend, it's wonderful to have you join us here in Maintainers. You've been missed around here. :)

Welcome, Amy! What a great story! Yay, muscles indeed! :D - I agree on shifting the focus from scale numbers (since those aren't really going to change any longer) to gym numbers and achievements. For me, being in the gym every day keeps me in touch with WHY I'm working hard to maintain my weight: energy, feeling strong, and having a body that works (most of the time ;) )! Isn't it such an amazing thing to be working WITH our bodies instead of feeling like they're the enemy? We're glad you're here - jump in and post away!

new to maintaining
 

I've been reading posts here since before I reached my goal and decided to finally introduce myself.

As a teenager, I was considered painfully thin at 5'7" and 113 pounds. I ate non-stop, and never gained an ounce. Going back and counting now, I'd have to guess that I packed away at least 4-5000 calories a day, eating 6 square meals a day and snacking regularly. I must have had some supercharged metabolism then! (:?: wonder where it went?!)

I married early, right out of high school and started my family within a couple of years. I gained little with my first daughter and quickly dropped to somewhere below 120. It was my 2nd pregancy that got me. I gained a lot of weight when I was pregnant with my 2nd daughter at the age of 20 and I've been yo-yo-ing up and down but mostly up ever since.

Two times before, I've managed to reach my WW lifetime goal weight of 140 but each time, I fell back into old habits and all my losses came back and brought friends! :lol:

This time around at the age of 44, I'm determined that I will stay at a healthy weight from now on. I've only been maintaining a month or so and I'm still losing a little but much slower than before. I'm struggling with how to stabilize my weight and still keep up my brand new, healthy life style.

For the first time in my life, I am exercising regularly. (my idea of exercise used to be a good brisk sit!) I'm eating healthier with a happy balance of 'good' carbs and proteins. I have no problem eating all of my fruits and veggies every day (there used to be lots of days where I didn't eat any, unless you count french fries, or the toppings on my burger!). I drink lots of water (never did that before, i used to mainline coffee :coffee: ) I never eat fast food (I used to live on drive-thru). I've gone from a tight size 18 down to a comfortable size 8 and even my old shoes are too big. And I've got to get to a jewelry store before I lose my rings!

Because of all the exercise I guess, I'm a full size smaller than I was a few years ago when I weighed the same and people are starting to look at me and say things like: "Hey, you're looking really good, but I sure hope you're finished losing weight. Anymore and you'll be too thin". So I'm lurking on this forum, still trying to figure out this maintenance thing, hopefully before I lose much more weight.

ROFL That had me laughing out loud. That used to be my idea of exercise as well. Congratulations on reaching your goal!

I loved the "brisk sit", too :rofl:

Welcome, Barb. Don't lurk, join on in! It must have been tough going from super-metabolism to "normal". Congratulations on your journey and lookin' good!

Mel

Welcome, Barb! Another 'brisk sitter' here! :lol: Stick around with us - we're all trying to figure out this maintenance thing together. :)

BTW, can you tell us about your user name? Do you really talk to flowers? :D

What a great group of losers -- Can I join?
 

Hi -- here's my brief story. I've always been active and liked to eat "healthy, " but like many I had little idea of the nutritional or calorie content of food. I figured as long as it was home cooked and included natural ingredients, I would stay at a healthy weight. Before losing weight, I spent a lot of time preparing exotic meals. I loved to bake, and never met a stick of butter that I didn't like. After 15 years of marriage my weight had slowly crept up. I'm 5'2", and I was starting to look pretty jolly at 130.

My husband is in the reserves and was deployed to Kuwait. Due to a combination of worry and just learning how to live alone, I unintentionally lost 20 lbs. I liked the result, but didn't really lose the weight in the best way. I often just did not eat or would subsist on mocha lattes. I realized that this would not be sustainable when my husband returned, and I worried that I had really slowed down my metabolism. My hubby got back safe and sound in January '04. Since then I have struggled to keep my weight at its new level and to learn about maintenance.

This site is a godsend. There is so little information on maintaining weight loss. Two lessons I have learned: (1) I cannot just have one big cheat meal. My body thinks I am "refeeding," and gears up for days of overindulgence. After a meal where I overdo it, I will be ravenously hungry for the next 2 to 3 days; (2) balancing my carbs, fat, and protein in the Zone fashion keep the hungries at bay and lets me eat a pretty big volume of food. I've been working with the Zone plan the last four months and have felt much less deprived and had better energy.

