I lost the weight! Will I be able to keep it off? 6 months countdown!

W

wulsk

New member
Welcome to my 6 months countdown diary.

I am not a newbie in this site but I am new in the diary section. Some people do know me from the challenges' section. I am almost 29 y.o. female and I have managed to lose about 70 pounds. My name is Yuliana, but you can call me just Yu (nice and easy to type).

I have been very successful due to my determination, high motivation and self control. One should think that now I am over the moon and life is wonderful but it is not. I have found I had developed bad habits of occassional binging. Furthermore, now that I have reached my goal, I had lost the motivation to stay on track.

I desperately need to go back to normality, to eat healthy, to exercise regularly and to solve those weight issues once and forever. I suppose I will often need advices and I must keep myself accountable.

I have set the following range for my weight - any number between 59 kg. (129.8 lbs) - 64 kg. (140.8 lbs) will be considered a success!

And now the assingment: 6 months from now I want to be able to report to you that I am still within this range.

There are lots of things to add but one thing at a time.

P.S. I don't like paradeing myself in the net but I guess I should present my achievement. The before picture is only 6 days after I started my "weight loss project" (I am borrowing this excellent expression from someone very special, I am sure many will guess who this person is :)); the after picture is at the day I hit my initial goal.

Yu
 
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Hey, you look great!

Nice to have a fellow maintainer here. I really found that it took me a good month to feel I'd successfully transitioned from losing to maintaining. A much harder transition than the one from maintaining to losing, which surprised me.
 
:hurray: Hi, Yu!

CAN YOU DO IT? YES, YOU CAN!!!! You have already done such an amazing thing by losing the weight to begin with. 70 lbs!! Wow! you are right, you need to get your eating into a healthy, manageable, daily habit. A yummy splurge once per week is fine for me - but you will have to sort out what works for you.

There is NO DOUBT in my mind that you can succeed and keep the weight off if you have a plan and follow it - just like you did to lose the weight in the first place.

Best wishes on this new phase of your journey,
ABBA :driving:
 
Hi Yuliana!
I was so happy to see you've started a diary. :)

Good luck with your maintaining. I'm sure you'll do fine. :hug2:
 
:iagree::iagree:
bikinibound said:
Hi Yuliana!
I was so happy to see you've started a diary. :)

Good luck with your maintaining. I'm sure you'll do fine. :hug2:
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:iagree::iagree:

Having successfully concluded your weight loss project - I know that you will have an equally successful weight maintenance project.

Take care
Love
Margaret
 
Thank you guys for your warm welcome! I should ask you never to hate me if I seem quiet. Sometimes it's difficult for me to track things.

However one of the many reasons to make the final decision for a diary is that I am going to express myself in English which actually will help in my studies as well... so 2 birds with one bullet :sifone:

I had a half crap/half good day. In the morning I had a major break down - I cried and felt bad and didn't want to exercise, and didn't know how to proceed and basically decided to give up weight loss and to become fat again and to quit the diary and the forum for good...

After taking this firm decision, I put my pilates on and did good 50 minutes, then went out for my walk.

OMG this diary thing worked already!

I am still extremely buffled what to do to keep my weight. The only thing I am sure about is this range I set. I natuarally prefer to be at the lower side of it, not at the heavy side as I am now....:ack2:

I don't want to count calories, I don't want to do more than 10-15 min of vigorous exercising a day. I don't want to eat as little as I do now.

I don't want to lose my fitness and good shape. I don't like to see the cellulite again. I don't know how much "treat" is accpetable... I don't know how to control the insane binging when it strikes...

My head is full of questions. But today was a half good day after all and that's what matters.

Yu
 
Well done for doing the exercise and turning a potentially bad day into a good day.

I always feel like I am having a good day if I do my long walk.

Those of us still losing will face all the same problems as you are facing - and I am sure that people on the forum now maintaining will have faced those same problems.
 
Phoebe, I really do thank you for telling me this. It doesn't sound realistic to me now but I know that it was also absolutely unrealistic to think I would ever be able to lose this amount of weight. I know that as long as I don't give up I will be successful - no matter how often I have ups and downs.

