I see a lot of talk of weight loss on the sub, but I'd like to hear from those of you who have been at this for a year or two or more. I've been trying to figure this out for 10+ years now, and the amount of time I think about exercising, calories and food is exhausting. I grew up chubby and managed to lose the weight in high school, and in college, and after college... but I'm just tired of all the effort it takes. For maybe the past three I've averaged out to keeping my weight at about 10% of my highest (measured) weight. My goal is always more and I never give myself credit for this bit, but I acknowledge it's something.
I exercise regularly and count my calories and log my weight around 2-3x a week, which I have been doing for years. I lurk on this sub often, and am constantly reading about nutrition/health/weight through blogs, articles and research papers. I've explored the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) a bit, but their website kinda sucks and not all of their published papers are open access. I also enjoyed the book Thin For Life about people that have kept their weight off for a while, but it was written in 2003 but some of the focus on low-fat diets are outdated. I also keep pretty up to date on food politics from a public health perspective.
I've read the dreary statistics about the vast majority of weight losers gaining their weight back as well as the retorts from those who have succeeded, including those in the NWCR and on this sub. Either way, I do believe (from experience and my reading) it takes a lot of focus and energy, and that bariatric surgery is a very good albeit drastic option in terms of long-term success and health benefits.
Some of the things I wonder for those of you maintaining:
- How often do you eat sweets/junk?
- How often do you weigh yourself?
- How often do you "relax" your strict dietary rules, and how do you keep these times in check?
- Do you let yourself go when you go out to restaurants, and try to go out infrequently, or do you go out to restaurants often enough that you have to or enjoy eating healthfully when going out?
- How do you not get discouraged when your weight starts to uptick?
- What things do you never allow yourself to do, if anything?
- What are your favorite resources/guidebooks on this subject?
- How often do you find yourself in need of trying something new/changing things up?
- What compromises have you made that perhaps you could commit to while you were losing weight, but not for the rest of your life?
- Similarly, if you started with something drastic, like giving up added sugar or keto or IF (drastic depending on the degree, I suppose), how much of that food/lifestyle do you incorporate into your diet ("lifestyle") now?
Answers to any or all of these questions would be deeply appreciated.
One of the things I have been struggling with recently, for example, is just going to the gym. The idea of a "sexy, skinny" person motivated me for a long time (years!), but now even that feels like too much effort (my God, am I 27 or 127?). I think I'll be happy if I'm just healthy (or even, not unhealthy). I've had to actually transition from the gym to doing activities which are fun (rollerblading, rock climbing, dancing like an idiot in my underwear, ice skating) and signing up for stuff so I'm held accountable - personal trainer, group activity or whatever - because I can talk myself out of the gym pretty much every single night.
I also find myself hesitant to try new things diet-wise because I automatically find myself thinking things like oh hell no I ain't gonna be able to do that my whole life, but I wonder if I am being too rigid and too fearful. (If I try something new, and fail, will I get so discouraged as to overeat or binge, as I have so many times in the past?) I have hundreds of pages (years, remember) of food situations or feelings which have triggered me to overeat and ideas of how to combat these situations. I also have a wonderful therapist that helps me to not obsess about these things (but sometimes it's really hard! Fat shaming is real and awful and normalized part of society, and I dare say even in this sub).
I'm not giving up by any means, but I want to know what the hell you all who have this figured out do so that you don't have to just think about this all the time. I know there are many ways to lose weight, and there are many months I can keep off my weight with such methods, but what habits have you guys found to be low effort enough to be sustainable?
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