Weight Maintenance Update 2 years and 3 months - graphs, trends and more- 3 year anniversary!

3 Years!

Hello All! Time for a 2 year, 3 month weight maintenance update. NOTE:  If you are here from the Paleo-sphere, please note: I'm a weight maintainer first. I'm a scientist in real life. No apologies- this what works for me. I use a Paleo-ish and low inflammatory food template as a tool to maintain my weight loss and manage emotional eating.  If talk of weight, weight graphs, loosing weight, or anything else does not float your boat,  stop by another day. Thanks!


Stats:
Highest Weight: 187.4 lbs
Current Weight: 117.0 lbs
Goal Weight Range: 113-118 lbs
Height: 5'1"
Age: 48
Menopause: 1.75 years
Emotional Eating: In remission 3 years
Auto-Immune Hypothyroid: in remission 17 years

May 3, 2014 marks the 3 year anniversary of the date I started my weight loss. It's a very, very special day. It also marks the day I started abstaining from most processed sugar. 3 years from the start of my final large weight loss that closed 40 years of yo-yo dieting. Today is a very, very special day for me. I didn't loose weight using a Paleo template, but the whole experience with Take Shape for Life (commercial weight loss program)  was like a stepping stone to the rest of my life. I'm forever grateful that I had the months of clarity and time to think straight

What's working this month
1.  Trend Identification. Yeah. I had a weight trend upwards mid-month. I took quick action after a sustained week of 118.5, above my range and so, so close to scream weight.

2. Food tracking. Yeah. I had a 1 minute pity party and tiny violin's played a sad, sad song. Carb creep is the root cause of all my sustained weight gain trains. I'm not emotionally eating or binge eating.  There's no room for my slippery slope thinking for not tracking carbs. There is no room for rug sweeping, justification, or excuses in my weight maintenance program. I'm tough, not moderate. I kicked the pity party to the curb after 1 whole minute and started tracking my food again.The ability to act quickly is key to my long term success.

3. Fit Bit- flex (see orange graphs below) is helping me to move more during the day. I got a fit bit mid-month as a gift. And, I'm having a blast moving more with a few people in real life who walk with me daily. I like that a lot. The graphs on the Fit bit are different from My Fitness Pal.

4. Stress management-  the second half of April 2014 has been stressful. Stress happens. Plumbing problems, work stress, a cat literally swinging off my dining room chandelier!  I've been taking a lot of fun photos, walking a lot, and trying to go to bed earlier to combat the stress.

I SEE you sustained weight gain

10 days of reversal

 What didn't work in the past:
1. Stopping weighing in and ignoring weight gain. By not looking, I felt I could "be strong" and reverse the gain. Nope!




2.  Not tracking carbs. By only tracking "points" I completely stuck myself for many, many years by choosing WW points rather than switching  my my protein/fat up and my carbs down. Better late than never.

3. Graphing: I was always a big graph person, but I did not act quickly enough to reverse small gains before the gains became 20, 30, 50, 70 pounds!!

4. Stress Management.- I would eat food to calm myself. It didn't work. Problem is still there AND I needed to buy larger clothes.

Coming up next, a post about my auto-immune thyroid disease. I haven't told that story yet.

If you like weight graphs, be sure to stop over to see Keep It Up David's weight maintenance graphs. Warms my heart to know there are other maintainers that use weight graphs as tools in the process. ;)  Keep It Up David!

3 YEARS graphed!!