Is it possible to lose weight and keep it off?

[aggieamy]

This is (hopefully!!!) a gentle spin-off of that OTHER thread.  It's something I need to know because I'm so discouraged by the OTHER thread.

 

Is it possible to lose weight and keep it off?

 

Here's my brief story.  I was a petite person (5'3" and 120 - 130 pounds, but curvy) until I went to college and I gained 30 pounds. I wasn't happy with how I looked so I did WW (calorie counting and working out) and lost the 30 pounds.  Now I'm mid-30's and in the last three years I've put on 30 pounds.  My back hurts.  I'm tired.  Clothing doesn't look right anymore.  For the last six weeks I've been eating 1200 calories a day and getting 10k steps in.  I've lost 8 pounds.  Yay.  Everything I've read says to lose weight slowly, move more, eat less for success.  

 

Then I read some of the posts on the other thread and it's discouraging.  Am I just going to plump back up?  I KNOW how I gained the weight - I love sweets and fried foods and sitting on my bum reading.  We had been eating out a lot and I was consuming at least 3k calories per day and didn't exercise.    

 

But then I read back on that discussion ...

 

If I'm just going to gain everything back ... why try?   :mellow:

 

 

If you've lost weight and had success at keeping it off then please post your story or (if it's not asking too much) a bit of encouragement.  

[hornblower]

Yes, you can!



This webpage seems like it's no longer being updated but it has some interesting info.

http://nwcr.ws/Research/default.htm

Also, the Research page doesn't look updated but if you google scholar or pubmed search for some of the investigators' names, you get lots of interesting info, like this:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/oby.2011.230/full

"These results provide critical evidence that a comprehensive lifestyle intervention can induce clinically significant weight loss (i.e., ≥5%) in overweight/obese participants with type 2 diabetes and maintain this loss in more than 45% of patients at 4 years."


I lost about 25 lbs (moving from the top of the healthy bmi & just kissing the obesity line,  to the lower third, but I did it over about 18 months)
& each change I made I assumed would have to be permanent & inevitably 'ramped up' each 5 years. It's a permanent change in lifestyle, not a diet.

[umsami]

If it helps, you only have 30 pounds to lose. A lot of the weight loss studies look at obese and morbidly obese people who often have far greater amounts to lose (50+ pounds). I would also hypothesize that they are more likely to have gut micro biome issues, etc.

 

The point of the studies/info in the other thread wasn't designed to make you feel bad or say don't try. Rather it is focused on the 95% who do fail and blame themselves, and others who still believe that fat people are lacking in self control, etc. if you succeed, awesome. If not, you are no less worthy at the weight you are right now. If we knew what worked long term, the weight loss industry would not be a multibillion dollar industry. We wouldn't see new diet books come out each month. :)

 

Yes, there are always people who do lose weight and keep it off. Everybody knows a few people who've done just that. They're part of the 5%. I want to say back in the late 80s/early 90s, some researchers went and looked at those success stories. They found some habits that these people did. Two books were written about it, and I honestly can't remember their titles right now. They are at my old house. Anyway, from memory:

 

1) They kept a daily journal of what that ate. These days, it would probably be an app of some sort. Some people find it easier to count healtfhul/good foods rather than everything. So, instead of writing down every bite, you check a box for fruits and veggies or water or whatever. I've also seen people do the opposite, they only write the things that are off their eating plan.

 

2) They allowed themselves treats/cheat days. Some were two Hershey kisses/day...others were one cheat day, etc. It's all about the 80-90% good, 10-20% cheat philosophy.

 

3) They exercised daily. This was before the pedometer craze, and I want to say they did 45-60 minutes/day. I would think that walking 10k-12k steps would be equivalent.

 

If I think of the book's name, I'll come back and edit.

 

But having said all this, can you change your success criteria so it is not so scale centered? Walking 10k steps per day should be something that benefits you for the rest of your life, even if you don't lose one more pound. Can you join a FitBit group or do one of those challenges where you walk to Paris or walk across the US or whatever?

 

Weight Watchers is a great plan and there are support groups and challenges online. Some of them will just focus on recording your points. Others will focus on days on plan. So it's not so much, I lost 10 pounds, but rather I wrote everything down I ate (tracked my points) for 30 days straight. That's a habit that can help me succeed long term, so I'm going to reward myself with a pedicure.

 

(BTW, a small study showed that gradual weight loss was not any more successful in long-term weight loss than rapid weight loss....although as far as I know, this may not hold up in larger studies.)

 

(Also, saw a recent follow-up to the National Weight Control Registry that was the basis of the book. What I find troubling is success is still defined as maintaining 10% of initial* weight loss. For obese and morbidly obese people, that doesn't really change their appearance and I think most people think of 80-100% as success. For somebody your size, it's saying that you'd be a success if you kept off 15 pounds for the next 10 years.) *edited

 

I'll also add that I meet the long-term success criteria, but I'm still fat. I've kept off 65 pounds. It has happened in two phases.... one part for 15 years, and additional part for 6-1/2 years. I've never gained above the 20 pounds that I've kept off for 15 years. Of the additional 45 or so pounds that I'm currently maintaining, I'm up about 30 pounds from my lowest weight, but down about 20 pounds from the highest amount I regained....if that makes any sense! (So if I had maintained at my lowest weight, I'd be down close to 95 pounds. Even then I was just on the overweight/obese line.)

[Xuzi]

I was an overweight kid/youth, got up to just over 200lbs in my early twenties, and then got serious and lost the weight through watching portions and working out 5/6 times a week for 30 minutes. I regained some of it during my third pregnancy (got to 175lbs) and it stuck for a year, then I went on Atkins, increased my workouts to 1 hour, and the weight went back off. That was 2007 (eta: 2009! My youngest isn't that old. LOL). I've more or less maintained my weight since that time (bouncing around the high 140's/low 150's. I'm 5'6")

 

I do all of the things mentioned in a previous post about successful weightloss maintence: I track my food intake (I use Myfitnesspal), I exercise regularly (doing both cardio and strength training), and I weigh myself daily to keep myself accountable, and to avoid the weight slowly creeping back on; the consequences of slipping back into old habits are seen immediately. I DO have "cheat days", mainly my birthday and Christmas, and I just generally try to make good food choices when on vacation, where exercise and food tracking is harder to do.

 

It's do-able. :) You just have to be willing to do it for the long haul. It's not a "diet, lose weight, DONE!" kind of deal. It's a lifestyle. But I've found it to be worth it for me, when it comes to general health and life enjoyment.

[kiana]

I don't know if it qualifies as "keeping off", but here's my story:

 

I was always tall and somewhat overweight. Even as a preteen I had a B cup and a double chin, and wore a size 14 ladies. I moved into obese territory before I was twenty and stayed there, creeping up maybe 5lbs/year.

 

When I was in my mid-twenties I started doing martial arts. I loved it and did it all the time, but made no other modifications to my activity. This halted the weight gain so I was stable at 230 lbs (BMI 33 for my height) and a size 20. I had constant knee and back issues and took birth control to control the symptoms of PCOS.

 

A few years ago I went through a really traumatic split-up and a friend convinced me to TRY myfitnesspal. (she actually used the phrase "the best revenge is getting slim and hawt".) I lost 40 lbs in about 6 months, but then quit tracking for a while. I stayed at 190 for a while without tracking my intake, but just weighing daily and being mindful of what I ate, but went through a brief period of depression/stress/emotional eating where I gained 20 lbs back in about 2 months.

 

As soon as the stress was resolved, I lost that 20 lbs and an extra 20 bonus (again, about 6 months). I got tired of dieting, so stayed there for a while, again, just weighing daily and being mindful of what I ate, and trying not to eat if I wasn't actually hungry.

