I just got back from 3 mile walk. I am definitely on my way to making this happen!

I feel like the only thing making this easier is that I'm not starting from scratch. I have a file of recipes, my shopping lists prepared and the knowledge to use both already. I cannot imagine restarting again without everything I already have.

Now to re-figure out an exercise schedule. Anyone else finding exercise harder to fit back in?

I get up early and exercise before work, then again after, so I don't find it hard to fit in. I *do* find it hard to scrape myself out of bed at 5:00 am. There's a gym near my job so if I don't manage to get up early, I can work out on my lunch hour, but it's best for me to get it out of the way first thing.

Exercise is the one thing I kept up even as I was regaining. I hated school gym class, sports, and competitions but get me by myself with a DVD and I'm happy. But regaining even while I kept up my exercise routine made me realize that for me, what and how much I was eating had more to do with my weight than I thought, I can't just exercise an eat whatever I want, no matter how hard I try. That was a depressing realization for me.

Eliana, I think that's what's making it feel harder, compared to how hard I feel I'm working now, the weight I lost before just fell off effortlessly. Not only am I struggling so hard just to get back where I was...I feel I'm working twice as hard for each pound. If I could go back in time and slap myself when I started to regain, I would. But when I hit goal, I thought I was finished, I didn't understand the concept of 'maintainence' so, of course, gradually went back to my old ways.

I am another who finds diet much harder than exercise. If I could exercise away the pounds I would be model thin. For example... I've walked and run 9 miles today and plan to go back for more as I watch the football games with my son. Nap first!

Indeed, if only exercise was enough! I kept weight training and working out all the way through my regain, which mitigated the damage I did, but it wasn't enough. And on that note, I am going to go get on the spin bike.

I, too, have regained. Three years ago I started a weight loss program, and kept it up for nearly two years. The weight was coming off slowly (45 pounds in eighteen months), but it was coming off. Then, I fell off the wagon last fall, and I have gained half of the weight back. It's depressing to think that if I had kept it up, I'd be at or very near my goal by now, even with the very slow progress I was making. I'm sick of being fat, and I hate the way I feel. It's also embarassing to face people who knew I was losing weight and have regained.

CAROLINE ~ I think we'd all like to go back and slap ourselves ... seriously. How about this ...

Oh, I have some nice pics somewhere of myself at 137 & 128 lbs -- and I thought I was still fat then (cuz some jerk made some negative comments to me). I should try to find them, and put them somewhere as a motivational collage too.

Yes, the weight is coming off slower this time but I think that maybe that is OK; maybe we won't gain it back like before. I have kept off 74 lbs for over 5 years now; with that 12 lb blip which I have lost since coming here, I am back to my 86 lbs ... yahoo, I just realized this today when posting in the maintenance libray about keeping the weight off.

That's my big positive for the day; what I have kept off for so long this time ... but I know that I must be ever mindful and continue on; this must be a life-long process for sure. I haven't reached my main goal yet. I'm not done by a long shot, as you can see from where I was before.

Another positive: I ate very well today; had baked "fried' chicken plus veggies for dinner. Under my calorie count and have some left for a snack if I want one ...

Welcome to my world, but extend that to 6 MONTHS!!!

Jan 22, Sun
B= 2 coffee, 1 c milk, vits
L= green salad, drizzle dressing, leftover chicken pasta
S= 1/2 apple
D= 1 wings + 1 leg roasted chicken plus veggies {onion, red potato, sweet potato, carrots, brussel sprouts};
S= 5 Dove + 1 TB PB
S= fudgepop
E= 60min cardio

Right = the first half of my day went well; exercised on rest day

Regret = the fudgepop; overeating at dinner

This is me too! I put on about 22kg (almost 50lbs) over the course of the past year. I had made it down to my lowest weight ever (98kgs) and all of a sudden just gave in. I slowly started making the same unhealthy choices as before I started to lose weight to begin with. I kept trying to justify it to myself with "It's only 1 or 2 kg, I can take that off again". I did this every single week and suddenly it's not "just only", it's 22kgs!!! I'd like to say that I have an excuse or reason to putting the weight back on but when I think about it, I was just LAZY. Too lazy to count calories, too lazy to go for a walk, too lazy to even think about weight loss. I couldn't even face coming back onto 3FC as I had failed. What I should have realised sooner is that this is the exact place I need to be whether I'm having a good week or not. Hopefully this time around I can stick to it!

Hey guys,

Looking good!

Ok, so me, I actually had a bad weekend. Well, I should say, a bad Sunday. For some reason, I thought it would be bright to get up in the morning and bake an apple pancake for my family. It didn't turn out very well-- which is a reason for my family not to eat it-- guess who ended up scarfing down the whole thing.

So, I have a new thing I'm going to do.

I am going to FORCE myself to add up calories and weigh in after an off-plan day.

The first time I was losing the weight, I never had an off-plan day. I stayed on plan for weeks, months, more than an entire year, and the only time I had an occasional treat was planned.

But I've now realized that whether I stay on plan for a day, a week, or a year, there is likely to be another day where I totally screw up and eat way more than I planned. On those days, I HAVE to STOP, think about what I actually ate, and then get back on plan.

I've decided that THIS is the critical skill for me.

So, yesterday, I ate an entire apple pancake (a recipe that should have served 4)

I put it into my food log. I ate a healthy but relatively high calorie lunch, and I ate a healthy dinner.

Total: 2593.

Somehow I expected the grand total to be something like 5000 or 6000. Now granted, 2600 calories is more than I need. But still.

Today, I'm back at it.

patchy and Eliana... you guys are motivating me to be better about my gym routine. I LOVE exercising too, and yet somehow, I can still manage to drop it off my agenda.

That's what happened to me when I regained all this weight. I hit a hardcore plateau and no matter what I did, I just could not get my weight lower than 150. Actually I only saw 150 once, and it was a glorious day, but after that it bounced around in the low 150s for awhile, no matter what I did, and eventually I got so frustrated I gave up.

Now I'm mostly mad at myself because even though I wasn't at my goal weight, I was so fit and strong, and I felt fantastic. Giving up just because I wasn't magically 120 pounds was stupid and immature and I hope a mistake I won't make twice. I felt like a failure for not reaching an arbitrary number on the scale, and that's a shame.

I'd love to get this excess weight off and look better again, sure, but this time I'm trying to focus on feeling better, because I know looking better goes along with it. I've only dropped two pounds so far, according to the scale, but I can surely feel a difference already in my strength and stamina.

I am in. About a year and a half ago I went from 196 to 155. Now I am 180. Very depressing. You sit there thinking why did I do this to myself. The sad thing is when I lost it, I fear all the attention I got, because I was worried what would happen when/if I gained it back. ... and here I am