Margaret, thanks... I really want you to come to this stage as well because you have such a lucid approach that I will need to copy your ideas. We are doing a bit different things in order to lose our weight but I do definitelly like and apply you systematic and scientific method (well to some extend only :))

What happened today? Well, I was very annoyed this morning again because the binging weight doesn't want to go away for a second day of being good. It was NEVER the case before. Usuaully I start losing immediately when I am back on track and it takes me only 5-6 days to hit a new low. Well not this time obviously. :ack2:

I went to college later and I totally cheered up. We had some fun class about cockney slang and I enjoyed it so much! I love languages and learning new things!

Let's see what the scale will tell tomorrow. I am keeping this level of exercises till the end of the challenge. Then I will decrease them and pray not to gain weight. I have an exam in June so I need more time to study.

Love ya,
Yu
 
Hey there! I'm trying to maintain as well (even though self-consciously I'm still hoping to lose). I've grown so accustomed to always trying to lose weight, it is HARD to know how to maintain. I'll try to keep up with your diary so maybe we can help each other out! :)
 
gymchica said:
Hey there! I'm trying to maintain as well (even though self-consciously I'm still hoping to lose). I've grown so accustomed to always trying to lose weight, it is HARD to know how to maintain. I'll try to keep up with your diary so maybe we can help each other out! :)
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Hi hun,

Thanks for stopping :)

I certainly find familiar this feeling to want to lose more and more. Let's be honest - there is not much glory in maintaining. It's not only that you still have to be aware and careful what you eat at all times but there is no reward when you hop on the scales in the morning. :iagree:

I thought of this and decided to keep the element of losing. What do I mean? Well I have a range of weight which I am happy to see. Within this range I have a smaller range where I must be at most of the time... However I have decided that before important social events when I want to look stunning I will aim to drop down to the lowest point of my extended range. There are many benefits of this approach I think - 1. it will be a very lean shape which I won't be seeing very often so I will be very excited; 2. it will keep the joy and motivation of losing; 3. it will open room for possible treats and I won't be going insane seeing the scales shooting above my set upper border. I am pretty happy with this plan of mine.

I still don't have any idea technically how I will achieve it though.

Well I have better result on the scales today. I am still in "losing" mode till the end of this month. Probably I will start listing my foods in May if I have the patience to.

Yu
:waving:
 
hello! congrats for 70 lb loss!
Hang in there!
What did you do to lose the 70lbs and how long did it take u?
 
Don't be sad, girl! You have accomplished so much--you should be happy. :)

As long as you get on that scale at least once a week, you can keep any gains nipped in the bud so that you haven't put on 10lbs before you know it.

Once you're done with the challenge, you can start eating more and exercising less. I think working out 1hr 3X per week is more than sufficient exercise. As to your calories, you should be able to eat around 1800-2000calories per day. I think the trick to eating properly without counting calories is to keep naughty foods in moderation--no binging--or keep the binging to one day per week...lol. If you look at how people without weight problems eat, they keep the bad stuff limited. Sure, have some ice cream--just have a small portion and not a huge bowl, you know? As long as you're eating good foods the majority of the time, you won't gain weight from small indulgences.

You may find that you tend to gain weight easily now, and have a harder time taking it off. I think that is due to your metabolism slowing down from all the dieting. The only way to get it back up there is to eat more. Sure, you might gain some weight, but it has to happen to get your metabolism where it should be. Then the weight will come back off.

Don't worry, dear--you'll be just fine. :hug2:
 
Girls,

Thanks for stopping. I am having a really hard time! I have gained lots of pounds, can't pull myself together and my regimen is a mess.

Amber, it took me about 9 months to lose this weight. All through this period my food was more or less the same: 3 main meals + 2 snacks. I really used to eat quite small portions and often would realise I had below 1400 calories. I find this a major mistake now because I think it screwed my metabolsim as Kim (Bikinibond) correctly suggested. I think it screwed my mind too, I have huge appetite now. Well I always had. I have binging tendencies but I wouldn't call myself emotional eater, I do it because I love the food and I am picky what I am binging with - it has to be tasty. I wouldn't overeat with meat for instance.

My exercises increased all the time and from a simple slow 60 min walk a day they reached 60 min walk a day + 50min/1 hour other exercises on avarage everyday (cardio DVD or Pilates). They worked miracles for me and I am really strong now. I was never able to do any push ups in my life. Now I can do 3 good ones and 1 rubbish last one lol.

