There is a woman at my church who lost about 75 lbs. a couple of years ago on Weight Watchers. She was very public about it. She posted her weekly weigh ins on facebook. I don't know her very well, but I always knew how her weigh ins went. I noticed yesterday that she's gained quite a bit of weight back.
Another church lady, a very good friend of mine, has lost and regained at least that much twice since I've known her. She's getting ready to walk/run the Eugene Marathon and I couldn't be prouder of her for going for it even though I know she's frustrated with being overweight again.
Regaining the weight is my biggest fear right now, especially given what I've experienced with seeing my own weight loss peter off. My plan before this happened was to lose weight without dieting until my body plateaued, which I envisioned would happen when I weighed about 150 - 160 or so. I imagined that I'd lose until my caloric intake level caught up with what my body needed to maintain weight. I even thought maybe I'd be able to eat a little more than I had been eating. I thought I'd be able to have a snack or a coffee drink when I wanted them instead of when I planned to have them. It could be a spontaneous thing.
And then I stopped losing weight at about 178 lbs. This isn't a bad weight for me. I'm tall and can carry it off. I am wearing a size 12 pants and size medium shirts. But before I gave up on the idea of more weight loss, I wanted to track my food for a while and see where I was at. So I've done that and I've seen that I was eating a little bit more than I thought I was. I've tried to up my exercise and protein intake too. I suspect I'll probably have a good weigh in on Wednesday.
But I feel like I'm dieting.
Not "dieting" dieting, but tracking my food and weighing and measuring, dieting. Trying to eat less, dieting. Trying to lose weight, dieting. I don't want to diet because I don't believe it is sustainable. I'm afraid I'll lose weight and then have to eat less to maintain it. Or if I go back to eating the way I was eating before I plateaued, I may gain some weight back. Like my friends from church who lost weight by dieting and then regained it when they quit dieting.
I'm not going to log my food for the rest of my life. What do you guys think? Am I setting myself up for failure down the road?
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12 comments:
I do not think you are setting yourself up for failure. But I know what you mean. I wish I could give you some advice but honestly I never really felt like logging my food everyday was diet like...but then again it was the only thing that ever worked for me so it obviously was! Hmmm. What to do!?
Amanda, I don't think you will gain the weight back, but I don't think it's realistic to think that you will have great losses every week. You're getting closer to your goal, your body is adjusting. I wish I knew the answer. I track my food everyday, because my weight loss sucks right now. I'm hoping things kick in!
I think you need to just see how it all goes without the "dieting". I've been stuck at 170 and wonder if that is it. I am going for another fill to see if that will get me off that number. I do know in the past that I used to stabilize at 170 so know it might take a big effort for move that number lower. But it's worth a try. It might take me another year but that year will happen anyway. My biggest reason for getting the lapband was to help me keep the weight off. Unlike all those other times and all those other people without the band. I am finding it hard to be motivated in the winter so know it might get better once the warmer weather hits. Good luck with whatever you decide.
I wish I could answer that. I'm in the same boat but I stopped losing "easily" at 216 pounds and I'm only 5'2"! I too feel like I am dieting at the moment, but what else can we do? I didn't come this far to stop now. I can either log my food and consciously cut back, or not lose weight. I'd rather lose weight at this point.
Just keep doing what you are doing. I too don't want to diet--but if the scale doesn't budge for a long time or starts going up we might need to make a few changes for a little while.
We are in this for the long haul!
Good Luck!!
i look at having the band as a total life change. i'm not "dieting" but changing my diet forever. almost every day I have to remind myself of this. it's all on how you look at it. yes it's a change and measureing and logging but its a total life change not just a "diet". hang in there :)
Hmmm...not sure that watching calories your whole life is such a bad thing. I think all healthy thin people do it - in their heads - if not on paper. It's part of my daily life - like bathing and getting dressed and stuff. I just think it gets a bad connotation when you say "diet"...think of it more as your life's health plan.
I agree with Draz. I know I will have to watch what I eat for the rest of my life. she's right, skinny people are always on a diet/or watching what they eat. It's not such a bad thing. You are taking care of yourself. What's wrong with that? Hang in there!
Regaining weight is awful, done that. I just don't have that fear this time. I was just kind of going along enjoying life and now I've decided that I need to finish this thing...so that means counting calories. Ugh. I sure did find out that I've been eating way more than I thought. So, I think it's been pretty eye opening. I'm seeing much better results now. My doctor told me that it would feel like a diet until I hit goal, but after that, maintaing shouldn't involve that "dieting feeling". I hope that's true! But, I know I will need to exercise and eat well the rest of my life... funny thing is, it's starting to become enjoyable.
I just had this conversation with another bandster. It's so natural to worry about gaining the weight back, but I think that we all have such a great support system here(that we all sought out) and are aware of what can happen if we get complacent. I do not want to be on a diet forever, but I really don't feel like I have been up to this point, so I don't see that changing. I am more aware of having balance in my diet and that's the key.
For now, I like logging my food intake and my exercise - to see where I am trending and to change anything that needs to be changed. Am I emotionally eating?? Was I really hungry at that time I ate something or other?? Am I eating well rather than junky - and if I'm eating junky, is it becoming more of a habit then a one time thing? That sort of thing. My nutritionist hasn't put me on a set number of calories, she just wants me to see how my personal "graph" looks.. It seems to be helping. So technically, I'm not dieting - I'm monitoring!
I don't think you're setting yourself up to fail and I don't think you'll be tracking food for the rest of your life. As you said, tracking made you see you were eating more than you thought you were. Maybe you won't have spontaneous coffee drinks...but is that really dieting or just a new way of life? You're right though. Thos ewomen gained weight back because they didn't make real lifestyle changes, they dieted with every intention of going back to old habits when they were "done." I don't think we'll ever be "done."
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