Over My Calories By 916
BWAHAHAHA
Careful! I have graphics programs and could TOTALLY make that happen! *looks all innocent*
When you get bored... Here's a cookie I saw a link to that I am still trying to wrap my head around.
Jokes aside... I suggested apple juice, etc. but totally wasn't being mean spirited which is why I was kind of going... "uh... ?"
Dr Sullivan VSG Jan. 8th, 2013!
Lost 100 lbs in a year post op with a VSG.
Sometimes the best support you can give someone is to kick them in the pants.
HW - 225 SW - 191 GW - 132 CW - 122
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Keith,
I thought long and hard about whether or not to even venture into these dark waters, but I think many people will read this post and I felt a desire to offer my personal take on it. I will only address one issue of the many issues that are brought up in this post, that of the difference between weight loss and maintenance. As always take what you need and what resonates, disregard the rest.
You bring up and interesting point, that weight loss is no different than maintenance. As someone who has been maintaining for over three years, I would strongly disagree with this assessment. First, I would like to list some things that are the same for both stages: commitment, mindfulness, integrity, and honesty with yourself. Aside from these, I have found that weight loss and maintenance are quite different and I would go further and say that even within maintenance there are a number of quite distinct stages that most of us go through. We first have learn the exact balance of calories and exercise needed by our system to keep our bodies from gaining or losing more weight. This is quite a challenge and doesn't happen overnight. We often learn that we need to eat more calories and carbs than we could during the losing stage and we must learn to apportion those calories and carbs in new ways. This too is more challenging than you might first consider. Psychologically, we must learn to stop chasing the high that weight loss bring to us and learn to focus on maintenance goals. This is much less sexy and does not provide the same adrenaline kick that we have become accustomed to in weight loss. We must learn to adapt to our changing hunger, cravings and capacity. All of these challenges are daunting and many people who did not choose to change their behaviors, thought patterns and habits during weight loss find maintenance to be quite difficult. It is not at all unheard of for people to start regaining almost immediately upon reaching goal.
Those are my thoughts on maintenance; weight loss is a whole other animal. I look at weight loss as a race. Yes, a sprint rather than a marathon. I believe that we do have a limited amount of time in which weight loss is easier. There are many reasons for this and I have enumerated them before in other posts. The bottom line is that we are at our heaviest, our stomachs are at their smallest, our hunger and cravings are lower than ever, we get more support and social approval and so on during this period. Eventually, somewhere in the 6-12 month space of time, things get harder, a lot harder. This is hard to understand when you are going through it but becomes pretty easy to see in retrospect. I believe that most of us are fighting time and trying to maximize our loss during those precious months. Again, I am not saying that weight loss can not happen afterwards, only that it's harder and statistically happens to fewer people.
So there it is, the difference in weight loss and maintenance according to me. I do believe that weight loss should be maximized during the losing phase and that maintenance is a whole other story. To me, weight loss is a sprint and maintenance is a marathon. You don't have to agree, that is the beautify of sharing our thoughts. This works for me something else might work for you.
Do I think you are doomed because of your eating episode? No, I do not. I think you are tenacious enough to get to goal. Do I think that most of us should save these type of indulgences for maintenance? Yes, I really do. The truth is that every time you do this you open the gate of temptation just a little bit further. Eventually, you will find that this gate is much harder to swing closed than it was early out. You will find that 1/3 of a slice of pizza easily turns into two slices of pizza and that chocolate and good wine go very well together. I should know, I took a class on it at the winery I belong to on Valentines Day! :) It will still be there for you in the future, that's all I am saying.
Lap Band 2006
VSG 2008
As always I appreciate and respect your opinion. Your response was rather mild compared to the others. My point about maintenance is that you don't get a magic card that says you can eat whatever you want. That its just as much work and based on your response clearly has a whole new set of challenges. So that whole save it or maintenance tenet is horse hooey. Making good decisions and eating right is lifelong. Life happens. I would venture a guess that besides you and Frisco that no one that said that no one was actually in maintenance. I posted this fully expecting the onslaught of negative feedback and anyone *****ads this thread is going to know the answer to the question "is it OK if I eat a little more on special occasions?" Me posting this is exactly what this board is for.
Thank you for your wisdom and experience.
I'm a fan of your post and I agree , there is a very fine dance that we will have to learn so we are able to live life. I think you made great choices and have a plan in place to get back on track . Venison is very lean and if cooked or grilled correctly is so yummy. My Brad hunts and always has some dear jerky and meat in the freezer .
