[Ginaki]

I'm a little confused. I reached goal back in March after a long 19 month struggle. Since then I have remained eating between 18 and 23 points a day about 95% of the time. I've gone out to a restaurant a few times. My question is why am bouncing up and down between 140 and 143 for the last several weeks even though I am staying within the losing point range? Any info or insight will be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

[Rupertsmom]

It could depend on how much you're actually consuming in that 5% of your time that you're not in your "losing" points range. If your weekly points aren't excessive, I'd sooner say that what you're experiencing is your normal weight fluctuation (due to fluid retention or whatever). You could experiment for a few weeks and eat carefully within your "maintenance" points range to see if that keeps you stable better than the 95%/5% approach you've been employing. If it doesn't, it's possible that your body's more comfortable having those extra 3 pounds around and it's going to fight you to keep them on.

I'm learning that my own natural fluctuation seems to be +/- 5 lbs. Anything beyond 5 lbs seems to send up a red flag that I need to pay more attention.

[kt marie]

Hi Ginaki -

I would agree with Rupertsmom. I have had the same problem as you, bouncing up & down between 141-144. I wanted to try to get under 140, to about 138-140. My body seems unshakable about giving up those extra 2-3 pounds, so I have decided to work on maintaining instead. I was sick of all the yo-yoing up & down. When I made lifetime the first time about 14 years ago, I never could get below 140.5. It was the same this time when I got back to goal in 2000; the lowest I've even been this time is 140.4. So, maybe my body is telling me that 140 is about the lowest it wants me at.

Sorry I couldn't give you much insight, but sometimes it helps knowing someone else is going thru the same thing.

Take care,

[patch30]

Hey there Ginaki -

Rupertsmom and Katie have pretty much hit it on the head. I've been lifetime (this time around) for 3+ years, and the body still varries a few pounds up and down - even when I'm really focused. Since I can make myself crazy with trying to get and "stay" at goal, I've given myself a range to stay within. With 135 being my official goal (and cross over alert) and 129 (haven't gotten there in a loooong time) being my dream weight. I find I use 132 as my steadying goal number.

I like Rupertsmom's idea of trying out your maintenance range but ya need to do it with real clarity and serious tracking of all those BLT's and eating out days. Maybe banking some points during the week to plan for eating treats on the weekends or whatever, might also help.

It's taken me really a couple of years to truly incorporate maintenance into a consistent lifestyle... and even so, I went AWOL foodwise this past weekend. So don't beat yourself up for fluctuations at this stage. Allow yourself some time and a bit of experimentation to figure out what on track will mean for you.