Maintaining is hard. I look forward to learning from all of you and to helping others in the future! :D

Welcome, Laura Leigh! We're glad you found us here! We're all figuring out maintenance together so look forward to your input too. :)

That hunger over the next few days happens to me too! That's a great way to describe the problem (for some of us) with cheat meals and one of the reasons I do a lot better in my little day-in, day-out rut.

Good to hear the Zone plan has been working so well for you! I met Barry Sears last month and was very impressed with his research and thoughts on dieting. Fascinating guy and super-smart. I was surprised to discover that I've been pretty much eating the Zone way without even realizing it. He has a new Zone book - The Anti-Inflammation Zone - coming out on January 1 that I plan to read and you might be interested in.

Jump into posting and feel free to start a thread on anything that you've been wondering about or that interests you. We're all looking forward to getting to know you. ;)

I've been reading your posts for a few weeks now and it's been a great inspiration to me. I reached my goal about 2 months ago and it was almost a letdown because I didn't know what to do once I got there/here. There are plenty of sites that will tell you how to lose weight, but figuring out how to keep it off seems to be a guarded secret. :-)

A little about myself. My name is Brenda and I'm 37. Married, with 2 kids. I was the skinny kid with glasses forever. In college I lived near campus so I walked miles every day to/from class and up/down stairs. When I graduated I got an office job, finally had money to spend on more than the basics to eat and could afford fast food whenever I wanted. Mysteriously I gained about 30# in a short time. I weighed more than dh when we met, but together we managed to add to our collective girth(s?).

Two years ago he weighed about 220 and I about 193. His sister was diagnosed with brain cancer and died in a short amount of time. I had also just taken a part time job at a health club's child care center (spending $$, kids can come along and a free membership). It was just good timing --realizing you're not immortal and having some tools at your disposal to preserve yourself a little longer. Dh decided to try Atkins while I was sure he was nuts and did WW myself. The weight poured off of him, while I struggled to lose 10# over about 6 months. This included going to the gym and doing a full body workout plus cardio about 3x a week.

Sept 2003 I went to my annual and the CNP told me I should continue doing WW & working out because I needed to lose more weight. At that point I decided to try Atkins and, after a long weekend in St Louis (fried ravioli -- ahhh...) started the next morning. Dh was very supportive. He even went back to an induction style diet nights & weekends (got his other foods in at work) for the first several months so I didn't have to look at him eating something I'd die to taste. Sometimes it was slow and sometimes it was slower, but by early Oct 2004 I was down to 134 -- a pound lower than my goal weight of 135.

At that time I decided to start adding back fruits and whole grains. Now I try not to limit myself on fruits & veggies and I'm definately more of a low calorie (and by default low fat) eater. I've managed to lose another 3# more or less and sit at around 131-132 most mornings. Yep, I'm still a slave to the scale! :-) This is the first year that our kids have been involved in sports at school and dance, etc. so we're finding it harder to make it to the gym as often as we used to but we still use our indoor bike and get there a few times during the week.

I still feel fairly obsessive in my counting. First it was points, then carbs and now calories. I'm trying to let go a little bit and trust my instincts but that losing control is a little scary. I've been promising myself that 2005 will be more loose and trusting -- I want to make it through the holidays first because I think this is a time that would be easier to go crazy.

I've thought about working off a few more pounds in 2005, but I'm not sure yet. We'll see how it goes and if I'm feeling deprived or thriving. My current BMI is 21, so I'm at a good spot. I think it's just being curious about what I could do/look like and I like the idea of having a buffer zone.

So that's the story... Thanks for providing a place where maintenance is the norm. I've looked on other sites and when people ask a maintenance type question they're derided by those with plenty left to lose rather than helped.

Brenda

introducing myself
 

Hello Everyone-
I have been lurking about a week and thought I'd introduce myself. I am a 23 year old young woman who has been maintaining a large weight loss for about seven months now. My top weight was 190 something when I was seventeen (I am 5''6''). I now weigh 140-145. I have lost tons of weight before, but never maintained more than 1.5 years. I need support from people who want to make their lives about more than food and weight loss.l I want to really live a life free of food and weight obsession. I want to go out and be of service to this world.
Thanks for listening!
courageousincolorado

Hi Brenda and Courageous :wave:
Welcome to Maintainers :) You're right, Brenda, there really aren't a whole lot of other places to find people or info on what to do once you've "gotten there", wherever there is for you. That was the impetus behind the birth of this forum. Since we all aim to make this the LAST time we go through the diet part of our lives, we darn well better learn how to live here happily. I got pretty verbally abused on another forum for using the word "maintenance" by someone who still had a ways to go...so here we are.

