Hi Priti

I think that doing the WW thing will add quite a valuable extra dimension to my attempt at coping with maintenance and it should cost comparitively little. I certainly have no plans to follow their program to lose the rest of my weight (I am quite happy with the way things are going - if it isnt broken why fix it comes to mind) - although I will be very interested in reading their literature and seeing what advice they give. Also trying to translate my current foodplan into their programs. If I do that they will not know that I started with the foodplan and not their program. Maintenance is going to be a huge challenge for me. The way that I see it - not too many of their members proportionally lose the levels of weight that I have lost already. A lot of people will start weighing nearer the 140 pounds that you mention and may be trying to lose 20 pounds. The fact is that whether you have lost 10 pounds or 200 pounds - the maintenance aspect should be very similar. They therefore are highly experienced at steering their members to a soft landing and into maintenance. They quote all sorts of statistics about people being 3 times more likely to lose weight successfully with them than without them. If there is a similar boost to the probability of success of the maintenance aspect of the weightloss lifecycle - I want it working for me if I can have it at minimum cost.

Watch this space - I will post here how WW works out once I decide that the time is right to join - I think that I will leave it a little longer - I have a 2 month window of opportunity.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Ohhh, I'll be very interested to know what WW has in terms of helping you transition into maintenance. I think it's going to be challenging maintaining carefully without having the motivation of seeing numbers go down (for me, anyway).

Sophie

Hi Sophie

I spend a lot of time thinking about how I can possibly cope with maintenance. I have no experience of stabalising at a healthy weight. I became very morbidly obese in my twenties and remained so for over twenty years. On many occasions I tried to take control of my weight and was unsuccessful. It is only this past 13 months that has seen me suddenly able to have a positive impact in that area. It has literally taken over my life - but a giant task was always going to take great effort.

I have some way to go to get to goal - but I have now brought my weight down to the level where maintenance is not getting ahead of myself. I am so much healthier than at my start weight - I would need to try to maintain my current weight if I were to suddenly stop trying to lose.

Maintenance is going to take extra effort for me. For one thing my start weight was so high - if you compare our start BMI you will see that my start BMI was a lot bigger than many peoples - such as your own for instance. Also - temptation does and will surround me. My husband is a cuddly chap and has long had a BMI that is higher than my start BMI. He enjoys his food - and although he has good intentions to try and lose some weight - he currently seems to lack the level of motivation that we all need to see such a task through. I suppose that is why he sat here eating his Easter eggs yesterday! This was my second Easter with no chocolate - but I have already decided that I will have some chocolate next Christmas and next Easter. I am hoping to be maintaining at or near my goal weight by then.

I will certainly need to remain very highly focused through maintenance - or it will not be successful. I cannot afford to just drift. The planet may seem to be full of slim people that can remain so - seemingly without effort. I accept that I am not going to be one of those people.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Sunday 23/03/08

General Data:

Morning walk = 6.4 miles
Round the block = 5 times
Extra exercises = none
Weight = 10st 12.6 lbs (i.e. 152.6 pounds)
Steps = 26,100
Distance = 10.09 miles
Remembered to take normal vitamin / supplements
Continued my creaming regime – missed one bio-oil massages
Continued ankle exercises

My Food / Drink:

Basic eating plan

1 banana
3 weetabix, sweetener, 350 ml skimmed milk
1 large handfuls honey Shreddies
1 large handfuls honey Shreddies
1 pear
1 pear
1 apple
40 grapes
2.5 litres of cold water
some diet cola

Breaded plaice, tin of baked beans
1 large handfuls honey Shreddies
2 plums

Marg, reading your post to Sophie, I can familiarize completely.

I too am curious of my ability to maintain my weight. As you, I've never been of this low a weight in years, and after reaching my goal, I'm praying I'll be able to maintain it. I realize my consistant running recently is motivated by the summer coming and my desire to drop these last few pesky pounds. Once I reach my goal, I'm hoping I remain motivated to run so often. I push myself now to keep going until I hit 6 miles and I'm wondering if, once I need to start maintaining, I'll still want to push myself.

