High Maintenance by Donna Schwartz Mills

So What Happened?

TODAY'S WEIGHT: 138.4
TARGET: 128
POUNDS TO GOAL: 10

It's been a month since I last posted here.

You may recall that in desperation, I decided to try out the NutriSystem plan.

It started out well. In fact, it gave me back some of the structure I'd missed since going off track from the Lindora program I'd been so successful with.

I concluded that my inability to keep up with the methods that had been working so well arose out of sheer boredom with the program and the program products. I felt good.

The NutriSystem plan had me eating more carbs than I had become accustomed to -- so I skipped some of the snacks and just about all of the fruits. I had been forced to eliminate fruits during my successful weight loss phase at Lindora, too, because my body refused to go into ketosis until my carbohydrate levels had been reduced to next to nothing. This resulted in an average 600-800 calories per day during my weight loss phase. While this alarmed most people who learned of it, I felt comfortable because the registered nurse-counselors at Lindora monitored my health on a daily basis (except for weekends and holidays).

That kind of medical scrutiny is why the clinic program costs so much -- and why I'm shying away from it now. I simply don't have the money.

Unfortunately, I don't seem to have the ability to do this alone. And I'm being pressured by my loving spouse to LOSE THIS WEIGHT before we visit his family in Britain. That trip is now only one month a way.

I don't think deadlines are very useful when you're trying to manage your weight.

If I was desperate four weeks ago, you can imagine how I'm feeling right now.

The truth is, I did pretty well with the NutriSystem products and lost four pounds over the first two weeks. This was what I expected.

And then Mother's Day weekend happened. My sister came down for a visit and I spent three days eating "normally." The four pounds packed right back on and here we are again.

I'm not renewing the NutriSystem plan for a second month, although I have not ruled it out for the future.

In the meantime, I've turned to the traditional avenue of the desperate dieter: SlimFast. Drinking protein shakes instead of meals is NOT a lifestyle choice -- but it is something I may be able to stick to for a short period (say, one month). At least, it's something I used successfully years ago to keep my weight in check.

What happened to my goal of exercising an hour a day? That goal has also been messed up by lifestyle issues -- specifically, the difficulty I have in carving out such a large chunk of time during my limited work day.

Both of these goals - diet and exercise - are issues that I will have to deal with for the rest of my life. Sometimes I'll be successful at both (as I was two years ago). Sometimes, I'll have to just settle for what I can manage. It will always be a struggle.

The More Things Change...

TODAY'S WEIGHT: 138.8
TARGET: 128
POUNDS TO GOAL: 10

So, the renewed effort to diet and exercise hasn't been working out that well.

For two weeks, I really tried to get to my health club every day, with a goal of putting in an hour of aerobic exercise per day.

Realistically, I was only able to manage four out of seven days, each of those weeks... and never pushed myself past 45 minutes on the elliptical machine.

And the month of April has been overwhelming in terms of work and other commitments. My last gym work out was on April 14 - a full two weeks ago. And I don't foresee going back again until Monday at the earliest.

My body seemed to have adjusted to the additional exercise rather quickly, because the minute I stopped working out regularly, my weight shot up to a dangerous level: to 142 pounds.

I was starting to get desperate; even more desperate than how I was feeling in January when I resolved (yet again!) to get my body back in working order. (Check out my weight that day and compare it with today. Can you say "frustration"?)

Once again, I realized that this is not something I am able to do alone. I've been very frank about the fact that I had a lot of help three years ago, when I embarked on my 56-pound weight loss journey. Maintenance has been hard. It's time to get help again.

Unfortunately, by exceeding a BMI of 24, I no longer qualify for free weight maintenance counseling at the Lindora clinic -- and our recession-plagued budget cannot withstand another round of supervised weight loss there.

I've done Weight Watchers several times, with varying levels of success. My attitude towards them right now is "been there, done that." The program works. I just don't have the patience for it right now.

I noticed that Costco sells Nutrisystem plans on discount, and that this month, they discounted a 35-day supply of food an additional $25. I paid around $225 for my food - about what I would shell out for the Lindora products alone (plus about $1500 for ten weeks on the program). I figured it was worth a try.

So that's where I am right now: Since receiving a huge box filled with their products, I've lost four pounds... putting me squarely back where I was in early January. 

And the beat goes on...

DISCLOSURE: I have received no monetary compensation nor products for this post. I am not affiliated with Weight Watchers, Lindora, Nutrisystem or Costco.

Starting Over. AGAIN.

TODAY'S WEIGHT: 135
TARGET: 128
POUNDS TO GOAL: 7

I've neglected this blog for very good reasons.

I've had nothing much to say about my weight management strategies.

In fact, I've been pretty much ignoring the fact that I need to restrict my intake of calories if I don't want to shoot back up to 184 pounds.

I desperately don't want to be fat again.

But I don't want to work at it.

Last week, my weight shot back up to 137 pounds - which means my weight gain since graduating from the Lindora Weight Loss Clinic was dangerously high. I'm still wearing size 2 jeans - but they've gotten tight. And I can see the weight gain in my hips and thighs.

That was not enough to put me back on the straight and narrow (no pun intended).

But this was. 

We're going to visit my in-laws in Britain. I haven't seen my brother-in-law and sister-in-law since before my weight loss, so even if I went now, they would see a huge improvement.

But I had the big idea of sending them my People magazine article, with a photo taken on a day when I was actually BELOW my official low of 128 pounds. 

I can't let my in-laws see me like this when they've already seen a photo of me like that.

So this weekend, I signed up for LiveStrong's MyPlate diet and fitness tool. Yes, it's another online food and exercise journal... but unlike some of the others I've seen, it's very well organized - and the free version appears to offer everything I need right now. There's even a Blackberry app I can use when I'm on the go. (Yes, there's one for the iPhone, too - but that goes without saying.)

And yesterday - for the first time in about a year - I went to the gym and put in half an hour on my old friend, the elliptical trainer. And you know what? It wasn't that bad.

It even kind of felt good.

So today - I'm going back.