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  #16   ^
Old Wed, Aug-10-05, 11:14
Bandito's Avatar
Bandito Bandito is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 533
 
Plan: Generic LC
Stats: 212/157/135 Female 5'7
BF:
Progress: 71%
Location: Oregon
Default

Feel great here as well. I feel like I did a couple months into LC (took my body a while to adjust). My bs has been stable and I don't need to take naps. I dont know what else to say, except I feel great. I still have my trigger foods. If I fall off the deep end once and a while, I will feel like garbage until it wears off. During maintenance you will find the foods that you react poorly to. It's ok to mess up here and again. Thats how you learn what is right for you. This part takes time, but with your advanced knowlege of what YOU can handle, your repertiore of foods will develope. After you have gained this knowlege (but still always learning) you just kinda settle into your life. At this point you eat for your future health while paying some attention to weight so as to not re-gain.
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  #17   ^
Old Wed, Aug-10-05, 15:52
Kristine's Avatar
Kristine Kristine is offline
Forum Moderator
Posts: 25,581
 
Plan: Primal/P:E
Stats: 171/146/150 Female 5'7"
BF:
Progress: 119%
Location: Southern Ontario, Canada
Default

Very interesting thread.

Quote:
What does maintenence feel like?


For me, it's a little bit of everything. You go through phases. Sometimes maintenance is as easy as pie. Other times, it's right out the window. Then comes that itchy-leg/bloated feeling you described. Successful maintenance means that your new lifestyle is so engrained in you, that going back to how you used to be not only feels physically uncomfortable, but wrong on a moral and emotional level.

Quote:
Do you find a peace where you are no longer trying to lose, or is it an eternal-vigilance feeling?


I'm in the 'eternal-vigilance' camp. I have an addictive personality, and that will never disappear. As well, I'm disorganized and impulsive by nature, and if I'm not paying attention to things going on in my life, they just disappear off my radar. Without my "to-do" lists, I'd be lost and my work would never get done.

But that's not to say you don't have peace, also. The food obsession, the all-or-nothing, perfectionist attitude; the noise in my head; it's softened from a roar to a dull whisper. It's a voluntary paying of attention, not the negative voice in your head screaming at you. There is a specific kind of peace you feel when you know you're feeding your body properly, not abusing it.
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  #18   ^
Old Thu, Aug-11-05, 13:50
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rachelratz rachelratz is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 420
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 148/108/108 Female 5'3"
BF:
Progress: 100%
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I'm in a situation in which I have maintained my weight loss over 5 years. It's something you gradually learn. It's hard to say because it's different for each person. You just learn what to eat, the amount, etc the same way each day. You eat a variety of foods, learn which ones not to eat too much of. (the reason most people get heavy...too much of a good thing). You also learn not to fear what you eat. I limit my pasta and starch to once a week. I have stayed in my zone (never below 110, never above 113lbs since then. Again, each person is different, but you will learn to do it.
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  #19   ^
Old Mon, Aug-15-05, 17:34
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ItsTheWooo ItsTheWooo is offline
Registered Member
Posts: 4,815
 
Plan: My Own
Stats: 280/118/117.5 Female 5ft 5.25 in
BF:
Progress: 100%
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kathleen24
Okay, this question is for those hyper-self-analytical types out there, and I know from the outset that it may be a tough one to answer.

I know what losing feels like: that kind of `squarish' crunching feeling in the abdomen (usually) that corresponds with a drop in scale weight--not hunger, but right next door to it, and often an I'm hungry-but-don't-want-to-eat feeling.

I know what gaining feels like--that bloating, itchy-legged, I'm-full-but-want-to-eat feeling.

What does maintenence feel like? Is it just a pendulum swing between those feelings, or is it different? Do you find a peace where you are no longer trying to lose, or is it an eternal-vigilance feeling?

I remember from many years ago, an immediacy to the sensation of hunger when I was at goal--that `I'm-hungry-and-you-better-feed-me-NOW' feeling (like living with a 2 year old . . . ) but I don't remember anything else about it . . .


Thanks for your thoughts on this. . . .


Speaking personally,

In maintenance I don't feel much different than I did when losing. I can't relate to your descriptions of loss and gain, although I do remember the feeling of being stuffed yet still hungry when I was fat.

When I was losing,
I remember being more careful and afraid of what I was eating. The fear was highest when I first started, it changed focused a little, and slowly tapered away. It's still there but now it's like background noise. When you maintain you learn something you didn't know about "normal weight" people: weight fluxes. It's totally normal to eat a bit for a few days because, say, celebrations or fruit season or bbq. It's totally normal to put on a bit of weight. Then you lose it again by going back to more strict eating, and that's that. No fuss no muss.
This helps you get over the fears that were fresh when starting the diet, because you are learning that you DON"T need to be perfect and you're not supposed to be. If you eat something bad, if you gain a pound, it will be fixed as long as you stay committed to thinness. The fears of everything weight & food related gradually goes away when reality interjects the closed bubble of weight loss dieting.