I do hope I still carry my passion of running even after I'm physcially happy with myself. It really will be sure to carry me into a healthy future. Especially if I'm going to treat myself more often with things like ice cream and french fries. The thing is, I've gotten so use to eating the way I do, I don't know if I even find fries all that tasty anymore. Especially not compared to a Fruit and Yogurt Parfait.

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that you're not alone in your struggle to grasp the grandure of what maintainence is. It's certianly going to be a much, much larger task than loosing the weight initially.

We'll just have to stick in there together, won't we?

Big hugs and a happy Monday, Marg!

I'm not sure what the WW maintenance plan is, but for Curves, it's basically weight yourself everyday...something you have no trouble doing..lol. You should eat about 2500 calories per day until your weight goes up 3lbs from your goal weight. Then eat 1200-1400 calories for a day or two until your weight goes back to your goal weight. Then repeat...lol. That is sort of what I was doing trying to bring my metabolism back up, but the challenge is kind of making it difficult to do that..lol. Supposedly, you should only have to eat low-cal a couple of days per month.

Whatever you do, as long as you weigh daily, you can catch any gains before they become out of control. If you fail to weigh at least weekly, you can be in denial about any weight gain. But if you see that number on the scale, you can nip it in the bud before it gets bad. I've already had a lot of experience with maintenance, as I tend to maintain more than lose..hahaaha. So it's not something that i'm worried about. Losing is much more difficult for me.

Oh, and congrats on the new low!!!!!!!!

Thanks for visiting.

Rae

It certainly concerns me - when I consider how my motivation levels are liable to be if I am not careful once I stop getting the joy of seeing the pounds go down. We do certainly get motivated by our continued success. Also we gain motivation from people saying how well we have done - that it is amazing how much we have achieved - and that we are an inspiration. The fact is that we have lost so much weight that a blind stranger could not miss it really so people do keep commenting on it. I get strangers approaching me on the street a couple of times a week and commenting on it. I have stopped mentioning it in my diary because I have got so used to it. As adults we know not to seek the approbation of others - but we are only human and it is nice when it happens. It certainly sets us apart from the crowd. But how will things be when everyone has got used to our new size? Will we be motivated enough to limit our food at a level that will do no damage? Will we be able to be bothered to try and work out how much exercise needs to be done to cancel things out? Will we be bothered to go out and walk in the rain - or when there are better things to do? We have a track record of over indulgence and apathy towards exercise - will we revert to form?

We certainly hope and intend that it will all turn out well - but we are realistic enough to recognise that everyone who loses a serious amount of weight enters the maintenance phase with those same hopes and intentions. We also recognise that it sometimes does not work out too well and that people regain lost weight.

It is a major concern.

We certainly will all need to stick together. I suspect that we will need the forum more than ever. At least our experience is such that we can say that we know that we can lose weight - we dont know that we can maintain weight in the same way. Maybe with a new ticker and a new diary - but basically the same thing. I notice that you can get tickers from Walk into Shape - Walking programs & exercise plans and they may be perfect for me. They may actually suit you too. There will be little motivation in seeing a weight ticker hover permanently in the vicinity of goal. Lets face it a ticker like mine looks pretty decent when you are even 10 pounds further away from goal and no-one would really notice that it had all happened recently in the wrong direction.

Kimberly

Thanks for the info on Curves' maintenance plan. It is all such new territory that we really need to study before we get there.

I am sure that your metabolism will sort itself out soon and you will resume a more standard rate of weight loss appropriate for your level of exercise and control of food. The weight will really start dropping off you then. I would prefer not to use your current method of maintaining weight for the rest of my life after getting to goal - it is too much like the hard work of losing weight (because that is exactly what you are doing). I am a bit on the lazy side so will seek a better way.

While everyone else dreams of upping the calories when they get to goal - I would really like to cut my daily walking distance down to a more convenient level. The ideal thing would be to have a weekly walking distance so that I could not bother to walk much at all at weekends. I know that hubby does not always appreciate my absence and he doesnt really want to come out walking with me.