 

Recently (maybe 3 months ago) I started trying to drop again, more for vanity's sake (180 lbs is still overweight by BMI, but it puts me in a healthy bodyfat range) than for anything else. Right now I'm at 165. We'll see if I'm able to maintain this, but I know from experience that I'm able to maintain 180 as long as I weigh regularly and eat mindfully.

 

Physical issues: Since I lost the weight the first time my back issues have completely cleared up. My knee still bothers me but it is much better, and the more weight I lose the better it feels. I no longer take medication and do not have symptoms of PCOS.

 

Size: At 230 I was a size 20, at 190 a size 14, at 180 a size 12, and right now I'm wearing a size 8.

 

We'll see if I'm able to maintain this, but I know from experience that I'm able to maintain 180 as long as I weigh daily and eat mindfully. I really think the real key is the daily weighing though -- if I see it go up a couple of pounds after a party, I'm not concerned (because it's usually water weight) but if it stays up for a week, I know I need to cut back again a bit. The only really significant dietary change I made was cutting out soda.

 

As far as the "why bother", well, I *know* that nothing is going to happen if I do nothing.

 

It is a good thing that I didn't read the 95% statistic on weight regain because frankly I would probably have given up before I started, and since I no longer have as much free time I would probably have moved into the morbidly obese category. The 95% doesn't seem to have been that well founded -- here's a more recent, rather interesting study. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/74/5/579.long

 

I will also add that probably, as someone who was not always fat, you have the habits to help you keep it off if you are able to lose it in the first place -- but you will need to readjust yourself to whatever you were doing before you started gaining weight so rapidly.

[kiana]

(Also, saw a recent follow-up to the National Weight Control Registry that was the basis of the book.  What I find troubling is success is still defined as maintaining 10% of excess weight loss.  For obese and morbidly obese people, that doesn't really change their appearance and I think most people think of 80-100% as success.  For somebody your size, it's saying that you'd be a success if you kept off 3 pounds for the next 10 years.)

Are you sure that it's 10% of excess weight? The study you linked and anything else I can find on google just says "a 10% weight loss", which I'm reading as 10% of original weight, e.g. a 300 lb person who keeps 30 lbs off.

[umsami]

Are you sure that it's 10% of excess weight? The study you linked and anything else I can find on google just says "a 10% weight loss", which I'm reading as 10% of original weight, e.g. a 300 lb person who keeps 30 lbs off.

 

You may be right.  Normally I'm looking at studies regarding bariatric surgery that tend to look at excess weight, so I may have defaulted to that.   So, yes, if it was 10% of weight (which is what I think Weight Watcher's uses) it would just be 10% of initial starting weight.  

 

If you weighed 300 pounds, and looked at initial weight, you'd have to keep off 30 pounds to be a success.  If you were looking at excess weight, you'd be looking at around 15 pounds.   Either way, you're still likely morbidly obese, sadly.    It makes a bigger difference for smaller people, obviously.  A 15 pound weight loss is far more noticeable on somebody who started at 150 pounds.  :)

[kiana]

If you weighed 300 pounds, and looked at initial weight, you'd have to keep off 30 pounds to be a success.  If you were looking at excess weight, you'd be looking at around 15 pounds.   Either way, you're still likely morbidly obese, sadly.   

 

Yep.

 

But I do have a good friend who ten years ago went from morbidly obese to overweight. She regained some, but is still in the obese range rather than morbidly obese and has been stable for 5 years. She said it was too much denying herself the food she wanted to eat (and the wine she wanted to drink) to stay lower than that -- but even at dropping from morbidly obese to obese, her health is much better than it was.

 

EMWV (everyone's mileage will vary), as always.

[hornblower]

Yes, it's possible. Check out my blog. I've regained some this last pregnancy, but over 60% of it is still gone and I'm working back down. From super morbidly obese to a normal weight for my height and build. It's hard work, constant vigilance, permanent changes, and the right plan for my terrible, energy dysfunctional metabolism.

 

I looked at your photos. Wow, you're gorgeous - in all your photos.

Congrats on your weight loss accomplishment.

[Laura Corin]

I lost about thirteen pounds two years ago and have kept it off (I put on a couple of pounds this last Christmas and am working on that - it gets harder to lose at my age).  I used the 5:2 diet, which allowed me to lose and now maintain. I firmly believe that there are many diets that can work, however - it just depends which one you personally can stick to.

 

L

[Soror]

I was a thin kid and young adult until I went on depo. Two years later I wake up and realize I've put on about 25 lbs (I never weighed before so I just have to give my best guess). I was actually never concerned about the number before, I was happy with my size, so it didn't really matter.

 

Anyway, so I decide that I needed to do something about it, as with the realization that I had gained weight I also realized I was not near as active as I had been and had fallen into some bad habits. I followed all of the typical advice, nothing special really.

 

- I kept a food diary and measured portions

 

-started having breakfast- usually a slimfast- at this point I hadn't been eating breakfast because I had a crazy early schedule

 

-stopped hitting vending machines and fast food- I packed sandwiches and some chips (counted out and all) for my lunch or went to the food court and had salad or stir-fry

 

-started exercising with my mom- at first just walking on the treadmill- then it was weights too- and exercise classes (pilates- kickboxing-bootcamp)- oh and I started Yoga eventually- I just kept changing things up doing whatever sounded like fun

 

- I didn't ban any food but rather tried to keep a balanced diet and counted calories and portions (I cringe now at some of the things I ate- like Slimfast but that is where I was)

 

It took me about 1 year to lose around 20 lbs (it has been 14 years since that initial loss) . It was very slow and steady but I never intended it to be a crash diet. I knew I wanted healthier habits for the long run. I kept at it and eventually settled in around 28 lbs from my top weight. I still yet weighed regularly and was active, doing various activities. I had about a 5lb window that I maintained and kept it there.

 

I lost my weight after each of the kids (55lbs with the first- took 9 months) (35 lbs with second- took about 7 months) (30 lbs with 3rd took about 4 months) (not sure on the 4th I didn't weight to get exact numbers but I would guess in the 40lb range- was down to most of within a few pounds at 9 monts). I started all my pregnancies weighing within about 10 lbs, 2 exactly the same- 5lb less and one 5 lb more. After my last one I started gaining as soon as I got my weight down(I've sense been diagnosed with Hashimotos-thyroid disease and we are having difficulty getting my numbers in a good range). I did lose some from what I gained but the last I weighed I'm about 15 lbs from my old weight, about 10 lb from where I started this pregnancy. I'm still at healthy weight range  and I go back and forth on whether I should accept where I'm at or try to lose down again. I do try to stay active still but with the Hashimotos my body doesn't always allow that- having a baby that didn't sleep hasn't helped either.

 

I still cook healthy and have only improved my eating habits over the years. Drinking soda is maybe a 1 or 2x a year thing, generally I only drink water. I aim to eat lots of veggies and fruits. My diet is 90%+ real food. We do activities together as a family, daily walking when the weather is decent, biking, hiking, canoeing etc. I want my kids to grow up with healthy habits and a healthy lifestyle. However, I try not to focus on the number. I remember my own mom always dieting because she never liked her weight(even though she was small) and I didn't want to have that in my house. 

 

Fwiw it seems from my observation it is all about changing your life and diet for the long term. Indulgences are still yet rare and you have to keep tracking to make sure you don't have some fluctuation. People often fail when they don't continue to watch their weight/size, it is much easier to take care of a 2 lb gain than a 20lb one and it is easy to get discouraged. 

