Lost alot of weight (45 pounds)...what now?

Mandi2

Mandi2

New member
Well I'm now down to 115. I'm still eating 1300 calories a day, it used to be 1200 but I increased it, and I still work out at least 5 days a week. However the problem is I have a HUGE fear of gaining all the weight back, like if I eat one slice of pizza or something I shouldn't I flip out and think I'm going to get huge again. I don't want to ever get back to the size I used to be however I don't want to continue to have to eat very little and count calories excessively for the rest of my life. Where is my happy medium? I'm just not sure where to go from here.

Background info:
sex: female
age: 22
height: 4'11
weight: 115

Anyone have any ideas?
 
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Wow... congrats!

I know what you mean. When I hit my target weight, i tend to rejoice and then, start eating a lot again. =( That's real bad... And then all the weight starts coming back... =(

I think it is useful to weigh yourself everyday. That's what I am doing now. You can monitor your weight and then, adjust your diet for that day! Weigh in the morning before you consume anything. That would be a good day to day comparison.

Once you see a slight spring, take action immediately! Don't wait till it is too late. Then, you will have to start all your hard work all over again....

Oh yes, do not stop all your exercises.... Your weight will definitely spring back if there is a drastic change... Of course, you can cut down a bit but then, it must keep going on. Exercise is good for your overall health.

Good luck!
 
I've got nothing for you, Mandi. I've been at my goal weight for about 6 months and I'm still exercising and counting calories just the same as when I was losing weight. There really isn't an end in sight, nor do I expect that there should be.
 
Harold14370 said:
I've got nothing for you, Mandi. I've been at my goal weight for about 6 months and I'm still exercising and counting calories just the same as when I was losing weight. There really isn't an end in sight, nor do I expect that there should be.
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Yeah it's just extremely demoralizing and demotivating that all of my friends eat whatever the hell they want when they want and are all REALLY skinny. They don't even exercise either. I don't get it. It makes me really bitter. I worked hard for this, and they binge on 3500 calories a day and don't gain a pound.
 
Im also confused why I weigh so much differently throughtout the day. Which weight is the real weight? I seem to weigh the lowest in the morning.
 
It's that way for everyone. For one, you are eating and drinking during the day. Food and water have weight and when they are in your body the weight on the scale is your body weight plus whatever is in your stomach. Also, if you are wearing your pj's in the morning, your day clothes might weigh more. I know my jeans weigh a lot more then my pj's.

Now, take this with a grain of salt because I'm not at my goal weight yet, but my plan for when I get there is to count calories for a while to make sure I'm maintaining and not still losing, but then taper off on the counting. Just making sure that I eat the same way and the same amounts. I also plan to weigh once a week and if I've gone up more than a few pounds (you have to allow a pound or two variance, that's normal and natural), then start counting again to get back on track.
 
First I also wanted to say gratz, thats a huge accomplishment. I don't know if this will help but I work at a group home for disabled girls. One of them is very inactive, can eat whatever she wants, and is very thin. But here's one thing I noticed. She'll eat like a bottomless pit one day but then other days hardly eat a thing. I'm not recommending this health wise, its just something she does. So my thought is now that you're in maintenance, couldn't you have days you go out with your friends and splurge and then the next day eat healthy like salads, veggies and fruit to compensate? I would think it would balance out.....but then I've never had a chance to be at my goal weight to try it....its just what I assumed I would do. I also read some threads in this forum where people who were cross training were able to eat alot more, and in fact had to. So maybe by reading up and adding some different kinds of exercise and weight training you could bump up the calories. Again I'm no expert but it made sense to me when I read it in alot of old posts.
 
Hi, Mandi. I'm in somewhat the same situation. I lost a lot of weight and have always heard that about 95% of people regain it. I don't want to become that statistic. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of information out there on successful weight loss maintenance. One good book is Thin for Life by Anne Fletcher. She interviewed dozens of people who kept the weight off to find out how they did it.

She draws heavily on statistics from the National Weight Control Registy. Anyone can join who has lost at least 30 pounds and maintained that loss at least one year. I plan to join when I hit my one-year mark. Their website has a lot of their research about common patterns of successful maintainers. For example, they exercise an average of an hour a day and they don't skip breakfast.

I lost weight on 1600 calories/day, and maintain on 1800, so there is a very slim margin for error. I have essentially not changed the kinds of foods I eat. I still stay away from processed foods, fast foods, most restaurants. Maybe someday I will be able to integrate these things into my diet, but I feel too new to maintaining to risk it.
 
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Mandi said:
Yeah it's just extremely demoralizing and demotivating that all of my friends eat whatever the hell they want when they want and are all REALLY skinny.
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You know what else is demoralizing? Hearing people who weigh 115 lbs talk as if they are some sort of fat mess. I could cut my body in half, let a violently hungry orangutan gnaw one of my legs off and I'd STILL weigh more than you, but you think YOU'RE fat? HAHAHAHA :clears throat: I believe the thread where people share jokes is in the Off-topic section.

PS - I'm sorry, but it gets rather ridiculous when people who obviously don't have a weight problem come to a weight loss forum and act as if they have a problem (in regards to their weight).
 
Congrats on what you have accomplished.

My wife and I both work hard to keep ourselves where we want. Here is something we started and found it allowed us to up our calorie intake for maintaining and also losing.