Thanks for the congratulations on the new low. It only shaves three ounces off (a fifth of a pound) but it is always nice to edge just a little bit lower.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Hello Margaret~
Congrats on the 5th of a pound. Every little bit certainly helps! I know that for myself I certainly enjoy to see a new number no matter how little it is. To me that just proves that what I am doing is working. Especially if I am able to maintain that number for an amount of time without having it jump back up.
Even though I bemoan my 188 always looking up at me from the scale, (this morning it was there again) I have to take some pride in the fact that I haven't gone up at all in this endeavor of mine.
I often "forget" just how far I have come. Don't get me wrong, I remember just how sad I felt at my beginning weight, but there are times that I "forget" that I am no longer at that weight. Having been large for so long, and I am sure that you understand this, I sometimes forget that I am no longer that big girl who started this whole journey.
I often will go look at my charts and be surprised to see how much I have lost.
So I say hold that 5th of a pound high!!! Take pride in the loss!!! 'Cuz you deserve it!!!
I do believe that there is no one on here that puts nearly as much effort and time in as you do.
And for that you are an incrediable inspiration to us all.
Congrats Margaret!

Marg, like you, I've considered, once I reach my goal, to maybe cut back on my running at least for a day a week. Currently I try to run 4-5 days, and when I reach my goal, I'm considering making it only 3 or 4, unless I'm training for an event.

After I reach my goal, I'm going to have to begin to understand the exercise needed to cancel out excess calories should I consume them. Like you, I wonder of my ability to do this in the long run. It's not like it is now, for only a limited amount of time until I reach an intended goal, it's for the rest of my life.

I can gurantee you, I will be part of this forum for as long as I can be. There definitely is a significant amount of motivation and inspiration to be found here.

We'll find a way to maintain together, I promise you that chica. Of course, these journals will report our victories and shortfalls and we can use them to better our maintainence. It's all about understanding what we need to do, as difficult as that may seem sometimes.

I hope you're having a good Tuesday, deary. I hope your walk brought with it a whole bunch of sunshine. The weather is rather nice here today. I woke up to rays of UV light. It was exciting. LOL.

Thanks for visiting.

Dawn

Well it was down a fifth of a pound yesterday - but up again today. We all know that this is the way that it goes with daily weighing. To be honest - any new low this week is a fluke and would never be held. This week is when I expect to start retaining water getting ready for TOM and I really expect to be looking at a gain by Thursday / Friday. I am doing what I can to keep my weight as far down as ever possible. I am eating salmon tonight and am trying to ease up on my honey shreddies. This is a major sacrifice for me as it is the nearest thing to junk food that I allow myself. It is 7.55pm and so far NO honey shreddies today!!!

I know that however my weight goes this week - in a couple of weeks time I will return to my low weight once I have established it. I have regained the territory. It is the weight that lies beyond that is less certain.

I often feel that my current size is a surreal experience. I often get a surprise if I catch myself in a mirror or in a reflection in a glass door or even a shop window. It hardly seems possible that a person who looks pretty much a normal size can be me.

I am sure that there are definitely psychological issues associated with high level weight change. People do not really expect to change from a thin person into a fat person or from a fat person into a thin person. I remember when I got suddenly big - I was always bumping into things. It was like I couldnt judge where I was in relation to the things around me. Now I find it difficult to judge whether people that I meet are thinner than me or fatter than me.

It is a blessing that we have the forum - it would be very lonely if we couldnt compare notes with others in various stages of a similar project. Many people that we meet normally consider themselves to be trying to lose weight if they are refusing the odd chocolate biscuit and not really doing any exercise. They might be hoping to lose 5 to 7 pounds - and they might never manage it! We are doing something completely different.

Rae

Tuesday is going well here thanks. I am pleased that you have some good weather. I did all my walks and the weather was acceptable. It was bright in the morning - although more dull in the afternoon. It was actually warm at times in the morning. There was however quite a biting wind so it went from quite a warm pocket to cold pocket which was quite odd.

