I did it! Then I gained it back.....A place for those of us starting again.
So bear with me. I am new here and am aware that there may already be a thread out there is is about exactly what I am trying to start up here. I looked for something like this and didn't find. But if I am being repetitive please direct me where I can join a discussion like this .
Anyways I joined up here on 3fc the second of April. Also my start date in this recently embarked upon weight loss journey. I have done alot of lurking here in the past because I find it motivating, but didn't feel the need to actually put myself out there and join.
A little back story will try to keep it concise.
In late 2009 I was the heaviest I have ever been. I weighed up to 187 lbs. At that time I got engadged and (like most brides) didnt want to be my fattest when I said I do. I lost down to 174 for the wedding and continued losing weight slowly after ( I had successfully changed habits and was on a great track). I think my lowest weight was 165 or 166. Well summer turned into fall and my weight creeped up to 175 again. Then in summer of 2011 I again lost weight (I just naturally eat more veggies and salads in the hotter months and I get outside and excercise more). This time I settled right around 168-170. Felt like I would like to be about 155 ideally, but overall felt pretty durn good, and I stayed there for months. Then the holidays happened. It was like a snowball effect, I would bake and eat sweets, then craze salty junk (my crack) and tell myself that tomorrow I work towards building a damn against the encrouching flow and somehow get bac to my normal. Well "tomorrows" are dangerous because as we all know they dont actually come around. Well March was a dangerous month filled with birthdays and family related events involving cakes. Well I avaoided the scale like the plague for a good month or more and in a place of complete denial convinced myself I was probably back to 175 again, and with a few tweaks I could be 170 again in relatively short order.
Then the end f march and I start realizing that even my fat cloths are starting to not fit me. So finally I decide to face the music and see the damage. I was 183 almost back to my all time high and i did it in a matter of months.
So here I am. Joining you ladies on 3fc and starting a calorie counting lifestyle. I wanted to start this thread for other ladies (or gents of course) that:
*have tasted the sweet nectar of weightloss and knows what some (or even alot) of success in this can be like
*have done it before, but find that the old methods aren't working like they used to and find they need extra motivation and accountability
*Want an opportunity to relate to other people that are on this "start again journey" but may be at different places along the way (i.e. I'm a recent start againer but would love advice and notes form those who are at it awhile or even successfully lost again)
Anyways if there is a thread like this let me know so I can join, and if not please jump in here and we can help encourage and be accountable to eachother while we set off to lose those same pounds again!
There's already a thread like that here but since it's in the 100 Lb. Club section I'm sure it's fine to keep this one going.
I wish you luck! I (re)started back in March and have lost 11 of the 23 pounds I gained back since last summer. It's a pain to have to lose it again but I'm thankful I didn't let it creep up any further. I'm also anxious to get at my lowest point from last year so I can make further progress.
Last edited by Elladorine; 04-05-2012 at 02:49 PM.
I think I found where I belong. I was an extremly dedicated member of 3FC back in 2006-2009. I lost 65 lbs and was in the best shape of my life (hiked across Scotland as my goal reward). Then had a pretty serious family upheaval and proceeded to gain it all back (ugh!). So here I am, back at my top weight of 220, but ready and willing to get back to where I was, and this time I know I can do it.
MonteCristo- Awesome! I hoped there were more out there like me! Not that I'm happy you gained weight back. This times the last time though. And getting on here is such a good way for me to avoid the munchies (though I must admit I am probably spending a little too much time on here lately!)
Anyways welcome and heres to seeing us moving down towards our goals.
MonteCristo- I dont know about you in this, but today I have really been trying to wrap my head around how I got here again. I mean I KNOW exactly what got me here. I remember the fast food, pizza, nachos, and grilled cheese sandwiches that I ate and ate and ate, and exactly why I gained weight. What's hard to wrap my head around is how I let it get there again. I was fluctuating somewhat, but overall staying 15 lbs lighter than my high weight. And it wasn't all that difficult. I never had to count calories or track exactly what I was eating. I weighed regularly and as I creeped up I would just pay more attention and then I would creep down.
I wish I could discover where the break was. What was the thing that made the tower of legos that I had managed to balance for well over a year come tumbling down? I'm scared to death that it'll happen again, I feel like if I could figure out what caused me to be ok with creeping above 175, then I could prevent it from happening again. That was always the redline. Then it got faded into oblivion.
I'm hoping calorie counting will help with this. If I weigh regularly and count calories, even in maintenece I hope that I dont let myself become so in denial again.
Last edited by wannaBfitnessbuff; 04-05-2012 at 03:00 PM.
I'm pretty annoyed with myself. Losing weight is extremly hard for me, so the fact that I blew 2 years of hard work and now have to do it all over is extremely annoying! I don't understand why I didn't stop myself sooner...I got rid of all my clothes as I lost weight as I thought it would force me to stay smaller...no such luck. Like you said, I'm a little scared that this will become a pattern, so I'm determined that this will be the last time. It didn't help that I never actually made it to maintenance. I hit goal, and 3 days before I left on my trip my mom kicked Dad out of the house and started a two year long divorce custody battle that had my stress levels out the roof. So I'm hopeful that with more care I can hold on this time.
I'm not exactly calorie counting...well, I am, but not with the extremly detailed spreadsheets and gram scales like I did the first time. And for workouts I've just set a burn goal...I've found my HRM to be very accurate, and this way I don't have to plan each workout ahead of time...just workout until I hit 1000 calories.