Sounds like you both have had very sucessful and different journeys. Wecome, and please jump right in on threads.

Mel

Hi all,

Mel said<< I got pretty verbally abused on another forum for using the word "maintenance" by someone who still had a ways to go...so here we are.>>

What was the reason? Is there a problem with using that word? And if so, what??? I believe words have power, but 'maintainence'?

Thanks, Jan

I'd like to join Mel in welcoming Brenda and Courageous! We're glad you both found us here, for all the reasons that you both mention. Feel free to jump into any discussions, ask any questions you may have, and please let us get to know you both better. :)

Thanks for the welcomes.

To answer the last question, my experience with other sites (even their maintenance area) is that you ask a question and people who are further away from goal will bombard you with "I wish I had that problem" type of answers rather than actually sharing any advice.

That may well have been her underlying problem, but what she actually said to me was that no one should ever think of herself in a "maintenance mode" because there is always room for improvement and growth....I was talking about scale weight, and she wanted to extend the discussion to personal growth, spiritual enlightenment, fitness goals, whatever. She also just likes to pick arguements and is no longer a part of this board. She has never achieved her goal weight, but did lose over a hundred pounds. For that I still have tremendous respect.

Mel

Okay, I'll delurk here and tell you a little about myself. I'm a nearly 60 year old library director living in Alaska, about 50 miles NE of Anchorage. I'm married to a great guy, we've been together 33 years now. No kids, but two Siamese cats that we're devoted to. :)

I was always a little skinny kid, and in fact didn't reach my full height of 5'4.5" until I was in college. I never had a weight problem at all until my mid to late 30's, when my metabolism, and activity level, slowed down. After several ups and downs with WW I found myself in late 1998 at a family reunion and then a cruise. When I saw the photos from those events I realized I HAD to do something. January 1999 I joined once again, and by June had lost 30 lbs. At the end of June that year, my DH was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (a bone marrow cancer) and our lives took a major detour. We spent the rest of 1999 with him in the hospital 3 times, living in an upper body brace (multiple spinal compression fractures from the cancer) and doing chemo every 6 weeks. Meanwhile, I managed to lose another 16 lbs, so by Christmas I was down 46 lbs. In January 2000 we moved to Seattle for what ended up being 6 months so he could have a bone marrow transplant. While we were there, I began exercising a lot - helped that I was not working, and essentially had no social life! :) By the time we left at the end of August 2000, I was down a total of 67 lbs, and in the best physical shape in years. I ran 2 or 3 5K races during this time. I went back to my very active, though go-nowhere job as a PC Technician in an old building with only one slow elevator (hence I was up and down three stories many times a day. I kept running and doing aerobics for the next 1.5 years, and maintained pretty effortlessly. Then during the summer of 2001 I went to a conference in Santa Cruz, CA, at a college campus in the mountains. I ran 3 or 4 times on the hills, and walked every day to classes - unfortunately in sandals. I ended up with PF, which was not diagnosed til about mid- Sept, though it hurt soon after I got back. I ran two more 5K races during this time, which surely didn't help. Anyway, came a point in October that I couldn't run any more; the gym I was going to - the only one in town - closed ; and I changed jobs. I am now a library director, much more satisfying, but considerably less active. To make a long story short, I regained about 50 lbs over the next 18 months. Why? I don't know. The stress of my DH's cancer was gone - he's now 4.5 years post-transplant and doing fine - the dissatisfaction with my job is gone. Anyway, about 3-4 months ago, something clicked again, and I'm working at losing this AGAIN!! Grrr. I began riding my bike longer distances this summer. The gym has reopened, and I've been working hard at keeping a routine of weight training and carido. So far, I've been doing pretty well. I'm working on eating better, and more days than not, I do okay. Not much weight off yet, but I can tell I'm in much better shape. I really appreciate hearing all you have to say about maintenance, and the struggle it takes. I did maintain a large weight loss for 18 months; and I am determined to get there again and do it for life this time.

Biggest Obstacles!
 

I'm curious to know: what are the biggest obstacles to maintaining your weight loss? Let's discuss gang...