We both exercise 6 days a week for 30 minutes a day when losing, but cut to 3 times a week for maintaining.

Around the first of the year we cut out all artificial sweetners/diet soda..and cut out any and all foods with HFCS in them. We had already cut out the MSG so this wasn't a factor. We found that we could maintain on about 300/500 more calories a day than before. I had to stay around 2000 a day but can now do about 2500 and be just fine. wife was at 1400 to maintain and now she can go to 1700 without weight gain. This has been working smoothly for about 3 months now.

You might consider that? Not saying it will work for you, but it is a way we could have a little extra room to enjoy extra food and a few drinks on weekends without panic.

I don't know exactly why this worked on us but it did. We still count calories and always will. But having the higher headroom sure makes it easier. A lot of time we will have a few hundred left over at night..them we just stash back for the weekend ;)
 
ChefChiTown said:
You know what else is demoralizing? Hearing people who weigh 115 lbs talk as if they are some sort of fat mess. I could cut my body in half, let a violently hungry orangutan gnaw one of my legs off and I'd STILL weigh more than you, but you think YOU'RE fat? HAHAHAHA :clears throat: I believe the thread where people share jokes is in the Off-topic section.

PS - I'm sorry, but it gets rather ridiculous when people who obviously don't have a weight problem come to a weight loss forum and act as if they have a problem (in regards to their weight).
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Shame on you, I was 160+ pounds. And it WAS weight problem considering I'm 4'11 so that WAS obese for my size. Don't try and put down my hardwork because it is different from yours.
I didn't say I'm fat, I said I'm worried that I'll get fat again if I change my calorie intake. If you want to troll why don't you go visit 4chan.
 
Mandi said:
Shame on you, I was 160+ pounds. And it WAS weight problem considering I'm 4'11 so that WAS obese for my size. Don't try and put down my hardwork because it is different from yours.
I didn't say I'm fat, I said I'm worried that I'll get fat again if I change my calorie intake. If you want to troll why don't you go visit 4chan.
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You just acknowledged that it WAS a problem, which means you don't have one anymore. Soooo...???

And nowhere did I take away from your accomplishment. It's great that you lost a bunch of weight and got your health under control. That's a very hard thing to do and you should proud of yourself. It's just rather annoying when skinny people complain on this forum. It's a weight loss forum - not an "I'm already skinny, but how do I keep from getting fat like you unhealthy pigs" forum.
 
ChefChiTown said:
You just acknowledged that it WAS a problem, which means you don't have one anymore. Soooo...???

And nowhere did I take away from your accomplishment. It's great that you lost a bunch of weight and got your health under control. That's a very hard thing to do and you should proud of yourself. It's just rather annoying when skinny people complain on this forum. It's a weight loss forum - not an "I'm already skinny, but how do I keep from getting fat like you unhealthy pigs" forum.
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Just because she lost the weight doesn't mean the problem has automatically gone *poof*. There are all sorts of issues that contribute to obesity (emotional baggage, self esteem problems, excess appetite, lack of motivation, bad habits, poor support system, the list goes on and on.) Losing the weight doesn't automatically eliminate the issues that contribute to it, and maintaining the loss can be just as hard as losing it. I think it's really unfair if you to demean someone's efforts and emotional journey because it doesn't happen to align with yours. The OP did not say she is currently fat nor did she insult anyone here. Your reaction was totally uncalled for.

Mandi, I am having some very similar fears as you are. I am still a few pounds shy of my goal but am already scared of gaining it all back. And like you, I have several friends who eat whatever they want and have never had a weight problem. In my case, however, those friends are avid exercisers. Assuming your friends are close to your age, I can promise that the bad habits will catch up to most (if not all) of them. In a way you are lucky that a weight problem forced you to develop healthy habits early on.

My best advise to you is to focus on making exercising and healthy eating your norm, and to accept that these positive things will be part of your life for good. Focus on the positive things that you get from this lifestyle (strength, energy, health, body confidence, whatever else it is for you) and do your best to ditch the negative feelings about it. Good luck hun!
 
Avocado said:
Just because she lost the weight doesn't mean the problem has automatically gone *poof*. There are all sorts of issues that contribute to obesity (emotional baggage, self esteem problems, excess appetite, lack of motivation, bad habits, poor support system, the list goes on and on.) Losing the weight doesn't automatically eliminate the issues that contribute to it, and maintaining the loss can be just as hard as losing it. I think it's really unfair if you to demean someone's efforts and emotional journey because it doesn't happen to align with yours. The OP did not say she is currently fat nor did she insult anyone here. Your reaction was totally uncalled for.
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Where exactly did I demean anybody's efforts? I find it funny that you seem to have ignored where I said...

ChefChiTown said:
And nowhere did I take away from your accomplishment. It's great that you lost a bunch of weight and got your health under control. That's a very hard thing to do and you should proud of yourself.
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She should be proud of herself and she should be happy with the results that she earned - yes, earned. Losing weight is a hard thing to do and you have to earn the weight loss by working your ass off - literally. If losing weight was easy, none of us would be here to get help.

Nowhere have I ever taken anything away from anybody's accomplishment, especially in regards to their weight loss. Just because I don't kiss people's feet doesn't mean that I'm taking away from their accomplishments.
 
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