 

Fwiw 2- I was 21 at my initial loss, 25 after the first kid, 28 second, 31 third and 34 fourth (I'm now nearly 36)

I didn't notice any issue with age making it harder until this last one, however as I said my thyroid also totally wonked out and my hormone levels were also WAY out of range when they were last tested. I do have a small hope that now that I've finally entirely weaned (2 weeks now) the weight will start to budge. I always lost around 5 lbs without trying when my period came back with the other 3 but my cycles have been totally wonky and just now officially back for good since I had the last baby.

[Night Elf]

I don't know what qualifies as long-term weight loss, as in how many years one keeps it off. I follow the Weight Watchers program. I lost about 40 lbs. and reached my goal weight in Sept. 2012. I kept that off until 2014 when I dropped another 10 lbs. So from the time I hit my original goal, it's been 2.5 years and I'm still losing. What I'm worried about is menopause. I want to be on the low end of my weight range so that I have room to gain if that is one of the menopause effects I have. Other than that, I'm not terribly worried about gaining it back. I weigh myself every day and track every bite that goes into my mouth. I do have cheat days, but they are rare because I eat anything I want to eat, but the secret is portioning. I lost weight even eating my sweets and starches. I hope I keep this weight off. I don't ever want to be overweight again. I didn't like the way I felt. Oh, I'm 47 years old. I've read that it's hard to lose weight at my age, but I'm doing okay, thank goodness.

 

So, what qualifies as long-term weight loss?

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't know what qualifies as long-term weight loss, as in how many years one keeps it off. I follow the Weight Watchers program. I lost about 40 lbs. and reached my goal weight in Sept. 2012. I kept that off until 2014 when I dropped another 10 lbs. So from the time I hit my original goal, it's been 2.5 years and I'm still losing. What I'm worried about is menopause. I want to be on the low end of my weight range so that I have room to gain if that is one of the menopause effects I have. Other than that, I'm not terribly worried about gaining it back. I weigh myself every day and track every bite that goes into my mouth. I do have cheat days, but they are rare because I eat anything I want to eat, but the secret is portioning. I lost weight even eating my sweets and starches. I hope I keep this weight off. I don't ever want to be overweight again. I didn't like the way I felt. Oh, I'm 47 years old. I've read that it's hard to lose weight at my age, but I'm doing okay, thank goodness.

 

So, what qualifies as long-term weight loss?

 

I don't know, but I'd be impressed with anything that lasted at least 10 years.

 

This is my biggest problem.  I can lose weight like nobody's business, but keeping it off long term or forever?  I have not figured that out.

[historically accurate]

I'm one that posted in that other thread; I'm sorry if you got discouraged.  I guess according to the medical community I am a success.  I'm down more than 10% of my highest.  However, I still have 90+ pounds to be mid-normal range for my height.  Because of this, I don't feel a success -- I am still morbidly obese (I am only 5'2", so there's not much "wiggle room" when it comes to BMI).  

 

Long term weight loss is definitely possible; there are people every day who can do it.  You just have to find what works for you.  My last weight loss of the 30 lbs was successful, but not pleasant.  For 8 months, all I wanted was food; I was hungry every second of every day.  But my body chemistry is completely messed up because of cancer treatment, including surgical menopause.  So, I am trying to figure out what I can do while still living a life.  It seems that weight loss requires a herculean effort that quickly takes over all of my mental and physical energy.  But with only 30 pounds to lose, you can make smaller changes and still have some success.

[unsinkable]

If it helps, you only have 30 pounds to lose. A lot of the weight loss studies look at obese and morbidly obese people who often have far greater amounts to lose (50+ pounds). I would also hypothesize that they are more likely to have gut micro biome issues, etc.

 

The point of the studies/info in the other thread wasn't designed to make you feel bad or say don't try. Rather it is focused on the 95% who do fail and blame themselves, and others who still believe that fat people are lacking in self control, etc. if you succeed, awesome. If not, you are no less worthy at the weight you are right now. If we knew what worked long term, the weight loss industry would not be a multibillion dollar industry. We wouldn't see new diet books come out each month. :)

 

Yes, there are always people who do lose weight and keep it off. Everybody knows a few people who've done just that. They're part of the 5%. I want to say back in the late 80s/early 90s, some researchers went and looked at those success stories. They found some habits that these people did. Two books were written about it, and I honestly can't remember their titles right now. They are at my old house. Anyway, from memory:

 

1) They kept a daily journal of what that ate. These days, it would probably be an app of some sort. Some people find it easier to count healtfhul/good foods rather than everything. So, instead of writing down every bite, you check a box for fruits and veggies or water or whatever. I've also seen people do the opposite, they only write the things that are off their eating plan.

 

2) They allowed themselves treats/cheat days. Some were two Hershey kisses/day...others were one cheat day, etc. It's all about the 80-90% good, 10-20% cheat philosophy.

 

3) They exercised daily. This was before the pedometer craze, and I want to say they did 45-60 minutes/day. I would think that walking 10k-12k steps would be equivalent.

 

If I think of the book's name, I'll come back and edit.

 

But having said all this, can you change your success criteria so it is not so scale centered? Walking 10k steps per day should be something that benefits you for the rest of your life, even if you don't lose one more pound. Can you join a FitBit group or do one of those challenges where you walk to Paris or walk across the US or whatever?

 

Weight Watchers is a great plan and there are support groups and challenges online. Some of them will just focus on recording your points. Others will focus on days on plan. So it's not so much, I lost 10 pounds, but rather I wrote everything down I ate (tracked my points) for 30 days straight. That's a habit that can help me succeed long term, so I'm going to reward myself with a pedicure.

 

(BTW, a small study showed that gradual weight loss was not any more successful in long-term weight loss than rapid weight loss....although as far as I know, this may not hold up in larger studies.)

 

(Also, saw a recent follow-up to the National Weight Control Registry that was the basis of the book. What I find troubling is success is still defined as maintaining 10% of initial* weight loss. For obese and morbidly obese people, that doesn't really change their appearance and I think most people think of 80-100% as success. For somebody your size, it's saying that you'd be a success if you kept off 15 pounds for the next 10 years.) *edited

 

I'll also add that I meet the long-term success criteria, but I'm still fat. I've kept off 65 pounds. It has happened in two phases.... one part for 15 years, and additional part for 6-1/2 years. I've never gained above the 20 pounds that I've kept off for 15 years. Of the additional 45 or so pounds that I'm currently maintaining, I'm up about 30 pounds from my lowest weight, but down about 20 pounds from the highest amount I regained....if that makes any sense! (So if I had maintained at my lowest weight, I'd be down close to 95 pounds. Even then I was just on the overweight/obese line.)

Is the book "Eating Thin for Life"? Anne Fletcher...first published in 1998?

[Joyofsixreboot]

Be back to answer later.

[Night Elf]

What about the difference between dieting and lifestyle? With Weight Watchers, I knew I was dieting while I was losing weight. However, I learned a new way of eating so when I went on maintenance, I call it a lifestyle change. But I could be doing more, like going with brown rice (yuck) and whole grains (I'm a white bread gal). I'd say weight loss could be maintained by some people through the lifestyle changes, but figuring out what that means for each individual might be tricky. I've seen weight loss threads on this board. There are so many different recommendations. One person will say one way and the next person will say that didn't work for them, but this did. If I didn't have a way that worked for me the first time, I would get discouraged with so many options. I do consider myself lucky that WW was/is a good plan for me. Of course I liked that it worked, but more importantly I am comfortable with how I get to eat. Restrictive diets (not losing weight kind of diet, but the whole array of foods that one chooses to eat) would not make me happy. Then wouldn't I start cheating and undo any good changes I did while eating that way?