Hi Lisa and welcome to Maintainers! I see from your previous two posts in August that you're a diet editor for First For Women magazine, so I'm curious about your post today asking for our members' thoughts about maintenance. Do you intend to use them for or in an article? If so, I think our members need to be aware of that before they respond to your question.

As a member of the media, I'm sure you're aware that all the posts here at 3FC are copyrighted by their authors and by the site owners and can't be used without permission. :)

I've been lurking here for a couple of months and think it is about time to take the plunge and introduce myself.

Hi...My name is Peggy.

I have been at my goal weight - again - for about 2 months now and want to retain this weight and this level of health for the rest of my life.

Until I was 35, I had never had any difficulty with weight. I could put anything in my mouth and not gain an ounce. However, when I was 34ish, I got a job that turned out to be extremely stressful. I discovered then that, when I am under huge amounts of stress, my metabolism shuts down. It started with weight gains of 10 plus pounds per day. When I tell people that I could gain up to 20 pounds a day, they really don't believe it, but it is true. The last two months that I worked at this job, I gained 64 pounds. I knew that there was something wrong with my body, but could not control the weight gain even though I was not eating very much.

After changing jobs to a position that was mindless and non-stressful, I did not gain anymore. I went to Weight Watchers (which I had done following pregnancies to lose the few pounds gained during pregnancy), but could not stick with the program long enough to lose the weight...it just didn't come off as fast as it went on. Sooo, I resigned myself to the added weight and tolerated it for about 15 years.

At work one summer day about 3 years ago, one of my staff was discussing the need to lose weight. I mentioned that I had the WW diet at home and we decided to do the diet together. We compared eating, weighed ourselves once a week (we have a health office with a good scale), etc. The competition was what I needed to get me started...the other lady, unfortunately, lasted just over a month, but by this time I was determined to lose the weight that I had gained. It took about 8 months for me to get back to a normal weight and I vowed that I would never regain the weight again.

However, along came my annual medical. The dr. put me on hormones and the weight gain started uncontrollably again, although much slower. When I stopped to reflect on the situation and montiored the number of calories that I was eating, I realized that I was starving myself and still the weight piled on. At that point, I gave up on the goal weight and the eating plan. I just didn't want to live my life starving myself to maintain a low weight...I knew that I would not sustain that for very much longer.

Last spring my dentist decided that I should get my wisdom teeth removed. At my age, the specialist made me get a pre-op medical, so off to the dr. again. I had been avoiding him because he hassles me about my weight, so hadn't been to see him for a while. When I went in for the medical, he did the worst thing - he weighed me. Yep, then came the hassle about the weight. I told him that I had been starving myself but the hormones that I was taking was causing a weight gain that I could not counter. Soooo, he took me off the hormones, but I was already 40 pounds over my goal. He told me that, if I wanted to lose the weight, that I should cut carbs and sugar out of my diet. Well, I really don't like starches (except for pasta) and I had already cut a lot of the sugar out of my diet when I did the WW plan 3 years ago, so that was not a problem. He told me to try it for a month and "see what happens."

I went home that night and talked to DH about the carb diet (it scared me because of all the reports of high fat on a low carb diet), and DH mentioned that his staff at work were on the South Beach Diet. I got on the computer that night and researched the basis for the diet, bought the book the next day and have not looked back.

After my wisdom teeth were removed last June, I started a cardio program of power walking. I work at a college and have access to both an indoor and outdoor track at work, so I committed to spending my lunch breaks doing a cardio workout. I have been faithful to the program most of the time and find that my cardio has greatly improved.

At the college where I work, they also teach a personal fitness trainer program and those student look for clients in their last semester. I registered for a trainer this fall and worked with her for 6 weeks. Although we also have a weight room here, the trainer set me up on an exercise program to improve my strength/flexibility that I can do at home.

Like most people, I hate exercise, but I think the part that I really hate about exercise, is that I resent the time that it takes when I know there are so many other things that I need to get done. The program that I am presently do fits into that mindset...cardio at lunch where the time spent is really wasted time in my mind anyway, and the strength/flexibility training that I can complete at home and still throw a load of laundry in the wash in between set. :lol:

In addition to the exercise, I have not found it a problem to stay with the eating program, either. I can still have the odd treat and indulge my sweettooth, and as long as I exercise control, my weight has been easy to manage, so far. The bonus, is that I am never hungry or feel that I just have to have something to eat. Getting through the Christmas season will be a true test of my new WOE.

