I’m usually pretty good at maintaining my weight, once it comes off.
I got lazy & careless over the summer and admit to it.
That’s generally how the weight creeps back on… unless one is happy with an extremely ascetic lifestyle, which may well be the case for you 
For me, life’s too short to deny myself pleasure of any kind — especially if it’s for mere esthetic reasons & not a necessary health measure — and delicious food gives me great pleasure.
That’s a bit very black and white thinking - you don’t have to have an extremely ascetic lifestyle to keep your weight off. We eat and drink pretty much what we want but do quite regularly sport and portion control - not sure that is in anyway ascetic
2 Likes
I’m on Weight Watchers and the one thing they teach us is to never cut anything out of our diet but rather to practice moderation. I lost 20 lbs. last year but gained 10 lbs back this year and I can tell you with absolute certainty the weight gain is from all the sweets I’ve been eating. On the plan I’m on, it’s okay to have a piece of cake once a week as opposed to cutting it out altogether and I like tracking my meals to see how I can adjust my eating habits (low fat milk, low fat coconut milk etc.). As far as I know cutting out certain foods never works. I worked with someone on one of those diets and lost a ton of weight. He went back to his regular eating habits after the diet was over then gained the weight back.
6 Likes
It is my lived experience. The only way for me to lose weight is to practically starve myself, i.e. subsist on fewer than a 1,000 calories a day, and I’m not interested in living that way — nor is it sustainable in the long run.
There’s plenty of literature about how the majority of people who lose a significant amount of weight gain all of it back, and then some.
I’ve lost 15-20lbs, then gained it all back over the course of half a year, a year, etc.
I’m just not interested in playing this game my entire life. There’s far more important shit going on for me to be forever distracted by the number on my scale
It’s just another way of keeping women from achieving things in life beyond their oh-so-important looks.
5 Likes
I just wanna chime in to note that people’s mileage varies when it comes to weight management. I’m feeding everybody in the house a baseline of a healthful diet loaded with fresh vegetables. I can tell you that hormonal changes for women make the struggle real in a way that younger me could never have imagined. My husband gets it, because he sees what I do to feed us and how my efforts make weight management a relative breeze for him but not for me. We all have to do our best with whatever cards Mother Nature deals us.
6 Likes
Preach it, sister. I mean… you see what I cook & eat here on a daily basis. We eat fresh food prepared from scratch 5-6 days a week, reasonable portions (i.e. until we are sated, not full), and don’t binge on sweets or snacky stuff. We also lead a fairly active life & work out several times a week — not that that has any impact on weight loss, but we’re doing it for mobility & strength.
My PIC is eternally flabbergasted how I have such a hard time losing weight compared to him
5 Likes
So worth it!
Plus when you want to do functional stuff in your everyday life, you will have trained your body to move in ways that help protect you from injury. I say this before suiting up in overalls before going outside to wrangle a bunch of tangly, invasive overgrowth to in the yard. Think Twister, but with a shovel and rake. 
5 Likes
More oats in Scotland! to balance out the deep fried Mars Bars.!
4 Likes
I have started using less low fat milk, after switching from 2 percent to skim milk when I was 16, because the higher fat milk helps keep my sugar from spiking, which helps keep my cravings for junk at a minimum.
Wearing a continuous glucose monitor has really been helping me reshape my regimen.
I’ve lost around 10 lbs and 3 dress sizes/ jeans sizes since I started watching my sugar closely with the Monitor 6 months ago.
I have been watching my sugar intake since 2014.
I already had cut out sweet breakfasts and the habit of ordering dessert after a main course at restaurants in 2014.
I am also a past WeightWatchers client.
It’s calories in calories out, as well as balancing fat , protein, and complex carbs, in each meal or snack, that work together, for me.
I was surprised how much sugar spikes after eating 3 clementines, without anything else. I now eat more savoury salads containing fruit, or add fruit to cooked veg dishes like Tzimmes, or meat dishes like tagines, rather than eating fruit by itself as a snack as I had done my entire life. I could eat a piece of cheese with the fruit, but I’m a cheese hound who does not portion control cheese very well.
