I am really, really back on track now. I went to my little weigh -in clinic Monday had not been there since March 20th of this year . I was up a little . Exercising morning and evenings to get back in line. Still want to reach my Onderland goal before my birthday ! Gonna stop late night eating !

I'm trying not to stress too much about the holidays just yet, but it is good to have a plan. I have no family here - just former in-laws and lots of friends, so I almost never have to actually "do" the big meal thing at my own home. I usually just show up somewhere with a side dish. I will make that side dish be a tasty but low fat choice this year.

It certainly is different now that I've decided to maintain at about 160 pounds. I almost feel like I don't belong in the challenges, but my challenge now is to, well, maintain. It isn't that much different, really. Except that I can get through the occasional slip-up without feeling like I lost ground.

Lin

Ok everyone.. I lost 5 pounds! I'm so excited. I feel like I've put 100% and then some this week and it paid off. I'm super excited.
I hope everyone is having a good week so far!




Lin we need you in the challanges because we need to see people still struggle even when they are maintaining. Part of me sometimes thinks I can't wait to get to my goal so I can relax, but I know thats not true. You have to watch what you eat just as much as someone who's trying to loose does. I'm with you on trying to prepare for the holidays. I have it at my house every year and I'm allready looking for low fat low cal sides and new ways to make my currents recipes better for me. I think it's good we're allready thinking about it.

Dumplin your so cute with the will power dust! Good for you getting back on track. Excerising morning and night that's awesome!


11/70

Sassy- Well as far as goals go I'm trying to make them not numbers related because that is exactly what has ruined me time and time again making me give up if I didn't see results or gained. My big goal for the rest of the year is to make it past 75 days on plan and then hopefully on to 100 etc. One day at a time. Also congrats on losing the 5lbs!!! That's definitely something to be excited about

I tried giving up on coffee... then tried artificial sweeteners and hated it...then tried black. I finally found a sensible and tasty way to enjoy it and cut it down to 1 or 2 cups a day. I've realized I just can't live without my coffee!

I need to plan for that turkey... it's a weakness of mine. At least after a month and a half I've lost all intrest in sweets.

Beachkitty: It sounds like you got a good plan started so good for you. I know what you mean about the coffee. I could not go black either, so now I just put 2 suger packets in it and a small amount of silk vanilla milk. Not soo bad and it works for me. Hope to see you around and have great rest of the day!

Lin -

I agree, I think seeing a maintainer in the challenges is helpful because the reality is that it is a challenge to consistently maintain (I don't mean the same EXACT number, but to be within that 2-4 lbs range or whatever you have as your target).

One of the things I love about my plan is that it has guidelines for the transition between active weight loss and regular maintenance. I expect there will be a much, much bigger learnng curve for maintenance than there is for weight loss!

Well, I do plan to stay in here. I need to be held accountable. Sometimes I worry a bit that someone might question why a person who is maintaining would want to be in here except to flaunt the fact that they made it to their goal. Obviously no one is doing that, so I hope no one thinks anyone would.

I do feel it's a challenge to stay on plan and maintain. The plan is just slightly different. And here's the thing. I feel a friendship with many of the regulars in this thread and the Thanksgiving challenge people that I don't feel in some other threads. I was posting in the daily weigh in thread for a while and those folks are fantastic, but it makes me nervous to post my weight every day. It makes me nervous to count every calorie. Even at the beginning of this process, that seemed like too much pressure and precision for me. I don't think life is like that and I'm too stubborn to be held to such a strict plan. That's why my plan has just been to cut out the junk and eat sensibly. And exercise. And while I know that weight fluctuates every day, I don't like seeing it go up.

I have avoided the weigh ins for a few weeks, but my slightly compulsive nature got the better of me yesterday. I had been in NC visiting DD from Thursday till Monday. My niece lives in Raleigh, too, so my brother and sister-in-law drove with me and we all had a great visit. I decided to try just eating a normal amount of food and not to stress too much about it. I didn't count calories at all but tried to be sensible. We had breakfast out one day, ate leftovers one night, shopped all day and ate breakfast and supper out along with samples at the kitchen store while we shopped, ate one evening at my niece's house, and went to the state fair and ate carnival food and candy. I was 162 on my last official weigh in on Oct 5th. I was 161.6 yesterday. I'm very happy with that. I'm just trying to do what I did while I was trying to lose, but with more allowances. A couple months ago I wouldn't even have had a bite of the elephant ear my DD and brother shared, but I ate some this time. I had a sausage sandwich with peppers and onions - my favorite carnival food - and it was just OK. Not as great as I anticipated! (Sort of a bummer, actually!)