I also remember being hungrier. Since my goal was to lose weight as fast as possible while still being healthy, I under ate fats as well as carbs to really create an energy deficit. It wasn't so much the physical hunger that bothered me, because my blood sugar was tightly controlled it was very managable. It was more the physical effects of a body low on energy & conserving it. I was tired often, cold often (the winter was like a nightmare, oh my god), occasionally dizzy and weak. I take for granted now that I don't feel dizziness and weakness like I used to, I forget that used to be common. So I feel healthier and stronger. Ironically in maintenance I actually can feel hungrier, since less rules means more poor choices, which translates into less stable blood sugar. The difference is though that on maintenance when I'm hungry I allow myself to eat since weight loss is not a goal (unless of course I have gained weight after a series of indulgences).


The biggest difference is in perception, mental perception.
You kinda have to let go of food in maintenance. In maintenance you're not allowed to be extreme anymore. Many people who are food addicts temporarily deal with abstaining from food by becoming hyper obsessive with losing weight. I see it all the time. By a food addict going on a diet, you're kinda trading heroin for morphine. It can end up a couple ways. You can actually use it (food purity/restriction obsession) as true morphine, using it as a crutch to fill the void on the way to being eating normal. You can eventually find yourself adverse to it and just go back to food. OR, you can be triggered by it, grow dependent on it to replace the void of eating food, and develop a restrictive/compensatory eating disorder. To my estimations it is an unfortunate truth very few people have the "happy outcome", instead they become more dysfunctional in eating one way or other from attempting to reduce weight.

Anyway. When I had to learn to just be moderate and NORMAL and not focus on food so much, it was a big blow. I totally didn't realize the extent that I was replacing compulsive eating with dieting. The transition was difficult to say the least. Maintenance made me realize I WAS an emotional dependent on food, and it forced me to deal with my compulsive tendencies. It is simply no longer an OPTION to be "all or nothing" like it was before, because this would result in undesired outcomes.

This is definitely premature on my part since I have a long way to go, but I feel more eating normal than I have ever in my life. Experimenting, in spite of fears, learning to actually eat food in moderation and on occasion, challenging my long held residual perceptions of being "deprived" and "yearning" for food (remnants of the carbohydrate sensitivity, the seeds for compulsive eating/restriction)... it's like I parted the fog and can see clearly for the first time. Of course this is only true if I also control blood sugar. I shouldn't understate how crucial this factor is, because becoming "eating normal" is only possible if one is no longer being triggered by the physical problems that lay the foundation for food addiction in the first place.

I've really went on waaay too long here so I"m just going to end it now.
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  #20   ^
Old Sat, Dec-10-05, 06:57
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bkloots bkloots is online now
Senior Member
Posts: 10,147
 
Plan: LC--Atkins
Stats: 195/162/150 Female 62in
BF:
Progress: 73%
Location: Kansas City, MO
Default Bumping an old thread

I just spotted this thread today, and read everything with great interest. I've been officially in maintenance since April 2005, with one excursion back to induction to counteract a vacation weight gain. The sneaky 5 lbs.

To all the other comments, I want to add: rereading my program book (Dr. Atkins) brought to light a lot of information I hadn't paid much attention to while I was in Loss Mode. Dr. A has a breezy style (okay--hyper at times.) He tends to insert sentences here and there like asides--but that are really important. Example: most people can't eat a high-fat diet.

Hey--what happened to my "low-carb advantage"? As it turns out, I DO have to pay careful attention to what I eat. I use Fitday periodically to recheck my eating habits. I step on the scales often to remind myself where I want to STAY. I mind my carbs. It's the mindfulness I learned every step of the way on my low-carb journey to GOAL that serves me now.

I tend to admire myself in the mirror a lot, because most people in my life now don't remember me as a "fat person." It's been almost ten years since I first lost the 50 lbs (on a low-fat diet). Atkins has been my key to continuing success. Still--yesterday, when I wore my skinny jeans and black turtleneck, someone stopped me in the hallway at work and said, "Wow. I don't know how you do it!" Evidently, she's one of those people who's been watching me...watching for me to get fat again? I swear it's not going to happen. Ever.
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  #21   ^
Old Sat, Dec-10-05, 07:33
greta greta is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 140
 
Plan: South Beach
Stats: 132/124/125 Female 177 cm
BF:
Progress: 114%
Location: Europe
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You're all so great, so individual, having personal tips I secretly learn from.

