Hello
 

Just found these boards the other day and man am i so happy! I totally need help and I know it will be good for me to talk to you guys on these boards! As you can see my from title, i'm a chocolate lover and i can't stop eating it!! Looking forward to talking to all of you guys. Thanks!

OMG! I can't believe I have stumbled across this wonderful forum. I don't even know where to begin. I'm not from Vermont, but did go to a wonderful school there in S. Woodstock (no longer there). I dont' ever remember being anything but a fat, chub kid. Teased mercilessly, I felt extremely isolated at school until 9-12 grades, when I starved myself, like some of you, to gain acceptance. (At that school in Vermont, I got down to my lowest - 145 lbs. @ 5'7". After marriage and a child, we moved west, first to Salt Lake City for half year, then Eugene, OR for two years and finally, San Francisco, where we've been since 1974. My weight skyrocketed from that nice 145# to 190. In 1978, I got back down to 145 through WW, but gained it back plus more within a year. In 1983 (I'd become a musician and singer), I was auditioning for a big band, and was told that I "could lose some weight." There was guffawing. I was horrified, but shouldn't have been surprised. I'd made lots of friends in the Bay Area and it had been a while since I'd heard the insults. From shame, I lost (fast, this time)67 pounds in about three and a half months. I gained it back again when I decided to return to and finish college in my 40s'. By the time I graduated, I weighed 210 lbs. and found I had Graves Disease. In January of 1997, with the really bad case of hyperthyroidism I experienced as catalyst, I joined Health Resources Management (diet) - actually a fast - at a top weight of 236.5 #. My doctor had called me "morbidly obese" and I was scared and horrified. Throughout the following ten months, much like Meg, I joined the YMCA here, to fulfill my diet centers' requirement that I aerobically exercise off 2000+ kcals per week. Argh! I almost quit with that edict. But I began, slowly, to learn how to use that treadmill every single day, until I got better and better at it. I also fasted for 13 weeks, then got 1200 kcals of food back. Three months into my "Last Journey Down," as I dubbed it, a trainer told me I was looking better. That was all I needed to keep going. I never cheated on the diet, and hired this trainer for the duration to help me learn my newest fave thing. Pumping iron! I've never stopped lifting, and suffer the same dread of cardio, but do it 4-6X week anyway. Good listening music and dancing on the stairmaster! And.......I became a trainer in 1998. I'm still a trainer! I still can't believe it that I actually have clients - at my age! (56). All either have lost or are losing or trying to lose weight and most are women about my age. It's the finest job I've ever had. And, my job really forces me to maintain, if the truth be told. My goal weight was 150#, but I can be found anywhere between 145 - 155#. Quik story and then I'll stop. A bit over a year ago, I broke my r. ankle, tibia and fibula. This put a dent in my program. I gained 23 lbs. I had three operations last year, and trying to work, as well as work out has been a bear. I'm at 158.5# and very scared, which is a good thing. I just entered Lee Labrada's Lean Body Challenge and finally am "zoned" in on it. A little competition never hurts in my case - when I was working with that first trainer, he was always greeting me with the "let's see if you can lift this" game. I was always ready to pick up the gauntlet. I still am and am in the mode where I'm excited now. My "before" pix are in place (on mirror in bath -worst!) and body fat taken, goals written etc. Then I came across this particular forum and saw all your stories. I'm simply blown away by the barriers you all have crossed or climbed over and around. Congrats to you all and thank you so much for sharing your (sometimes painful - sometimes sheer delight) wonderful stories. My spine tingles - you are all amazing! I know you all know how much better it feels to fit into the clothes you want, and to do the things you all desire to do. A lot better than a few days of dieting and intense exercise! I even rock climb, ice climb and go boxing! I love this life. I will get those pounds off by April 4 dagnab it! Thanks again so much for being here- for starting this thread. I'll be checking in each day. Happy New Year. N2L.

http://www.3fatchicks.net/img/bar097...2/148/148/.png

N2L! Wow! Your story just blew me away! Welcome home - you are definitely in the right place! Hey Mel, we have another crazed middle-age lifter with us. :D :D :D (you'll meet Mel, who's 50 - am I allowed to say that? - is a trainer and sounds a lot like you :) )

Please poke around the Maintainers Forum and join in any place that interests you - we've got a wonderful group of people all looking to keep the weight off for life. It sounds like you have a lot of wisdom to share. :)

A warm welcome to all. This site is a wealth on information and a pleasure to be involve in. The best part is knowing we are not alone and others know what our struggles are like.
Good luck to all

I'm waaaaay behind on my "hellos"! :wave: Welcome, all you new lovely ladies to the Maintainers forum!

N2L- Yup, another crazy middle-aged, iron pumping ex-fatty turned trainer here :dizzy:

Thanks so for your responses. I'll tell you what really got to me. I was up way too late last night reading through a lot of posts, but the info from the Columbia U. lecture just slayed me. (and very intelligent responses too!) I slogged into the gym this AM, shoulders a bit slumped, let me tell you. But when I hit the treadmill, I ran harder and more than I had since I broke that D____ ankle, staring red-faced through all the hard-bodied young women in front of me on other cardio equip. And that was after an hour+ of legs. I became so motivated, after having such difficulty getting to sleep. I felt like the Prof's info was just weighing me down like a big old backpack full of rocks. Shoot. But I guess I've known that something like that was going on, because my maintenance program has always looked pretty much like a diet at least most of the time. But seeing it written on paper (and you summarized soooooooo eloquently - great writing) somehow makes the maintainer's future seem a little bleak, if not downright unfair! But I guess you've all already hashed through these issues. It was a superb piece of info. What to tell my clients, most of whom are having trouble just losing the weight? Don't know...............Hmmmmmmmmmmm . So good to be here and feel so welcome already. I love this board! C ya later!

Hi, wow, I came across this web site a few days ago and have spent at least a few hours a DAY going through posts.

Although if you see my stats at the bottom, it might seem odd for me to be posting an intro here, I feel more 'at home' reading the posts in this section than I do with the others. Weight LOSS, as you'll read, has never been an issue for me. Maintenance is another story!

I'm currently 37 and am 5-2 1/2.

It's been a 6 year 7 mo WL journey for me where I've been trying to 'find my groove'. You might consider me to be a yo yo dieter, but the scale has continually been going down. I've always heard that most dieters will gain back the weight they lost PLUS more. Fortunately I've always been able to nip things in the bud before I regained everything.

I went from 208 to 153 year 1 and maintained for about 6 months. My mom died and I had a lot of outside stress.

Weight went back to 191 and joined WW. Over 7-8 months went down to 143 and plateaued for 3 months.

