Weight loss: when is enough enough?

LauraMax

LauraMax

Cathlete
As difficult as losing weight can be, once I get going I have a tough time stopping. It's almost as if it 's addicting. I keep moving my goal weight backward.

I gained about 10 lbs the month I turned 40, & another 5 or so during the following year. In Oct. 2009 I started a serious low carb diet, & I've lost about 13 of the 15 lbs.

When I first started, I had a certain benchmark number on the scale I wanted to be below. Now I'm below it, & I find myself unsatisfied. Now I want to be back to my pre-40 weight.

I also have a certain benchmark number I CANNOT go below b/c I know there is such a thing as being too thin. But I now find myself in the strange situation of not being able to let go of the dieting. Isn't that the most stupid & twisted thing you've ever heard? :D

I know it's not just me. So, how do you relax over your diet & weight once you've met your goal?
 
Great post! I'm finding myself in the same situation, except I don't know what my "too low" point is. I'm trying to find how low I should go. I reached my "goal" weight and am not "satisfied" either. I moved my goal back 5 lbs. and am trying to evaluate as I go. I don't want to go too low, but I do find it easier to keep a handle on things and keep myself from gaining fat when I'm trying to lose.

I think it really is kind of addicting, because you have to work so hard. It becomes a way of life. Part of me wants to relax and not be worried about it. But if I relax, I tend to gain--primarily because I gain really easily. I always have to be vigilant. But I don't want to be neurotic or have it take over my life.

I guess balance is key. But finding that balance is soooooo hard!
 
I know exactly what you mean -- I know how to lose weight -- I have no idea how to maintain. I HAVE gotten too thin on a number of occasions -- thin enough that I didn't get a period. Once I realized this, I slacked off and gained weight back, but then it starts all over again. As many years as I have been doing this, I can't find that happy medium. At least when I was training for my marathon, that was my fitness goal -- and not the number on the scale. That put things in perspective for awhile... until the race was over. Hats off to you LauraMax because I know how devoted and knowledgable about fitness you are. Hopefully someday we'll all find that happy place called NORMAL and we'll live happily ever after with the occasional pizza and hot fudge sundae.

Take care!
 
I would love for this to be my problem!!!

Laura, I met you a year and a half ago and thought you looked fabulous at that weight. Do you weigh less than you did then?

I know we all have our obsessions so knowing that you could be heading in that direction hopefully will keep you from losing too much.
 
I think this is why maintenance is so hard. Once you reach your goal you no longer get that zing of a reward for your hard work when you step on the scale and see a lower number. Those will chime in with the advice that seeing the number stay the same is a reward in itself, which is absolutely true, of course. But for people who struggle with weight it really is not the same, mentally.

I don't have an answer to this since I have not been successful in the maintenance phase of weight loss (lost 60 pounds and then put 35 back on :eek:), but am working my way back to my goal and hope that I have learned something new along the way that will help me maintain this time when I get there.
 
My new goal is to just not gain it back! You really just have to give yourself a break and relax, you've earned it. How to get your mind there, well, I guess we all have to find our own way just like we all had to find our own reasons for getting up off our overweight butts and getting healthy in the first place. I just started working on accepting myself and being happy with where I'm at. I could stand to lose 5 more lbs...but I just don't want to go there because then I'll think I could lose 5 more...I don't know. I worked so hard to reach my goal weight AND maintain it successfully, I'm just plain tired of working at it....so I decided to be happy that I hit my goal weight and not stress over it anymore and if 5 more lbs decides to come off, great but if not, no big deal. I guess I got to that happy place just from sheer exhaustion! And ecstasy that I did in fact hit my goal weight! :eek: Good luck.
 
This sounds like I was when I was in my 20s. I kept setting my goal lower and lower. Once I hit my goal weight, I thought, "NOW I need to go lower so that I have a buffer zone and don't go over my goal weight." I started to obsess and obsess... It got to where I only ate one meal a day and only thought about being thinner. I refused to call it an eating disorder, but it wasn't normal, so it must have been a disorder.

