BrightAngel wrote:
I would greatly welcome the input here of any long-term posters here who began No S with a personal BMI above 35,
and who now have,…and have maintained for at least 3 years, … a BMI of around 25 or less.
regarding how much Effort that achieving this, has been personally required of them.
I was right at the 35BMI when I began my NoS Journey 4+ years ago. I've been at 25BMI or less (now less @23.5 and still going down!
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
) for not quite 3 years, but I did want to answer since no one else has! For the record, I'm short (5'2"), female, over 50, and have thyroid issues, so losing weight has never come easily to me. Also, I didn't weigh myself at my heaviest and have used three scales over the years (some in kgs, some in lbs), so I've lost more than my signature indicates but I can't say for sure how much more!
First off, I want to say that I've read the literature and studies readily available online that indicate the tremendous effort needed to maintain loss and I believe that is the case for many, many people. I personally don't feel that I need to expend that much effort and have often pondered why.
Some of my thoughts:
1.
Many of the people described in those studies lost weight at a much faster rate than I did, usually by greater restrictions (calories or WLS or both). I think the slower and frankly uneven pace of NoS caused less stress on my body and metabolic system, and therefore, as a whole unit, my body adjusted to my gradually changing needs. Plus, my diethead mental habits had plenty of time to change, too. (This is one area, I think, that many people neglect).
2.
It is true that I eat less now than I did when I was 10 pounds lighter or even 35 pounds lighter. But I feel *just* as satisfied because *I*, not a prescribed diet plan, determined when I needed to eat less to feel good. Following NoS principles rather than a diet quickly made "feeling good", not "losing weight," , my prime objective.
3. Although I had a long history of ever-increasing weight gain (obscured by five kids in 8 years),
I didn't spend years and years at the obese level (probably about 10 years). Several years prior to NoS, I lost 50-60 pounds slowly, but I never inculcated new eating habits; so when I stopped paying attention due to life's circumstances, my weight crept upward depressingly quickly.
4.
What Bright Angel says about needing to be diligent *is* true....I can't stop my NoS habits and expect to maintain. But, I find my NoS habits easy to keep: they keep me satisfied and healthy, I get to eat the food I love, I can celebrate all the holidays in whatever country/people I'm with. I have no, none, zero, zip, zilch desire to depart from NoS, so I find maintenance easy at 4+ years.
Note: this is my personal journey and I understand that we each have our path to walk which may include NoS+, and not strict vanilla NoS. But, vanilla NoS has proven to be a very good flavor for me!
HTH,