Quit WW and went down to 138 where I stayed about 6 months. Had been running and decided to train for half marathon. Weight started to 'fall off' - couldn't seem to eat enough clean food. Went down to 104 over 6 months of training. Stayed there a DAY and got panicked. Was way too low. Anyhow, got back to 125-130 and stayed there for 5 months. Then hurt my knee. Started to pile on weight after having it hard to find any exercise to replace the running and cutting back on the number of times I was eating a day rather than the calories.

I started back with WW 2 weeks ago and weighed in at 185 and am back down 7 lbs. I've been waiting for knee surgery for 16 months (Canada's wonderful health care system SIGH). Set a more realistic goal of 145 since I was able to get to and maintain 143 without running.

As I wrote at the start, I feel more like I am dealing with maintenance issues rather than WL issues. Even though I have gone back to 191 and 185 at various stages, losing is not a problem. Keeping it off IS.

It's weird but in the 120's I still saw myself as a fat person. Now at 178, I see myself as a thin person with a temporary weight gain.

I'm one of those people many of you would hate to have around as you are losing/ trying to maintain. I think because of being active my entire life other than 2 separate one year periods, my metabolism might be different. I don't have kids either which might make things easier for me too. When I GAIN weight, I do it at 1000-1500 cals of junk at one or two late meals in the day. When I LOSE, its by eating every 90 minutes to 3 hrs from the time I get up. I don't lose by cutting back calories. I have to increase them and eat more frequently. I had mentioned breaking a plateau post-WW. I actually did that by eating 2500+ cals a day. When I kept losing past where I wanted to, I was having sometimes as much as 3000. But I was really active.

I had many reasons for tackling the remaining weight once and for all this time. First off was that I had to go and buy new clothing for the holidays. I had gotten rid of all of my fat clothes as I lost last time. You can imagine that size 0's-4's don't fit very well on a 180+ lb body! I was shocked to discover I had gone back to 12's and 14's. I have way too much $ in clothing I can't fit into.

Second, I own my own business. (Which at one time had over 50 employees.) Marketing work. But I've been unhappy for a couple of years. Gradually started to make changes in the company to allow me to find something I WANT to do. That turns out to be real estate (part of a long-term plan - I want to buy and renovate houses, so this will be a few year learning period for him). I'm doing the coursework now and will be starting in late August. I'm going to need more energy to manage this new career and my business (and the clothing issue comes up again).

My 20th high school reunion is coming up. Need I say more? :)

I hate the feeling of basing what I do in any given day, week or month on my weight and that's what I've been doing for the past year. Even at my heaviest, I never let weight interfere with me doing things, but I have since I stopped running.

I don't have kids. (I DO have 7 furry friends i.e. cats) I've been married for 9 1/2 years and with hubby for almost 14. My father moved in with us after my mom died. He's battled a slew of health problems and has been having a good year after a rough ride. As my own weight crept back up over the past year, meal planning went out the window. So making sure HE gets healthy meals is also an incentive for me.

I'm trying to get in daily walks (my knee is okay with walking as long as I don't go fast, but I'm doing inclines to increase energy expended) and am going to be joining a curves-like fitness club which uses hydraulic systems on their equipment (supposed to be better for my knee than traditional weights).

Looking forward to learning more from all the amazing people who have managed to succeed where I've failed in the past.

Sharon

Weird.... I set up a profile pic but it doesn't seem to be working :(

Hi Sharon! Yep, you're definitely in the right place here at Maintainers and we'll try and help you keep it off for good this time. ;)

I have to disagree with one thing you said in your terrific introduction: I don't think you've failed at all. Think of it this way - everything that's happened up till now has been the groundwork for the last diet. Each time you fell down, you learned something important, right? Look at all the lessons you've learned about yourself that you talk about in your post! And so you got up, bruised but smarter, and tried again. It sounds to me like now you're ready to go down and STAY down this time!

We're so glad you're here and look forward to hearing lots more from you! :D

Thanks for the welcome, Meg. Your story and so many others here have certainly been inspiring.

Yes, you are right and I do know it. It's just frustrating having to lose the same pounds all over again. But I know two things that hit a lot of people that lose - periods of heavy stress and dealing with an injury - are problems I've had to deal with already. Now I'm trying to get back down while having an injury and dealing with moderate levels of stress. I feel more confident. I also know that at 37, my idea of a realistic weight to maintain permanently has changed because of experience and understanding my own body a bit better.

Sharon

Hi Sharon :) Welcome to Maintainers :wave: I think you're definitely in the right place and in the right state of mind. You said it right here:

I think that's the key to the whole process of maintenance: confidence and understanding yourself.

Wow, SEVEN cats???

Mel

Love your story too, Mel. Thanks for the welcome.

Yes, 7 cats. It was a running joke -everytime DH and I talked about having kids, we'd get another cat. Fortunately, we stopped 6 years ago at 7. Interestingly enough I don't LIKE cats other than mine which are my kids. (Grew up with dogs!)

Hey

I'm 20 years old and live in Stockholm, Sweden. I've been lurking around here for some time now and thought it was time to introduce myself.

I was always the chubby girl and that was only because I ate the wrong things and was lazy. I ate a lot of pasta and drank pepsi everyday. My highest weight was 155 pounds at the age of 17 (no muscles at all). I lost it by starting exercising for the first time in my life and found myself really enjoying aerobics and other classes. I went down to about 118-120 (depending on time of month) and I maintened that weight with not much problem. One year ago I hurt my knee and had to stop exercising for a couple of months. Due to medicial reasons I had to start take a medicine which made me gain almost all the lost weight. I also moved to a new city where it took some time before I found a gym I liked (I'm picky when it comes to gyms).

Right now I'm slowly quitting my medication and I feel much better. I'm right now at a plateau (sp?) of 137-139 pounds. It have lasted a month :(

I don't follow a diet like ww och jc. Instead I try to eat healthy, nutritious food. I don't drink coffee or pepsi. I eat a lot of chicken, cottage cheese, fruits, vegetables and brown rice. I go to my gym 4-6 times a week. I get easily bored so I do a mix of classes including: pilates, aerobics, water exercise and ashtanga yoga. I also use the treadmill and lift some weights.

When I don't am at the gym I love shopping and decorating. I live with my long-time boyfriend and a dog - Candy. I love reading and hate the cold Swedish winter.

Take care and hope seeing more of you here.

Heya,

I'm on the same plateau as you only I'm not so bothered as I started a bit higher and I've not been 118 since I was about 14! I don't mind if I don't lose much more weight but I would like to be more toned, I know 24% fat isn't great at 20.

Dill

Can I join in too?
 