Hi Peggy :wave: Welcome to Maintainers :)
Sorry to hear that you hate exercise, but congratulations on reaching goal and finding a way to work it into your lifestyle so that you can maintain. As I'm sure you've discovered and read here, we've all found that regular exercise in integral to maintaining the weightloss!

Congratulations again on a job well done :high:

Mel

New Friend
 

My name is Gina. I am 46 years old. I have three daughters. They are ages 23, 20 and 15. I am married and have a part-time job.

My journey: Way back 13 years ago; I saw a video of my DD, second birthday. Who was that woman cutting the cake? It was I at 260 pounds. At 33 years old I was already a familiar weight watcher. I had battled my weight up and down 20 pounds since I was 16. I had never before this point gone over that 20-pound buffer. I was now 100 pounds over my heavy weight of 160. Part of the reason for the weight gain was undiagnosed depression. I was a very unhappy lady at that point in my life and food and alcohol were my self-prescribed medication. I began the journey and in two years lost 110 pounds. I steadily maintained that for the next 6 years. Then I hit a bump in the road and lost my footing. I regained 40 pounds. Thankfully, I was able to recover at that point and lose that and an additional 12 pounds. Since that set back I have been up and down at times but not more than my 10 pound buffer. I continue to follow weight watchers and am low-level exercisers. So my total number is 122 pounds. My weight watcher goal is 141 and my personal goal is 138. I continue to move forward on this journey.

I recently found this board and I felt like I found a home. The issue that are discussed here are so poignant and realistic. Below is my synopsis of my maintence journey. I look forward to posting and sharing with all of you.

Maintence is like a rose bush. It needs lots of care & it has sharp thorns. Sometimes you have no rose and it is discouraging. Just in time, a new bud is opening to renew your hope and give you strength. Maintence, like the rose, is very fragile but so beautiful and worth all the effort.

Welcome Gina! You and I have lost the same number of pounds! :D

What a lovely - and oh so accurate - description of maintenance.

We're so glad you've joined us and look forward to hearing lots more from you. You've been at this a lot longer than some of us and I'm sure you have lots of tips and insights to share. :)

that is wonderful!!!! Welcome, Gina!
I am currently trying to take charge of too many thorns
:devil: a 9 lb gain - but feel confident I can do it in the next few months.

Hi-

I'm Colleen. I'm 37 (I'll be 38 in March), have one daughter, 15, who lives with her dad, and one son, 7, who lives with me and my husband.

I lost 30 pounds before we moved to England-then gained it right back within 18 months of getting here! :mad:

After Thanksgiving, my depression reared it's ugly head and my husband made me a bargain-if I'd go to the gym five days out of seven for a month, he'd buy me a full body massage. I get my first massage TONIGHT!!! In about two hours! And all that exercise has done wonders for my depression and energy level!

I started December 1st, 2004, at 201, currently weigh 195 (this was posted January 6, 2005). It's slow going, it's hard, sometimes it just seems like far more work than it ought to be. Then I'll write down what I ate for a day and realize why it's so difficult to lose weight faster! LOL! Oh well-one step at a time! I'll make exercise a habit, and tackle the eating habits one meal and snack at a time. What else am I going to do for the next year? There is no need to make myself miserable trying to change everything at once-one small change at a time makes it a pleasure, not a chore.

Besides, I get a massage for each and every month I work out this much! :D

Hi Holly & Julie! Holy Cats! I'm in Vermont too! Wow! I'll start a new thread to intro myself, but I couldn't help jumping in there.

:) Viv

Hello everyone! Im so glad I've found this site. Been lookin for some help and you guys have lots of info & support to offer. It will be nice to get to know you all.

I've now read all 6 pages of Maintainer stories and I have to say, you people are all such sources of inspiration to me and probably to LOADS of others. All your stories are different, yet have so much in common. I'm not a maintainer myself yet (roughly 40 pounds before that phase begins) but reading all your posts here on 3FC has motivated me to no end and I think that's because I've realised that maintenance is the most important - and the most difficult - part about this whole body and weight business, and reading about other people who fight these battles every day is very interesting and inspiring. Like several people pointed out, it's difficult to findthings to read about maintaining while there's a neverending supply of how-to-lose-weight articles/stories/boards. I'm glad I found this excellent place already, it makes me feel more prepared! ;)

All the best in managing to stay the way you want to be. I hope that I can post my own story on here in the not too distant future. :)

Hugs,
Ann-Charlotte in Sweden