Sugar and too many complex carbs are the main reason I gained weight. Stress, resto portions, hormones , aging added to it but if I had kept eating how I was eating when I kept weight off in my early 30s, I think I could have avoided becoming overweight. I used to keep a 3M post it note in my wallet reminding me to order 2 appetizers or a salad and an appetizer when dining out. Lately, I find most appetizers heavy on the calories, grease, cheese or sugar, so my new reminder note is: order a kebab/ souvlaki with salad, or fish with rice, or chicken curry with rice, or a burger by itself. Many appetizers seem to be made to share rather than for a first course for one person. I guess that’s the idea behind them, to stimulate the appetite and get people eating.
Cutting out the fat often made me carbo load when I was younger.
Of course, your mileage may vary.
I used to try eating the low fat Babybel and other cheeses. ultimately, I stopped buying them. I rather use small amounts of full fat cheese I like, and cut back on cheese, rather than eat low fat cheese. Same with sour cream and yogurt.
5 Likes
Absolutely. And when I joined our gym I was very clear about the fact that I am not there to lose weight, but to gain strength and mobility. Because it is generally assumed that if a woman joins a gym, it is to lose weight 
5 Likes
Of course, everybody’s life and experiences are different but you sometimes tend to write your own experiences as something which is generalizable and applies for all or many people which is definitely not the case. Things which might not work for you, work for others very well also in the long term
1 Like
That’s actually exactly the point I was trying to make. You seem to think that a general approach works for everybody, when it clearly doesn’t. We all know at least one person who can eat whatever they want, and yet is rail-thin. Genetics are a thing. Slow and fast metabolisms are a thing.
4 Likes
The starting point of the discussion was your comment to @Desert-Dan post that “ That’s generally how the weight creeps back on… unless one is happy with an extremely ascetic lifestyle,” which is a generalized comment from you which might be true for yourself but definitely not for everybody
1 Like
Generalizations are abundant in this thread 
2 Likes
Can never have too much info!
Kinda funny that GenX women have all decided we arent going to deal with this silently like our mothers did.
4 Likes
I don’t think I lead an ascetic lifestyle at all. I don’t deny myself something if I want it, I’ll just have a small portion of that particular food/item.
I am genuinely a happy person and am enjoying my life with my girlfriend/life partner.
I do follow my doctor’s suggestions for diet/exercise/weight/eating habits, etc. He has many years of education and knowledge far beyond anything close to what I have. So I’ll defer to him when it comes to the human body and follow his advice. I kind of figure I’ll live healthier and longer if I listen.
1 Like
I wasn’t attempting to give you (or anyone, for that matter) any medical or other advice, nor did I imply you were unhappy.
I was merely sharing my astonishment over your 15lbs loss in just over a month. I would not be eating much of anything if I even tried to lose half of that in the same amount of time, so you are incredibly lucky to have an incredibly active metabolism.
As has been stated numerous times: no one approach works for everyone, and we all have our own priorities in life.
I prefer to not deny myself for a number on the scale, since I am neither overweight, nor do I have any weight-related health issues.
2 Likes
So, I’m down about 7 lbs since September 1 (and 3 inches). BF, who is walking and eating about the same number of calories as me, is down 18lbs. It just is what it is. In addition to daily walking, I am lifting weights and using the exercise bike, which he is not (and that it fine, because my goals are different). The more important metrics to me, other than the pretty significant decrease in my waistline, are that I am up to the 15lb dumbbells when lifting, able to increase the amount of time I can use the bike for things like interval training, and my time walking a mile on the track has improved from ~18 minutes and 30 seconds to, most recently, 16 minutes and 41 seconds. Oh, and my blood pressure is now in the normal range and I am sleeping much better. My doctor remains amazed that all my blood work is as good as it is for being in my 50s ( I like my booze, but am not a dessert person and we mostly eat fish and plants these days. Mostly.).
While I do want to slowly continue to get the weight down (arthritis is a thing on my mom’s side of the family, so less pressure on my joints over time will be to my benefit), the doctor has stopped bringing up my weight in our appointments, which I take as a good sign. Also, literally every other time I’ve managed to lose a “significant” amount of weight, something seems to happen to derail my routine. For example, the last time I lost about 25lbs (Nov. 2019-March 2020), the pandemic happened. At this point, I’m just happy for the overall better health!
14 Likes
That’s amazing, and congratulations!
This here
a lil louder — just for the boys in the back
I love when I am able to move up in weights (my shoulder troubles allowing), and feeling stronger every week.
5 Likes
