Maintaining weight loss

rosehill

Fri, Mar 19 2010, 11:42 am

I lost a lot of weight over the past year. I'm smaller than I've been in my entire adult life. I'm very happy with my current weight.
I didn't go on a "diet", I just changed how and when I eat, and exercise a little more consistently.
I'm starting to see some of the bad habits creep back, though, and I'm afraid of going back to how I used to be.
Anyone here ever lost a bunch of weight, and kept it off for a year or more?
I'd love to hear about your experience. Any challenges you've faced, and how you overcome them.
Thanks.

chocolate moose

Fri, Mar 19 2010, 11:53 am

Good thread.

I went from 139 to 113 lbs.; took me half a year. I hover around 119-122 now, though, and yes - it's a challenge to exercise and eat healthy, witout a goal right in front of my face.

Specially at a simcha or yomtov.

What works for me, more or less, is to convert my treats into healthy ones, and limit them, too, without creating a craving and a binge.

It's quite a delicate ... dance.

amother

Fri, Mar 19 2010, 12:35 pm

I don't know. Either you want it or you don't. Whatever psychologically motivated me to lose it motivates me to keep it off. I didn't lose weight 123 or on a diet program either, I did a lot of soul searching (for years) about why I was overweight in the first place and how I emotionally related to food, etc.

For me, if it starts to creep back up and I don't care enough to fix it is a sign that something is off for me emotionally and I am using food the wrong way (to block the feelings) and it means that I need to work on something that isnt relate to food. I don't know what your situation is so I don't know if this applies.

rosehill

Fri, Mar 19 2010, 1:03 pm

amother wrote:

That's actually very similar to my story. I really addressed my "emotional eating", as well as my "mindless eating". It's incredible how many calories you can pack in without even knowing it!!!

This week was an extremely stressful week for me. Maybe that's why I'm noticing the problem now. I have found myself downing a handful of jelly beans while reading my e-mail without really being hungry, or enjoying the food. That's something I used to do ALL THE TIME, but have been able to control of late.

Will I need to reteach myself all the principals? Or will it become natural again once the stress is relieved?

FLowerpower, I know what you mean. I have lost weight before, but never kept it off. That's one of the reasons I really believe it's an emotional problem, as amother was saying. We all know in theory what we need to do: eat less and move more. But that is unsustainable if we don't look at the reasons WHY we were overeating in the first place.

Thank you. This gives me a lot to think about.

amother

Fri, Mar 19 2010, 1:10 pm

I hate to say it, but I don't think it ever becomes natural. If Ive been an emotional eater from birth practically I don't believe that you can unlearn that in a tiny sliver of time. Some things just become too ingrained in you and it's a constant struggle. Definitely easier, but someone like me will always have to consciously keep on her toes. Eating to deal with my feelings is just something that works too well for me (in some ways) and that I practiced far too long.