Maintainers a question for you.

[umayya]

How many of you have made it to goal?

Hello everyone, I am having a hard time staying on plan. I start new, it seems every week. I am scared that if I do stick to plan, and I do loose, what if it comes back? Im scared that I could not commit my whole life. Right now I keep gaining and losing the same 13 lbs.

Since you lost your weight is it hard to maintian? Do find the weight stays off easily, or is it waiting to jump back on? I just wonder if I do commit and I do loose the weight will I screw it up in the end?

There is so many of us struggling, and very few have made it to goal, I just dont know if I can do it.

[CorgiGirl]

My original goal was 125 which I reached last summer. I dropped my goal 3 more times after that before deciding I felt best at 110 or below. My wt goes up and down a few lbs based on what I eat and how much exercise I get. I hold water wt easily but drop it without too much effort. Exercise is very important in losing wt and maintaining the wt loss.

It is worth it to stick to your plan and lose the wt. Try to make a commitment to sticking to your plan for two weeks. Take it one day at a time. I think that once you lose the wt you need to lose, you will not want to go back to old unhealthy eating habits and gain the wt back. Best wishes to you.
Vickie

[shawneesioux]

Hi Umayya

First, let me ask YOU a question: do ya want to be healthy? You are young, probably got another 40-50 years to live. (In a year or less, you could be at your goal weight. Imagine! Ya gotta make choices bout HOW you want those upcoming years to be.

As with ANY kind of weight loss program, if ya go OFF it, ya gain the weight back. Fact of life. To give into the fear of gaining is to sabotage yourself.
How about committing just ONE day at a time? Each day you eat healthier is a Plus for yourself.

Some Maintainers have a very easy time, some struggle to maintain, its an individual thing. No guarantees, we don't know til we get to goal. If we want it badly enough, we can stay around goal weight by working our WOEs correctly...barring any medications and medical conditions that cause weight gain.

I personally have to fight at times to Maintain, cause I'm Hypothyroid, and it messes with my metabolism...but I refuse to give in to it, and use it for an excuse to be fat. Also, I'm scared of becoming Diabetic, so I want to keep my weight at goal, and bad food out of my life..

Best wishes, and hoping ya come to a healthy decision.

Shawnee

[OrchidCactus]

What Shawnee said.

For me, maintaining is pretty easy, but that's not always the case. The general rule of thumb is to watch closely enough so that if you do gain, you never gain more than you can lose in a week of 'clean eating'.

You CAN do it, but you have to WANT to do it. One of the things I use as an incentive is a 25 lb bag of dog food. I have maintained a 25 lb loss for a number of years now, and every time I pick up a bag of dog food I think about how it would feel to carry it around with me everywhere. I don't want to do that, so I keep watch over what I eat (for the most part!). I know what I can and can't do regarding my metabolism, and I know what my triggers are. If I take that first bite of sugary crap, I KNOW I will have a hard time staying out of it after that. I also know I will feel physically yucky if I go on a carb binge. Does that always stop me? No. But, I know what to do and have no one to blame but myself if I do eat junk. Of course, after that I do eat cleaner for quite a while so I DON'T feel yucky.

You have to do it for yourself, and if you are afraid to get healthy/thin please do some soul searching to find out what the real reasons are that it scares you. Whenever you change something about yourself, you will have to acclimate to it. Weight loss, especially significant weight loss, will have a psychological effect on you. Your perception of you will take time to change as well.

Please do it, if for nothing else than being healthier!

[LoveMontana]

It's rather easy to maintain at goal if you really want it and become used to this way of eating. That means NO cheats and good , clean eating.

I recently quit smoking and gained 6 lbs without changing my eating pattern at all, ( lol my doctor will be happy I gained a bit) so now I'm going to drop back to a lower carb level until things settle down. No biggie, I can do it.

You can do it too. Do it for your health.

[shawneesioux]

Umayya,

Ginny is so right in her statement:

You have to do it for yourself, and if you are afraid to get healthy/thin please do some soul searching to find out what the real reasons are that it scares you.

A lot of us do seem to have "unconscious reasons" to wear fat as a protective cover....

I was so hurt and depressed after losing my daughter, I just wanted to comfort myself with all the wrong foods, and hide behind my fatness...like it was a protective barrier, to prevent more pain from reaching my heart.

Survivor's Guilt for a Mom was a heavy burden to carry. After two years of that self-destructive behavior, I had my lightbulb moment: That I would probably live a lot more years, and I had to darn well get healthier, to avoid the pitfalls of of being overweight.

