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

201 this morning. Down 9 lbs after 33 days.

I've been doing some more research and I'm thinking that when I get down to 200, I'm going to take a break for a while. I'm just tired of being hungry a lot of the time. I'll consider that I've hit 200 when my weight is at 200 or less for three straight days. Then I'm going to go back to my maintenance program, which is to weigh every morning and if my weight is more than 200 on any given day, I will cut back for that day.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2...a-break-from-your-diet-study-says_a_23215778/
A new study has revealed taking a break from dieting may be the key to long term weight loss.
The study, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia, saw two groups of obese men take part in a 16-week diet which cut calorie intake by one third.
Sounds pretty standard, right?
Except one group maintained the diet continuously for 16 weeks, while the other group dieted for two weeks, then broke from the diet for two weeks (so basically two weeks on, two weeks off) for a period of 30 weeks.
(It's important to note the two weeks off didn't mean a two week free-for-all, rather that the participants ate simply "to keep their weight stable".)
While the total 'dieting period' came to 16 weeks for both groups, the intermittent diet group not only lost more weight, but also gained less weight after the trial finished.
So what does all this mean?
"If you think of it from the point of view of an athlete training, when we put an athlete into an exercise training program, we don't -- or we shouldn't -- keep them on the same training dose every day," research leader Professor Nuala Byrne from the University of Tasmania told HuffPost Australia.
"We vary it. In exercise training we refer to that as mesocycles or microcycles. We do a cycled program that puts them into higher stressed periods and lower stress periods so they can get an adaptive response.
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Now some people might suggest that I am just using the above study as an excuse to go off my diet for a while. And to them I say: "You're damn right I am!"
 

Trade said:
I've been doing some more research and I'm thinking that when I get down to 200, I'm going to take a break for a while. I'm just tired of being hungry a lot of the time. I'll consider that I've hit 200 when my weight is at 200 or less for three straight days. Then I'm going to go back to my maintenance program, which is to weigh every morning and if my weight is more than 200 on any given day, I will cut back for that day.
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Bingo
Since moving to town I ballooned 8 lbs
That's about two months
I've cut back on volume
Half meals
Two meals a day
Walking at least two miles
Playing hand ball

Weighing every day
That's huge for me
Shows the trend

I'll be 200 lbs by end of summer, of which ain't that far away

I'd like to say I miss the chores (work out) of cabin life...but I don't
 
Trade said:
201 this morning. Down 9 lbs after 33 days.

I've been doing some more research and I'm thinking that when I get down to 200, I'm going to take a break for a while. I'm just tired of being hungry a lot of the time. I'll consider that I've hit 200 when my weight is at 200 or less for three straight days. Then I'm going to go back to my maintenance program, which is to weigh every morning and if my weight is more than 200 on any given day, I will cut back for that day.
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Gary O' said:
I'll be 200 lbs by end of summer, of which ain't that far away

I'd like to say I miss the chores (work out) of cabin life...but I don't
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I hate you both! For whatever reason I just cannot get into the groove of losing weight these past few months. I've been hovering around 210-215 and just don't have the want to keep trying right now. I'm on vacation next week, when I get back I've really got to buckle down and get myself back to 200-205.
 

JimW said:
I hate you both! For whatever reason I just cannot get into the groove of losing weight these past few months.
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I was stuck at 215 for years. And before that I was stuck at 230 for years. Earlier this year I managed to drop 5 lbs to 210 and then got stuck there for months. It's rare that I get motivated enough to drop any weight. So I understand exactly where you are, having been there most of the time. It's a constant battle.
 
I’ve been able to lose weight recently. I found out that if I stick to 1400 cal per day I can reasonably lose 1 to 2 pounds a week comfortably. I’ve got about 20 to go and then that’s it and I’ll just maintain...I’ll keep my fingers crossed!
 
Lc jones said:
I’ve been able to lose weight recently. I found out that if I stick to 1400 cal per day I can reasonably lose 1 to 2 pounds a week comfortably. I’ve got about 20 to go and then that’s it and I’ll just maintain...I’ll keep my fingers crossed!
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You're like me, if I don't keep it under 1500 I don't lose anything. If I flirt to close to 2000 for a few days, I gain weight.
 
JimW said:
You're like me, if I don't keep it under 1500 I don't lose anything. If I flirt to close to 2000 for a few days, I gain weight.
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I'm using a formula of 10 calories per lbs. of my body weight goal, which right now is 200. Once I get to 200, if I want to go on down to 190 I'll have to adjust it to 1900 calories per day.
 
