<p>Ok, so I lost about 45 lbs since March, but since Halloween I have been struggling. I’m not a sweet eater, but the leftover candy was the gateway food that started my month plus plateau. I’m also noticing that I am hungrier than I was during the good weight loss phase of this latest diet. I’m a life long yo-yoer and I am determined not to this time. Complicating things is a bum foot (surgery in March) and more surgery upcoming in January. I just don’t want the holidays to further derail my progress. I could live with maintaining, but with surgery on the horizon, I’d like to drop 10 more lbs or so, putting me closer to my goal weight. Still overweight, really, but not obese.</p>
<p>So, wise ones…help! I just can’t tame the hungry, munchy beast!!</p>
<p>If you do eat something really sweet or carby that maybe you shouldn’t have eaten, those foods tend to make you crash and feel hungrier later sometimes-- the trick for me is that, when that does happen, I have to eat something healthier and not continue to eat bad foods so that I can break the cycle-- otherwise I will just keep feeling hungry all the time and continue to overeat. On the Weight Loss for Dummies thread we talk about having a good protein snack after a slide to help get back on track, I find that it really helps. </p>
<p>Then of course, there is distinguishing between “i am hungry” and “i want food.” That is really tough sometimes and just takes practice. I am pretty good at telling the difference but occasionally, especially when there is something in the house I shouldn’t be eating, I find myself halfway through eating it and think “hmm… I actually don’t think I needed this.” Everybody backslides sometimes, I think it is normal and even good for you mentally to be a little lax now and then. But you can get back to it! The holidays are tough, but they are just a part of life… sometimes life gets in the way. You’ll have to look at your traditions and see where you can make better choices to better support your goals. If it doesn’t work out as well as you hoped, thankfully the holidays only last for a month or so and then you can right back to it. That’s just life. Being slowed down doesn’t have to stop you unless you choose to stop.</p>
<p>I think it helps to have a real plan. That plan can’t be I’m not going to eat a single cookie this holiday season. It might be I’m going to drink a glass of water between every glass of wine at the next party. Or I’ll fill up a small plate once with a selection of desserts. Or I am going to get exercise every day. It also really helps to have healthy snacks to take the edge off hunger. I find it really helpful to have carrot sticks and pepper slices with some hummus in the fridge ready and easy to eat. I’m not tempted to gorge on them like I might with cookies or potato chips. Is there exercise you can do despite the foot? I find that even just doing 15 minutes of something vigorous seems to get my metabolism going. (My go-to quick routine is kettleball swings, goblet squats and a set of pushups, but you might have to do something more focused on the uppper body.)</p>
<p>I’ve been on a plateau since May. The good news is that I’ve held steady at the same weight for nine months now. Still, the holidays are really challenging this year! My current goal is to not gain and then resume January 2nd (a foodie friend does an awesome New Year’s Day party, hence the plan).</p>
<p>What I noticed is that I plateaued when I stopped recording every mouthful. Still good on exercise, still eating mostly home-cooked, mostly low-carb… but I must be eating more, since I’m not losing. (Still, not gaining while not recording is pretty cool.) </p>
<p>So my advice? Record it all, make sure you walk fast and hard half an hour a day, and try to enjoy a tiny bit of the food at every party.</p>
<p>When I eat a healthy diet for a period of time, then allow myself to eat a sweet or fried food, I suffer for days until my body agrees that I won’t be feeding it that junk on a regular basis.</p>
<p>A few months ago, someone suggested keeping a diary of the foods you eat on a daily basis. I’ve been doing this for three months, and it has helped considerably. Not only does it help me keep my munchies under control, but when I do eat a lot, I have a record of it, and can see that I tend to eat less in the ensuing days. When we went on vacation, there were days I consumed 2,200 calories (including wine at dinner). But a few days later I would be back to consuming 1,300-1,500 calories a day. So I learned that I could get off the bandwagon temporarily.</p>
<p>After three months of dieting, I too seem to be on a plateau. My plan is to work to maintain my current weight while increasing my daily caloric intake. From years of experience, I have learned that the way to do this is to eat 1,800 calories one day, and 1,400 the next and so on. You want to trick your body into not adjusting your metabolism to the lower caloric intake rate. I’ll do this for a month or two, then I’ll diet again to get the remaining weight off.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, that when you decrease your caloric intake for a long period of time, your body will adjust to functioning on that reduced amount, and you will stop losing weight. So you have to continually change your eating habits to counteract that.</p>
<p>Such great advice. I am going to check out the amihungry.com. I too was logging every bite, but stopped around Halloween. So, back at it on Sunday. (Will be driving tomorrow, so no logging). </p>
<p>thumper…I’m a March baby too, so I feel your pain… ;-)</p>
<p>Hoping to find some good, non weight bearing exercises to do prior to surgery in Jan. anyone who has tried to get up off the pot with just one leg knows how incredibly hard/awkward that particular task is. Maybe if I build up my upper arms a bit it won’t be as bad this time.</p>
I am pretty good at telling the difference but occasionally, especially when there is something in the house I shouldn’t be eating, I find myself halfway through eating it and think “hmm… I actually don’t think I needed this.” Everybody backslides sometimes, I think it is normal and even good for you mentally to be a little lax now and then. But you can get back to it! The holidays are tough, but they are just a part of life… sometimes life gets in the way. You’ll have to look at your traditions and see where you can make better choices to better support your goals. If it doesn’t work out as well as you hoped, thankfully the holidays only last for a month or so and then you can right back to it. That’s just life. Being slowed down doesn’t have to stop you unless you choose to stop.</p>