My SIL and a dear friend both had been overweight most of their lives; they had both been sexually abused as kids. They used bodyfat as a shield to ward off male attention. Once they figured out/accepted the blame/ shame was NOT theirs to bear, they were able to lose weight....and be proud of their bodies.

Tons of reasons why people have fears, you are not alone

I may be way off base about your "fears", but it also might give ya something to think about.

Blessings!

Shawnee

[umayya]

Thankyou everyone for your replies.

Shawnee I am so sorry for the loss of your daughter. Im so glad you pulled yourself together, it must have been so hard for you.

I do feel like crap because, I have been registered here for almost 2 years. While many people have lost over 100 lbs since that time, I struggle just to keep my 13 lbs. So it is so dissappointing when you see others changing their lives while your woe is a big struggle. I definately dont have a problem with being thin. I was thin all my life until I had kids. I seemed to gain 15-20 with each child. 3 kids an extra 60 lbs. I would love to be skinny again. I just have problems with control. I think also I need to plan better. But I was invited for dinner at my brother in laws house. It was all carbs. And I didnt eat a bite. That is a miracle for me. Lets just see if I can get through tomorrow.

And I have to learn how to substitute carbs for low carb. I am so confused with all this. Like what is the best flour to have or milk, bread etc. So at least if I do give in, I'll have the healthier version. I do need to readjust my thinking big time.

Anyway I been on plan for 6 days, with one screw up on Thursday. But have stuck to plan besides that. So here I go day, by day.

[shawneesioux]

Hi Umayya
Lovely name, by the way!

Good for you, getting back on Plan...taking it one day at a time. Also...that you didn't indulge in the carbs while attending BIL's dinner. But to have NOTHING? Next time, maybe you could say " I'd like to bring ___________ " (LC foods that all would enjoy)....Salads and meat/veggie casseroles for instance.

Do you have any medical conditions (Diabetes, Hypothyroid, taking BC pills) that would interfere with your weight loss? Or is it a matter of not being in control? I know ya must get frustrated, that's why One day at a time is so important. Since you've tried for two years and not getting very far, maybe Atkins isn't for you. There are other LC Diets like South Beach, etc..that may be more to your liking...frankly, simply eating LOWER carb helps some people.

Wow, since ya live in OZland, I have no idea what is available to you there.
Could ya order anything from Nutrition, that sponsors this Board?
Do ya have Splenda available there?

As far as flour goes, there's not ONE particular kind that takes the place of "regular" white flour. I use combos of ground nuts/ flaxseed/ gluten as flour replacements in most baked goods.

Do ya have any Hood's Carbcountdown milk products? I personally don't use too many so-called LC store bought stuff, other than Hood's and Splenda-related stuff.
Since you kinda know that you "may" slide off into non-LC stuff, try to find things like 100% Whole Wheat or Rye breads....to keep the carbs as healthy and low as possible.
If you MUST have real flour around, use whole wheat.

Probably the best advice I can give you, since you want to find out what to "sub" for higher carbs, is to have ya take a look at the Recipe Help Board...
Since you apparently are cooking for 3 kids too, it would be helpful to find recipes your whole family would enjoy.
There's tons of good LC recipes there...like the Crockpot ones.
http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/forumdisplay.php?f=9

Best wishes

Shawnee

[umayya]

Dearest Shawnee,

Thank you for taking the time to reply to me. I am sorry it took so long posting back to you. There have been alot of things going on, on my end.

I am pretty healthy, (I hope). No medications, and no sickness. However, both my parents and both grandfathers are (were) diabetics. So I can totally see that in my future. Especially the way I am addicted to sugar and carbs. I know this plan would be healthy for me, but its just my control problem. I think If I lived alone, I would be fine. But with my husband and family members inviting you over all the time, or you inviting them its really hard to stick to it.

I could have brought something to my brother in laws that day, but I didnt know about it till the last minute. And it wasnt a dinner, dinner. It was like and evening snack. She made like fries, and spring rolls and some meat pies. If I did know ahead of time I could have brought something, but I ate before I left home anyway. So I didnt miss out.

We do have splenda here and thats about it. No lowcarb milk, or low carb anything. It was quite depressing. Yesterday I was checking out the Netrition.com website. You guys have so many things. You are so lucky. Im not saying to overdo it and take advantage of it. But its so nice to have those things available. I am going home to Michigan in June, I am going to try to stock up on a few things while Im there.

So how did you start LCing. And how long did it take you to loose the weight. And what made you stick to it.

