Why I believe in moderation... because I am willing to not eat what I cannot moderate...

Happy, we are identical twins!

Happy, you are just like liquid sunshine I want to drink in - you are just a beautiful person and I love you! (((HUGS)))

Thank for keeping it real and being vulnerable!

Happy, I can so relate, I especially like:

stop eating crap foods (and you know what they are), period.  If the thought terrifies you or makes you curl up into a ball, deal with that, go to therapy, get some support, because food isn't supposed to have that effect on us.  But be willing to stop eating the food, and then deal with the fallout in therapy - don't wait to "feel like it" because we can do it *even if* we don't feel like it.

Thank you!!

 
Happy.....This is the best post I've read in a long time..........Respect....!!!!

You are working within your known personal parameters !!!!

Here is my chance to **** some people off (I don't really care....and rhearob is trying to get a reaction from me)

Moderation is such a dangerous word in weight loss/management and a Stupid thing to base your success on......

Yes.... "Some" people can do it......" Great awesome..... do it.......

Moderation takes work, takes time to think.....it's just not clear.....so vague .......like figuring out how long a piece of string is.......

Moderation didn't work for me pre-op.......

- Ice Cream.......just a quart instead of a half gallon
- Just one dinner..... not two
- Buying 6 donuts.....not the bakers dozen.
- Just one Mocha Frapachino and Maple Oat Scone per day
- A half a pizza.... not the entire pie.

That's all MODERATION !!!!!!!!!!!  You get the idea..... 

When I read on this board....."I believe in everything in Moderation"..... fine, go for it... it may work for you...... and others may think this is some proven method when in fact most people get in trouble with it....

There is one poster that is always trying to convert others to "Moderation" claiming she did this to be normal........ Ummmm..... your not normal....you got so fat you had to have most your stomach cut out.......

Here is my interpretation.......(I'm not asking or telling you what to do....just sharing what works for me)

Elina is great about encouraging forming "A plan"

In maintenance........my "Plan" is approx. 1000-1400 cals a day and around 80grams carbs.

Guess what..... within my plan I can eat just about anything, just as long as I stay inside my numbers...I'm good !!!! And SIMPLE !!!

Now....either my Craving Monsters have subsided post-op.....or my commitment to the plan is stronger....I don't know.... can't tell you.....

Here is a general observation....(this is where I get in trouble....but than again....remember I don't care!)

Most who go with "Moderation" as a plan have a hard time losing the last weight or can't make goal or can't maintain very well.................... (key word is "Most" means not all)

frisco

That's it Frisco, that's the final straw, a woman can only take so much.  If I wasn't already happily married with children, I would get down on one knee and propose.  The food porn .... the wisdom.... and the sarcastic wit..... I am undone.  Oh yeah, and the leather biker jacket, can't forget that one.

 
Ummm....... flattered....yes!

But.......It's all a big front......smoke and mirrors ya know.....!

I'm afraid I fall wayyyyyyyy short of Alan.....the guy that makes it bad for the rest of us !!!!

frisco

As I am typing this at 11:30 at night, Alan is in the kitchen making a ground pork tenderloin with veggies, fresh herbs and fresh homemade pico de gallo and lite sour cream for tomorrow's meals.  He also did all the shopping while I was working and gave our son a swimming and guitar lesson after he dropped off our daughter at math school.  Yeah, I guess I'll have to keep him.  :) 

The biker jacket is still really cool.

 
See..... Bar set wayyyyy to high !!!!! Unreachable !!!!

and it's Jacket(s) plural....... Not my fault..... they fit..... actually....the last one had to be special ordered..... Size Small (talk about Vanity Sizing!), they said they don't stock Small Jackets anymore... don't sell....guess I shrunk right out of the Harley Culture......

frisco

Agree with so much!  Here is my one difference.  And I honestly believe this, with all my heart.  If I could maintain 160 pounds on 1500 calories a day, then I could *reach* 160 pounds on 1500 calories a day.  Certainly not as quickly, but if I had enough persistence, I would get there.  I don't think there's anything magic about X number of calories or Y number of carbs, because following a plan for "maintenance" for my goal weight will get me to goal weight, it might just take me 3 years to lose the next 18 pounds.  The "magic" is in *having* a plan and following it imperfectly over the long term - (here's the rub) the very long term.  Which happens when we fully embrace the concept that *we are never going to be normal* when it comes to food (I mean, those of us like me).  The closest I will get to "normal" is passing for a normal person to the untrained eye.  A real compulsive eater could pick me out anywhere, especially where food was involved.