The Truth About Maintenance

August 23, 2010 By

When people who do not know my weight loss story find out that 1) I used to weigh 305 pounds, 2) I lost 158 pounds and 3) I’ve kept it off for almost 13 years, they are usually surprised and always full of questions. Aside from all the usual questions about how I lost the weight, many people have questions about the maintenance part of weight loss. This isn’t surprising, because many studies show that only about five percent of people who lose weight keep it off for more than two years.

I don’t ever think about the fact that I’m unusual in keeping my weight off this long, but sometimes people make me feel as though I do something “magic” that they cannot do. I wanted to share today some truths about my life in maintenance to encourage you in the fact that you can maintain your weight once you reach your goal.

There is no magic formula to maintaining my weight. I balance calories and exercise just like I did when I was in the weight loss phase. I do not count calories officially, but I do pay attention to the calorie content of foods I eat. If I know I’m going to eat a brownie for dessert, I eat a very light lunch and skip the bread at dinner. If I eat more than I normally do due to hormonal or stressful days, then I cut back on my food intake for the next day or two.

I weigh everyday. I know this isn’t for everyone, but it works for me. In maintenance, weighing everyday helps me see that I’m within that 3-5 pound range I allow myself to float in. If I hit the top number, I take action immediately and cut out the extra food I’ve been eating. The scale jogs back down and I just continue on with life

I am satisfied with my weight. This is a big one for me. Could I be thinner? Yes, I could probably lose another 10 pounds. But for me, this weight where I have stayed all these years is fairly easy to maintain, whereas if I lost another 10 pounds, I think it would be a struggle to easily maintain. Again, this is a personal choice.

I rarely eat junky foods. You notice I said rarely! I do eat dessert and chips on occasion, but it’s not an everyday thing. Most of the time I make pretty good choices.

I continue to exercise six days a week. Exercise is like the “get out of weight problem jail” card for me. The calories I burn give me the flexibility to eat a little more without worrying about my weight. I also love feeling strong and fit.

I developed my personal mantra of “Never Go Back.” I never want to struggle to walk through the mall because of my weight, get stuck in chairs or avoid social situations solely because of my weight.

I wanted to encourage you that there is no magic in maintenance. The same things you are doing right now to get to a healthy weight are exactly the same things you can do to maintain your weight for years. That’s why picking a weight-loss plan that is sustainable and practical is so important. Can you do it for the rest of your life?

What are your thoughts on maintaining your weight? Diane

Filed Under: Weight Maintenance Tagged With: ,

Injuries: Patience and Creativity Required

May 25, 2010 By

 Don’t forget to enter the Subway Giftcard Giveaway!!

Last year I was walking in my yard, minding my own business when a brick appeared out of nowhere and I banged my toe. Sadly, my foot had no shoe on, and reacted very poorly to being banged. I had broken my toe.

I was in pain.

My toe was swollen.

I was mad.

I was mad not just because I broke my toe, but because I knew that breaking my toe was going to severely limit the amount of exercise I was going to be able to do. No more brisk walking/occasional jogging for me. I was seriously annoyed. This wasn’t the first time in my 12 years of maintaining my 150 pound weight loss that I had been injured. Every time I hurt myself one of my first thoughts were, “What am I going to do about exercising and moving my body?”

Such a different response from when I was morbidly obese. At 300 pounds, injuries weren’t fun either-but I back then I wasn’t active at all, so I didn’t mind sitting on the couch even more than I normally did! I’d just load up on the treats and wait for the injury to go away. Not so after I lost my weight.

Now when I injure myself I check with my doctor and follow her recommendations. When I broke my toe, walking and running were out, but because my doctor didn’t cast my toe (thank goodness) there were other exercises I could still do-and I did them.

I checked out our local university’s swimming pool and started swimming. I pulled my son’s bicycle out of the garage and started biking again. And I didn’t stop strength training. During the month that it took my foot to start feeling better I was still able to exercise and move my body and I learned, once again, that sometimes in this journey to lose or maintain weight we have to be creative and patient.

