Maintainers: What Keeps You Not-Gaining?
 

Maintainers:

What keeps you in Not-Gaining mode, and what tips you into gaining?

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For me, slipping into Gaining-Mode is combination of:

- eating a little more of something, and that too often

- eating something not in my primary food group (too much secondary or tertiary, or even non-plan foods)

- neglecting to protect sleep, rest, prayer times

- not enough water

- not enough movement/exercise

- too many endocrine disrupters (environmental toxins, EMFs, etc.)

- forgetting to take key supplements

- slipping into a frame of reference that is self-sabotaging


How about you?

I was in maintenence for a long time.

My job changed, to standing still, and longer hours, 10 hours a day m-f and 8 hrs on sat. No time to organize food. Just work, work work. Gained 10 lbs a mmonth. In 2 month all the years of hard work was gone.

Find what works and stick with it.
Find a decent job with a good boss.

Arielle, thanks for your post. I'm sorry such a hefty life stressor hit you. One of those knocked me off, too.

Back in the saddle again....

Best wishes to you for a really nice day. :)

:wave:

Other areas I recently put together that can disrupt progress---

---age
---needing ADD/ADHD med support and take them
---forgetting to drink instead of eat when "hungry" :D

Hi, Arielle. :)

Ah, yes, needed medicines that throw our metabolisms off kilter.

I, too, have to deliberately drink water, as I can easily eat, instead of drinking water. I've read that it is fairly common to misread the impulse for thirst, thinking we are hungry.

Age. Slower metabolism, more creakiness and aches. I do my exercises and keep on moving. :)


I'll add another to the list: not sleeping well


I wish you a lovely day. :rose:

Sleep. So true!! I remember my Primary giving me a talk about weight loss. She was tall and pencil thin. I on the other hand had just had a second baby and was exhausted and up many times at night. I railed at her---can I get a decent night sleep first?

I had used the LC food list thru my pregnancy to manage the type 2 diabetes....which she was completely unaware!

Oh the meds--- I find the ADD meds help me make better food choices. The meds support the frontal lobe which is the decision making zone.

Have a good day!

I find that it is important not to give myself excuses but to take responsibility for my choices especially the bad ones.

hi-
great question. For me, the easy answer is carb creep- especially more alcohol (margarita anyone?) and sugar. Sugar is not really the issue- but alcohol is. If I have 1-2 drinks a week I'm okay. More is not okay for my weight.
The other thing that is strange is that I gained 10 lbs almost in a couple of weeks when my thyroid meds and estrogen were changed to generic - once I realized it I changed back, but the weight gain stayed. that was about 10 years ago.

My best strategy is to never go off plan.

It can be a challenge, especially when my routine changes or I'm under a lot of stress (and have you noticed that when you're under stress carbs are either always present or always offered???). Then my impulse is to say "screw it- I'm going to eat whatever I want!", followed by the voice of reason saying "No, because being sick isn't going to help you deal with this- you can do this".

later-
E

I agree that sleep and stress are the factors that I need to watch. I usually compensate with extra food, or extra meals.

I find I have to have one-meal-per-day days, usually on the weekends because that's easier to pull off, to get me back on track. If I miss exercise, or cut back on it too much, that can be a problem as well. I've been trying to find my balance, as I'm pretty new to maintenance.

I also pay attention to how it feels to eat too much, and how it feels to eat in moderation. I hope over time this gets to automaticity, but it's not there yet. I remain grateful, and take nothing for granted about this life. I still eat the same foods that got me here, and in roughly the same quantities.

I feel so fortunate to be here, so grateful--I want to have this for the rest of my life. You've seen the mantra: "being fat is hard, losing weight is hard, pick your hard"? Well, for me this is maybe not what people who have never struggled with weight would think of as easy, but I think of it as easy: I watch what I eat, I exercise, I get to be slim. That's a pretty sweet deal.

Kathleen, I think it's lovely how you put that. :) If I do what I know I need to do, the results do make me smile. Thanks for the inspiration.

responding to Kathleen24
 

Great post, thank you! (i should have quoted the post I was responding to - a little message board rusty.)

I track everything that goes in my mouth. I'm too paranoid that my portions will start getting bigger if I don't measure and weigh everything I eat. I also keep a food journal. Probably not what anyone wants to hear, but I've maintained my loss so far.

How long after you had reached your goal did you start adding in a few foods/carbs for maintenance. I reached my goal but it’s not stable yet. As soon as I have say 4 or 5 days at my goal I’ll THINK about maintenance phase.

I was fairly consistent during Atkins' induction, hovering around 20g of carbs a day. When I reached what I decided was my goal, I was already into time-restricted eating (TRE) ( mostly two meals a day - breakfast and lunch ) and intermittent fasting (IF) , and every now and then I'd do a longer one day fast, then a day and a half, and several close to 48 hours ( and recently hit 48 hours as that was bothering me not hitting that goal ).

Nowadays, with TRE and IF, my carb count has creeped up to the 30s and sometimes 40s while I still maintain. I do walk everyday, and am focused like a laser on getting a minimum of 7 hours sleep a day with my CPAP.

Here's an excerpt from the last 7 days of my daily food log. Hours of fasting is the TRE time from last meal of the day before until the first bite that morning.

26 17.0g / 15 hour fast
25 41.7g / 13 hour fast
24 35.3g / 15 hour fast
23 42.5g / 23 hour fast
22 38.4g / 13 hour fast
21 35.5g / 20 hour fast
20 45.4g / 18 hour fast

I measure and log my waist and weight first thing after I get up. Mostly I keep an eye out for Friday's weight - and the delta (change) from previous Fridays. So invariably some of my extended fasts come on or near hump day.

Cheese used to tip me into gaining, so I try harder to control this and don't buy as much shopping lol. Aged and red wax gouda - whatever the size was I'd eat the whole thing in one sitting every time.

Started LCHF Atkins induction 3-30-2018 and I guess you could say I reached what I decided was goal around July / August and have been maintaining since.

:)

Since I’ve been doing this since 2003, there have been slip-ups 😀

I think the key is to stay alert and catch bad habits quickly. For me, it turned out be as much about health as it is about excess weight. Carb count always mattered more than calories when it came to my success, but as time moved on, I discovered whole categories of food just had to be eliminated, like gluten and high fiber veggies.

Maintenance turns out to be the most individual of all stages, I think. We all start out from high carb SAD, and just cutting those carbs way back will give good results. But I think this also allows our bodies to heal, and then, there are all these twists to be discovered, like what is the right exercise for us. Mine is simply going for a nature walk or even bouncing on a mini-trampoline when the weather is bad.

Food sensitivities can turn out to be important even if we successfully lose the weight. Carb cravings get lower the LESS we indulge in carbs. Likewise, a problematic food can announce itself with cravings, instead of hunger.

That’s an important distinction. When I have a satisfying meal, I’m good for hours and I don’t want to eat! When I have a “sensible dinner” that is low carb and healthy, yet I find myself prowling the kitchen or wishing for a dessert thing, I have come to see that as a sign that something in that dinner is not working for me.