Hello. I definitely can related. Back in 2005 I got up to 193 lbs with my wedding looming. I lost 60 pounds before my wedding in August 2006. Then I gained it all back. Then got pregnant (on purpose), gained 43 l bs, lost that 43 pounds in about 2 years, got pregnant again (on purpose), and here I am. There were some ups and downs between all that, but that doesn't change the fact that I've not only got all that weight I gained back to lose, but also pregnancy weight.
This site aided in my first weight loss, albeit I didn't do it in a healthy way, but I knew when I restarted that I needed to come back here for the support!
wannaBfitnessbuff - Your post sounds so much like me. The same thing happened to me and I'd gained back about 16 pounds in 2 months. I decided that I was going to turn it around on April 1 and so far it has been good. I feel so much better physically and mentally. I'm looking forward to getting to know you over in the "OP Challenge". Hang in there and stay strong. You're going to have an awesome month.
Lockitup- Thanks for joining! How are you working at losing this time? I think this site is great, though I may be spending more time than I need to be on this site. I may have to start implementing a time limit on my 3fc time so I can still be productive on my days off.
GettinFit-We almost have the same get back on track dates! I started the second. It wasnt even a "I'll start when the month starts" thing it was just that that morning, after a weekend of eating MUCH better than I had been (I didnt want to face the scale until I had some healthier food days under my belt) And when I saw thee new numbe ron the scale on April 2nd I signed up and said "Today HAS to be the day". Good to hear you are feeling good and doign so well! I feel pretty good so far. Today is only day 4, and yesterday was definietly a hicup but at least I am counting every little morsel that passes my lips.
So today is day number five of my restart. I still havent weighed because I dont trust myself with daily weighing so early in the journey (afraid of the head games and until I have done this solid for a month I am not completely sure that the evil, though totally normal, fluctuations of the scale may throw me off the wagon) I'm actually excited to weigh in on monday. Choosing to weigh only once a week for the first month is kinda hard, but I'm glad I decided to do so.
I feel good though. Making it to day number five really is a big deal, and last time I stuck with making changes like this for this long was when I lost 20 lbs a few years ago. So I am feeling good. This trains getting some steam, no reason to stop it now!!!
I've done this sooooo many times, I literally do consider myself a Professional Dieter.
But through all the years of dieting/exercising/losing/gaining, I've learned A LOT. The main thing I've learned is that me and food... we're meant for each other. Yup, life-long love affair. I can't live without it! (literally & figuratively!)
I've also discovered that FOR A LITTLE WHILE, I can give up foods I love (mac & cheese, chocolate, BBQ Fritos, frozen margaritas, etc) but EVENTUALLY, I will want them again. And if indulge JUST ONCE, it can send me spiraling out of control. I have lost & regained weight at least 7 times in my adult life. I guess that's called yo-yoing. But ding-dang-it-Daisy! - I'm TIRED of that. So this go-round is DIFFERENT.
Different, because I decided that my favorite foods can remain my favorite foods. Giving up what I love has not worked in the past. (It did for a little while, but "a little while" simply ain't good enough anymore!) And while I truly DO enjoy exercise (walking, biking, swimming, weight lifting) I also do have a "lazy gene" and I don't always WANT to exercise, and after years & years of this yo-yo effect, I finally got it in my thick head that I CANNOT OUT-EXERCISE BAD EATING HABITS.
It has taken me two years to lose 39 lb. I still have 13 to go. It may take another year to get it off. That's OK. Because I've also learned that I can't lose weight fast & keep it off.
And I've learned to eat two slices of pizza, not 4 or 5 or 6. And I've learned that I CAN LEARN to like things I didn't think I'd ever like... Diet Mtn Dew was always hideous to me! - YUCK! - but I mixed it with half of regular Mtn Dew, and slowly increased the diet to the regular until all I drank was Diet Mtn Dew. Now I can't stand the taste of regular Mtn Dew!
The point is, I'm not willing to just "give up & be fat". I feel better when I'm thinner. I look better when I'm thinner. Does being thinner make me a better person? NO. But it DOES make me a HEALTHIER person, both physically & mentally. And as L'Oreal says, "I'M WORTH IT."
Beach Patrol - I love your post as I can totally relate to it. This time around I am also NOT giving up foods I like. I'm working on portion control and Weight Watchers is helping me with that. I too want to be able to have a couple slices of pizza and be done or have 1 cookie not the whole pack or 1 serving of ice cream and and not 1/2 the container. Congrats on your weight loss so far!
Beach Patrol, I am using the same mixing technique for Pepsi. I drink the Throwback "real sugar" Pepsi and I kind of hate the taste of fake sugar but the mixing does help and I also only drink it in small quantities a couple times a week.
I am loosing about a pound a week but I fear a relaps. I have lost up to about 10 pounds here and there throughout the years, and pretty much always did it helthfully but never as much as I have this year. I fear I will stop paying attention and gain it back. The thoughts weigh heavy in my mind constantly. I have also thought about having a goal weight in the overweight BMI so maintaining will be easier. I don't know the answers but I enjoy reading everyone's encouragement and stories.
I did it! Then I gained it back.....A place for those of us starting again.
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I'm also anxious to get at my lowest point from last year so I can make further progress. 
I may have to start implementing a time limit on my 3fc time so I can still be productive on my days off. 
