"I'll never gain it back!"
 

That's what I told a friend several months ago. She and I are in this weight-loss journey together.

Anyway, I've found myself eating those words (no pun).

Within the past few months, I've gotten a new job, moved apartments and been extremely stressed. At my new place, I've found myself within walking distance from an Olive Garden and an On The Border (2 of my favorite restaurants). My local grocery store isn't as convenient at this new apartment - neither is the local Subway (Subway has been my faithful go-to place for quick, low-cal meals). I developed an addiction to Cheez-Its. Really and truly, I believe those crackers have something very addicting in them. It was haaaaard weaning myself off of them.

With my move and new job, I ended up with a longer commute to work plus longer work hours. Anyway, I was rewarded with a quick 10 pound gain. This 10 pounds went straight to my belly (turns out I'm an apple shape) and they kept me from fitting into my size 10 jeans. I felt so insecure and I started disliking my reflection. All I could see was those 10 pounds. It's as if I was wearing them as a sign of failure. I know it's "only 10 pounds" but that 10 pounds felt like 100 lbs on my back. I think this is because I knew that at the rate I was going, it was the first 10 of who knows how many more pounds!

I kicked myself in the butt after about 2 months of this. I started running on the treadmill every day and I am back on track (still over 160 but under 170, thank God). I just wanted to share this with you guys for a couple of reasons:

1) I want you guys to be careful to not get complacent as I did.

2) More importantly, I want you to know that if you do get off track (for whatever reason) you CAN put a stop to the bad behavior and get back on track.

As my friend told me, better to stop it at 10 pounds than to let it go to 20 or 30 pounds.

Love,
Me (not going down w/o a fight!)

Thank you for your post. :hug:

Yes Cali Doll....Thank u. I've fallen off track for 6 weeks and I've been gaining and losing those 7-10lbs. But I am now back to my weightloss. It is so easy to give up and wallow in that gain. But just like your friend said, at least it was only 10lbs and not 20 or 30. I praise the lord that I didn't gain over 10 lbs back. Wooooo.....btw. u look so good!!!!!!

Cali, no one is perfect, but you have done exactly the right thing when you found your problem. Thanks for the honest confrontation, we will all benefit from your wisdom.

Thank you!!!

There is a reason that the word "crack" is in crackers.

WTG catching the gain and coming up with a plan! Feel free to join the Operation Take 5-10 thread in Maintainers where we beat those regained pounds into submission.

Good job getting back on track! I, too, am working on re-losing the weight I picked up with a move and new job. And, man, do they love food at my new job! But I'm finally adjusting and getting back into my healthy routine.

Thanks guys!

I thank you for posting, too. It's great to hear people talking about how they deal with their slip-ups. I think they're inevitable (we're talking lifetimes and years here) and I think it helps to know that a) they're coming and b) we can deal with them!!

Congrats on getting back on track!

We talk alot about the regain. It's quite helpful to be reminded frequently that maintenance really doesn't look terribly different than losing. I know I have a lifetime of being on this plan ahead of me.

Congratulations and what a gorgeous picture of you in your signature! GORGEOUS!

I don't think that you HAVE gained it back.

If you did, than I did too. Plus 5 more. I've been over my *goal* weight as much as 15 lbs. Yikes.

I did tell myself and still do that I will NEVER gain it back - but I mean ALL of it or a large portion of it.

For me, I need to keep to a range - yes 15 lbs was over the range of what I would have preferred, but I know I will never stay the same weight, just as I know I will never gain back majority of the weight I lost. NEVER. There, I said it again. ;)

My intention is to never let it get to 15 lbs again, but THAT I will never say never about.

I think it's about the *catch*. Catching any lapse before it turns into a relapse and than a total COLLAPSE.

And you did just that.

And you very most likely will have to do it again.

I'm glad you're back on track. That track - it's a GREAT place to be. :)

this is something i needed to hear as well, that is great that you caught yourself at just 10lbs, i feel the same way you do, i have gained 25lbs back of a 50lb loss and im just like there is NO way im going there again i need to stop it now, i try not to focus on the way my body looks and how my clothes feel and just try to focus on the fact that im stopping it now and all that other stuff will come back soon enough. i just pray that next time i can catch it a lot sooner as you have, im my book that's a huge accomplishment!!;)

So, in your experience both with your own weight and through chatting with other maintainers, would say many of us choose unsustainable goals in the first place? Just curious...I sometimes wonder if it's unrealistic to maintain our long term goals.

