As I read through the posts all over this site, I see such positive information, but a constant theme is "I lost weight and then I gained it back."

I have also lost weight again, 30 pounds:D but I am already starting to talk with a defeatest (is there such a word) attitude.

I find myself responding to friends who compliment me with, "Thanks, but you know how it is....I go up and down....I'll probably gain it back." And then I give this little stupid 'ha-ha' laugh. It's not just embarrassment. I think deep inside I don't trust that I can really keep it off and I'm already making excuses to gain it back. :(

I really am wanting to make those 'life changes' we all talk about, so how can we really change our attitude about how we look? How can we give ourselves the OTHER skills (besides dieting) we need to keep going and to keep it off?

I know this is a long thread, but I really hope someone has some advice and ideas that can help me (and others?) re-examine what I am doing and how to do it better and forever!

I don't have any of the answers for you ckat, because I have most the same feelings and question you do. I've learned over the last year and a half how to loose weight, but I'm affraid that I wont know how to keep it off:(

It's very scarry to me to think that I will have gone through all this hard work of getting the weight off only to wake up one morning and find I can't keep it off:(

So those of you who got the weight off and are keeping it off...do you have good words for the rest of us.

Well, it's disappointing that no one seems to understand our dilemma, or knows what to say, but I am glad you wrote, because I know exactly how you feel and it makes me feel better to know I'm not alone. It is frightening to me, too, and I wish there was some support for us. Maybe this is just the wrong kind of thread. I'll start looking around for something that might be helpful.

This website is pretty overwhelming to me - lots of information - so there must be something out there.

Carol

:hm:

I totally understand how you feel. If you expect to fail then if you do, you won't feel as bad.

Just try to get to where you are going and then make a maintenance plan. You can do this. There is a little part of you that must believe that or you wouldn't be trying at all.

I have faith in you. I hope that will help you to gain a little more faith in yourself.

Wishing you all the strength you need,

Diana

You are not on a diet you are livining a lifestyle.

If you change your life you will maintain the weight loss by using the tools that help you lose the weight. If after you lose the goal weight, you start eating with the old habits you will never keep the weight off. Also you have to believe in yourself in order to get others to believe in you.

Hi cKat , good question and an honest one, I believe that if we find the cause we will win the lifetime battle I have only attempted losing twice before in 25 years, I must have been mad to accept life carrying my weight and i lost 140 lbs once and life tasted great so why ? did I stupidly put it back on and some, I REALIZE now that to help me deal with the stress and pressures of modern day living I used Food, Now as get older i find that my weight is a problem but thankfully I take life at a far slower pace and can deal with business pressures etc in the manner that I should have adopted years ago. So acknowledging my enemy, possessing the tools (lifestyle change) and having the desire and determination to conquer my weight is for me proving successful and although my journey has a long way to go, believe me when I state I bottomed out and i am climbing and there will be no looking back, sorry for long post and i hope that my determination can balance your worries be positive you can do this for life, Search for your secret weapon.
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Bigacey

Thank you for your reply. You're so right. We use food in such a wrong way, especially to deal with stress. It is a learned behavior, and so intertwined with our life that we have to slowly and carefully unwind each strand to see what's there.

I have started to do 'self-talk' with myself and I am feeling very supported by the 'strangers' I meet online.

There is so much to be said for knowing you're not alone in a situation that is uncomfortable.

This time I will try to stay as obsessed with keeping the weight off as I have been losing it. I think it is a day-to-day battle, and I just do not want to go back again!

Thanks again - you're a true inspiration.