Oh well, I am not feeling focused now. I am sorry I am not good support lately, guys. You can't imagine my shame regarding the challenge as well. :banghead: :banghead::banghead:
 
Please don't be so hard on yourself, Yu, dear. :) You have done an amazing thing. It is natural that it will take time to get your metabolism back up there. Seriously--you will have to eat more and gain some weight back to get your met. back to normal. So your binging is not necessarily a bad thing. It will stabalize and start to go back down. How many calories have you been eating lately? When you exercise as much as you have been, you do need to eat more so as not to slow down your metabolism.

Just be patient, and try to keep your cals around 2000 for a bit. Things should level out soon. :)

:hug2:
 
I agree, you shouldn't really be so hard on yourself. Things take time, and there are going to be days when you feel great and others not so great. There is also nothing wrong with having a huge appettite, especially considering how much exercise you do. I have a huge appettie as well, and eat much more than all of my friends. The thing is though that I eat mostly healthy food, whereas they eat whatever and quite often, too little in my opinion. It messes with me mentally especially when we eat together because it makes me feel like a huge cow. When I am realistic and look at it objectively though, I am thinner than all of them.

Anyway I hope you're feeling better. Like I said before, we all have bad days. Just the other day I flipped out and got soo upset because my boyfriend brought Chinese for himself over to my apartment at 10 pm. It's a long story, but needless to say, my crying and anger pretty much ruined the entire night. On top of it, I made him lose his appettite and he didn't even want his food anymore. I was SO mad at MYSELF for hours for ruining a perfectly good night and kept saying how much I hated myself for being so crazy. It sucked, but I'm feeling much better now and hopefully have learned from the experience!!
 
Hi Yuliana

I hope that you are feeling a little brighter than you were. You havent been around much lately.

It doesnt surprise me that you are encountering difficulties with getting your head round maintaining. I can imagine that I will have the same difficulties. There is a reward to seeing a loss on the scales, a measurement improvement in inches and a new clothes size looking great. As you say - none of these rewards come with maintenance. All the same hard work and all that you can say is that none of the rewards previously earned disappear.

I am toying with the concept of changing my ticker at that time so that it is one that counts up the amount of walking done that month. I know that I have seen that kind of ticker about. Something that makes me feel like I am getting somewhere. My current ticker works for me currently while I am still trying to lose - but I know that it will stop working for me when I get to goal.

I am sure that any gain that you will have will be minor and easily rectified. I am currently sitting on a gain myself. I got a lot of swelling and water retention following my surgery (my weight was initially up by 8 pounds - a great reward for days with hardly any food!).

I know that you mention that you use DVDs for your exercise. Which DVDs do you use? Would you recommend them? I have cancelled my keep fit classes at the adult education centre for this term because I am not allowed to bend, stretch, lift anything or do anything energetic for the next 6 weeks or so. This means that I am going to buy some DVDs to use for exercise (as soon as I am allowed) as there will be a long gap before the classes start again in September.

Take care
Love
Margaret
 
Hi Yuliana

I must say that I am getting a bit worried about you. It is so unlike you to stay away for so long.

Dont worry if it is just that you have put on a few pounds - we have all been there and done that.

You have lots of friends here that care for you and are wondering what has happened to you.

Take care
Love
Margaret
 
wulsk said:
I have gained lots of pounds, can't pull myself together and my regimen is a mess.

often would realise I had below 1400 calories. I find this a major mistake now because I think it screwed my metabolsim
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I've been on vacation, so just saw this.

IMHO, there's a good chance you neither gained a lot of weight nor screwed up your metabolism. If you've added a significant amount of carbs back to your diet, odds are you're retaining a bunch more water related to that. (Glycogen holds 4 times its own weight in water, or something like that.) My weight is pretty stable at about 3-4 pounds higher than my lowest while-losing weight. So you could easily be up 5 pounds without any "real" weight gain.

As far as your metabolism goes, I was under 1300 calories the vast majority of the time I was losing, with no plateaus or slowdowns, so I know my metabolism wasn't slowing significantly. And I had the same feeling for hte first couple of weeks of maintenance. Switching to maintaining just sucks.

Get back on the horse. :)
 
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