I work in a fashion industry, guess I don't need to tell what pressure is there about being the right size, even if you're not the model.
As I began to open up and tell my slim secrets - I was told being a sect.
And you know I think woman who told that was right; as I need to come here and see that I'm not alone.
To steal some tips and try to fit them to my life, see if they work.
So stay vigilant, low-carbers!
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  #22   ^
Old Sat, Dec-10-05, 08:02
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lisabond lisabond is offline
See, I smile :)
Posts: 464
 
Plan: A Version of My Own ;)
Stats: 208/141.5/135 Female 5 ft 7 in
BF:43%/26%/???
Progress: 91%
Location: Midwest
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rachelratz
It's hard to say because it's different for each person. You just learn what to eat, the amount, etc the same way each day.
.


I'm glad I seen some action in this thread, I missed this the last time I was through here.

I think it does come down to the daily habits that makes maintenence an "auto-pilot" kind of thing. After all, it was the daily habits that had me obese in the first place...eating out of the box o' carbs (does it matter what is actually was? The important thing was it was all carbs), lack of structure, lack of planning, lack of caring. Now I have a new set of daily habits. Call it a routine, call it a rut, call it mild ocd, but if I stick to the new daily habits, they will become as comfortable as all the other maintenence type things I do in my life, like balace a checkbook, brush my teeth, take my kids to school, it's just another part of life. And when the holidays roll around and if I deviate from the "routine" one day, I tell myself that "Christmas comes but once a year" (or insert holiday of choice), and the day after is right back to the real world. No, I'm not talking about total pig out on Christmas, it's more like, "hey, plum pudding with hard sauce comes into my life once a year. I'm having a serving."

With that said, I still struggle with image issues, some white-knuckle moments, those last few pesky pounds. But I am learning it's the days I string together like beads on a string that show how things really are. Just make sure there are far more regular days strung together than those "once a year" days! And no making up holidays, either!
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  #23   ^
Old Sun, Jan-01-06, 15:22
dstartz's Avatar
dstartz dstartz is offline
Rather Be Ballooning
Posts: 545
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 250/196/165 Female 67"
BF:?/40.0%/26%
Progress: 64%
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kathleen24
I have never forgotten her analogy--she said it's as if she had crossed an ocean in a small boat, and encountered storms and despair along the way, but by the time she hit her goal weight, about half her starting weight, she said it was just like hitting the dock with a gentle *bump*--and now she had to learn to live life in the harbor.
What a powerful image! And now that I've read it the gentle *bump* is exactly what I am experiencing coming into pre-maintenance and, thus, what I now expect maintenance will be.

I am sooo glad I found this thread!!! Thanks, y'all!

Donna
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  #24   ^
Old Sun, Jan-01-06, 19:25
Jonahsafta Jonahsafta is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 1,304
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 248/149.2/148 Female 69 inches
BF:
Progress: 99%
Location: Las Vegas
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The analogy is perfect.
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  #25   ^
Old Sun, Jan-01-06, 20:43
csoar2004's Avatar
csoar2004 csoar2004 is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 1,267
 
Plan: Fat Flush Plan
Stats: 233/146/150 Female 5ft 8inches
BF:22%
Progress: 105%
Location: west coast
Default I've been in maintenance for 2+ years and know what?

Sometimes, I gain weight. (jeez...that collective gasp I could hear even out here in the middle of nowhere!) Not a LOT of weight, I hasten to add, but 3-5 pounds. USUALLY, it's 'cause I eat too many P3 carbs (we're permitted up to 4 "legal" carbs per day in Fat Flush Plan) - dang, the blue corn chips are just too tasty! Anyhoo, I don't panic. I don't despair. I don't go completely off plan and binge.

What I do is a quarterly detox (either 2 weeks of P1 or the lovely Fast Track). Abracadabra, presto change-o! Pounds vanish and I'm back to my low weight.

Why am I telling you this?
Well, I suppose so you know that maintenance/P3 isn't a "free pass" to eat whatever you want. You still have to pay attention and just because the rules say you can have "X" doesn't mean YOU can have "X" (if you catch my drift).
Also, so you know that a return to induction/P1 now and then is good not only from a detox standpoint, but to help shave off pound creep. Life happens. It's good to know that the phases of the FFP - or returning to Atkins induction - can help deal with the aftermath.