Hi, my name is Julie too. I am married 41 years, have 3 grown children and 5 grandchildren ages 19 down to 1 1/2. I'm 61 (hence my name, Golden Girl) but feel 40. (except for an arthritic knee LOL) I do exercise 30 minutes either walking or the treadmill. I have a little fluff dog, a 3 1/2 male Bichon Frise, named Bo. He is the apple of our lives. Such a wonderful dog. I haven't read all the posts yet but will go back when I'm done.
I live near Seattle in Washington state. I have lost from 155 to 115 and have been on maintaince since May 2003. I lost my weight by low carbing. It was easy for me and have been maintaining quite well until after Christmas of 2004. I got through Christmas ok but after that I've been gaining and trying to get it back off. I only gained 5# but it's 5# I don't want. I try and stay between 120 and 115. I seem to be stable at 118. Low carb was just not working anymore. On my other bb people suggested I should count calories too. Hmmm I am not going to do both. I missed a few foods like popcorn. I was unable to keep the carbs low enough now so I decided to just go with the calories. I really hate the thought of writing everything down again but am willing to do anything to keep the lbs off. I am back to 120.5 and in a couple weeks will start once again on maintaining.

I've been eating out of control this past month. I think I was just binging on foods I've been staying away from. Although I think the sugar is not something I should indulge in as I've had GERD so bad lately and am convinced it's mainly from the sugar and eating too much. I have probably forgot a lot of info about myself but I'm sure with me being so gabby that you'll hear all about more of me in the future. :lol:

I have been looking for a support group for maintainers and can't believe my luck finding this forum. I think maintaining is the hardest for me. I have lost and regained 20-30# so many times I lost track. I seem to be able to lose it pretty well when I make up my mind to it but keeping it off is my problem. Doing low carb was easy but I think I hit a wall. I want whole grains and love my apples. Thank you for welcoming me and hope I too can contribut to this forum. :^: :)

Welcome again and we're lookiing forward to hearing lots from you, Miss Gabby! :lol:

Poke around and check out some of our threads - we do a lot of talking here about maintenance and regain. We also have a book discussion group going in the Maintenance Library right now and this week we're discussing Thin For Life (Anne Fletcher), chapter 5 - all about stopping relapses and preventing regain. It sounds right up your alley and it doesn't matter if you haven't read the book.

We also have a weekly chat thread that starts new every Monday and it's a great place to jump in and let us get to know you. :)

Reached my goal (again)
 

:D Hello everyone I am a newbie to this thread . I am so impressed with everyone's stories, such strengh and determination. Congradualations to each and everyone of you.
I have recently reached my W.W. goal (for the second time) I had lost 30 pounds several years ago. I was able to keep off the weight for a year, then I had some personal problems and my life was falling apart and so did I. I stopped caring about myself, returned to my old eating habits, stoppped exercising and quit going to meetings. Before long I put all my weight back on. In fact to the pound. I weighted the same on my return that I has when I joined three and half years ago when I first joined. Now 7 months later I am back to goal.
For most of my adult life I have belonged to weight losss support groups. I have lost and gained the same 30-35 pounds many times in the last 35 years. I had belonged to T.O.P.S. for many years, in fact I was a leader for 2 years and was crowned regional Queen one year with a 38 pound loss.
This time I want to keep off this weight. I think along the way I have finallly got it. This can not be a diet but a lifesytle. One that I must want BADLY!!!
I must continue to care and look after myself, choice food wisely and continue to exercise daily. I also know that I feel so much better when I am making good food choices and when I am sticking to my fitness routine.
Thank you for listening. You are all an inspiration for me. Any and all advice suggestions will be appreciated as I continue on my journey.

Welcome Honeyjoe! Congratulations on getting back to goal. :high: It doesn’t sound like you need too much advice about maintenance since you’ve got the basics figured out already: just keep up the healthy eating and exercise that worked to lose the weight AND it’s got to be a lifestyle. That’s it in a nutshell for all of us! :)

We have a book discussion going in the Maintenance Library that you might want to check out – we’re talking about Thin For Life by Anne Fletcher. This week’s topic is how to keep lapses from turning into relapses and how to prevent the dread weight regain. It’s probably the Number One thing we maintainers worry about and your input would be valued!

Feel free to jump into any threads or start a new one with questions or concerns. We’re glad you found us and look forward to hearing more from you!

New Member Intro - Cebelle
 

Hello Fellow Maintainers!

:D I really can't express how very thrilled and relieved I am to have found this site in general and this Maintenance area in particular!:D

Since I became a lifetime member at Weight Watchers in January of 2004, I've been adrift in the ocean of maintaining. Now, here is my life preserver! Finally, the information and support I've been searching for during this very long year!

My middle name is Cebelle (I used it as it is less common, therefore not taken as a user name;) )

I was always very skinny until I went to college. They had food there - lots of it - and they never tried to control my intake like my mom had! (Bless her - she was trying to help me, but never let me learn to help myself...)

I didn't become truly obese until several years after my son was born. A combination of emotional eating/stress, depression and undiagnosed hypothyroidism led me to my highest weight. I don't know for sure what the very highest was, but when I joined WW it was 186.

The program was a great fit for me - just enough structure along with freedom to eat food I liked. Then I made lifetime and felt lost. I still weigh in every month, and I've only (officially) gained 3 pounds above my lowest weight. But between weigh-ins, I'm up and down like you wouldn't believe!

Then I had surgery on December 30. Nothing serious - laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Since then, I've been slower than I should have been at getting back on track. Even though the recovery time is short, it hurt to exercise - at least anything that involved my abdominal muscles or any impact. Besides that, I felt the need to test my ability to digest. I would eat more and more fat, just to see if I could tolerate it!:crazy: ! I could. And by then, I was used to eating a cruddy diet again. So, I'm trying to get back on track and I just feel so lucky to have found you all!:thanks: !

I don't always get online regularly, but when I do I will come here first to read, read, read!

Cebelle (:?: who usually goes by Hannah:?: )

Hi all!
 

Hi Cebelle! I also had my gall bladder removed (about a year ago) and rediscovered the "joy" of eating fatty foods. My weight loss has been slow since (as in, about 30 lbs during the entire year).

I've been hanging around the Maintainers and LWL forums for a while, posting off and on (more "off" than "on"), but the only intro I ever posted was in a weekly thread back in May (I think). So here's my introduction:

I'm 27 years old, single, and working as a technical writer. I was always "solid" as a child, but quite athletic, up until high school. I gradually got chubbier in high school, maintained (for the most part) through my undergrad college years, then shot up 10-15 lbs/year as a grad student. I ended up leaving my school (for many reasons) without completing my doctorate in environmental engineering.

I always recognized that I was overweight, but I fooled myself into thinking it wasn't that bad - mainly because I didn't want to change my habits. I occasionally played with the idea of dieting and exercise, but I never really did it.