If you have ever been injured you know what I’m talking about. Sometimes you can’t do any type of physical activity and then you really have to work through those frustrations and emotions. But there are other times, like I experienced, where I could do alternate training. Just so you know, I have had times where I injured my back so badly I could do no exercise for months. During those times I didn’t exercise or do much of anything, but I didn’t gain weight. How? I didn’t gain because I cut back on my calories enough to still maintain my weight. That wasn’t easy, but it worked for me.

So if you are injured, or get injured I wanted to encourage you that your journey doesn’t have to end. It may stall for a time and that’s okay. Take the time you need to heal, and when you can, add back some activity into your life.

Have you been injured? What did you do?  Diane

Always check with your doctor about any injury!

Filed Under: excuses, Exercise, Weight Loss Tagged With: ,

One Of The Big Three In My Journey

May 17, 2010 By

If you missed my weekend post: Is This Okay? (Mini-Rant) please read it! Not really for what I wrote, but for all the interesting, insightful comments you all left!

Today I wanted to focus on one aspect of my weight loss journey that is vitally important – Portion Control.

Portion control was one of my “Big Three” when I was losing weight. I watched portions, controlled the fat percentage in my overall diet, and exercised. Of those three, portion size was the easiest to deceive myself over. It was easy to watch the fat content in foods, exercise was either a “did” or “didn’t,” but portions could be tricky.

I would often try and justify having a second or third piece of bread because I didn’t put butter on it.

I would take a couple of extra crackers, instead of stopping at the 5 per the serving size.

I would dish out a bit more casserole than I knew was the right amount.

If I ate baked chips, instead of counting out the correct amount I’d just reach my hand in a few times in a row.

I would eat more pasta even though I knew what a serving looked like because I had measured it before.

I’d eat 3 pieces of diet whole wheat bread because it was diet, and had less calories.

Along my weight loss year I stopped fooling myself over portion sizes, and made myself be honest about what a portion really was and wasn’t. Sometimes it was hard because sometimes I wanted more of something, but I knew I had had enough. Here are seven tips that might help you when dealing with the temptation to eat a little bigger portion than you really intend.

Seven Tips for Portion Control

1. Per Dr. Oz - Use a smaller plate, bowl, or cup. I do this all the time and it really helps – both now in maintenance, and during my weight loss. If I ever eat ice cream I use one of those tiny custard cups and just put a small spoonful in. It’s not a lot of ice cream, but it is enough.

2. Learn what the proper portions of food are. Here’s a great resource. For example, a baked potato shouldn’t be bigger than your computer mouse. In other words, it shouldn’t be as big as your head like you see in some restaurants!

3. Read the serving size on the package. Sometimes you may be surprised at how small a serving really is. Crackers anyone? How about stopping at five.

4. Think before you eat. Really think about what you are about to eat, and resolve to enjoy each bite.

5. Stick with one helping of the main dish. If you are still hungry, fill up on veggies or salad and leave the entree alone.

6. Don’t be a member of the Clean Plate Club. It’s okay to leave things on your plate. For me, it’s the rare meal where I eat everything on my plate. Ask John!

7. When in doubt – measure. The value of measuring and weighing your food is proven. Do you want to measure forever? No – and you don’t have to. But if you aren’t sure or aren’t confident in your ability to use visual cues, then measure.

Portion control really is the key to weight loss and weight maintenance. You can exercise, you can eat healthy food, but without eating the right AMOUNT of food, you will have a hard time achieving your goals!!

Question: I’d love to hear your thoughts on portions and how you control them!  Diane

Filed Under: Choices, cooking Tagged With: , ,

Share What You Know!

May 10, 2010 By

I’ve done a lot of speaking on weight loss over the years, but it’s usually been to smallish groups of people. Of course I talk in front of people when I teach my class and have spoken to various other groups. So when an organization in my hometown called me and asked me to do a 10-minute motivational talk before their 3-mile wellness walk I said, “Sure.” Then the gentleman on the other end of the line then told me they usually had about 1,500 people in attendance. I gulped. “No problem,” I said.