Thanks again,
Love Umayya

[shawneesioux]

Hi Umayya

Hope that your life has settled down a bit now, and you can concentrate on what you need to do for your WOE.

OK< you should be an expert on the Diabetes thing, with it so rampant in your family.

I've certainly not above laying a bit of a guilt trip on ya...since I'm old enough to be your mom
Just look at your Avatar: There's THREE beautiful reasons to get yourself slimmer, and eating better...stay diabetes-free...and in your Golden years, be fit enough to chase your grandkids.
I also know too well the downsides of diabetes, and don't wanna put myself or my family thru it. Too many of them already dealing with it...I wanna hang onto my sight, my legs.... and to avoid medications, injections, the constant glucose monitoring, etc.

OK, enough of the lecture. Just remember, if I didn't care about you (Mom of three !!)...I wouldn't bother giving ya the Tough Love routine.

Dealing with Family meals can be a pain, but you CAN do it. Muster up your courage and TELL them you are gonna save yourself from the family curse of diabetes...by making healthier choices. AND, if YOU eat healthier, bet your bottom dollar, eventually your kids will be eating healthier too. A good thing for them, huh?

Yes, you can do LC without having lowcarb "products" available. Splenda is the ONE thing I need to make my WOE doable...and you have that.

If you cannot commit to a full-blown LC Plan, take baby steps and ease yourself into better choices, fewer bad carbs.
Basically, that's what I did...first I avoided potatoes and white bread and sugar....replaced by squashes, zucchini, lots of other "approved" veggies...and Splenda. For bread, I used Flaxmeal, almond meal, etc and made my own breads and muffins. I buy it in bulk and grind my own in a coffee grinder.
Slowly changing my high carbs to lower ones, and getting myself adjusted wasn't too hard, tho I did (still do) have the same problems with some family members as you face...my DH would live on potatoes and gravy if I let him, he wants pizza, etc all the time. Since I do the cooking, he has to eat mostly LC. Here's one good thing that's happened to him because of my LC cooking: (he drinks a lot of beer )...his last Glucose Test was 92 !!!! AND he loves the LC things I make...just learn to substitute in your recipes.

Oh, yeah...it took me about 7 months to lose 42 lbs. Not bad, considering I'm older than dirt and have hypothyroidism. I work at keeping it off cause I feel better, not lugging that 40+ lbs around, I look better, and I'm avoiding MY family curse of diabetes.

Hope that's answered some of your concerns.

Good luck to you, Umayya...take care of yourself now....cause you could be a Gramdma in 15-20 years, and will need the energy.

Blessings

Shawnee

[umayya]

Shawnee

I dont mind any tough love, I think I need a good kick in the butt most of the time. And you were far from being tough. Your words were too sweet.

I know I need to do this. And Im really sick of screwing this up. I do jump in with 2 feet and maybe thats why I cant do it. Maybe I should slow down, and start like you did. This way when I know how to substitute, then I think I'll be able to make the right choices when Im in a tough spot. Also this ketosis thing, when Im in ketosis, and I feel like I ruined it, I feel like I mise well eat and take advantage of it since Im not in Ketosis. So when i have a big cheat its usually because of that.

What about yogurt? Can you have that?

And 42 lbs in 7 months is really good, considering it took me 2 years to loose 13 lbs.

Thanks again for your wonderful advice.
Love umayya

[shawneesioux]

Hi again

Oh, Gawd ! I blew it, coming across as SWEET, when I'm really a tough ol' broad!

Uymayya, lots of LC people are doing yogurt. Since I did it "my way" just for myself...(and certainly included it), I'd suggest that you do it whatever works best for YOU personally.
As I've probably said before, one of the reasons I didn't do a particular "plan" was because I had read too many posts of "I've cheated" and too many re-Inductions posts. Lots of folk need and like the tight structure of a particular Plan. I just preferred to do it my way, without guilt and stress over rules that I didn't particularly agree with. Even the authors of famous LC Plans disagree with each other...I may not be as smart as they, but I can think for myself. I paid my money for their books...used the ideas I knew I could live with, and ignored the rest. LC is simple: learn what to eat, what to avoid...I didn't count carbs...some days I probably ate 20 if I wasn't hungry; some days I probably hit over 100...I still eat the same way in maintenance.
My way is not for everyone; do what's best for YOU.


Now bend over, let's get this over with...here's some Tough Love :

Shawnee

[umayya]

Thanks shawnee, yeah, yeah your getting tough now!!!

Thanks sweeti pie!!!