Last summer I made a concerted effort to get some weight off. I was tracking on Sparkpeople, and training for a couple of triathlons - so running, biking and swimming a lot. I think I lost maybe 3 pounds the whole summer (if that). I was working with an RD and was venting my frustration over the nonexistant loss and she was like "well, you probably won't lose while you are training."

Summer ended, I took a month or so off put on about 7 pounds. I kept up the running, weight lifting, yoga. Weight stays the same.

Now winter is over and I think "Ok, let's go back to tracking food, reducing calories, etc etc."

And then I think "I did this before, it didn't work, why do it now?"

I'm 5'9", 190 pounds. I was 150 until about 8 years ago and the weight crept on as I got closer to 40. In my youth, cutting calories and exercise worked well and predictably. Now, not so much.

I don't eat junk, just too much of whatever I'm eating. I have perfect cholesterol and blood pressure. I can run 3 miles, stand on my head, touch my toes and carry 4 grocery bags at a time. My doctor isn't concerned. But still, it's uncomfortable.

Has anyone been at a place like this and found the thing that "clicked" and got them to lose weight?

I know exactly how you feel. Years ago I trained for a marathon--I gave myself permission to eat more because I was training hard and guess what? I gained weight. This entire process is at least 98% mental. It's mind over food all the time. You have to want the result more than you want to eat the food. I've been successful in the past with WW. Now I just count calories. I lose about 2 lbs a week and once I got into the routine, it's gotten easier. There's always temptation, but I tell myself whatever I want will still be there when I really want to eat it--and can afford to do so. I'm always "talking" to myself. Keep your eye on the goal and you will get there. Devise a plan and stick to it. It will work for you. I'm older than you, and it's working for me. Best of luck to you!!!

Only you can decide. You sound happy with your physical fitness and health right now, but you're uncomfortable. Do you want to work on getting comfortable in your body again, and hopefully ward off any negative changes to your health as you age? Or do you want to remain slightly uncomfortable but generally happy for now?

If everything is in place except for portion control, try cutting back a little bit (no seconds, or putting just a little less on your plate than you feel like you normally would) and see what happens. You should start to slowly lose weight, right? That's how I have lost my weight, and I'm in my late 40s (ack! when did that happen??). I don't count anything, weight anything, etc. I know what I'm eating is healthy. I just need to eat less of it, LOL.

A friend suggested to me that she does portion control by not serving family style. In the kitchen, I plate everything up--measured--and then everyone's plates go on the table. Getting seconds isn't as tempting when I know I already put my portions on the table and that I pre-decided that's how much I was going to eat. (I also do use smaller plates than we used to--it is more visually satisfying.)

Portion control is doable. I will do that this week for lunch and dinner. I usually cook elements on Sunday (a few proteins, a few grains, a few veggies) and then mix and match. I'll portion out lunches and dinner for the week and see where that gets me next week. Baby steps!

I do the same thing; make everyone's plates at the stove and have the kids bring them to the table. I think it does help. I also try to clear my place setting to the sink as soon as I'm done, and then I tell myself "the kitchen is now closed." When dinner is over, I try to physically leave the room for a while, so that when I go back in to clean up, it's not like a continuation of the meal, it's more like a separate part of my day (that does not include eating).

Seems pretty silly when I type it all out, but it does help. Especially since I spend so much time in the kitchen after dinner, cleaning up.

The other thing that helps with plating everyone's food is it gives me a sense of proportion. If I'm putting a certain amount of food on the plate for my 6' tall growing slim 13-year-old son, and another certain amount for my 5'3" growing slim 11-year-old son, and another certain amount for my 6'2" tall average weight husband, then surely I should be putting less food on my plate in comparison, right? I'm a 5'6" (and 1/2!) tall post-menopausal woman looking to lose a little weight.

Is there a point to beginning again? Well, what is the alternative? Just giving up? I can tell you from experience that the most likely outcome of that is that you will continue to gain.

Having said that, yes, I do think there is something about a "click" that helps. I lost about 65 lbs in 2011, and then stopped, and gained back about 60 of them. And then one day, after a year, I decided to come back to 3fc. And even then I wasn't quite ready, but decided that I was as ready as I needed to be and I started over. So I think the fact that you are posting here, asking this question, is a good sign that you are ready to get started again. Best of luck to you!!

After I posted this, I headed up the stairs and my knee gave a horrid sound and then felt like someone shot me. And then my lower back started to hurt out of no where. I think my body was trying to give me the message - "Hey, you might have felt ok up until now, but that won't always be the case. Getting this weight off will help you in ways you can't necessarily see yet."

And now, having a health reason, it feels much easier to commit to. And if I go to the doctor for my knee, I can say "oh, yes, I'm in the process of getting this excess weight off."

Minds are funny things, eh? I'm glad you have found a way to wrap yours around this. But sorry to hear about your knee and back.

Oh, I hope your knee's all right!

Lately I've been really focused on the idea that persistence - with anything in life - rarely looks like an unbroken streak of consistent, unwavering habit. What it actually looks like in practice is picking yourself up over, and over, and over again, and trying in earnest one more time.

In the past the idea of restarting something has been weighed down by a lot of baggage for me -- guilt, anger for still not being where I want to be, self-loathing that I didn't get it right before.... getting deeper into meditation is changing how I feel. Not the actual practice, even - but some wisdom from meditation teachers. In the past, I'd go through the same judgement-laden reactions when yet again, I'd lose track of the breath. Yet again, I'd let the practice slip. Recently a teacher said that the point of mindfulness meditation is NOT achieving some guru-like, laser-focused concentration on staying with your breath -- it's about accepting how normal it is for the mind to stray, getting good at noticing when you stray, and calmly returning to your breath. The point is to return, again and again. Staying isn't the goal - continually returning is.

Anyway, this strikes me as an idea with value. I struggle with perfectionist tendencies. I'm trying to learn that I can strive for consistency in habits/choices, but that where I really, really need to place my focus is on accepting and restarting, again and again. I hope you can let go of your self-judgment on this, accept how normal it is for our bodies to struggle (especially in the society we live in), and celebrate yourself for even just thinking of picking up and starting again.

Talk about getting to the heart of the matter! Well said. I often think about this and conclude that (for the time being) I want the result JUST SLIGHTLY more than I want the food. Which makes the head game all that much more difficult.

Freelance

Lots of good comments here. Starting over is key for me. Sometimes you need to push the reset button. Getting the mental part is the hardest and the most critical for me. So I've come to the realization that I need to be healthy for the rest of my life, and monitor my exercise and eating - for the rest of my life (deal with it, I tell myself). I'm working on emotional eating responses and my sweet tooth especially hard as these changes will make everything easier. A very valid and important thread!

Well, to answer your question, no...but sometimes i wonder if the answer is that NO, there's no "starting over." I wonder if it's just a constant thing, that every hour of every day counts and there's no point in starting over or having a timeline. I have a plan that i'm on...mostly a maintenance plan but i hope i'll lose just a few pounds. Well, i fell off the wagon this weekend. Badly. So today i'm asking myself, what would a thin person or a "normal eater" do? I'm pretty sure the answer is not to start over with my plan. I think i'll just continue with the plan, because i intend to count calories forever. So my binge this weekend just means i won't lose those 5 pounds that i want to lose anytime soon...but eventually they'll go away. It will just take longer. But oh well. There's no timeline, i guess. Hope this makes sense...i'm kind of rambling and not sure myself what the answer is.

Also:


Your post sounds like you have come a long way along that upward squiggle already.