Then, mid-July 2003 (I don't know the exact date, but I might be able to track it down), something clicked. I was looking at physical requirements for joining the Army because my brother was considering it, and I thought I might be interested as well. I was a little taken aback by how much weight I'd have to lose before the Army would even accept me. Suddenly I had a goal - to get fit enough that, if I wanted to join the Army, I could. I started running (jogging and walking, really), joined Curves, and cut back on what I was eating.

I'm not sure that I truly thought I could do it, but I wanted to do something with the motivation while I had it. When I saw that it was actually working - I lost about 7 lbs in the first two weeks - I was confident that I really could lose weight. I added weightlifting somewhere along the way, and it was at that point that I started to look a lot better.

Since I started, there have been a few bumps in the road. During the Fall of 2003, I started having severe abdominal pain, and after a few trips to the ER, they finally discovered it was gallstones. As I mentioned above, I had my gall bladder removed - on Christmas Eve. Other than that, the only problem has been consistency; some weeks/months I'm "into" fitness and eating healthy, but some I'm not. I'm still not at goal, but (like Ilene says :) ) I consider myself a maintainer in training.

I'm a chronic lurker, so if you don't "see" me much, I'm still probably here. I'll try to contribute occasionally, though, since I've gotten so much from reading what y'all have written.

I'm going to paste this in the LWL intro thread as well. See ya around!

hi, i've been around the forum for a little while now but haven't been in the maintainers forum yet. while i would like to lose 10 more pounds, I am not actively trying. I am runningand working out for sport and counting calories for maintenance, and am hoping that the last few pounds will comeoff naturally over time.

I am 23 years old. at my heaviest i weighed 215 pounds (i'm 5'8'') about two years ago i dropped down to 150 pounds through working out and food journalling and have been at this weight for 2 years.

i ride and race bikes, i have just really gotten into running as a sport and am training for a marathon. thats about all. just wanted to say hey.

Welcome Cebelle and hiya Laura and JCH :wave: ! Old friends, new friends - we're happy to have all of you here with us. :)

Hi
 

I have been doing WW's off and on since my mom introduced me to it at age 16. I'm now 46. I was at gaol weight in 1992 for about one year. I stayed there only as long as I over exercised, i.e. 3 hours per day. Needless to say this did not last. I re-joined WW in January 2000 and lost 80 pounds in about 14 months. Since then I have been gaining and losing the samme 7 pounds. I've upped my goal weight and hope to get there in 2005.

Newbie
 

Hi everyone, I just found this forum a couple of days ago and boy am I glad to find a good maintaince board!!

My name is Cory, I'm 32 and a SAHM to 3 kids dd 7yr, dd 5yr, and ds 21 months. I've been married to dh for 12 1/2 years now. As a kid I was never overweight, I was always the tiny one. I am 5'1" and in high school never weighed above 100 lbs.

Dh and I got married the summer after my first year in college, I was 5 days away from turning 20. He ate a LOT and boy I did my best to keep up! :o By the time I got pg with dd#1 I was about 70 lbs overweight. I did manage to keep my weight gain below 20 lbs with both girls. In 2/01, when dd#2 was 20 months, I had an epiphany. I realized that *I* was worth more than any cookie or chocolate out there! On 3/26/01 I started WW At Home and made my goal on 2/18/02. I was a frequent visiter to the BCB forums and only went off program 3 times while losing.

I maintained for 7 months with no problems whatsoever. Then in 9/03 I got pg with ds. I counted points throughout pg with my ob's blessing and kept my weight gain to 25 lbs. I was back at goal the day he turned 3 months.

I look forward to getting to know everyone here!
Cory

Hello!!
 

:)

Hi Everyone- this board is great!! Have been looking for an inspirational maintainers board.

I have lost 45 lbs since Summer 2003, I reached my goal of 130 lbs in Summer 2004 and have maintained since then. My weight gain was due to 1) getting comfortable in a relationship ;) 2) University and all the drinking and bad eating that happens there!!

Having never set foot in a gym before I am now an excercise nut, I love the way it makes me feel and look, I do cardio and weights 3 times a week and Pilates 3 times also. I also walk EVERYWHERE, FAST :lol:

I have cut down on exercise due to obsessions that started rearing their ugly heads so I'm happy now and still maintaining and that's what's important to me.

Plus, I'm 23, have been married for almost 3 years :dizzy:
and am hoping to start a family soon. I work with children with learning difficulties and love my job!!

So that's me, lovely to meet you all...

Suzi x

Hi Suzi! Glad you found us here. :)

We have a weekly chat thread that we'd love to have you join in on. Also, poke around our old threads and feel free to post about anything that interests you.

And congratulations on your weight loss!

Tell us about yourself!
Is this the first time or one of many times that you've tried to lose weight?

i was 100 when i got married in 1998, and reached my highest weight in 2004 at 154.

i have tried to lose weight many times throughout the past 6 years. i succeeded twice.

once in 2001 i lost 25 pounds. then i got depressed and gained it all back + an extra 15 pounds.

second, in november 2004 - april 10th, 2005 i lost 37 pounds.

then i got pregnant, so my diet stopped. i ended up miscarrying :( so now i am working to get off the remaining 4 pounds to get back to where i was pre-pregnancy.

Are you where you want to be?

i am, but i would be happier at 115. i said during my last diet that as long as i stayed below 120 during maintenance i would be happy. and i'm 119 now, so i'm alright.

How has life changed for you since you've lost the weight?

hubby likes my body more
i feel better about myself
i can wear cutsie clothes again
i no longer have high blood pressure and absolutely no heartburn either

If you're maintaining, what's that like for you?

maintaining isn't too hard for me. i got used to my eating habits and knowing howmany calories i can eat daily. so i just count them in my head and know if i've overeaten or not...which i rarely do.

Do you exercise regularly?

i just had a d&c last week to remove all the tissue from the pregnancy :( , so i just started biking again this weekend. hubby and i and a group of friends aggressively mountain bike in the summer 2-3 days a week. i am looking forward to toning up again. in the winter we snowborad.

Now that you're near or at your goal, what are your concerns?

that i will get depressed again and want to eat. but i am doing alright. i have learned many coping mechanisms over the years and i do know that eating is not the way to go. despite this being my second pregnancy loss in a year, i am strong........believe it or not. i want to look good and feel better physically and mentally, so i know maintaining my weight loss will help me with that.

And anything else that you might want to share with us!

no, that's about all. i explained my story in the introductions page.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently 22, single, no kids or pets, working as a marine research assistant on the Gulf Coast/panhandle of Florida. I’ve lived here for a year, where I moved after I graduated from college in Connecticut. I grew up in Pennsylvania, where my parents still live about an hour NE of Philadelphia. I was always a chubby kid, but never obese until my teenage years. Both of my parents, my older sis, and extended family have always had weight problems, but I was never pressured to lose weight.

