how much regain am I OK with?

You summed up, exactly what I was thinking MacMadame!

i love your attitude, i dont think i could live with gaining all my weight back though because i love being able to move and get out and do things with no pain and no suffering.

I think since surgery i eat alot more healthy and my fear is that to maintain the weight loss, its going to take unhealty behaviour of yo yo dieting to stay there..

 

I hope you don't have to do anything unhealthy to maintain!!

I love you Jackie and wi****hought like you. I will NOT be happy if I ever regain into an overweight BMI again though. That gives me a rage of about 20 lbs.. more than that I would kick my own ass.. lol

I too wish I could think like you, but alas, it will never be, because even a few pounds stresses me out.  If I was to gain 10 lbs., I think I would seriously panic.  Hell, when I gain 2 pounds I begin to go into super diet commando mode.  I don't think I could ever change this, it just is part of who I am.

I right there with ya Elina...cautiously stepping on the scale every morning with one eye shut.

Laura

 Weight regain happens (for me at least) when life crises come about and I don't have enough free mental cycles to get myself into super diet commando mode.   I think this is where having a set foundation of food strategies really helps/matters

Hi Jackie,

Great post.  I see your outlook as very mature and healthy and I so commend you for it...

I for one want to do everything in my power to keep my weight off for the following reasons:
-  I hated what being overweight did to my confidence
-  I hated what being overweight did to my health
-  I hated the pain and limited mobility of being overweight
-  I hated the way I looked and felt being overwieght
-  I spent US$8,000 out of my families pocket to make this happen
-  I don't want to fail again
-  I LOVE the way I look and feel
-  I have to beleive that I can always get control and lose the bit I gain
-  I do not ever, ever, ever want to gain my weight back
-  I plan to do everything in my power to keep this weight off
-  I have learned sooooooo much about myself, my weight and my health, I am not sure I could go back there again!

I am giving myself more attention than I ever have, and I love the attention I am getting from myself, I deserve this, I want this for me.  I don't plan to give it up without a big big fight!

I love this group of individuals and how we all see things a bit differently, it sure gets me thinking.

Big hugs, I am sooooooo proud of you!

Cindy

I am more in Jackie's camp than in the "diet mentality" camp.  I have worked hard both emotionally, physically and spiritually to be more a peace with myself and food. I spent a lot of time believing I could not change my attitude or belief and the incredible peace I have from changing that attitude has been awesome.
This does not mean I have a I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. What it does mean is that I am mindful of what I eat, when I eat and why I eat to the best of my ability daily. Some days I do better than others but I had to let go of my black and white, good bad, food nazi thinking about food. For me that happened slowly, over the years, with therapy and the surgery was a part of the process.
I also had to let go of I have to be a size zero and have no fat on my body type of thinking.
Yes I could be a size zero but that would require I be obsessive about every morsel I put in my mouth and I am not willing to live my life that way. That is NOT a judgment of any one else that is just how I choose to live my life.
I do eat what is healthy for me most of the time, I do eat "junk" some of the time, I do hike on a regular basis becuase I love it and it has become part of my lifestyle but not because I feel I MUST excercise to atone for what I eat.
My weight stays between 120-125 most of the time. If/when it creeps beyond that and it has, I know it is time to cut back on the "junk". I don't "freak". I don't  beat on myself I just make other choices.
Does this make me "normal"? Does this make me "blessed"? Does this make me "special"?. I think not, I think it is about my attitude and all of the damn hard work I have done in therapy and the emotional and spiritual growth I have done in my life to help get me to this point. I also think it is about choices I have made and choose to make on a daily basis.

I'm definitely not in the "how much would it be ok to regain" camp yet because I'm still struggling with getting to my original goal.  I've passed my doctors "success" goal for me but not my own.  I have always wanted to shed 100 pounds and never even come close.  I haven't been under 189 in my adult life until last year (I'm 60).  I'm one that had to struggle with every ounce that I released. Eating uner 800 calories with 3 hours of exercise doesn't let go of an ounce. 

Reading all of these threads about regain brings home to me how important it is that I step on the scale every morning, and every Monday night at WW.  I've commited to always going to WW because even if I go into denial at home, my WW leader will not allow me to be in denial.  I have a great fear that if it's this difficult to shed an ounce now, and if I eat 1000 calories for a day,  I gain quickly, that maintenance is going to be something that challenges me.  That's only a maybe because I don't want to create a script that says "maintaining will be a challenge".  It just means that for me I'll have to be diligent and track my food and pay close attention to what my scale tells me. I've been battling my weight since I was 7 years old. I wake up every morning in fear that the scale has gone up because it so often does for no apparent reason. 

I'm definitely in the self love camp.  I spent over 50 years hating on my body, saying awful things to myself.  In the last few years I've done a lot of work on self acceptance and self love.  I wake up every morning and look in the mirror and tell myself that I love me unconditionally, regardless of what the scale says, or what my crazy a$$ brain has to say that morning.  I look in the mirror (bedroom is two full walls of mirrors so no escaping) and tell myself that while I'm not where I'd like to be eventually, that where I am today is just fine and I'm proud of myself.   Do I believe it every morning?  Well, not so much but it's affirming for me to reach for that place of always loving myself.  I figure, why wait?  Today is a great day to practice self love.  If I don't love myself, how will others?

This WLS is about so much more than letting go of pounds.  Self discovery, letting go of self-hatred and self recrimination is right up there at the top of the leader board.

Thanks for leading the way all of you wonderful, insightful VSGM peeps!