 

I don't know. Just early morning musing while I drink my coffee and think about the meals I plan to eat today. I don't even know what I'm cooking for dinner yet. I hate cooking. I need a personal chef.

[SparklyUnicorn]

What about the difference between dieting and lifestyle? With Weight Watchers, I knew I was dieting while I was losing weight. However, I learned a new way of eating so when I went on maintenance, I call it a lifestyle change. But I could be doing more, like going with brown rice (yuck) and whole grains (I'm a white bread gal). I'd say weight loss could be maintained by some people through the lifestyle changes, but figuring out what that means for each individual might be tricky. I've seen weight loss threads on this board. There are so many different recommendations. One person will say one way and the next person will say that didn't work for them, but this did. If I didn't have a way that worked for me the first time, I would get discouraged with so many options. I do consider myself lucky that WW was/is a good plan for me. Of course I liked that it worked, but more importantly I am comfortable with how I get to eat. Restrictive diets (not losing weight kind of diet, but the whole array of foods that one chooses to eat) would not make me happy. Then wouldn't I start cheating and undo any good changes I did while eating that way?

 

I don't know. Just early morning musing while I drink my coffee and think about the meals I plan to eat today. I don't even know what I'm cooking for dinner yet. I hate cooking. I need a personal chef.

 

Yeah it's hard.  If you can't stand the food you are eating while on the diet, you probably aren't going to maintain that.  Or if the diet is too hard to deal with.  I enjoy low carb, but it's hard to live low carb in a high carb world.  I can't go to a single party.  I can't go out to eat at most restaurants.  There aren't many convenience foods.  I don't mind cooking, but it's not the only thing I do in my day.  I think this is probably a big reason why a lot of people have a hard time. 

 

I am somewhat limited. I could not hack WW because I don't do well on such high carb eating.  I feel starved all the time and diabetes runs in my family so I try to stick with at least lower carb. 

[kiana]

I've seen weight loss threads on this board. There are so many different recommendations. One person will say one way and the next person will say that didn't work for them, but this did. If I didn't have a way that worked for me the first time, I would get discouraged with so many options.

 

Honestly, I think the big thing is to find something that you feel happy on and can live with.

 

For me, the permanent changes I've made are:

1) No sugary sodas.

2) No baked goods/snack foods in the house. This is because I do not have self-control there. If I have bread in the house, I will eat toast and jam instead of a proper meal, and be hungry again quickly. I do not deny myself these things completely, but if I want potato chips, I go to the store and buy the 50c single-serving size instead.

3) I don't eat breakfast on most days. I realize this flies in the face of prevailing weight-loss advice, but I cannot sleep when I'm hungry. When I'm trying to maintain, I don't eat until lunchtime, at which point I have a moderate lunch (it frequently involves breakfast food, such as oatmeal + bacon + eggs), and then in the evening I have a hearty supper and go to bed full and sleep soundly. I'm at work all day, so I just don't think about food during the morning and I don't feel hungry.

4) These don't apply if I have a heavy exercise day, such as a weekend hike. If I go hiking on the weekend, I happily indulge myself in cinnamon rolls for breakfast and everything else, because I know I'm going to burn it off.

 

I have seen great and long-term results from a wide variety of diets, including:

1) low-carb transitioning to moderate-carb

2) raw vegan transitioning to some-cooked vegan (two people)

3) paleo

4) no-S

5) WW

6) IF (this includes 8:16 and 2:7)

7) probably more that I've forgotten, but I just can't think of them right now.

 

The one thing that most of them have in common is that they cut down on constantly drinking your calories and on constant grazing through the day, as well as cutting down on snack foods period.

 

Depending on your personality, though, some of them are going to be better than others. For me IF on non-exercise days works just great, and is something that I can do without thinking.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't often eat breakfast either.  I find it makes me hungrier throughout the day.  I have no clue why that is. 

 

Raw vegan would be a horribly sucky diet around here.  Certain times of the year it's hard to get raw vegetables and fruits that don't taste like crap.

 

 

[kiana]

I don't often eat breakfast either.  I find it makes me hungrier throughout the day.  I have no clue why that is. 

 

Raw vegan would be a horribly sucky diet around here.  Certain times of the year it's hard to get raw vegetables and fruits that don't taste like crap.

 

Totally, and it would suck and be horribly expensive for me as well. I carefully made absolutely no claims about these diets being good for everyone. Just that I have seen all of them work for at least one person.

[LNC]

I lost 75 lbs 7 years ago and kept it off. Paleo. I decided to lose the last 35-45 lbs and I am now 20 lbs away from college weight. This time I am eating Primal/ketogenic/calorie counting.

 

I am planning next on joining a gym with a personal trainer to learn to lift weights. I think once I build muscle I can maintain with Primal and occasional cheat/more carb day (like 1-2x month). I am insulin resistant from years of iv steroids and obesity. I don't mind "low carb/ food as medicine" for a lifetime! I don't an on gaining any back. :)

[Night Elf]

I don't often eat breakfast either.  I find it makes me hungrier throughout the day.  I have no clue why that is. 

 

Me too. Once I start eating, I seem to just continue. Instead, I usually wait until about 2:00 (though I might have coffee or tea) and have something light. I eat dinner at 5:30 and am hungry again at 7:30 to 8:00 no matter what or how much I eat. I think it's association, but it works for me so I don't worry about it.

[Soror]

I was just typical calorie counter when I've started but I've been on a primal/paleoish diet for the last 10 or so years. I've been low carb at times, I went vlc after #3, when I lost weight the quickest but it is not good for thyroid issues and I no longer feel well eating that way. Some would call my current diet restrictive but it works for me. I'm at the point that I don't generally have cravings for food outside my WoE but I can at times indulge too much in the foods I do eat. I seriously doubt it would have worked for me to start in eating like this back when I started, when I was coming from college life full of vending machines and fast food. I've had times when I fasted at breakfast and still do on some days but when I started I needed to eat something because I wasn't eating and then attacking the vending machine when I became famished. Also, growing up we had a fairly healthy, although mainstreamish diet and were active, so I had something to go back to. It was just starting college, depo and getting married that done me in- especially with a LOT more access to junk food. I mean we did some snack cakes here and there but eating out was a few times a year, otherwise we ate homemade.

[displace]

OP - it may be discouraging or disheartening to think you may gain weight back after losing. In my mind I think about when I'm losing weight and if I were not, I may be gaining instead. I'm ahead of the game since I was not gaining the whole time. Also, I think having less weight even if it's temporary has got to be good for at least my joints, heart, etc. I know there were some thoughts before about change in weight not being good either, but over time I'd rather lose some and gain some than only keep gaining more.

[Anne in CA]

I have done pretty well at keeping off 80lb for almost 18 years. Right now I have about 15 to lose.I gained a lot in the last year but I have lost some already.

[Mom-ninja.]

Jillian Michaels did it. Richard Simmons did it. They turned it into a successful career. If you don't fall back on your old habits then there is not many reasons (barring health problems) that the weight should come back.

 

 

I haven't seen the other thread so I don't know what that's about.  

[ktgrok]

I think it is important to distinguish between a few extra pounds, and morbid obesity. Yes, people gain and lose and gain some weight. That can happen. When things change is when someone has so much fat it starts functioning as an extra organ. That can change the metabolism to the point where MOST people will not be able to keep MOST of the weight off. So, to clarify, that refers to people with a BMI over 40, or over 100lbs to lose. That's morbid obesity. I'd be thrilled to be where I only needed to lose 30lbs! That would be success for me, lol.

 

So, while I think most morbidly obese people will struggle to keep down to a normal size due to hormonal issues and metabolism changes that doesn't mean that someone that say, needs to lose 20lbs, can't do so. I think those are vastly different questions, with different answers. 