I feel like I belong with this group of people as my support. I visit the maintainer's threads, too, but I feel like I'm not a part of that group just yet. I like it here, so I'm staying.

Great job at losing 5 pounds, Sassy. That is a wonderful first week and makes the next week easier to do. Keep it up.

BeachKitty - I think on plan goals are wise. I'm proof that eating sensibly works. Easter is April 8th, I think. This challenge ends with the new year, so I think Easter may be a good date to set for our next one. I think it's 99 days from Jan 1 to Apr 8.

April - I think the learning curve for maintenance is pretty much the same, but the perspectives are different, if you know what I mean. While trying to lose, we can be very focused on our goal. We see the downward results and know we're doing well. We try not to stray because we have that clear goal in front of us. With maintenance, it's almost like we're watching to see if we are going to slip up too much. I feel like we can slip up a little. I know what I should eat in a day. I try to stay in the correct range. But now I feel can allow myself to eat the carnival food for one day (for example) and not feel like I cheated. This is life. There are ups and downs. We deal with them. In your maintenance phase, don't you stay on plan for 6 days and have a day to eat whatever you want? We're going to find that we don't want to eat the crap anymore. That's why I think I was disappointed that the sausage sandwich was only OK instead of fantastic!

We're all going to get there sooner or later. We all have fat and skinny friends. I think of this group that way and I like being part of it. We're all just sharing a small part of our lives with each other at whatever stage we happen to be in right now.

Hope everyone has a great evening. See you all tomorrow.

Lin

Lin I understand everything you are talking about and I think it's important for you to stay where you feel comfortable. I am happy to have found a place I feel comfortable and I'm happy you guys are letting me get to know you.

I have to tell you though last night I had a rough night at work. I slipped up and ate allot more than I should of. I started stressing about money and feeling like I wanted to eat bc I was "hungry" but I know there was no way I was hungry.. but today is a new day and I'm going to forgive myself and move on. I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far. I have to work myself like every weekend, but I'm off Monday so I can take my little man tricker treating so I'm excited about that!

Lin -

Congrats on successfully navigating the food on your trip and finding a balance between enjoying yourself but being within reason. Sorry the sausage sandwich wasn't as good as you were imagining!!

My plan doesn't have cheat days - it has one celebration meal (not day) to start off with once you hit goal, and then after a while, it increases to 2 celebration meals. That's per week.

It may be just semantics but I love the concept of a "celebration meal" over a "cheat day" because you are enjoying even the not-so-healthy foods in moderation while celebrating the fact that you are still on plan. Part of the goal of this plan is to re-define your relationship with food so that you can enjoy food in a healthy way, and that includes the treats.

I have found that for now, I am fine with passing up a lot of things because I know I can have them next year. And I can see that for the rest of my life, I will be able to continue to pass up things sometimes, because I know I'll be able to have them soon, I just have to have my celebration meal boundaries in place so that I don't start "celebrating" my way back up to 261 lbs! I see that for me, it's turning these foods into what they SHOULD be - an ocassional treat that is all the more special because it's not an every day thing. I don't need to eat ice cream every day, but once a week? Sure, I can have and savor it guilt-free! The rest of the time, I'll be eating and enjoying primarily a healthy diet of lean protein, low fat dairy, lots of veggies and fruit and a reasonable amount of whole grains, with a little wiggle room for some extras now and then. And if this plan really does what it says, I will also not have to count calories and track, I will just need to make good and reasonable choices.

(the only exception is one day a week where you follow the strictest version of the plan, but if that means eating pretty much without restriction the rest of the time, it is well worth it to me!)

Thanks, Sassy. I'm staying!

April - I think it's all in how we deal with things in our own head, don't you? That's how I deal with stuff I know I shouldn't eat. This includes unhealthy things no one should eat all the time and also the things I know will trigger overeating for just me. No where does it say we have to be perfect. No where does it say we can never have something so totally bad for you that Dr. Oz would faint if he knew. Since everyone in here is or was WAY overweight at some point in their lives, I think I'm safe in saying we all had some pretty lousy eating habits. We're all fixing that - lots of different ways - but the same fantastic results. And, yes, "celebration" does sound so much better than "cheat." LOL

New topic:

I keep thinking about how much I used to eat. We're all probably pretty much the same. It might be a different food or snack, but I'm betting most of us started every meal by eating "normally" most of the time, but then ate ourselves into obesity by taking 2nd and 3rd helpings and by snacking all day long. And by treating ourselves TOO often. My brother - who can probably still wear the jeans he wore in high school - has a term he uses when he sees someone just wolfing down food without even enjoying it. He says they are "eating like a hostage." Meaning, of course, that they ate like they might never get another meal. I may not have eaten in a rush, but I certainly ate many things as though I might never get the chance to eat them again. THAT'S what I need to keep working on to change. It's an attitude. Heck - I live alone and buy all my groceries and eat them myself! No one is going to eat the last of something before I get to it. I have absolutely no excuse for eating like there's no "next time."

