Losing the regain - down 32 lbs

How is exercise dealt with in OA? congrats on your continuing success.

There really isn't a general feeling about it except to caution against exercise bulimia and being compulsive and unhealthy with it. It's only the last 30 days I've been getting active again. I've had a huge shift from thinking about it as a WL tool to simply something that's good for mind, body and soul.

Yes, I abused exercise in my past to control/maintain my weight.  Even now, I do it everyday or not at all.  I have tried again and again to just commit to 3 -4 days a week but as soon as I take a day off I don't go back to it. I am in heavy duty pain daily so if and when I push myself I am in such pain, I often cannot do it again the next day.

I agree with you re thinking about exercise for health and not as an add on for weight loss.  I am on several sites and have many friends who abuse exercise for weight control.  When you look at their food intake they are completely off course but walk or run miles and miles per day and of course they are 20 years younger than me and think they will be able to do this forever.  I don't confront them as they are very happy with their plan. Reality will hit soon enough for them.

Through the winter I was trying to use my treadmill without much success. Now that spring is coming I want to go out most mornings and walk in the sunshine which I hope might help my depression as well. My aching back, knees and hips will certainly let me know if I over do it.  It is fairly flat near me with a few slow and long inclines.  Maybe if I alternate with running in deep water or doing laps every second day.  I am talking it through here but know I am high risk for addiction to exercise. I guess this is the next thing on my abstinence list.

Can I ask how many calories you are eating per day?  Your weight loss is amazing.  I am doing between 700=800 with carbs below 40.  Anything over 1000 and I gain so in order to lose I go down to 800.

To be honest, I don't have any idea. My best guess would be 1000-1200? I had to stop obsessing over every calorie in order to lose weight - seems backwards but I had to get out of a restrict-binge cycle. By not counting, I free myself to look at the big picture of what I eat day to day and look at nutrition vs simply just calories/carbs. I plan my food every night when I'm not hungry or overly emotional so I can make the best choices. Bc I did measure everything for years my portion sizes stay pretty consistently low - 1/2-1 cup depending. 

Yep, I understand.  Perhaps at some point I will learn to trust my body again but for now I measure and journal and count.

That's awesome. I am in the infancy stages of OA, but I believe that I am going to have to do something similar. Thank you so much for this post and please let's stay in touch!