Well I just dropped under 200 pounds and have lost 80 pounds.  I am so excited!! I am starting the new year with my next goal in mind, dropping another 40 pounds.  My weight loss has significantly slowed in the past month, still losing but more like a pound a week instead of 2-3.  I did eat more carbs/sweets over the holidays so I equate that result with those actions and I have cracked back down on my eating, avoiding sweets and packing in the protein.  That said, I feel some confusion about how much I'm eating and what I am burning. 

I did online calculations for just basic guidelines and for my height adn weight it shows that I probably burn about 1600 calories a day.  I eat around 700 calories per day and exercise 20 minutes doing Jillian Michaels dvd's burning about 200 calories I am guessing, so my net is about 500 calories per day.  That puts me at a calorie deficit of 1100 per day, 7700 per week, roughly 2 pounds of weight.  Last week I followed all that to the letter and gained 3 pounds.  GAINED 3 pounds.  So I'm in kind of a panic about it, wondering if I will lose anymore weight or if my body has found a happy spot to sit.  I know that's not an uncommon fear, and the only way I know to fight through it is to keep eating right and working out harder. I have increased my workout intensity significantly and added in a lunch hour walk.  All that said to just simply ask - has anyone had actual tests done to find out how many calories you burn in a day? I worry my metabolism has tanked and I'm burning less than the 1600 that is average for my size.

Heart rate - I find it is super hard to get my heart rate elevated now. I used to get sweaty and out of breath cleaning my house for an hour, it was a workout. Now I never break a sweat cleaning, running up and down my stairs, etc. I do a lot of running around at work in the afternoon, all over our office which is 3 floors of an office building and never get out of breath. So that is good i guess, i'm more fit, but good grief, it's just really hard to imagine burning enough calories doing that stuff when it doesn't seem to tax my body AT ALL. 

So ya, any info or advice anyone has, I have an open ear. :) 

  Hello Friends! 

We're very happy to announce two important topics for the OH cruise in March that will be presented by Colleen Cook from Bariatric Support Centers International:  1: Hope and Help for the Pain of Regain and 2: The Success Habits of Weight Loss Surgery Patients. 


We've been hearing that some members are looking for cabin mates to split the cost of the OH cruise in March!  Be sure to visit http://www.obesityhelp.com/events/2012-Obesityhelp-Cruise.ht ml , scroll down to the bottom where comments are so you can all talk about it and share info, or post on the message boards!  There's still room according to Royal Caribbean, and the more, the merrier!  There is one cabin left in our block, and still many outside our block, so come cruisin' and get recharged. Book at 1-800-401-9948. Our OH code is 2201863! 

This is going to be a great time to get very good information (and a suntan) and support from Dr. Stapleton, Colleen Cook and Bo McCoy in our conference sessions at sea!  Join us! This is a great way to make some new friends from around the country...we're aiming to really have some fun! 

      

The following is an excerpt from a response I made to someone who asked about getting back on track. This person has been very successful in her weight loss journey, but has recently experienced some regain. Statistically, her regain is within the norms for 'bounce back' weight, but it was how she regained that distressed her and it was nearly a mirror image of what happened to me a few years ago. I really felt her distress and fear and wanted to reassure her that all is not lost, that we always have our tool and we can get control of it now, even when we couldn't for so many years before. So if you have have arrived at maintenance and are struggling with some unwanted regain or if you are only thinking about WLS or in the process of losing and want to know if you can and will be able to maintain your weight after you lose it, read on...

Okay, so the real question is how to get back on track and if it's a realistic possibility and probability. I'm here to tell you that it is both possible and probable that you can reverse the tides and get back to where you are happy and be able to stay there. I have to tell you that I too was just terrified because I knew from my previous experience that 'diets' just don't work for me. I'm an overgrown 3 yr old and if you tell me I can't have something, then.... I will. That scared the proverbial pants off of me. After mulling it over a bit, I decided to try a new tact. One to get the unwanted extra pounds off and another, related tact to keep my weight where I want it to be.

So, to take off the weight, the two biggest things I did were to log my intake and activity and to cut back on simple carbs... cut back, not cut out. I made sure to 'take care of business' with every meal and snack, making sure I was eating 5 to 6 times a day. When I say 'take care of business' I mean that I made sure that I got in  4 to 6 ounces of protein, then followed that with colorful, complex carbs. I also made sure that I wasn't drinking any fluids within that 30 min window before, during and after my meal so that I could allow my tool to work for me and help me really regulate my intake to ensure I wasn't taking in more calories than I needed. I maintained a caloric intake of about 1000 to 1200 calories a day when I was working on losing the weight. Logging really helped me think about what I was ingesting and if it was supporting my goals or undermining them. This helped think of things in a positive light. Is this choice going to help get me to where I want to be or submarine my attempt to achieve and maintain a healthy and active life? If not, I often would think twice and let it go without the burden and baggage that comes with feeling deprived. I have to say that I did occasionally indulge while I was losing, but not often because I had my eye on the proverbial prize and I was delighted at the result I was getting; most of the time the 'indulgence' I wanted at the moment faded when I 'weighed' it against my goals. To be honest, the weight came off relatively easily. Much more so than I thought it would.

Now that I've taken the excess weight off, I don't really log anymore unless might weight ticks back up out of it's normal range. If that happens, I start logging again and am able to easily trim off the few pounds.

I honestly think that losing the weight and then maintaining it all comes down to awareness and accountability. If you think about it, I'll bet that you've been playing a bit of 'hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil' as it relates to what you are consuming. You 'know' you are going off track, but tend to not want to see the evidence of it. We all have to find ways to be aware and accountable and to be honest what works when we are losing is not necessarily what works in maintenance and I think that this is one of the main reasons we tend to falter in maintenance. Whatever we did to maintain awareness and accountability in our weight loss phase doesn't really work for us anymore and no one has told us that we need re-evaluate how we are going to remain aware and accountable as we work to maintain or new found weight and it's resulting health and quality of life benefits. It took me a while to find what works for me. It may take you a while to find what works for you, but I'm sure that you can and will.

Good luck and I hope you recover well and of course lose tons of unwanted pounds! 

Thank so much Rosie.  I really appreciate it!  It's going pretty good so far, and data collection has been decent.

Sincerely,

Danny