Weight maintenance is so much harder than it used to be!

Ronni said:
All my life I've been slender, never had to worry about what I ate, gained under 25 pounds each pregnancy (5 kids) which I quickly shed, and had no weight issues at all, just fluctuated between 130 and 135. I'm 5' 8 1/2 so that was a good weight for me. Don't hate me for all that, because it didn't last....menopause hit OMG!!! :mad:

I was close to 15 pounds heavier before it really hit home that this wasn't just my normal fluctuation. Another 15 pounds before I realized that focusing on losing the weight wasn't going to cut it, I first of all needed to just stop the gain!!! Another 10 pounds before I ended up tipping the scale at 175 pounds before I managed to even stop gaining! At least it was evenly distributed so I didn't look quite as heavy as I was.

Tried every current diet out there to lose the weight, to no avail. Lose a bit, gain it back. Finally, after doing much research about what was happening to my body, I finally realized that I had to evolve a "diet" <way of eating> that I could maintain for the rest of my life, because I wasn't ever again going to be able to be eat the way I used to, and I needed to figure out a way to eat that I could actually sustain for the rest of my life, once the weight was gone, and that would facilitate a slow and steady loss rather than the dramatic plummet I was originally going for.

With much chagrin because it was the very LAST thing I wanted to do and the thing I had avoided up till this point, I started counting calories. Ugh. I found an app (My fitness Pal) that made that chore less onerous. This was back in 2014. For the next year I slowly lost the weight, averaging 2 - 3 pounds a month, going from that original 175 pounds to a much more comfortable 145 pounds....still 10 pounds more than I'd averaged for so many years, but my body just kinda leveled out at that point, the weight loss stopped, my joints stopped hurting, I could move easily and quickly again, and I realized that unless I wanted to cut calories more drastically (and I didn't) this was now maintenance for me.

I've maintained that general weight since. I fluctuate some (143 - 147) but it stays in that general range. Or rather, it WAS staying in that range. I've noticed this last 6 months that it's gotten harder to maintain it. I'm eating the same, maintaining the same level of physical activity, but I'm struggling more and more with staying under 147. It's very frustrating.

My question to all is how have you maintained an acceptable weight? Are you walking, going to the gym, lifting, doing Pilates, what? I have to change something because what has worked for me this last 4 years is no longer as effective.

What's worked for you?
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I've gotten back to my lowest weight when I got sick last fall and lost my appetite and so ate less and lost weight. And I kept it up. Not that I needed to lose all that much. Since I retired and not tempted anymore because of pastries and stuff at work I already had lost some weight. I'm 5'2", small boned, and now weight 110 lbs. My only "secret" is to lose that appetite. Sometimes it might take getting interested in things that make one stop thinking about food all the time. Sorry, that's about all I can tell you that worked for me.
 
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Gary O' said:
I pulled up lame yesterday

No pickle ball or walking 3 miles for a bit

......aaand, my wife made bread

I won't be posting my weight for a few days

Gotta get to the store
out of butter
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Stop talking dirty, Gary. You know it's naughty to talk about home made bread on a weight management thread
 

Gary O' said:
I pulled up lame yesterday

No pickle ball or walking 3 miles for a bit

......aaand, my wife made bread

I won't be posting my weight for a few days

Gotta get to the store
out of butter
Click to expand...

I'm gonna hafta google pickle ball. I have no idea what that is.
 
OK, fresh resolve
Gonna get under 200 by 2020
The size 36 Wranglers are in the closet. mocking me.

My lady made some sorta dough balls of what is probably delicious
Can't
Won't

Having homemade soup sometime this evening
A medium breakfast tomorrow
and a sandwich around 2p
and soup....later...when I get hungry

I'm hobbled for a bit. That won't help.
But, it won't be an excuse
 
Hello my fellow height challenged friends. How is everyone?

Nice to see Trade was able to get under the 200lb mark.

Gary, did you hurt yourself playing pickle ball or were you trying to eat an entire loaf of your wife's awesome bread again and threw out yer back with swift hand to mouth motions?
 
