Annals of Maintenance

Daniel Hoffmeister wrote:
After only a couple of months at maintenance, I can tell that it takes
about the same level of vigilance as actively dieting.

In a way, I think that my long, slow weight loss gives me an advantage.
I learned a great deal about what I can eat and what I can't and how my
body reacts to various levels of food and activity. I also had plenty of
time for the requisite attitude adjustments!


Daniel,

Congrats on an impressive weight loss!

Maintenance is harder than weight loss for me, because I don't get the
positive reinforcement of seeing the pounds drop off, just the negative
prod of seeing them come back on if I'm not careful.

Plus, it's no longer exciting the way it is in earlier phases. I'm just
stuck with knowing that I have to be careful with what I eat for the
rest of my life.

A big key, for me at least, continues to be the need to vary what I eat.
I know some people who can eat the same meal every day, quite happily,
but for me I have to constantly find new and different things to eat to
stay happy. If I eat something week after week, eventually I can't stand
looking at it. I just started eating burgers again this week after
quite literally not touching one for six months. I had gotten to where I
almost didn't want to eat meat of any kind I was so sick of it, while,
eating half a mango reduces me to speechless ecstasy because I ate so
little fruit for so many years.

Aramanth Dawe wrote:
Great to hear from you, Jenny. You've done *such* a great job on
working out what and how to get your body to respond (and I know how
hard that can be, and has been). It's good to hear that you're
continuing your success story.

Aramanth
(grabbing a few minutes on-line as a break from getting packed for our
family vacation starting TOMORROW - will I ever be ready in time?????)
Aramanth,

Thanks! Last I heard you had made a huge breakthrough in your on-going
weight struggle after surviving some really horrible family events. I
sure hope you and your family are doing well.

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 09:02:18 -0400, Jenny
wrote:

Aramanth Dawe wrote:
Great to hear from you, Jenny. You've done *such* a great job on
working out what and how to get your body to respond (and I know how
hard that can be, and has been). It's good to hear that you're
continuing your success story.

Aramanth
(grabbing a few minutes on-line as a break from getting packed for our
family vacation starting TOMORROW - will I ever be ready in time?????)
Aramanth,

Thanks! Last I heard you had made a huge breakthrough in your on-going
weight struggle after surviving some really horrible family events. I
sure hope you and your family are doing well.

I'm getting there. It's not always easy (but then again what is?) but
I'm slowly getting to the point now where the good days outnumber the
bad.

Meds help (and my doc is happy for me to start looking at cutting back
on the antidepressant soon) but I'm doing some therapy as will to help
me get my life in order. I think once I get beyond the first
anniversary of my sister's suicide in June, that being the first of
the many issues of the middle of last year, I'll be more firmly on the
upward swing again.

I'm *supposed* to be in bed right now - we have a car picking us up in
9 hours to head to the airport for a week-long family vacation - but I
can't sleep so I figured I might as well catch up on my email and
groups as it's the last chance I'm likely to have for a week.

Aramanth

Jenny wrote:
|| Marengo wrote:
||
||| My weight is creeping upward the past couple of months; I have to
||| buckle down again. As you know, I've managed to control my T2
||| diabetes solely with a low-carb diet, a d I don't want it to get
||| out of control again. As you said, low-carb eating -- as well as
||| diabetes control -- is a lifetime of tweaking and adjusting, always
||| paying attention to what we eat. The alternative though -- not
||| having that lifetime -- makes it well worth it IMO!
|||
|| Peter,
||
|| Like you, I controlled the blood sugar for many years without drugs
|| and had a very strong anti-drug orientation. However, my research
|| suggest that metformin which has been on the market for decades in
|| Europe is safe and my year on it hasn't given me any reason to doubt
|| this. It's cheap too, which is a refreshing change from most
|| pharmaceuticals.
||
|| If low carbing looses its ability to control your blood sugars and/or
|| weight, I'd recommend trying the extended release form along with a
|| diet of no more than 100 grams a day of carb and seeing how it goes.
|| Dr. Bernstein's endorsement of it as very helpful for people with
|| Type 2 was one reason I gave it a try.

T hanks for the suggestion; sounds like a good co urse of action

--
Peter
Website: http://users.thelink.net/marengo