Around age 11 I really started packing on the weight, and by 15 I hit 200 pounds at 5’5” and with a medium frame. I played sports 5 days a week after school, but outside of that I wasn’t physically active, ate a lot of junk, and ate a lot, period. I was also under a lot of academic pressure. Both of my parents are teachers at the middle & high school that I went to, and their daughters had to get perfect grades. I spent all of my “free” time studying, staying up however late I had to in order to get my work done, rarely going out with friends, and the stress definitely took a toll on my body. I should qualify that my parents certainly didn’t physically force me to stay in and study so much, and would have been upset if they realized how sleep deprived I was. My dad had lost quite a bit of weight, and kept it off, two years prior when the doctor told him that at 42 he was headed for early heart disease like the rest of his family. My mom and several friends had just had a lot of success with Weight Watchers, and disgusted with my ever-increasing weight I tried it. At age 15 I lost 35 lbs (putting me at 165), and settled in at 170. I still wasn’t happy with my weight, but the academic pressure continued and I just couldn’t find the time to put more effort into weight loss.

For my first two years of college I maintained between 170-175 without conscious effort, studying hard in school and not working out. I spent my junior year studying marine bio abroad, which was wonderful but I came back at 182 pounds. I blame the Australian beer. Just kidding, I know it was my own fault! I “got serious” again, and lost 20 pounds using the WW program again. I maintained a steady weight of 163 my senior year and balanced my eating, workouts, and academic life much better. After graduation in spring 2004 I moved the 1000 miles away from my family to Fla. I started doing the WW eating plan again and then switched to counting calories and looking at my overall protein/fat/carb intake. I also started running last winter, and strength train also. In March 2005 I decided that at 135, wearing a size 4-8, I was happy where I was and this was a maintainable adult weight for me.

I’m still getting used to what I can and can’t do on maintenance, and am terrified of regaining. I’ve found that eating about 1700-1800 cal/day, working out 5-6 days a week, and religiously keeping a food journal is what’s necessary to keep myself steady. So much has changed, emotionally and physically. Since I do a lot of field work in the water I often wear my bathing suit at work, and finally feel confident when I’m doing it. I do have more confidence in myself, but still sometimes fall into the trap of thinking of myself as the fat, ugly girl. My self-esteem is higher than it used to be, but not always. For example I’ve never really dated and find it impossible to approach men romantically. I’ve become a completely different person over the past 7 years of weight loss, but it’s so hard for me to distinguish what’s from the weight loss and what’s just from growing up. I’ve stabilized the mood swings that I used to have get from blood sugar highs and lows, and have hopefully headed off a lot of the health problems that run in my family. My friends and co-workers in Fla. have never had weight problems and only saw the last bit of my weight loss. They kind of laugh when I bring my carrots and celery to work every day and politely refuse the doughnuts, but they respect my healthy habits. My mom has regained some weight, and my sis has been unsuccessful at her attempts to lose, so I feel guilty about talking to either one of them about my struggles in maintaining. I’m glad that after lurking about for a while I’ve decided to join in here, with people who can really relate to me and offer me advice. I hope I can contribute too :) .

~Megan

I sugest you submit, or try submitting, to rigorous advanced portion control methodology control. :-)

A humorous way of stating to weigh all of everything one prepares and then eats. A visual impact of the mass of consumables is striking in its dimunition.

A mindset that one will (or even should) be hungry for most of the time is to be anticipated.

When consuming the food prepared, yes i know this is the difficult period, eat deliberately and methodically, slowly. Masticate, masticate, masticate.

And it is a fact that some types of food will "collect" at different points on the body. Curries and chutneys are advised here. hot, and consumed with no water.

I'm thinking of you from now on.

KF

Hi everyone,

I'm not quite at the *official* maintainer stage just yet, but I'm preparing myself for it. I just love reading all the 3FC Maintainer posts...you gals/guys are great!

Okay, here's my story. And it's gonna be a looong one. Sorry!

My mother was anorexic when I was growing up, and my father was a closet compulsive eater/binger. Mom weighed herself 3 times a day and scribbled it on a chart hanging in the bathroom; Dad hid bags + bags + bags of potato chips in his car. Mom taped a piece of paper to the fridge that said "1 orange = 30 calories = FAT, FAT, FAT!"; Dad secretly took me out to McDonalds and wolfed down 2 Big Macs while I inhaled my Happy Meal. Mom had 2 ounces of tofu for lunch every day; Dad ate whole 12-inch logs of pepperoni after dinner. Mom generally weighed between 90 - 100 lbs (at 5'8"); Dad usually weighed 200+ lbs (also at 5'8").

I think you get my point: I never had a healthy role model, and I never learned what was "normal" in terms of nutrition, portion size, or even BODY size. It took me decades to learn these things, but more about that later :) .

I've always felt fat. I felt fat even when I wasn't fat. One story that I've already posted somewhere on 3FC is about my pediatrician. When I was 11 yrs old, I was already full-grown height-wise -- 5'4". I went in for my annual check-up and weighed-in at 140 lbs. The doctor looked at me and said, "Kate, you need to lose 20 pounds." And that was it. Not nutrition advice, no tips on how to get started -- nothing, not even a lousy food pyramid to look at. And then I went home to the chaos described above. I remember on the drive home (probably as Dad and I waited in line at McDonalds) thinking: "How the heck am I going to lose TWENTY POUNDS? Oh, well. I guess I'll just be fat forever." This was in 1983, and that became the way I thought about myself for the next 19 years.

We never had food in the house -- Dad had plenty of food in his CAR (and in his dresser, his workroom, his toolshed, etc) -- but there was never anything in the kitchen. And when I say "there was never anything in the kitchen," I'm not exaggerating (much.) My parents used to go away all day on Saturdays to have "their time," so I spent a lot of time on my own (I'm an only child). There were days when my lunch was a slice of Wonder Bread with salt sprinkled on it. I remember drinking the liquid that was left over in an empty pickle jar. I used to eat lemons, and even nibbled at a cinnamon stick once. Mom wanted no food in the house, so there was no food in the house. My "complaints" about this situation got so bad that by the time I was a Junior in high school, my Dad was giving me $25 a week for allowance. WITH the understanding that the $25 was to FEED me as well as handle whatever little things I wanted/needed to buy for myself. So I started grocery shopping on my own. Having NO idea what was good and what was bad -- and seeing ALL these marvelous, wonderful-looking foods that I had only experienced at my friends' houses (or on TV commercials). So I think you can imagine what kind of garbage I brought home with me: Apple Jacks, Doritos, Coke, candy bars, frozen pizzas, etc. And -- perhaps not surprisingly -- I got into the habit in high school of going out for "dinner" with my friends right after school. This "dinner" being either pizza, ice cream, or Chinese food (we were teenagers, after all!)