Good morning all. Time for me to get serious. I was working, but not very hard, on shedding 2-3 lbs, went for a 2 week camping trip and came home with a couple more to keep those company.

5 pounds up is mui no bueno when heading into the holidays, not to mention a formal wedding in November. I am NOT about to buy a new dress for the godawful reason that the ones in my closet make me look like a sausage in snug casing. This may be the year of the pig but there's a limit to how fully I want to embrace that zodiac animal.

I'm wit' ya, boys! Full steam ahead.
 
Sigh..... hangs head. 😒
I’m right there with you my friend. I lost the 6 plus pounds and found half of it again. None of my current clothes fit me properly and I just truly dislike feeling this big so completely get where you are coming from.

The thing is I truly LOVE Thanksgiving and Christmas foods that come out these times of year and we all know we usually add on a few extra pounds over the holidays. Who wants to be dieting during the holidays? Not me soooooo......

I have to get serious about this. From this morning forward I am going to start my day with a smoothie.
I’ll work on some tasteful recipes and up my exercise. My bike hasn’t been used much at all this year but it’s going to soon. Those weights are going to be permanently parked in my living room so that if I’m going to watch tv, I can at least work on some muscle tone to help speed up my metabolism some.

My biggest complain is the discomfort. Even under garments don’t fit like they should.
Ouch! 🥺

Let’s do this Starsong.
Seriously.
 
JimW said:
Gary, did you hurt yourself playing pickle ball or were you trying to eat an entire loaf of your wife's awesome bread again and threw out yer back with swift hand to mouth motions?
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Oh, yer sooooooo funny, J
I'll be seeing you in the taproom...heh heh
 
Keesha said:
Sigh..... hangs head. 😒
I’m right there with you my friend. I lost the 6 plus pounds and found half of it again. None of my current clothes fit me properly and I just truly dislike feeling this big so completely get where you are coming from.

The thing is I truly LOVE Thanksgiving and Christmas foods that come out these times of year and we all know we usually add on a few extra pounds over the holidays. Who wants to be dieting during the holidays? Not me soooooo......

I have to get serious about this. From this morning forward I am going to start my day with a smoothie.
I’ll work on some tasteful recipes and up my exercise. My bike hasn’t been used much at all this year but it’s going to soon. Those weights are going to be permanently parked in my living room so that if I’m going to watch tv, I can at least work on some muscle tone to help speed up my metabolism some.

My biggest complain is the discomfort. Even under garments don’t fit like they should.
Ouch! 🥺

Let’s do this Starsong.
Seriously.
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My three prong plan:
1. Plenty of fruits and veggies, cut waaay back on simple carbs, fats and sweets. (Try to avoid sweets altogether because one cookie begets the next and the next until they're gone.)
2. Walk the neighborhood more.
3. Light dinner and no eating after 5:30 pm. If desperate, a piece of fruit is ok. (Avoiding evening eating has actually been the most effective weight loss strategy I've ever used.)

This has worked in the past few years. (As has a nasty case of the flu, but let's hold off on that.)

TG-Christmas is a food intensive time, what with all the parties and gatherings we host and attend, plus the pizzas and cookies that get churned out of my kitchen during those 30 days. (Over 100 pizzas and 4500-5000 cookies.) I'm hyper-aware of the results of splurging from past overindulgences so I'm careful to only pick up a couple of holiday pounds to be dealt with in January. Yet another point in favor of entering the season at my fighting weight!

You're on, Keesha. Let's do this.
Seriously.

Today: Up 5 pounds.
 
How about I gain a few pounds and join you gals? The more the merrier. 🥰

Actually, I think I'll try to go ahead and see if I can lose two pounds for my morning weigh-in's

After all, it's not just lose and done. It has to be something to always keep going steady with .
 
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Olivia said:
How about I gain a few pounds and join you gals? The more the merrier. 🥰

Actually, I think I'll try to go ahead and see if I can lose two pounds for my morning weigh-in's

After all, it's not just lose and done. It has to be something to always keep going steady with .
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Come on in, Olivia. The water's fine!
 

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