I've lost and gained the same 30-40lbs at least 4x over the past 40 years. This 5th time was different. I'm going to give away all my extra-larges, 16's and 14's. Had to make room in closet for 12's and 10's from the last time.
The very first time was 40lbs via Weight Watchers in 1966. Went from 178 to 138 in 16 weeks. Had never been thin and wasn't ready for the thin me. Totally unprepared in my head for that size 12 dress and 2 piece bathingsuit. From size 18-1/2 dress to 12! Think I was a size 12 for about 15-20 mins.
The last time was by eating 3 apples a day and watching what I was eating. Keeping a notebook and tracking everything that went into my mouth. Got back to my size 12's and a few tens a few years ago, but, got layed off and retired and put it all back on. 14's and 16's again.
This time was different. Maybe because I'm older and have been reading more about eating healthy. Something I never did. Wanting to take weight off and dieting to do it - didn't work for me. Following a diet program didn't interest me. I had to change my mind about food in general. I'm not a diabetic but I have disovered that my high chloesterol is genetic (diabetes runs in my family on both sides) as does high chloesterol which I didn't know about. I completely stopped eating all saturated fats, fried foods, greasy foods, etc and my bad numbers went up and my good numbers went down. On medication now.
Eating food that is good for your body is important. I think I had to understand that before I would be able to keep the weight off for good. Three very good books that helped me a lot were: "You On a Diet" , "The Flat Belly Diet" and most especially "Eat This, Not That - Supermarket Survival Guide. There are so many yellow stickies in that book, I used to take it with me to make sure I would buy the right thing. There is a second edition out now.
Went from probably 3 fibers a day to about 25-30. I now eat a lot of different fruits and steamed veggies, all different colors. Threw out all the white stuff and eat only whole grain, whole wheat - bread and pasta especially - love both. Eat double fiber bread, high fiber cereals - hot and cold. Eat salads with combo of canned chunk lite tuna in water and chunk salmon in water. Use broccoli slaw all the time even at breakfast with two scrambled eggs. Have cut back (don't enjoy as much) red meat. Use only Foster Farm chicken now because it's no salt added. Instead of a Double Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffin from 7-11 I make a feast of a Chocolate Chip Fiber Bar, Oatmeal and Chocolate Fiber Bar: General Mills, Kellogs, Quaker. One a day - no more - they have 9 fibers in them. That's my treat daily, my payoff for eating healthy, not dieting, just eating healthy. My other reward is that my size 10's fit better than they did 3 years ago.
I am feeling better inside. I seem to be able to handle being thinnner now. Seem to be more comfortable with how I look having a different looking body. Wish I could have been this smart when I was in my teens and onward. Wouldn't eat any "good stuff" back then.
I think it is hard to lose weight and even harder to keep it off because we always want to lose weght for some "thing", "person", or "event". Maybe you have to want to just be healthy for yourself and want to live a long, long life.
A few things that worked for me during the past 11 months - I keep a daily diary of everything I eat. I only measure somethings - otherwise I would be having 2 cups of cereal in the morning with banana and blueberries and sprinkling of unsalted nut. Instead of one cup. It also helps me remember what I ate and when because I also keep track of the time I ate it. Breakfast, in-between, lunch, in-between, supper, snack. I eat all day and enjoy every morsal. Also 8-10 glasses of water everyday.
Just wanted to share my story -sorry for having run on so much.
Kitchencanary