I was pretty much a size 12 all through high school -- which I thought was fat. Looking back at those pictures now, though, I see that I actually looked pretty "normal." But I felt fat. Mom -- obviously -- had a lot to do with this seeing as how she was a size 0 and everything. But the most extreme example of how she influenced my sense of self happened in 1988. I went to visit my uncle in Spain. Within 24 hours I had contracted aomebic dysentery from some bad tapas. I was in bed (and in the bathroom) for 14 days, and lost somewhere in the area of 25 lbs. When I was finally well enough to fly home, I got off the plane and my mother was BESIDE herself. With joy. NOT because I was home, not because I was no longer sick, but because I was so thin. She took a picture of me that day, and it's still on her mantle to this day -- despite the fact that she is a "recovering" anorexic and about 130 lbs. She's told me hundreds of times over the years that it is her favorite picture of me. And I look like I have a terminal illness in that photo. Literally.

So, moving on now to my adult life. I went to college in another state and managed to put on somewhere around 30 lbs in my 4 years there. This was due to a lot of things, but mostly (and most OBVIOUSLY) due to the fact that I didn't know how to eat. Some days I would eat practically nothing -- maybe a Coke and a bag of pretzels. Other days, I would eat a whole large pizza by myself, followed by a pint of Ben & Jerry's and a liter of Pepsi.

When I left college, I also ended things with my boyfriend (of 4 years). We had both gained a lot of weight, and as part of my "new single life," I wanted to lose it. And I did. I walked, I bought a NordicTrak, and I watched my fats. I probably lost 20 - 30 pounds. And then I started teaching and over the next 8 years or so, food became my stress relief. Thursday nights were always "Pizza Night" for me. And low and behold, I was *suddenly* 189 pounds.

For my 30th birthday (8/29/02), I gave myself the gift of a personal trainer. She is my guru, my savior, and (now) one of my closest friends. She has filled in all the blanks for me...everything I should have learned about nutrition as a kid, she has taught me as an adult. I can't say enough about her. She has literally saved my life.

So I began this journey on August 29th, 2002. In one year, I lost about 25 lbs through weight training, good nutrition, and (due to my laziness and hatred of it) limited cardio. In August of 2003, I moved to England and went off track -- not very FAR off track, but off track nonetheless. I returned to the States a size 14 (having left the States a size 12). I got right back on board with my beloved trainer, added regular cardio to the plan, and...well, here I am now. :)

My name is Kate, by the way. I'm (nearly) 33, single, with 2 dogs + 3 cats.

Thanks for *listening.* :)

Kate - what a wonderful story of success despite the odds -- of taking charge of your own destiny and triumphing over some terribly flawed relationships with food. Your stories would be funny if they weren't so tragic -- there's got to be a book in there somewhere!

We're so happy that you've joined us here in Maintainers! You've written some fabulous posts and we look forward to hearing lots more from you. :)

Thanks, Meg :) . It helped a lot just to WRITE all that, if that makes sense. You've already been so nice to me with responses on a few of my other posts, so I look forward to getting to know you better -- and hearing more of your wisdom!

:)

I finally made it to goal!
 

Hello everyone!

Well, I posted in this thread almost exactly one year ago, hoping to be a real maintainer someday and now I am! All of my excess pounds are gone and now I am at a normal weight AND I have visible muscles too from my frequent sessions at the gym!

So, about me then.. My name is Ann-Charlotte, I'm Swedish, 27 years old (for another month) and I live in Gothenburg on the Swedish west coast. I work as an IT-technician at a web hosting company. Quite nerdy. :)

I've battled with my weight for almost 10 years now, I became overweight when I moved away from home after I finished high school. That's when I developed my binge eating disorder as well. Since then my weight has fluctuated wildly over the years and I haven't been at a normal weight for longer than a total of a year in the past decade. I've tried a gazillion different diets, I've read every self-help book there is (or at least that's how it feels) but I never quite made it, the "click" that I wanted never came and I mostly felt miserable. I moved around a lot, between different cities and different countries, never feeling quite satisfied with anything in my life and constantly looking for something new, although exactly what I don't know.

This past year has been a very good one though, I'm in a stable relationship with a lovely man (we celebrate 4 years together this Christmas), I bought a cozy flat together with said lovely man, I have a steady job with a decent income.. And I suppose I needed this stability to dare tackle my weight proper. No more running away, just facing the facts: To reach a normal weight I need to take care of myself, eat good food that I actually *like* and I need to exercise. I never wanted to exercise before, I always hoped that I could lose all my extra weight without having to exercise. But for some reason or other I was ready to give exercise a go, so I ponied up for yet another gym membership but the difference this time was that I didn't stop going after 2 months. I'm still at it, exactly one year later, much longer than I've ever stuck to any exercise before. And I accepted that change was necessary and that I had to make an effort to get results.

And results I have gotten, for sure! I'm now a total of almost 60 pounds lighter, I am fitter than I've ever been in my entire life! I'm now happy at a weight of 154 lbs to my 5.8" height, I don't care if other people my height aim for much lower weights because I'm happy with the shape of my body. I can finally buy clothes in normal shops and things fit AND look good when I try them on, now that I'm the equivalent of a US size 10. :) People around me have been very positive and are happy for me, I haven't had one single negative comment regarding my weight loss, it's been 100% supportive. My BED is almost non-existent now (it will never go away, I see myself as a sober alcoholic sees herself) and my relationship to food is so much better and healthier now, and it's constantly improving. And if I have a relapse I recover quicker now and don't beat myself up so much. So many good things have come from my decision to finally allow myself to succeed!

So that's me! I've been reading the Maintainers forum for over a year and I even posted a little every now and then but I felt that I wanted to be a real, proper Maintainer when I started posting more frequently. I've read so many inspirational and wise things from all you people here that I can't wait to participate myself. :D

Here's to finally succeeding. ;) And thank you for reading this far!

Hugs from a happy Ann-Charlotte

Hi everyone! I figured it's been a couple weeks since I hit my goal weight, so here I am! I'm going to answer the questions first, then at the bottom is my sort of life story (copied and pasted from my post on the success stories board, I hope that's okay).