Congratz on getting back on track!!!! It can be so frustrating. I beat myself up over every lb I gain back. You look great BTW :)

This is just my standpoint and others might be like this as well, but when I chose a "goal weight" I was over 200 lbs and had never been a normal weight in my entire life. I think more than unattainable, the number I chose was just arbitrary. I chose 130 as my goal weight. I did get to as low as 127, but that was due to exhaustion. I found that I can most comfortably maintain at 140. My body seems to like that number and I have accepted it. I don't think 130 is necessarily unattainable for me, but my goal weight just sort of "revealed itself" to me over time and it happened to be a different number than what I pulled out of my head at the start of the process.

Right, I don't think there really are goal weights that are unattainable (within a healthy range of course). I know we can all attain them. But my goal is not to reach some magic number, it's to get down to a weight that is healthy for me and that I feel comfortable with visually. Reaching 135 just to say I reached it is totally meaningless to me. I'm starting to wonder if my 135 is unrealistic given that I'm already feeling pretty good about myself now. Of course, that's such a personal goal.

"I found that I can most comfortably maintain at 140. My body seems to like that number and I have accepted it. I don't think 130 is necessarily unattainable for me, but my goal weight just sort of "revealed itself" to me over time and it happened to be a different number than what I pulled out of my head at the start of the process."

I love love love love this!!! this is SOOO true and im sure as liberating as it gets! especially in our society where the media and everywhere you look says you have to be pencil thin or be this or that number to be sexy and beautiful! i have 2 daughters as well as 2 sons but i tell my daughters daily how beautiful they are. they are shaped completely differently and it is a struggle for them to want to "fit" in and i tell them a women that's a size 6 can be unhealthy unhappy sick and even die of a heart attack , then you can have a woman that's a size 12 that is healthy happy and with no ailments. its all about being healthy, and if you are eating foods that are good for your body and not eating when you are not hungry and moving your body,,playing exercising whatever, then you might be a size 10, and so an so might be a size 6!! you are different. we are all not the same! God made your body a certain way and that might be a different size and weight as your sister, mother, best friend, or so and so down the street! as long as you are healthy your weight will reflect that . its sad that i have to talk to my daughters about this while there kids, but i have a niece that i swear is underweight and weight is all she cares about and she is 13!!!!!! yeah no im not letting my girls down!! they are beautiful how God made them and i don't want them caught up in sizes. i just what them to be healthy and happy!! sorry bout the rant, but this is something very important to me and i just kinda got carried away there for a sec

I can only speak for myself.

If you are a daily weigh-er than you know there is no way to remain the same number day after day after day EVEN if you are on plan day after day after day. There ARE very normal fluctuations.

So I don't feel as if my *goal* weight (notice how I always place asterisks around it) is unsustainable necessarily, but I don't think that it is NECESSARY to sustain it. Hard to explain what I'm trying to get at. As long as I'm in a goal RANGE, that is good for me. Because again, staying that one singular number is impossible to do and I feel no need to try doing the impossible.

Which is why I finally took down the singular number on my stats to the left and put it at the 120's, because it changed so often. If it weren't for that little stat at the side, the *goal* number means not all that much to me. Again - it's the range I'm looking for.

I don't feel that if I'm 3 lbs over my *goal* weight, that I haven't maintained. So therefore, you betcha - I do think our long term goals ARE maintainable.

Not sure if I made much sense here... sorry, kinda hard to put it into words. :dizzy:

That's great that you are being such a great example to them!

It was such a mind trip to get over. First, I had to realize that it wasn't a fail on my part to not maintain at that arbitrary number. The truth is, I look at pictures of myself over the years and where I'm smiling the brightest and felt the best was at 140. In this instance, it really was mind over matter.

Thanks, you all! You're the best.

Robin, you really put it in perspective. Thank you for your thoughts!

I hear you about the CheezIts, Wheat Thins are my version. I just can't eat them, ever. Because I never want 5 Wheat Thins, I want a box of Wheat Thins.

I absolutely love the apricot chicken at Olive Garden. I always order it with an extra side of veggies, then I eat one chicken breast and one serving of veggies and have a lovely healthy meal to take home. As long as I stay away from the wine and the bread, Olive Garden is on plan for me!