I hung up and took a deep breath. It was only 10 minutes – surely I could do that. So over the course of the next week I wrote my speech and practiced every time I went walking or riding my bike. Fortunately I don’t run into anyone while I’m exercising so no one was there to laugh at me or wonder why I was quietly talking to myself!

Due to strong storms and flooding here in Tennessee the event was rescheduled twice. I thought for sure it would be cancelled altogether, but the weather cleared and the event was held this past Saturday.

I loved the purpose of the event – to promote wellness among the children and youth of our community. I believe this is so important, because childhood obesity is a very serious problem. It makes me so sad when I see overweight children who are already struggling with the emotional and physical side effects of obesity related diseases. It’s just wrong.

I hope that events like this will stir up the grassroots communities that made our country strong. I know the government wants to regulate fast food companies, food manufacturers, and more – but without the common every day moms and dads leading the way – all the regulations in the world will have a hard time changing individual choices on a daily basis.

The JumpStart Walk was led off by our mayor and school superintendent and then I did my talk.  As you can see from the picture the wind was very strong. I had my notes in my hand, but because of the wind I knew they’d fly right off the podium. So I did my talk from memory. And I didn’t forget any of my points, which made me very happy. And after I talked the crowd dispersed and headed off on their 3 mile walk!

I hope that you will take every opportunity you can to talk to people you know about healthy living. Rather it’s in front of a large crowd or simply speaking to friends at lunch, sharing your knowledge of nutrition and fitness can begin to make a difference in every life you touch. Even leading by example is a very effective way of showing people how to eat right. Your actions can be very inspiring to other people, even if you don’t say a word.

Question:  Have you ever had a chance to share what you know? How did it feel? Diane

Filed Under: Choices, Weight Loss Tagged With: , ,

I Lost Him!

May 3, 2010 By

This is a picture of me with my oldest son, who is 13 and my 3rd son, who is 7. My daughter took this picture at the zoo a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was a nice picture of the three of us and couldn’t believe how tall my oldest son has gotten. And then I thought of something else when I was looking at that picture. He had just very proudly told me a few days before that he weighs just over 150 pounds. He thinks it’s great to be gaining weight and getting stronger! (Remember those days?) Then I realized:

I lost him.

I lost 158 pounds in total and that’s about what he weighs. I could no more pick him up and carry him around on my back all day then I could swim across the Atlantic Ocean. I’m not even sure I could pick him up in an emergency situation.

But when I was morbidly obese, I did figuratively carry him around all day long. No wonder I was tired all the time. All that extra weight didn’t just make me look bad, squishy, and unfit. That extra weight was exhausting. Even the simplest activities were hard for me. I remember having to sit down in the mall after just a half an hour of shopping and rest for awhile. Doing work around the house made me tired. Even a relatively simple activities like cleaning the bathroom or dusting wore me out. No wonder I sat down all the time.

Do you ever think about all the progress you’d made in those terms? If you’ve lost 20 pounds then that’s 20 pounds less you have to carry around. Even 10 pounds makes a difference in terms of how you feel.

Do you ever pick up a 5-lb bag of flour and think, I’ve lost five of these? If you’ve lost 25 pounds that’s what you’ve done. Imagine right now how heavy a 5-lb bag of flour is. If you’ve already lost one, two, or ten of those be thankful you don’t have to haul that weight around any longer.

It can be easy to get discouraged with the amount of weight you are losing, or the rate at which the weight is coming off. I challenge you to do this today:

Find things around your house that represent how much weight you’ve lost and pile them up. Take a picture of them, step back, and allow yourself to feel proud. Use that visual representation as an incentive to keep going when the journey feels hard. And if you’ve lost the equivalent of a person, take a picture of yourself with that person, and be proud of that! For comparison, the little guy in my picture weighs about 55 pounds.