• Is this the first time or one of many times that you've tried to lose weight? - This is the second time I have actually tried to lose weight, but I have wanted to lose weight as far back as I can remember. The first time I tried to lose I went about it all wrong, and gained it all back plus more! This time it is for life.
• Are you where you want to be? - Yes and no. I am at the goal I set for myself, but I still kind of feel fat when I look in the mirror. My body will never be perfect, but I think it could be a lot better. But I think this has more to do with exercise and strengthening than weight loss at this point.
• How has life changed for you since you've lost the weight? - The weirdest thing is that people I meet don't know I used to be fat. It is SO WEIRD to have people say things like "oh, you don't need to worry about your weight" and stuff like that. But the good things: I am the healthiest I've ever been in my life, I can do all sorts of physical activities I never could do before, shopping isn't depressing anymore (I love shopping, and I did at my high weight too, but I used to spend more time shopping for shampoo than for clothes!), and most importantly I am comfortable with myself and my self-confidence has finally arrived.
• If you're maintaining, what's that like for you? - I'm still trying to figure out this maintenance thing . . . I feel like I'm eating for maintenance, but I'm still losing weight. I don't want to start eating more because I'm afraid of a backslide!
• Do you exercise regularly? - Yes, at least three times a week, but once finals are over I'm hoping to get back to five days a week.
• Now that you're near or at your goal, what are your concerns? - Obviously my main concern is that I'll gain it all back, and then some. It's scary to think of how careful I'll have to be for the rest of my life (which is a long time, I'm still young!). I'm also afraid of getting lazy, slacking off at the gym, and eating too much junk. In terms of what I'm still working toward, I know I have a long way to go with strengthening and toning my body. Due to some wrist problems I've had to lay off the weight lifting, but I'm hoping to get back to it in a couple months.

So, here is my story. I'm happy to be here on the maintenance forum with you wonderful ladies!

I was raised eating at restaurants a lot, and eating a lot of fried and fatty foods. Outdoor activities and exercise of any kind were never really encouraged in my family. My parents are both overweight, my dad much more so than my mom -- every so often my mom would decide she wanted to lose weight and we would do a Jane Fonda or Richard Simmons workout tape for a day or two, but it never lasted. We always had some kind of sweets/dessert around the house, with the only rule being that we (my sister and I) had to eat fruit before we were allowed to eat dessert. Actually, when I was little my mom cooked at home most of the time and we didn't go out very much, but she started working full time when I started high school, and after that there were a lot more fast food and diner meals.

I started getting chubby right before puberty, but as usually happens my growth spurt counteracted it. However, I never really exercised outside of gym class at school, so I was never physically fit at all. In high school this meant that I would see all the flabby skin I had (and I grew up in LA, where there are like five million supermodel-looking girls all over) and think I was fat, even when I weighed 115 lbs my freshman year. In fact, I don't remember ever not thinking I was fat, because most of my friends were always skinnier than me. In gym class they would have us run twice a week, and I was always at the back of the pack, and couldn't run a single lap around the track (1/4 mile) without having to stop and walk and feeling like I was dying. I hated that feeling and I hated being last, so I just told myself "well, I am just not good at running," and I celebrated when I finished the required two years of PE classes.

Basically in high school I gained about 10 lbs/year. By the time I graduated I was around 150 (I'm 5'4"), having started around 115. As I gained weight in high school, my dad started to point out that I was "getting a belly" (he started making these comments when I was around 128 or so). This became a huge point of contention because he would always make comments about my weight, then when I started crying he would yell at me that I was being too sensitive. Keep in mind that my dad is about 5'5" and somewhere around 230 (no, it's not muscle). Eventually he said he was telling me I was fat because he didn't want me to end up like him. Maybe that makes sense in some twisted way, but I really don't think a very overweight man telling a teenage girl she is fat (when she's at a healthy weight) is going to convince her to lose weight. In any case, I just became more convinced I was fat, fat, fat, and since I am an emotional eater, that turned into eating more and more junk food.

Here is an idea of how I might have eaten on a typical day in high school: breakfast would probably be a frozen meal, like a toaster strudel or french toast sticks. At around 10am, I would probably have a muffin I bought at school. Lunchtime meant either Pizza Hut pizzas (which they sold at school) or candy bars from the vending machine. When I got home around 4:30, I would eat whatever dessert was around (ice cream sundae, a couple donuts, etc). If my dad cooked dinner, it would probably be some kind of deep fried Chinese chicken dish -- if my mom cooked it might be breaded and fried turkey breast with a side salad. If neither of them felt like cooking, it was TV dinners or a local diner. Around 8pm was usually snack time -- more of whatever I had been eating at 4:30!

Then it was off to college and all-you-can eat meals. To be honest, I have never had much self control when it comes to food -- if there is yummy food in front of me, I will eat until there is no more, whether or not I am hungry (this is something I've been working on a lot lately). All four years of college, I lived in a dorm and ate at the cafeteria. My last two years I ate cereal for breakfast in my room, but every lunch and every dinner was at the cafeteria.

Now, our cafeteria was pretty notorious for bad food. But the dessert was always pretty darn tasty -- their Mexican food was pretty good too. So I would end up eating huge amounts of fatty greasy food and then pile on the dessert afterward! Being an emotional eater like I said before, the stress of college led to even more junk food.

Here's an example of what I might have eaten on a typical Saturday in college: first would be a bowl of cereal in my room. A couple hours later, I would go to brunch, where I would probably have a couple pancakes, a couple pieces of sausage or bacon, some eggs with cheese, maybe a belgian waffle if I was really hungry (with strawberries and whipped cream, of course), and a couple bites of whatever "lunch" food they had (chicken strips or something). I would always have dessert afterwards too. Around mid-afternoon I would probably go to the coffeeshop and get hot cocoa or chai. Dinner would probably be a big plate full of spaghetti with the oily sauce they always had, five garlic breadsticks or so, and a piece of whatever kind of chicken or fish they had available. Plus at least one of the desserts from the spread (cake, cheesecake, pudding, pie, ice cream, etc). In the evening I would go to a party with my friends, have a couple drinks, then go buy ice cream or pizza when we got the "drunken munchies."

I have to say it is completely embarrassing to admit that I used to eat like that (I am really not exaggerating).

The summer after my sophomore year, I was moving into an apartment on my own for a summer job and I decided I was fed up and I wanted to lose weight. I didn't have a clue how to do it, so I did the only thing that looked easy -- SlimFast. I would have a small bowl of Special K for breakfast, a SlimFast meal bar for lunch, and a very low-calorie dinner. My goal that summer was to eat under 1000 calories each day (I really had no idea that that was an unhealthy amount to eat). In any case, I lost 30 lbs (without any exercise, also not good) and got down to 150 again. The following semester I developed some pretty intense stomach problems and had some kind of liver problem as well that went away before they could diagnose it. Suffice to say I was really sick and couldn't eat much more than green beans at the dining hall. Obviously that allowed me to maintain my weight for that semester, and into the next. The following year was back to the old habits, and I gained an amazing 35 pounds in one year to hit my all-time high of 185 at graduation.

