WAAAAAHHHHH! ;(

I have heard from many of you that once you've gotten to you lowest weight you will rebound back up. What is the average weight gain? I will admit I have fallen off the wagon a little but I am jumping back on. The breaks are squeeking here. Back to basics before the holidays get the best of me. I have worked to hard for it to slowly creep back into my life. I cannot tell on the scales as much as I can tell on my body and my body image. I just want a realistic weight to shoot for and stay at. Time to take my life back. Stress will not kill me! Sunday, I had a pure nervous breakdown. I was emotional all day. Just couldn't get it together.
In the past 2 months I have seen 2 wonderful couples say good bye to their 6 year old sons. One of them just this week. My grandmother is still barely hanging on. Alot of changes going on in work and in life. My daugher has started group dating. I could go on and on. LOL I have a tendency to graze more when I am stressed out. Got to find a new hang out than the kitchen island lol.
This time of the year is especially hard for me. When I was 15 my brother  died on Christmas morning. Since then I have always had certain times that I am more emotional than others during the holidays. I try hard to celebrate and throw myself into celebrating in his honor. He loved Christmas.
Goal for the new year...getting honest and getting real with myself. Not taking less than the best my body can give me. I am the pilot of this plane time to soar above this pit I am in. =)

If you have any rebound formula that is typical I would love to hear it. How do you keep it real and stay true to who you are?

You said my philosphy in a nutshell.. keep it real ( try to be honest with myself ) .. keep plowing ahead, do the best that I can daily and let go of the results .

I do try to distance myself from needy people and taking on MORE responsibility because my life story is overeating due to overstress and too much pressure because I took on too much . I was the woman who could not say no ...

I am realizing as I step back that the people I imagined i Had to take care of are really PERFECTLY capable of taking care of themselves . Maybe not in the exact way I think they SHOULD ..or are capable of .. but they get by .

And honestly when I look back at my past " rescue" efforts "- the rescuees usually went right back to their natural level of existence as they were before I came along ... as soon as I left and stopped making a herculean effort for them - a herculean effort which necessarily meant ignoring my OWN needs and wants and giving up on my own dreams .

These days I'm actually furnishing an artstudio for MYSELF !!!! FINALLY !!!!

I finally feel I deserve this necessary all important workspace ...

I need to submerge myself in art. That would be a great escape from it all. Think I will set my stuff up and do that tomorrow. Hubby is on nights now being quiet for hubby to sleep is getting older by the minute. I am VERY ADHD. This is driving me insane! I have to be doing something. I am going to try to put myself first but this is definately not something that I am comfortable with. Time to do that for a while to get myself back on track though. Thanks for your encouragement. Congrats on your art studio.

To me,there is stress and then there is ...LIFE. Some of the things you mention...losing loved ones,daughter dating...these are life events. if we start getting out of control over every life event,then boy howdy,yes,we are in trouble.

I was sitting here trying to think bout what I would consider a stressful event. I can't think of a thing,wouldn't you know. But I think it would be something like being out and running out of gas and having left my cell phone at home. that is stress for me.

I know you will  find your strength again. It is there,after all you have been extremely successful in your journey.

Hang in there,deep breath,one foot in front of the other. And we got your back...

Taking one minute at a time trying to put one foot infront of the other. I am the type of person that internalizes everything. I have to stop doing that because it is killing me inside. When I see others hurt I hurt with them. I guess I have let life take me by storm lately and it is showing in my body!

Great to see you!!   I hope thing calm down in your life and you can enjoy the holidays. 

My DH stresses enough for both of us so I don't have time for it. My lowest weight was 106 which I felt was way to low for me and scared me a little so I started on maintenance which I really regret now because I only had 3 pounds to go to get a 100 lb. Gold Apple.   I've been 116-118 for quite a long time now and feel pretty comfortable here. I've been maintaining it pretty easily.  During the summer months I swell quite a bit so I'm at the higher end of the range and with cooler weather I'm at the lower end.  So I guess it was 10 pounds for me.

I think more importantly is how your clothes fit than the number on the scale.

Thanks Roz! My lowest weight was 109. Scary to me. I was comfortable between 114-116. Right now I am between 116-118 but it feels much bigger than that to me. This week should be interesting. DH has been on night shift for a few months now. I am still not adjusted. Now this is the first week we are all home for the Christmas break and he has to sleep during the day. SOOO BOoooooriing! We live in a very small town away from everything. It is 30-45 minutes to get anywhere.Too broke to take them somewhere everyday. Trying to keep two teenagers quiet is very depressing. I haven't liked this night shift thing since it started but understand why he is doing it. He wants to be at all their ballgames, events, etc. The position is more money so that should help a little but I hope I don't lose my mind in the process. Thanks for your encouragement. You are such a source of strength for me. =)

 Sending big big hugs your way!  At 22 months, I'm still in the weight loss mode, trying to slowly crawl down a few more pounds for any bounce back leeway.  Our head surgeon says that bounce bac****urs between months 18 and 24. If we can hold tight during those months we should be ok. I still log on myfitnesspal so that I don't become a girl gone wild as I always did in the past.

Hang onto your basics because you are a rock star at knowing what to do.

Wishing you as much peace as possible this holiday season.

I am at 25 months out so maybe this is just where I will be. I am comfortable between 113-116 right now I am floating between 116-119. I am not happy here. My bubble butt is reappearing and my boobs are too. Liking the ladies back not so much on the butt though. Got to get back to basics and hold on through the new year. Thanks for your encouragement. =) I love my OH family!

Danielle...  my bounce back started at month 28... and I do believe it was because my diet and exercise changed drastically...  more sedentary and I let some bad foods/drinks creep back in.  For me its 10 pounds.  I can tell in my clothes - BUT, my sharpei legs have filled in, which I hate my thighs, but it doesn't look all that bad in a bathing suit now - lol.

Sorry to hear you are stressing.  You definitely have a lot on your plate right now.  Exercise may help too.  Do you have the treadmill still?  Perhaps get into a "couch to 5K" program.  Give yourself something to shoot for. 

I totally get the "working nights" thing.  I worked at the Post office and shifts a lot and, when I was growing up, my dad worked the 3rd shift - and we had to "be quiet".  Hard to do.  Hard to ask others to be quiet too during those hours.