How does it make you feel when you compare how much weight you have lost to another person or object? Is it exciting?  Diane

Filed Under: Appearance Tagged With: ,

Healthy Food and Weight Gain

April 30, 2010 By

I love the fact that I see so many people trying to eat healthier. On your blogs and on my friend’s tables, I see lots of fresh vegetables, yummy salads, fabulous main dishes, and desserts in tiny portions. Sometimes I’ve noticed that some people who are eating really healthy foods are having trouble seeing the scale move.

I think it can be tempting to equate healthy foods with automatic weight loss. I believe that’s a myth. Just because you are eating foods that are good for you, not overly processed, and as close to nature as possible, doesn’t automatically mean you will lose weight.

Agree or disagree?

Foods that are better for your body undoubtedly have a positive impact on your health. Avoiding sodium, added sugars, and all the chemicals processed foods contain is a good idea. I know I still feel like my nutritional status is a work in progress. It has evolved and changed over the years. But while you are watching all those things I previously mentioned it’s really important to not forget one thing:

PORTIONS

Portion control has been one of the three keys to weight maintenance for me. I am always aware of my portion sizes, whether I’m eating a piece of birthday cake or a piece of grilled chicken and vegetables. It’s very easy to overeat either, but most of us realize that eating too much cake isn’t a great idea while trying to lose weight whereas eating chicken is good. And it is good to eat lean protein, you just can’t eat too much of it!

I’ve been out to dinner with friends who boast that they are picking a healthy entree. But when the entree comes out and there is enough food on the plate for three people, I am always interested to see what they will do. Most of the time they eat the entire thing. I’ve seen it happen not only in restaurants, but in my own house. We will have someone over for dinner and I’ll make a healthy meal as usual. Even if my friend is trying to lose weight she will load up her plate and eat it all.

It’s almost like the healthy food trap. I think it’s important to remember that portion control is for 99% of the foods we eat. As you are working through your journey there may be a time where you find the scale stalling. You know you are eating healthy foods, you are exercising, and are annoyed! The first thing I’d look at if I were you is your portions. It’s so easy to let extra food creep into our diets – believe me I know!

Question: Are you always aware of your portion sizes no matter what food you are eating?  Have you ever noticed the tendency to let extra healthy food creep in?  Diane

Filed Under: cooking, Eating Out, Weight Loss Tagged With: , ,

Changes In Your Body Along The Way

April 21, 2010 By

In my quest to lose 158 pounds I didn’t always lose weight in a steady downward trend. There were times where the scale obeyed and moved downward in a very consistent fashion. Because I started out at about 300 pounds, in the beginning, I regularly lost 2 – 3 pounds a week. I liked those first months of my journey a lot. Especially due to the fact that because I was so obese no one could even tell I had lost weight until I had lost over 50 pounds.

However, as time went on, and I went from morbidly obese to just plain obese, the weight loss slowed down. I still lost consistently, but it was more like 1 – 2 pounds a week. There were times where I seemed to spike downward and I those spikes made me happy. There were also the occasional jog upward on the scale, and I didn’t like that too much at all. There were also times that I just stayed the same for a while. Honestly, those were hard weeks.

Quite frankly, I really hated the “stay the same” for a while part of weight loss. Really hated it a lot. In past weight loss attempts I quit anytime my weight loss plateaued. I’d throw my hands up in the air, and say, “Well, my body is done losing weight. I’m destined to weigh 300 pounds.”

BUT that last time, I quickly learned that those “stay the same times” were just a part of weight loss and a great practice for future weight maintenance. During my attempt to lose 158 pounds, I experienced several weight loss plateaus. Each time, I tried very hard to pay attention to the other positive changes I saw while the scale was stuck.

One thing I noticed right away was the fact that although the scale seemed stuck at a certain weight, my body shape and fitness level certainly were not. Not stuck at all.

As I stayed stuck in one place scale-wise, I did not allow myself to stay stuck fitness wise. I kept exercising, always working hard to increase the intensity of my exercise, whether that exercise was walking, running, or biking. I continued strength training, utilizing different pieces of equipment and working on different body parts. And I noticed changes in my body even without the scale moving.