I just had the opportunity to drive 600 miles to and from NC with my brother and SIL to visit our daughters (who thankfully decided to live in the same town.) That's a lot of time to talk. I am 60, brother and SIL are 59. We grew up in the 50's. We had everything we needed and a few of the extras. We couldn't ever remember having soda in the house except when dad made homemade root beer. (SOOOO good!) There were cookies and we could have 1 or 2. We never went out for fast food. We ate meals at home and we liked the stuff we ate. We were happy. I know I sound like an old fart to say that those really were the good old days. Lots of things are good now, too, but I think the times have made it much harder to focus on being healthy in many ways. We want everything to be easy and instant. We don't want it to be difficult. But, I'm never surprised to hear people in here and in other threads commenting on some healthy meal they chose and how great it tasted when they start from scratch and do it the "old fashioned" way. We have to let ourselves re-learn that the way we are supposed to eat can be really tasty and not difficult at all. All that said, once you know that "Moose Tracks" ice cream exists, it's very hard to resist it!

I'm going to spend some time reflecting on the changes I want to make in my habits. I hope I don't make myself too crazy!

Lin

You really are an inspiration Lin and it's great having you here ^_^ I'm disgusted when I think of how I used to eat. Hostage is a great way to put it. I've found that I'm enjoying my food way more than I ever used to before even though I'm eating healthy. I believe it's an ongoing process and the more we travel on our journeys the more we will learn about what works for us.

I made it through a family/business cookout this weekend by eating at home first and just having a small salad at the event. It was full of southern favorites... very off limits! I didn't feel uncomfortable or left out though and still had a great time. It's making me less worried about the holidays.

those extra exercise days paid off. Had a great week with a 4 lb loss, which is a net loss of 3.6 below my prior low.

Next up is 1.6 to get to a total of 60 lbs. and then just 1.2 more after that to get to ONEDERLAND!!

Lin, Be sure and stick around and let us know about the trials and tribulations of maintenance.
I thought about going on maintenance a couple of weeks ago when I noticed some loose skin on my upper arms.

But I decided instead to up my calories and to slow my weight loss down to 1/2 pound per week.
So I am down just 1/2 pound this week.

I won't make my goal by years end, but maybe my skin will have time to tighten up as I lose more slowly.

Thanks, BeachKitty and Jolina. I figure maintenance is just about the same as dieting. (I hate the word "diet!") We are eating healthy foods and changing our attitude. All of us. It doesn't matter how much we started out to lose or how much we have lost, or how much we still have to lose. And holding steady is the same, too. It's just a matter of adjusting as needed.

Great job, April. I knew the "phantom fat" would be gone quickly. Onederland is so close! Great job.

Jolina - I'm happy staying here at 160-162 for a while. Heck, I'd be OK with it forever. My clothes fit nicely. It's winter so you can't see the baggy parts. If it does tighten up a bit with time, I'll go back to losing and take off the last 10 pounds or so that I wanted to lose. I HAVE GIVEN MYSELF PERMISSION TO STOP! I can't tell you how hard it was to do that! Someone said to me, "but now you'll never know if you could have lost 100 pounds by Christmas!" And I said, "I lost 90 by October 5th - I absolutely know I could have lost 10 more by Christmas if I decide to do it." That was the key. I CAN do it - I'm just not going to right now. It's almost silly to set such a big goal so far in advance. We do it because (at least I did it for this reason) we need to see what the end will be, I think. The closer we get to our destination, the more options we have. It felt urgent to lose weight when I weighed 252 pounds. At 162 there is no urgency for me any more. We have to remember that "life's a journey, not a destination." I hope I'm not anywhere near my destination just yet. I have miles and miles to go.

Great day everyone.

Lin

I like the hostage analogy.
I used to have something and think, I want to finish this so it's not in the house anymore and it won't tempt me and I would finish it off. I probably looked like a hostage wolfing down my food. Its funny/ scary to look at how I was thinking and how I tried to justify eating so much.
I haven't been around as much because I have been working like mad to finish my Halloween costume before Halloween. It's the night before and I am almost finished.
I have been staying on track with eating and with the exercise. I made those a priority which meant not as much time for the internet.