[mamaraby]

I think it depends on how you lose the weight. If you pick some diet that you couldn't realistically live with for the rest of your life? Probably not. if you go in thinking you can do x temporarily to lose the weight before going back to how you ate before then the weight loss will likely be temporary as well.

 

Small changes that you can sustain long term are a much better bet.

 

Low carb for me would only ever be a fad. I lost 40lbs that way, but nausea is not something I can deal with long term. Six months was about my limit. I gained it all back, too.

 

I'm down just over 40lbs now, but the difference is I can continue eating the way I am right now for the rest of my life very easily. YMMV.

[ktgrok]

Yes, you can!

 

 

 

This webpage seems like it's no longer being updated but it has some interesting info.

 

http://nwcr.ws/Research/default.htm

 

Also, the Research page doesn't look updated but if you google scholar or pubmed search for some of the investigators' names, you get lots of interesting info, like this:

 

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/oby.2011.230/full

 

"These results provide critical evidence that a comprehensive lifestyle intervention can induce clinically significant weight loss (i.e., ≥5%) in overweight/obese participants with type 2 diabetes and maintain this loss in more than 45% of patients at 4 years."

 

 

I lost about 25 lbs (moving from the top of the healthy bmi & just kissing the obesity line,  to the lower third, but I did it over about 18 months)

& each change I made I assumed would have to be permanent & inevitably 'ramped up' each 5 years. It's a permanent change in lifestyle, not a diet.

 

Of course, the flip side of this, is that 55% of patients, more than half, failed to lose/keep off even 5% of their body weight. (unless that 5% refers to excess weight, not body weight, which is even more depressing)

 

So sure, small changes work for some people. For others, they don't. But again, if you are only 30lbs overweight, that's a HUGE difference metabolically from someone that is 100lbs plus overweight. 

[Mom-ninja.]

 

   It makes a bigger difference for smaller people, obviously.  A 15 pound weight loss is far more noticeable on somebody who started at 150 pounds.   :)

 

This is very true. When I was really sick I lost 5 lbs. That's it. Just 5 lbs. But people noticed right away because it was that obvious. I had people saying I was anorexic. 

[kiana]

Of course, the flip side of this, is that 55% of patients, more than half, failed to lose/keep off even 5% of their body weight. (unless that 5% refers to excess weight, not body weight, which is even more depressing)

 

So sure, small changes work for some people. For others, they don't. But again, if you are only 30lbs overweight, that's a HUGE difference metabolically from someone that is 100lbs plus overweight. 

True. But this doesn't mean that a person shouldn't *try*. (It does mean that we shouldn't judge people who have tried and failed).

 

This is especially true for people who haven't had repeated, unsuccessful attempts to keep it off already.

[Nan in Mass]

Amy -

 

I guess you could say I have.  If it counts that you didn't start out obese.  If you are talking about taking off 10% of your body weight and keeping it off, then I would be a really good example.  People who don't live with me would laugh at the idea that I have to watch my weight.  I guess you could say that is the point. : )  I'm small to begin with and bird-boned, so they jump to conclusions without actually looking at me or, far more important, taking into account how I FEEL.  I don't care how much I weigh and I don't really care what I look like all that much.  It is all about how I feel.    If I am at a good weight, I have plenty of energy, feel cheerful, and if I eat enough of the good things I can eat some of the bad things without any problems.  If I am heavy, I feel draggy, I crave unhealthy foods, and I feel depressed.  Sometimes, it works the other way around and I feel that way because I am depressed about something, but generally, it works the other way round.  It feels like I have to push through a wall until I start losing weight easily, at which point, I can stop thinking about it and just focus on eating enough of the good foods and getting outside enough and keeping moving.  Nobody notices that I am being careful of my weight because I catch it early and do something about it when I just have to "be good" for a few weeks.

 

Until I was 15, I could eat whatever I wanted.

At 15, that ended and I gained a bunch of weight.  When I noticed and complained, my mother, who was working on losing a hundred pounds (which she did and kept 50 then kept so off for life)  got me the Diet Workshop teen diet and for a season or two, I followed that and lost most of the weight.  I didn't go back to my 15yo weight because I was now woman shaped rather than little girl shaped.

I went to college and gained some of that back.  I was deeply unhappy and depressed for a bit and felt the pull of anorexia but didn't go there.  I give my mother credit for this.  She was very frank about her life-long weight problem and tried really hard to make weight and food a non-issue in our house.  I just didn't care enough about anything to be anorexic.  I could feel how if food had ever been an issue in the past, I would go right there, but there was such an emphasis in our house about it NOT being an issue, that I just didn't go there.  And then I got undepressed and that issue went away and didn't ever come back.

I got married and pregnant and was exceedingly sick with each of my pregnancies and went down to very sick thin (which feels just as awful as weighing too much) and gained the weight back at the end of the pregnancies along with almost the amount I was supposed to gain for the baby.  I stayed heavy while I was nursing but it went away when I stopped.

Between the second and the third baby, I didn't stop nursing and I was better at not losing weight when morning sick.  By the time the third one stopped nursing, I was plump.  With three small children, it was impossible to tell if I was feeling draggy or if I wasn't moving enough lol.  I tried dieting and it totally didn't work.  I just craved cookies and chips all the time.  It took awhile for me to figure out exactly how to eat each day so that I switched over to losing weight without craving things or having it be much bother.

When I turned 50, it became a bit harder to break through that wall and begin losing, and I creep up more easily, but it still isn't impossible.  I just have to be slightly careful what I eat and KEEP MOVING.

 

Now I know the formula, when I am feeling draggy, I go weigh myself.  Usually, I discover that I have crept up 5 pounds or 10 pounds.  I go into what I think of as "losing weight mode".  That means I have to focus on thinking myself thin.  I think it might have something to do with resetting my metabolism?  I don't care what it is as long as it works lol.  I buy some water bottles (something we normally avoid for environmental reasons).  I pretend that I am one of those really athletic gorgeous women who are always carrying a water bottle.  I have cereal, fruit, and milk for breakfast, a peanut butter sandwich and milk for lunch, whatever we usually eat for supper, and real cocoa before bed.  I eat supper at 5 or earlier and I take a nice walk afterwards.  If I want to eat in the evening, I tell myself to wait for my cocoa.  I drink lots of water through the day.  If I want a snack, I drink a cup of tea and wait ten minutes afterwards first, to see if it was just caffine I was craving.  If that doesn't work, I eat a piece of fruit or glass of milk.  At the end of the afternoon, I have a piece or two of dark chocolate.  It has to be dark, expensive chocolate, or I eat too much of it.  If I can get through three days of that, I can continue it without much effort at all.  If I am feeling munchy, I airpop a batch of popcorn and eat it - tons of crunching and volume without many calories and without resorting to vegetables, which I have never liked much lol.  When I've lost the weight, I go back to regular eating, where I have the occasional treat and snack on cheese or nuts or toast and eat more cheese and less 1% milk.  I drop back to doing yoga a few times a week, taking the occasional walk, and doing something active on the weekend.  Then something will happen (like February) and I will creep up again.

 

My formula works for me because it incorporates versions of foods that I like and find sustaining, like pbj sandwiches, pizza (for dinner), popcorn, cocoa, fruit, and dark chocolate.  I don't mind eating a monotonous diet provided it is stuff I like and no effort.  If I cut out the fat, I can't lose weight and it is hard.  If I go low carb, I REALLY can't lose weight and I am miserable.  If I don't drink enough water, I can't lose weight.  If I don't walk most days, I can't lose weight.  If I eat in the evening, I can't lose weight.  If I don't do the hyped up athletic pretend thing, I can't lose weight.  If I don't get some entertainment value out of any other excersize I am doing, I won't do it. 