I noticed that my pants and skirts fit better. I also noticed that I had more endurance, that my calves had some new definition to them, and most importantly, that I felt stronger.

And those non-scale victories,  changes in my appearance, and my positive feelings about myself kept me motivated and focused. Those changes were real and lasting. Those changes were ones that got me through those times when the scale wouldn’t move.

Question: I was wondering if you notice the same thing, and if you’d share some changes you’ve seen! Diane

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: ,

What My Kids Think

April 14, 2010 By

People ask me all the time what my kids thought about my weight loss and what they think of me now. They really are two separate questions.

When I lost 158 pounds over 12 years ago, my oldest child was only seven. And as such, she was a little bit aware that I was changing in front of her eyes, but not 100% aware. I’ve asked her what she remembers from that time period and she says she was a little worried I wouldn’t be the same mommy anymore. She also remembers me taking her on lots of long bike rides – something I had never done before that time.

I remember very vividly coming out of the bedroom dressed for church one morning and her saying, “Mommy – that’s the prettiest you have ever looked.” I had lost about 80 – 90 pounds by then and I felt so grateful that she noticed and could articulate the difference she saw in me.

My other two children were only 3 and 1 at the time, so they weren’t aware of the changes.

Now, with seven children, the youngest four being born after I lost all the weight, they have no concept of what I used to look like, or act like! When they see pictures like this one below they say, “Who is that lady?”

Me and the Cow

I laugh and tell them it is me in the picture and then silently thank God that I don’t look like that lady anymore.

My kids are very proud of my accomplishments, but more important than that, I think they take to heart the message of good health and healthy living that I try and model for them.

They were one of my primary motivators to get healthy. I didn’t want to die from a complication of obesity and leave them motherless when I could change my health status. I wanted to be around for a long time. And I wanted to be an active part of their life – not just sitting on the couch trying to muster up enough energy to get up and see something they had made in another room.

I look back and am so thankful that I lost the weight, got healthy, and have kept it off. My kids think it’s great to have a mom who blogs, speaks about weight loss, and interacts with them. I think it’s great to have kids who are fun, active, and full of life!

So there you have it – an answer to one of the many questions I get through email, etc.

Do you have someone in your life who thinks you are doing a great job? Or someone who motivates you to never give up?  Diane

Filed Under: Weight Loss Tagged With: , ,

The Benefits of Organization

March 20, 2010 By

When I first got married I was a “messy.”

Messy at work

Messy at home

Messy in the car

Messy pretty much everywhere!

It’s funny to think about because it was only John and I. Honestly – why was it so hard to be neat and organized? I’m not really certain, but I’m pretty sure it’s because I was lazy. After work I didn’t want to spend time cleaning the house or cooking so we’d just go out to eat and then see a movie. On the weekends vacuuming seemed like such a waste of time, and it was much more fun to go shopping or visiting with friends.

Once the children started coming along my organization skills picked up considerably, and by the time we brought baby number 5 home from the hospital I finally had my act together.

Why am I mentioning organizational skills on a weight loss/maintenance blog? I am mentioning it because I think it is important when working on such an important area of your life like losing weight to get healthy, it’s also important to think about other areas of your life that could help you in your endeavor to get healthy and fit.

And I believe that being organized in general can be helpful when attacking a weight issue. At least it has been for me.

Here are some things I do to stay organized, even with seven kids: (And although I TRY, I’m definitely not saying I’ve got it all together!! Definitely not!)

I try and only touch papers once. Whether it’s mail or papers the kids drag in, I look at it, file it, toss it, or handle it.

I loved the FlyLady website and daily emails. For a time I followed her plans and it really helped teach me how to keep my house cleaning without cleaning all day long! (And by the way – I don’t like cleaning!)

I have a set schedule for the big jobs – like cleaning windows, the garage, the game closet. That way if it gets messy I know that it will get clean shortly.