After graduation, I moved across the country and moved in with my boyfriend. He has many of the same self-control problems as me, but has always been good about exercising. I thought to myself that Slim-Fast worked before, so I would give it a shot again. I would eat cereal for breakfast, a Slim-Fast bar for lunch, and a sensible dinner (no more super-low-cal). I also started going to a pilates class three times a week. After a couple months, I started to feel some of the stomach symptoms I had had the previous time (heartburn) and I cut out the Slim-Fast immediately. I figured it was probably responsible for the heartburn, so there must be a better way. I switched instead to Lean Cuisine for lunch, and in general tried to get around 1200 cals/day. After my pilates class ended, I made a new year's resolution (for 2005) that I would be able to run a mile, something I had never done before.

Soon after that I found 3FC. I learned SO MUCH from this website, I have to say a huge thank you to all the wonderful ladies on here. A couple months after that, I was able to run a mile. A couple months later, I could run two. In September this year I ran my first 5K race, and did not walk at all. I have since given up the Lean Cuisine deal and am sticking to healthy food made at home. Whole grains, fruits and veggies, low-fat dairy products, and lean meat. I still eat sweets every now and then, but moderately. I still go out to eat, but only once a week. I work out at least three days a week (during the summer I was doing 5-6).

For the past couple months, I have been eating at what I feel is a maintenance level (something I could continue with my whole life). Imagine my surprise that I continued to lose weight! Not only that, but after coming back from a week of indulgence for Thanksgiving, I actually lost the last two pounds and hit my goal weight of 130.

I went from 185 to 130, from a size 16 to a size 8 (I actually fit into some 6's now too). It took over a year to lose those 55 lbs, but I think that is just fine. Before, I lost weight rapidly, didn't learn how to eat right, and gained it all back. Now I have so much more knowledge and I have you wonderful ladies (and gentlemen) to thank for that. I am in the best shape of my life and I don't plan to slack off on that any time soon. If a few more pounds come off, that's okay, I wouldn't mind being 125. But I am going to be careful to stay at a healthy weight.

I plan to maintain this weight for the rest of my life, but especially I hope to maintain my fitness level so that I look great when I get married in fall of 2007!!

:welcome3: to Maintainers, Paperclippy! What an awesome story! It's amazing the way you've turned your eating habits around. :faint:

We hope you stick around with us and keep posting ... we've all got the same goal: to keep the weight off for life. :carrot:

I belong in Maitainance!!
 

I've got to lose 25 pounds by bathing suit season."
"Thirty pounds by Christmas!"
"I've got to be in a size 12 by the wedding!"

These "gotta lose by" numbers and dates are markers for impatient losers. And impatient losers DON'T LOSE. If they DO manage to lose, they frequently don't maintain those losses. How come?

The idea isn't to lose pounds on the scale by a certain date. The idea is to change your relationship with food and exercise and establish behaviors and habits that support and maintain a healthy weight.

When a person grits their teeth and suffers through a "diet" to reach a goal defined by the number on the scale, then when that number is reached, the efforts stop. The person, who has not changed how they think about food and exercise, now goes back to the fat-promoting behaviors, and BOOM! Before ya know it, the prom/wedding dress/bathing suit doesn't fit anymore, and the fat is back
It's important to take the time to slowly establish new patterns of thought and behaviors that lead to habits that support health..[/B]

That's where I'm at. I've found that if I maintain a daily life style/pattern then my weight naturally falls off!! So I've found in the past month a daily pattern/lifestyle that I'm happy with, that I can maintain comfortably for the rest of my life and the weight is falling off!!

and the best news!! Since lurking here I've discovered that my definition of 'normal' doesn't apply to me!! I have to redefine what normal eating/exercising is for me and my life because my patterns don't fit the 'shoulds' of the dieting world. I 'should' be able to control cookies. Well I can't so I'll probably never have a cookie again in my life, the flip side is: I won't have to fight the cravings either. I won't have to fight the constant urge to binge and I live in peace with food.

So even though I still have 20 or so pounds to go I am maintaining a healthier lifestyle with daily exercise (and a lot of it) as well as a menu that keeps me happy and thinner. It's amazing that the # on the scale is only a by-product of my daily habits and not the focus of my life!!!

Maintaining and loving it!!!

Woo hoo, Miss 2006! You 'get it'! The whole business of losing weight is simply practice for maintenance. And you are so, so right that we all have to redefine 'normal' to what fits us, not someone else's idea of what we should or shouldn't do. Trust me, you'll get people telling you all the time that you're obsessed or eating too much or too little or the wrong foods or exercising too much :dizzy: ... just stick your fingers in your ears and say "I can't heeeeaaaar you!' :lol: It just cracks me up when people still tell me that I'm doing it 'wrong'! Hello?

Welcome to Maintainers! You bet you belong here! :welcome2:

New here-my story ....
 

Hello !
My name is Janice and I am 39 years old. I weighed from 150-160 from junior high through adulthood with a pre-delivery pregnancy weight of 220 two times. Both times I easily lost the weight and returned to 150 where I easily maintained. I have always been physically active and very fit. I wore a snug size 10-12.

In 2002 I hit 36 years of age & realized that I was in bondage to my weight. I really felt too heavy and that I wanted to make a change. I knew a lot about nutrition, calories, etc but needed a good, solid program to follow. I ordered the WW At Home Program and within hours of it being delivered to my door I was on my way. I set my initial goal weight at 142 because I really had no frame of reference on what I would look like/feel like at a certain weight. I followed the Program to the letter and continued my daily workouts. I believe the reason that the Program worked so well for me is that I was required to eat my minimum daily Points. The weight literally fell off each week that I weighed myself at home (I did not attend meetings) and I quickly understood that I had been undereating all of my life and that my metabolism was finally waking up and being 'stoked' with the small, frequent meals I was eating each day. I quickly passed my initial goal and continued to follow the Program for losing until I felt like my body was at its perfect weight. Today I weigh 111-113 and maintain without a problem. I realize that my weight is below the WW guidelines (I am 5'6") but my physician feels that 110-115 is perfect for me. I have been at goal for 3 years this month.

Losing this weight has been a fascinating experience. To had never been thin and now to be thin is hard for me to fathom at times. I love the way I feel and am finally comfortable in my own skin. I will journal the rest of my life, get my daily water in and follow the Points program. I am just two weeks away from turning 40 and I have never felt better.

Thanks for reading !
Janice

:welcome: Janice! What a great story! I'm one who was never thin before either and I LOVE the way it feels! SO much better than any food!

We're so glad you found us here and look forwarding to seeing lots more of you. :)

Thank you !!
 

How wonderful to meet someone right away who was never thin before either. That right there is great news! I look forward to reading through your posts and meeting others here. :)

Janice