Trade said:
I'm using a formula of 10 calories per lbs. of my body weight goal, which right now is 200. Once I get to 200, if I want to go on down to 190 I'll have to adjust it to 1900 calories per day.
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Is that formula something you read somewhere, or is it something you came up with? It wouldn't work for me. Even when I was at 200lbs if I strayed over the 1500cals per day, my weight would go up.
 
Gary O' said:
I'm not counting cals....yet.
Just eating to not be hungry
We'll see
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I've been counting cals most of my adult life (since late twenties), it gets really old at times. I'm going through one of my "f*** it" stages right now. This happens every few years when I've had enough of the tired routine of counting cals. I'll gain 10 or 15 lbs and then I'll hit a point where I don't really feel good about myself and I'll get back on the that calorie counting horse again.
 
JimW said:
I'll hit a point where I don't really feel good about myself and I'll get back on the that calorie counting horse again.
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I may get there
This morning had one egg, one turkey sausage, one piece of homemade bread, slightly toasted....with a dollop of jam and smart balance and a slug of 2% milk from the jug
Not gonna eat anything more til around 3p or so
After that....fruit...all I want
The needle on the scale is goin' the right direction
 
Gary O' said:
I may get there
This morning had one egg, one turkey sausage, one piece of homemade bread, slightly toasted....with a dollop of jam and smart balance and a slug of 2% milk from the jug
Not gonna eat anything more til around 3p or so
After that....fruit...all I want
The needle on the scale is goin' the right direction
Click to expand...

That's about a 400cal breakfast and mostly protein, which is a good start to the day.

When I'm doing my under 1500cals a day, I usually try to keep breakfast and lunch around 300cals each, then 600 for supper. That gives me 200cals a day to have a snack if I get hungry between meals for a total of about 1400cals. If I really want to starve myself and lose weight fast, I'll keep it at 1200cals a day.
 
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JimW said:
Is that formula something you read somewhere, or is it something you came up with? It wouldn't work for me. Even when I was at 200lbs if I strayed over the 1500cals per day, my weight would go up.
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I got that from an Air Force doctor back when I was a medic at Columbus AFB Mississippi and got stuck with administering the weight control program which was affectionately known as "The Fat Boys Program" The Doctor was Dr. James Drynan. He also got stuck having to give the weight control lectures. I remember him saying that your body will use about 10 calories per lbs. if you just lay around and do nothing and about 15 calories per lbs if you are moderately active. So if you are moderately active and eat only 10 calories per lbs. you should lose at a rate of one to two lbs. a week. Now at the time he was speaking to young Air Force guys. But it still seems to be working for me.

I'm going to have to write up my experience with the Air Forces Fat Boys Program and put it in the diary section. That'll make a good story.

As an aside I googled Dr. James Drynan MD. and found one in Butte Montana. It says he 79 years old. That's about the right age. I wonder if that's him?
 
Trade said:
I got that from an Air Force doctor back when I was a medic at Columbus AFB Mississippi and got stuck with administering the weight control program which was affectionately known as "The Fat Boys Program" The Doctor was Dr. James Drynan. He also got stuck having to give the weight control lectures. I remember him saying that your body will use about 10 calories per lbs. if you just lay around and do nothing and about 15 calories per lbs if you are moderately active. So if you are moderately active and eat only 10 calories per lbs. you should lose at a rate of one to two lbs. a week. Now at the time he was speaking to young Air Force guys. But it still seems to be working for me.

I'm going to have to write up my experience with the Air Forces Fat Boys Program and put it in the diary section. That'll make a good story.

As an aside I googled Dr. James Drynan MD. and found one in Butte Montana. It says he 79 years old. That's about the right age. I wonder if that's him?
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Give Dr Drunyan a call for me please and ask him if he has a "Fat Boys With Ridiculously Slow Metabolisms Program". 😄
 
Bumped back up to 202 this morning. That sucks but one has to be able to deal with these day to day fluctuations. Overall I'm down 8 lbs. after 35 days, which is 5 weeks. That's an average of 1.6 lbs. a week which is right in the middle of that 1-2 lbs a week range that is supposed to be the ideal rate of weight loss. So I'll just stay with the program.
 
Trade said:
Bumped back up to 202 this morning. That sucks but one has to be able to deal with these day to day fluctuations
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That is the down side of weighing daily.
Still, I like to see the trend
If the needle goes up....I'm conscious of every bite and what it is
If the needle goes down, I may have something I shouldn't, but not much. Don't want to screw around much with success
 
202 again this morning. It would appear that that extra lb. I picked up has decided to hang around for a while.

Now I know what Thomas Paine meant when he said "These are the times that try men's souls".

He must have been on a diet plateau.
 
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