I involve the family. Even though I have a large family who can help, I don’t want them to feel as though they are constantly cleaning. So we have small things to do each day, and then have a Friday cleaning time, where I make a list of everything that needs doing and they pick what they want to do. We can clean our whole big house in about an hour. Then we are done!  Here’s what a list may look like:

  • dust everything
  • sweep all the wood floors
  • mop the kitchen
  • general straighten
  • organize library books
  • clean all bathrooms
  • vacuum house
  • straighten up pantry
  • clean your own room

As a reward, after we are done, we have homemade pizza and watch a little kid movie. It’s amazing how fast cleaning happens when something good is waiting at the end.

I make daily to-do lists. This helps a lot – even if I don’t get it all done.

I look at a room as I’m leaving it. When I leave the bathroom I take a quick glance over my shoulder and see if there is anything I need to take out with me, or something I should put away before I walk out. Training myself to do this has helped a lot. Now if only the kids did this too!

Being organized around the house has helped me with my weight maintenance. Because I don’t have to spend a lot of time and/or energy with the household chores I find it enjoyable to plan meals, precook foods, and fix healthy snacks for everyone. It also frees up exercise time without guilt.

How do you feel? Do you think that trying to be organized can help you in achieving your goals? Diane

One place I still don’t have any good organizational skills is the car. If you have any “keep the car clean” tips I’d love to hear them!

Filed Under: Meal Time, Weight Loss, Weight Maintenance Tagged With: , ,

Temporary Maintenance

February 17, 2010 By

I wanted to thank you all for your nice words and encouraging comments from my Dr. Oz show appearance. It was an amazing experience, and I just so appreciate all of your support and good wishes!

I’ve had a hard time concentrating on writing (I wonder why) but one topic that keeps popping into my mind today is maintenance. Dr. Oz said on the show that losing weight was great, but it was maintaining the weight that made him happy. And that’s exactly how I feel. I lost a lot of weight over the 10 years that I was obese, but I never was able to maintain or sustain the weight loss. So here are some thoughts on temporary maintenance – because getting to goal and staying there is most of our goals. At least it was for me!

You know, I’ve read a lot of blogs over the past 10 months and one really great thing I see happening sometimes is that people have lost weight and then hit a plateau of sorts. It can be a plateau very close to their goal weight, or a plateau which is still quite far from their goal. But what I love to see is that in spite of the plateau they aren’t quitting. Rather they are content to work hard at exercise and eating right while at the same time holding steady at their weight. I know that Vickie has talked about this on her blog before.

I call this temporary maintenance. Temporary maintenance is a good thing. It’s a more positive phrase than “stuck on a plateau.” Sometimes this temporary maintenance is deliberate and other times it just happens. But either way, it can be a really important part of your journey. Why?

Because when you are in temporary maintenance you are maintaining. And maintaining is your long term goal. Sure you have a long term goal of losing “x” number of pounds, but more importantly, a longer term goal should be the maintenance of the loss of those “x” pounds! Right? Right. So temporarily maintaining a weight loss, be it for two weeks or two years, isn’t always a bad place to be. It can be frustrating, but if you try and look at that time as a learning experience then perhaps the frustration and inevitable temptation to fall back into old habits can be squashed.

Here are some positive things about temporary maintenance:

♥ You aren’t gaining

♥ You can focus on eating healthy

♥ You can exercise consistently

♥ You can “play” around with food intake, determining where the balance point is

♥ You can try new things

When I was losing weight that final times, I didn’t have any really long periods of temporary maintenance – but there were the occasional weeks or two where my weight seemed to stabilize. And it stabilized at about every 50 pounds. At 250 it stopped for a bit, at about 199 it stopped again. Both times, instead of getting frustrated I remembered how far I had come and how happy I was to be where I was right then. Focusing on the positive aspects of all I had accomplished really helped me too.

How do you react when you hit a temporary maintenance point? Diane

Filed Under: excuses, Weight Loss, Weight Maintenance Tagged With: ,
« Older Posts