 

My formula is unlikely to work for you.  (It did work for my sisters, interestingly.)  It took me about three years of trying all sorts of things to figure it out.  I think the most important thing in all this for you is that if you can figure out YOUR formula, you have a shot.  You need two - one to lose and one to maintain.  The maintaining one needs to be lol maintainable.  Really maintainable.  Like maintainable forever.  It needs to be simple so you don't have to think too much.  ((You probably have to try things for a bit to see if they really are maintainable.  I was miserable switching from whole milk to 1% but it wore off and I am perfectly happy with 1% now.  There is no way I am going to snack on raw vegetables.  I even tried.  I did not adjust.) The losing one can be a little more uncomfortable but it has to be something that doesn't take too much will power once you are through the first week.  You have to watch and apply the losing one whenever your weight creeps up five pounds.  And don't forget the thinking part.  And the finding excersize that you think is fun.  The whole thing is rather like what my father used to say about compromises.  People think of a compromise as a situation in which two parties each have to give up something they want, but a GOOD compromise is a third solution to a problem that both parties like better than their own original idea.  You need to find lots of things that you LIKE.

 

Hugs,

Nan

[Kim in Appalachia]

You can.  I lost 30lbs almost 7 years ago, and I haven't gained it back.  I'm not super careful about what I eat (I should be), but I also do still exercise.  You can lose weight, though it gets harder as you get older.  And while I think weight loss is possible and keeping it off doable, I think it's more important to focus on your health and fitness.  As we get older it's our overall strength, flexibility, and cardio fitness that's important.  

[ktgrok]

True. But this doesn't mean that a person shouldn't *try*. (It does mean that we shouldn't judge people who have tried and failed).

 

This is especially true for people who haven't had repeated, unsuccessful attempts to keep it off already.

Very true! And even a small change IS good change. 

 

I think if you are successful also has a lot to do with how and why the weight gain happened, and when. I think it's a lot harder if you have been obese since childhood, versus weight gain that happened from eating too much soda and cake in your 30s, you know? But so much seems to tie in to the microbiome, it's really fascinating, if nothing else, to wonder and speculate. 

 

I predict that in my lifetime there will be new treatments for obesity based on gut microbes and digestive enzymes. Even the gastric sleeve is now being  found to work primarily via changes in bile acids, not food restriction. crazy.

[Scarlett]

This is (hopefully!!!) a gentle spin-off of that OTHER thread. It's something I need to know because I'm so discouraged by the OTHER thread.

 

Is it possible to lose weight and keep it off?

 

Here's my brief story. I was a petite person (5'3" and 120 - 130 pounds, but curvy) until I went to college and I gained 30 pounds. I wasn't happy with how I looked so I did WW (calorie counting and working out) and lost the 30 pounds. Now I'm mid-30's and in the last three years I've put on 30 pounds. My back hurts. I'm tired. Clothing doesn't look right anymore. For the last six weeks I've been eating 1200 calories a day and getting 10k steps in. I've lost 8 pounds. Yay. Everything I've read says to lose weight slowly, move more, eat less for success.

 

Then I read some of the posts on the other thread and it's discouraging. Am I just going to plump back up? I KNOW how I gained the weight - I love sweets and fried foods and sitting on my bum reading. We had been eating out a lot and I was consuming at least 3k calories per day and didn't exercise.

 

But then I read back on that discussion ...

 

If I'm just going to gain everything back ... why try? :mellow:

 

 

If you've lost weight and had success at keeping it off then please post your story or (if it's not asking too much) a bit of encouragement.

I haven't read any of the replies so sorry if I am repeating. I do think it is important that you are addressing it now instead of waiting for more weight or to get older. Otherwise you your body and mind have developed deeply ingrained habits that are very hard to break.

[VeganCupcake]

I lost about 35 lbs around 13 years ago, and I'm quite short, so it brought me from quite obese to a healthy body fat range. I have since had three pregnancies and four children, and I've gotten back to almost that lowest healthy weight. 

 

Why bother trying? For me, it's because I don't like to drag 35 extra pounds up and down the stairs in our home 20 times a day. Overall, I feel much more energetic when I'm at a healthy weight. It isn't easy, and yes, I would love to eat whatever whenever, but I don't like the consequences of that. 

 

I stopped eating all added sugars (so no sweets and desserts) and white flour to lose my weight originally. I'm an abstainer--I do better completely avoiding things than trying to be moderate about their intake. You may be a person who can do moderation better.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Jillian Michaels did it. Richard Simmons did it. They turned it into a successful career. If you don't fall back on your old habits then there is not many reasons (barring health problems) that the weight should come back.

 

 

I haven't seen the other thread so I don't know what that's about.  

 

I think that woman is bat shit crazy.

[LarlaB]

Like it or not, we all have a life-long relationship with food- best to be sure its a good, high-functioning one.  :) 

I feel like I'm S L O W L Y wising up to the reality that this will be a life long endeavor for me to maintain my desired level of fitness and weight control.  I flail and fret over it, but am slowly coming to acceptance that this is not a "once and done" issue.  Its not realistic to think I can lose weight with concerted effort and then coast along without a second glance. I have learned my default habits/patterns/settings for eating will also leave me in a ditch if I don't pay attention!  
 

Think about maintenance on your car.  A LOT of things fall in that category- simple things and really really expensive, time consuming things- you can't just ignore your car for 6 years and then be shocked when it needs an overhaul.  OK, well you can, but its unlikely that approach will have you keeping your car. I'm realizing that my body is the same way.  There is no "set it and forget it" available for weight loss/maintenance.  I think a lot of people can buy in to a short term diet or fix, but its the long game that should get more attention.  

 

I absolutely believe it is possible for long term weight control, but think its a LOT harder than 99% of us give credit.  It means we will, for the rest of our days, have to watch what we eat.   That needs to become less of a burden and more of a glad acceptance where we take responsibility for the body that we're in.  A tough order some days cause I'd rather have a quick/permanent fix ANYday!!!

 

[swimmermom3]

Amy, I am so glad you started this thread. I felt that after the other one was locked, it left some of us hanging in an unsatisfactory  place and I appreciate those who have lost weight and kept it off (especially if morbidly obese) taking the time to share their story and methodology.

 

I grew up thin-the kind that engenders teasing- and went off to college weighing 115 at nearly 5'8," where I promptly discovered beer and pizza.  Every succeeding year and pregnancy added on a few more pounds. When I married at 26, I weighed 155. After the birth of my third child, my weight never again dipped below 175.  Now I am in a place that I would prefer not to immortalize on the internet.

 

Through the years (roughly just under 30) I have tried the following:

Pritikin (low fat, low cal, 1000-1200)

South Beach

Medifast

Weight Watchers

 

Then, a couple of years ago, my dd (who is there because she is underweight) introduced me to SparkPeople and now, I've done that too. Still do it.

 

I've lost every time I have worked on it. In hindsight, I lost the same at the same pace whether I did that idiotic Medifast diet at 750 calories or whatever the heck it was and just logging regular food on SparkPeople and staying at about 1600 calories.

 

Obviously I am a slow learner. Each diet taught me something new and a few of them worked havoc on my metabolism. We know a lot more scientifically about the long term negative impact of diets that fall below 1200 calories now then we did even 10 years ago.

 

Everything that the first few posts listed work for me - you know, the practical, realistic things:

 

1. Log your food - if you are honest, you'll see quickly where some of your problem areas lie. It's even more helpful if you make a note about how you feel and adjust accordingly. With SparkPeople, I can see the percentages for fat, protein, and carbohydrates. My body has it's own "happy place;" yours may be different.