As it happens, I started my routine quarterly detox today and will be following the Phase 1 Fat Flush Plan eating guidelines for the next two weeks. Pass the water, please!
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  #26   ^
Old Sun, Jan-01-06, 23:18
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Judynyc Judynyc is offline
Attitude is a Choice
Posts: 30,111
 
Plan: No sugar, flour, wheat
Stats: 228.4/209.0/170 Female 5'6"
BF:stl/too/mch
Progress: 33%
Location: NYC
Default

I've not been at goal for very long now but I do agree with csoar.....I'm finding myself adhering to the rules of my plan as if I'm still doing it.

I know that if I eat as much as my phase III allows, that I'd be gaining weight. I'm not going back to where I was!! I am going to be eating this way for the rest of my life!!

I do, however, have a feeling of freedom that is quite nice. Also, the feeling of having given myself this wonderful gift, keeps me wanting to stay where I am.

My eating is becoming more second nature to me now and for this I'm very grateful!!
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  #27   ^
Old Thu, Jan-05-06, 08:31
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taming taming is offline
Still Wicked
Posts: 10,686
 
Plan: none currently (WFPB now)
Stats: 235/112/120 Female 151 cm (4.11 1/2)
BF:
Progress: 107%
Location: Alberta, Canada
Default

The weight maintenance part of this has not (yet) been difficult for me. That being said, coming to terms with a thinner me has not always been as easy to deal with. People treat me differently; I am more focused on things like clothing and makeup; and I am re-introducing non-weight related activities back into my life--trying to move the food issues more into the background of my day-to-day existence.

When I was actively losing weight, I didn't think much about it--I charged on, doing what I had learned was likely to be most effective. Now, at goal, I am making sense of what being fat has meant to me--the good and the bad. It's more challenging to me than weight loss was.
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  #28   ^
Old Sat, Sep-02-17, 14:31
kathleen24 kathleen24 is offline
Monday came.
Posts: 4,418
 
Plan: my own
Stats: 275/228.6/155 Female 5'4"
BF:ummm . . . ?
Progress: 39%
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by kathleen24
Okay, this question is for those hyper-self-analytical types out there, and I know from the outset that it may be a tough one to answer.

I know what losing feels like: that kind of `squarish' crunching feeling in the abdomen (usually) that corresponds with a drop in scale weight--not hunger, but right next door to it, and often an I'm hungry-but-don't-want-to-eat feeling.

I know what gaining feels like--that bloating, itchy-legged, I'm-full-but-want-to-eat feeling.

What does maintenence feel like? Is it just a pendulum swing between those feelings, or is it different? Do you find a peace where you are no longer trying to lose, or is it an eternal-vigilance feeling?

I remember from many years ago, an immediacy to the sensation of hunger when I was at goal--that `I'm-hungry-and-you-better-feed-me-NOW' feeling (like living with a 2 year old . . . ) but I don't remember anything else about it . . .


Thanks for your thoughts on this. . . .


Read this post, and thought, "I can totally relate to this!"
And then I noticed who wrote it . . .
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  #29   ^
Old Sun, Sep-03-17, 00:17
Ambulo's Avatar
Ambulo Ambulo is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 3,171
 
Plan: LerC, TRE, IF
Stats: 150/120/120 Female 64 inches
BF:
Progress: 100%
Location: the North, England
Default

'Read this post, and thought, "I can totally relate to this!"
And then I noticed who wrote it . . . '

Well, you bumped the thread for the rest of us. It's a fascinating read and I am surprised it has been dormant so long.

I have been in maintenance for over 3 years: maintenance as an activity, not maintenance as an outcome - I have been gaining just about 1.3 lbs a year. I have simply carried on with the WOE that I lost with, primarily OMAD with low carb dishes. My occasional deviation is fish and chips, maybe once a quarter. My OMAD tribe does not weigh or measure food, but we eat to satiety. I will not countenance imposing any portion control unless clothes get tight. As an Abstainer I am happy to live by my simple rules and make zero food decisions most hours of a day.
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  #30   ^
Old Sun, Sep-03-17, 01:22
esw's Avatar
esw esw is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 683
 
Plan: atkins
Stats: 175/166/147 Female 5ft 5ins
BF:
Progress: 32%
Location: UK
Default

Agree with Ambulo this is a vey interesting thread, glad you bumped it. How funny that you still think that way kathleen24 after 12 years.
I reckon as maintenance is such a stumbling block for many of us the more help and suggestions the better. Emotional reward from a drop in the scale is very encouraging. Personally the goal of weight loss is a fight worth fighting. When I get to my goal I think I will have to set new goals. A few on here set their target a little lower I will be considering that. Keeping the mind and body busy will also be useful. Just Jo is a powerhouse of a knitter. I hope as we reach goal we will continue to come on here. The journey will continue.
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