Fast forward 10 years and three babies later, I'm nowhere near the weight I was in my 20s, but I'm trying to learn to be OK with that. I have to keep reminding myself what it took to be that thin and how it wasn't a healthy way to live. I try to make healthy choices now instead "diet" choices. If that makes sense.

Don't let yourself turn obsessive about it. I think it's great that you have a number in mind that you don't want to go below. I never had that. :confused:
 
Stephanie0523 said:
This sounds like I was when I was in my 20s. I kept setting my goal lower and lower. Once I hit my goal weight, I thought, "NOW I need to go lower so that I have a buffer zone and don't go over my goal weight." I started to obsess and obsess... It got to where I only ate one meal a day and only thought about being thinner. I refused to call it an eating disorder, but it wasn't normal, so it must have been a disorder.

Fast forward 10 years and three babies later, I'm nowhere near the weight I was in my 20s, but I'm trying to learn to be OK with that. I have to keep reminding myself what it took to be that thin and how it wasn't a healthy way to live. I try to make healthy choices now instead "diet" choices. If that makes sense.

Don't let yourself turn obsessive about it. I think it's great that you have a number in mind that you don't want to go below. I never had that. :confused:
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Stephanie - I went through this exact same thing. I reached my goal weight and then thought I needed to go a little lower to have a buffer zone. Then, I went a little lower...still "just in case" I gain weight. It became an obsession - so much of my day was spent thinking about food/calories/exercise/body image. I was eating 500 calories/day and had a "nightmare" once that I ate ONE Oreo and it was so traumatic for me. It was not a good time in my life even though I thought my body looked it's best. Since then, I've gained most of that weight back, but I'm much better off mentally and can't even imagine putting myself (or my family) through that again.

Laura - I do think losing weight can become an addiction. Maybe it's just the control issue and having that power to deny yourself and see the numbers on the scale and measuring tape move lower and lower. I agree with Stephanie that it's good that you have a number in mind of where to stop and you know that anything lower will not be attractive on you.


Erica
 
I like having a buffer zone to be safe....but stopping dieting is not a problem for me though! It's usually in the other direction,,,,
 
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LauraMax...what a great thread! I'm like some of the other posters here who have the opposite problem but I do know what you mean. I have two settings: obsessed with food or obsessed with not eating food...there is no in between. And the one time I reached my goal, I felt like it wasn't enough...like I couldn't create ENOUGH buffer. And couldn't trust myself not to get fat again. PS...I got fat again.

It's good to know others feel this way. Thanks!

:)Jonezie
 
Jonezie said:
I have two settings: obsessed with food or obsessed with not eating food...there is no in between. And the one time I reached my goal, I felt like it wasn't enough...like I couldn't create ENOUGH buffer. And couldn't trust myself not to get fat again. PS...I got fat again.
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Me too!

Erica
 
laura Im still trying to lose the wt I have gained the past 2 yrs and it wont budge. I added another day of exercise and cut way back and not even 3 lbs or if it does go down the next time I weigh myself its gone back up. I am so frustrated.
 
I was always a yo-yoer! I have never been able to maintain my goal weight! I reached my original goal of 125 lbs., then I kept dropping until I hit 122. I thought about trying to get down to 120 to have a 5 lb. cushion, but my body just won't go there! I figure I'm where I'm going to stay and that's fine with me.

However, I still feel fat! The same "fat" feeling that I had when I was 151 lbs.! What's up with that?

I'm trying not to worry about it. I'm very flabby around my core. It's the last area that tones up on me. I'm trying to just stay focused on my weight training to keep my metabolism kicked up, gain strength and muscle definition and not worry about my jiggly middle or my weight.

If I can hold on to my goal weight for one year, I'll know I'm on a successful path! Hopefully!
 
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