 

2. Weigh daily - my dh has done this for the 25 years he's traveled for work. The minute he is off balance, he fixes it.  Only do this if you are not a panicker. If I have exercised and eaten carefully the day before, then I know a slight increase on the scale is only temporary.

 

3. Keep it real - If I eat less of "real food," I lose weight and I don't get so hungry that I crash.  I try to keep processed foods to a minimum, as well as low fat versions that usually have higher sugar content.  It has taken some experimentation to find what works for my body. If I eat real food and follow a doable eating plan with nothing extreme, then I am good. I do believe that it has to be a lifestyle and one you can maintain indefinitely. Many people I know that have held their weight constant through middle age have a plan of some kind.

 

4. Move it - all bodies need some exercise, figure out what works best for you

 

5. Drink your water - sometimes we confuse dehydration with hunger

 

6. Get adequate rest - key for weight and depression

 

7. Manage stress - this is where all the rest of my plan tends to fall apart. For all of the great and helpful things I have learned about nutrition and exercise, this area continues to elude me. If you are an emotional eater (which I am) then this area would seem to be key

 

I do know that even if I have lost and then gained, I have to believe that as long as I am breathing, there is hope. I hated, positively hated the idea in the other thread that there is no hope and nothing to do but sit back and get fatter. Nope, not going there.

 

And don't you go there either, Amy. :grouphug:

 

[hornblower]

It means we will, for the rest of our days, have to watch what we eat. 

 

 

It struck me recently that in the context of mindfulness  & mindful meditation practice, that taking the time to focus on your food, really seeing it, thinking about it, considering its moral implications (who grew it, who harvested it, who transported it, how hard did they have to work on this, what life do they lead; and if you're eating animal products, really thinking about the animal involved and what their life & death were like) can help us pause and *truly* appreciate the food.

 

I don't do the saying grace thing at meals but I wondered if this kind of practice was done before every meal & snack & became more intentional, and less about a deity (or perhaps in addition to the deity) but more focused  on how wonderful it is to have this food to nourish our body, how it got here & what we hope to get from it (even if it's just a happy mouth feel) that maybe this would help.

 

"having to watch what we eat" becomes "being intentional about food" which I think is good, lifelong habit to develop.

[swimmermom3]

Like it or not, we all have a life-long relationship with food- best to be sure its a good, high-functioning one.   :) 

 

I feel like I'm S L O W L Y wising up to the reality that this will be a life long endeavor for me to maintain my desired level of fitness and weight control.  I flail and fret over it, but am slowly coming to acceptance that this is not a "once and done" issue.  Its not realistic to think I can lose weight with concerted effort and then coast along without a second glance. I have learned my default habits/patterns/settings for eating will also leave me in a ditch if I don't pay attention!  

 

Think about maintenance on your car.  A LOT of things fall in that category- simple things and really really expensive, time consuming things- you can't just ignore your car for 6 years and then be shocked when it needs an overhaul.  OK, well you can, but its unlikely that approach will have you keeping your car. I'm realizing that my body is the same way.  There is no "set it and forget it" available for weight loss/maintenance.  I think a lot of people can buy in to a short term diet or fix, but its the long game that should get more attention.  

 

I absolutely believe it is possible for long term weight control, but think its a LOT harder than 99% of us give credit.  It means we will, for the rest of our days, have to watch what we eat.   That needs to become less of a burden and more of a glad acceptance where we take responsibility for the body that we're in.  A tough order some days cause I'd rather have a quick/permanent fix ANYday!!!

 

 

 

This! 

 

It's taken me a while to learn this too, but I find that accepting it, actually makes it easier to proceed. I am an extremist, which is probably why I laugh when somebody says that heavy people have no will power. If you add a perfectionist streak to the extremism, you can get some god-awful personal diet and exercise plans.  I always think I know a better way. If it's good to exercise for one hour, then four hours is better. If 1500 calories is good, then going lower while working out the four hours is better. :tongue_smilie:

 

Looking at this as a lifetime commitment allows me to let go of the extreme and perfectionist tendencies.

 

 

[Laurie4b]

I have done both: lost and kept it off, and lost and gained. :glare:

 

I was in the obese range (BMI 31.9) and lost 40 pounds. This was post-menopause.  I gained 15 lbs back when I went on a medication that can cause weight gain, plus I injured myself and stopped going to the gym (though I was still walking) plus "birthday season" in our house+ Thanksgiving + Christmas holidays. But 25 pounds has stayed off.

 

For me, the keys to both weight loss and keeping it off:

 

Exercise 4-6 x per week. I feel so much better when I exercise that I am less likely to eat. (I am lucky that I am not one to get uber hungry after exercising.)

Weighing every day. When I gain, it's like a switch has been thrown and I can gain really fast. So I need to head it off asap. Broken scales have been associated with weight gain for me!

I don't buy desserts or salty junk snacks. If my kids want them, I ask them to hide them. (That's why the holidays are so hard for me: to see it is to eat it.)

I happen to love fruits, veges, whole grains, and fish. I can tolerate sardines for my Omega 3s if I put them in tomato sauce and serve over a bit of pasta.

My new habit that has been tremendously helpful is staying well-hydrated AND I am working on getting to bed by midnight. DST will be both a boost to my exercise and a challenge to getting enough sleep!

[swimmermom3]

It struck me recently that in the context of mindfulness  & mindful meditation practice, that taking the time to focus on your food, really seeing it, thinking about it, considering its moral implications (who grew it, who harvested it, who transported it, how hard did they have to work on this, what life do they lead; and if you're eating animal products, really thinking about the animal involved and what their life & death were like) can help us pause and *truly* appreciate the food.

 

I don't do the saying grace thing at meals but I wondered if this kind of practice was done before every meal & snack & became more intentional, and less about a deity (or perhaps in addition to the deity) but more focused  on how wonderful it is to have this food to nourish our body, how it got here & what we hope to get from it (even if it's just a happy mouth feel) that maybe this would help.

 

"having to watch what we eat" becomes "being intentional about food" which I think is good, lifelong habit to develop.

 

I really like this idea and it's actually an old practice for many Native American cultures. I find that I also do better when I am cooking "real food," things that offer and texture and smell while preparing like chopping vegetables or adding cilantro. Pleasant rituals can make cooking and eating more mindful and satisfying.

 

[ErinE]

Then I read some of the posts on the other thread and it's discouraging. Am I just going to plump back up? I KNOW how I gained the weight - I love sweets and fried foods and sitting on my bum reading. We had been eating out a lot and I was consuming at least 3k calories per day and didn't exercise.

 

But then I read back on that discussion ...

 

If I'm just going to gain everything back ... why try? :mellow:

 

 

If you've lost weight and had success at keeping it off then please post your story or (if it's not asking too much) a bit of encouragement.

I think losing and maintaining weight loss is a very individual thing. I read a lot and gleaned strategies and foods that worked for me.

 

I gained weight in high school and college and lost it several years after graduating. Other than pregnancies, I've been able to keep it off by essentially eating well the vast majority of the time. I think I have a reasonable weight for my size; I've been smaller, and my mind and body couldn't handle the strict diet. I weigh myself most days and monitor my food intake more if the numbers start creeping up. I have a hard stop weight a few pounds above my ideal weight, meaning if I hit that number, it's time to get more strict. I'm not obsessive, but I am aware.

 

I don't eat fried foods or heavy sauces because they make me feel ill. I do eat ice cream, cake, and cookies as I love sweets, but not every day and usually a small portion. When we eat out, I usually have salad and soup or an appetizer as dinner and lunch portion sizes are ridiculous. After the first few minutes of eating a meal, I pause and "check in" to see if I'm no longer hungry. I try not to eat in front of electronics. I try to stay on a regular eating schedule (3 meals and 1 small snack).