It being the end of March - I keep doing some bits of financial reorganisation. There are odd bits and pieces that we need to do before the end of the tax year on 5th April. Various finances need to be revisited at this time.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Monday 24/03/08

General Data:

Morning walk = 6.3 miles
Round the block = 5 times
Extra exercises = none
Weight = 10st 11.8 lbs (i.e. 151.8 pounds)
Steps = 26,220
Distance = 10.13 miles
Remembered to take normal vitamin / supplements
Continued my creaming regime – missed one bio-oil massages
Continued ankle exercises

My Food / Drink:

Basic eating plan

1 banana
3 weetabix, sweetener, 350 ml skimmed milk
1 large handfuls honey Shreddies
1 large handfuls honey Shreddies
1 clementine
1 clementine
1 pear
1 pear
1 apple
80 grapes
2.5 litres of cold water
some diet cola

Roast pork, gravy, apple sauce, carrots, onion, cauliflower, broccoli, swede, celery, cabbage, Brussels sprouts
1.5 large handfuls honey Shreddies
2 plums

Hi Margaret,

I had a brilliant time in New York, thank you =D
Hope you are well and had a good Easter x

Girls, I read your comments on maintaining with a great worry. I have almost reached my goal and it is a matter of couple of weeks to start maintaining. Since I have no idea how to do this I decided to continue as usual till the end of our Amazing Race challenge. This will give me chance to come up with a plan. I prefer to cut the exercises exactly as Margaret. I spend too much time walking, jumping or getting ready to do exercises or changing and bathing after exercises. It takes more or less all of my day. I need time to dedicate to my studies and to decide and do something to get a job in the UK. However I feel scared to death that if I decrease my exercise length to 10-30 min a day (some cardio workout or pilates at home) and still eat what I eat now (which is not too much anyway) I might start gaining slowly slowly again. I am really very worried and I think I will need help and support. I hope there is some maintaining section in this forum. I keep my fingers crossed that we all will be successful in this difficult task.

I cannot understand why you'd want to cut back on your exercise during maintenance. I mean, you barely do any right now as it is!!

Obviously, with maintenance you can either continue to eat as you do and cut back on exercise, or eat more and exercise the same, or cut back a bit on exercise and eat a little bit more..lol. I guess the trick is to figure out how many calories you burn with your bmr and added activity, and then consume at or slightly below that most days. By weighing myself everyday, I can keep on eye on my weight and change things up when I see it to go up more than a lb or 2.

Wulsk--don't worry about maintenance. Just ease into it gradually so your body can adjust slowly and not be shocked at the sudden decrease in exercise and slight increase in food. I think with the little that you eat, you could easily get away with 2-3hrs of exercise per week. Just make sure to include at least 60min of ST in it.

My maintenance plan will be to work out about 3hrs per week and eat about 2200 calories a day. I shouldn't have any trouble at all maintaining on that.

Thanks for visiting.

Becky

I am pleased that you had a great holiday. We had a quiet Easter - but were away for a long weekend on the weekend before Easter. We went up to Newcastle (it was our way of trying to avoid the heavy traffic) and had a very nice time seeing relatives and friends.

Wulsk

It may be worth you speaking to Phoebe (Allyphoe) about maintenance as she has recently got to goal herself. I must admit - I have not noticed a section on the forum specifically dealing with maintenance. It may be worth contacting a moderator to find out if there is one and if not - asking if there are any plans for one to be created. It seems to me that since we discover a possible current and certain future market of members who are simply trying to stay the same weight - there reveals the potential for many new things - e.g. challenges geared towards healthy living and exercise with the weight points gained for remaining within for example a four or five pound range stated at the outset. Those of us that weigh every day know that our weight varies by several pounds due to such things as TOM.

We have managed to lose weight - we have not managed to stabalise our weight at a healthy level - yet. It certainly is a problem that needs much thought.

Kimberly

I have hopes that I will be able to maintain by maybe just walking say 28 miles a week. That is the equivalent of 4 miles a day which takes me over 10,000 steps. I would also intend to keep up at least one of my keep fit classes and maybe do the equivalent of another couple from videos at home. This is actually a lot less than I do at the minute. It would be great if I could arrange things so that I did nothing on a couple of days and made up the shortfall across the rest. That would mean that hubby would not be affected as much as is currently the case.

I think that if I cut things down to this level - I might get the chance to start sorting out this house. There are a million and one things that desperately need to be done and I have studiously ignored them all.

Take care
Love
Margaret