 

I'd like to exercise more, but I'm a bit sleep deprived right now with the baby. I try to include extra activity in my day. I park at the back of parking lots. I commit to 30 minutes of daily, active house cleaning. I go outside with the kids, throwing and hitting balls, jump on the trampoline, hop and skip with my toddler. I walk around when I'm on the phone, tidying up.

 

All these strategies come from years of trying and finally losing weight. I didn't adopt them all at once; I come from a family that regularly ate seconds and thirds at every meal and ate every meal until full. We spent hours watching television, getting very little exercise. It took years for me to make these behaviors part of my every day life.

[Joyofsixreboot]

I have an n of one and don't have the time to read all the answers right now. For ME it is like I mentally moved to a new planet. What I used to eat and do are over. For the last 3 years it's all about health and what worked for me ( no S, tracking, exercise). I also made a mental shift in how I care for myself. If I don't feed my kids junk, require activity, hobbies other than screens and good sleep why wouldn't I deserve the same. I don't want to sound woo woo but I think maintenance is as much mental as physical. Look up the weight loss registry for maybe more concrete ideas.

[Xuzi]

It struck me recently that in the context of mindfulness  & mindful meditation practice, that taking the time to focus on your food, really seeing it, thinking about it, considering its moral implications (who grew it, who harvested it, who transported it, how hard did they have to work on this, what life do they lead; and if you're eating animal products, really thinking about the animal involved and what their life & death were like) can help us pause and *truly* appreciate the food.

 

I don't do the saying grace thing at meals but I wondered if this kind of practice was done before every meal & snack & became more intentional, and less about a deity (or perhaps in addition to the deity) but more focused  on how wonderful it is to have this food to nourish our body, how it got here & what we hope to get from it (even if it's just a happy mouth feel) that maybe this would help.

 

"having to watch what we eat" becomes "being intentional about food" which I think is good, lifelong habit to develop.

YES! I find that when I start relying too much on convenience foods my weight starts to spike up, because I "need" to eat more of it before my brain triggers that "satisfied" feeling in my gut (if it ever does. I know some snack food companies specifically design their foods to create cravings for more. "You can't eat just one!" is absolutely their designed intention!) Eating foods that take time to make, and time to eat, leave me feeling much more satisfied, even with the much smaller portions.

[swimmermom3]

YES! I find that when I start relying too much on convenience foods my weight starts to spike up, because I "need" to eat more of it before my brain triggers that "satisfied" feeling in my gut (if it ever does. I know some snack food companies specifically design their foods to create cravings for more. "You can't eat just one!" is absolutely their designed intention!) Eating foods that take time to make, and time to eat, leave me feeling much more satisfied, even with the much smaller portions.

 

Xuzi, can you please elaborate on this when you have time?  I think we do "okay" here, but could do better.

 

How does one find the balance of making good, healthy meals that also don't take a lot of time?

 

[Clear Creek]

I lost 11% of my weight and have successfully kept most of it off for a year. So, only short-term, but long enough (read: through the holidays :D ) to understand what it takes to maintain and not gain. I lost the weight by going somewhat low-carb...I cut out simple carbs and kept my complex carbs around 75/day. I can maintain by keeping my carb intake primarily complex carbs and keeping my total around 120/day.

 

What it takes for me is to make a permanent change in my eating habits. I am addicted to simple carbs, and I will be fighting this addiction for the rest of my life. As long as I don't eat them, I don't crave them. As soon as I eat some I begin to crave more. There is no such thing for me as eating just one doughnut, or eating just one slice from a cake or pie, or eating just one serving from a carton of ice cream, or even having just one roll made from enriched flour. I *will* go back for more; if not immediately, then the next day and the next day, until it is gone. And eating any one of those things will drastically increase the likelihood of me giving in to the temptation to eat something else with simple carbs. I have to eat simple carbs rarely or it becomes a huge struggle. I have literally locked myself in the bathroom at my church because I was crying and shaking while battling the urge to eat a doughnut that someone offered me.

 

I also have to focus on portion size because I no longer have a gauge to tell when I am full. I don't ever feel full. I have stuffed myself with an obviously excessive amount of food and not felt full. I used to get an internal feeling of fullness, but I don't any more...I only get an external feeling when my belly is stretched enough from engorgement to feel painful. Consequently, my brain is constantly telling me I am hungry. I battle hunger around the clock, and I have to use logic and convince my brain that I am not hungry unless it has been a sufficient amount of time since my last meal for me to actually be hungry.

 

I focus on carb intake for weight loss because first, it was the only thing that worked for me (counting calories and exercise did not); and second, after eating low carb for three months I had a physical that included a glucose test, and I came up as pre-diabetic. That was after eating low carb...I don't want to even think about what it might have been before that. I had a follow-up glucose test after eating low carb for another three months and it had dropped below the pre-diabetic range. Knowing that eating simple carbs can and will bring me back up to being pre-diabetic (and eventually diabetic) is a huge motivation for me to stick with eating a diet low in simple carbs. This is something I will have to do for the rest of my life; I have no choice. I would love to go back to eating all the simple carbs I wanted (my typical day probably ranged from 200-250 carbs, easily), but that option will lead to type II diabetes and all the complications that it can involve.

[Xuzi]

Xuzi, can you please elaborate on this when you have time?  I think we do "okay" here, but could do better.

 

How does one find the balance of making good, healthy meals that also don't take a lot of time?

 

I have my own "convenience" foods. And I generally eat the same things for breakfast, lunch and snacks, then change it up for dinner.

 

For example: for breakfast I make a veggie omelette, for lunch a green salad, and then have some cheese and/or pre-cut veggies for snacks.

 

When I get home from my grocery shopping trips I start prepping my food. For the omelette I chop up a zucchinni and a red bell pepper, put them in a plastic container, and put it in the fridge. This way, when morning comes, all I have to do is scramble the eggs, grab a small handful of the chopped veggies, and add some seasonings and shredded cheese to make my omelette. It takes longer to make than a bowl of cereal, but not terribly long (about 5 minutes) and because the flavors are fresh and strong, it's far more satisfying

 

For lunches I have a big, lidded bowl to which I add 1 bag of spinach, 1 bag of 3 romain hearts (chopped), 1 chopped cucumber, and 1 bunch chopped radishes. This big bowl lasts about 5-6 days (I'll sometimes have leftovers for lunch, instead of the salad). I also dump 3-4 frozen chicken breasts into a pot and cook them up, then slice them and package them to have on hand to add to the salad, or add to my kids' lunches, or just munch on.

 

For snacks I have bags of celery and carrots that I've pre-cut (or purchased pre-cut), a block of sharp cheddar cheese that I'll cut slices off of, a constantly re-stocked fruit bowl (usually apples and bananas), and various no-sugar-added jams, peanut butter, whole-fat plain yogurt or cottage cheese (to add the jams to), and dried fruits and nuts.

 

You won't find any bags of chips or boxes of crackers in my house at. all. because I do not have the will-power to not eat them. You can't eat what's not there.

 

ETA: For what my kids and the rest of the family eats, they inhale the fruits and veggies and pre-cooked chicken breast for snacks (my middle child loves adding fresh cracked pepper to the chicken), and I have store-bought whole wheat tortillas for making quesadillas and wraps, whole wheat bread for PB&J, tuna, or grilled cheese sandwiches for lunches. Dinner is where I do my most intensive cooking, but even then I have some fall-back recipes for when I don't have time (like eggs and bacon, or quesadillas with a veggie on the side)