Everyday Systems

I'm quoting from another site where a member has this in her signature line. BTW, she lost 165 lbs. She says her main focus in life now is becoming a better kayaker, though she tracks and sticks to relatively low calories. It is her way of life now.

I don't say this to promote her choice at all, but to show what a large maintainer keeps in front of herself all the time:

"These are important milestones!*

- The likelihood of regaining weight when you reach goal is 80% - 95%.
- When you've maintained for 2 years the likelihood of regain drops to 50%.
- When you've maintained for 5 years the likelihood of regain drops to 27%!"

If course, these are averages and do not take into account the means to the end. Nor does it show that some people got to goal and left it again a few times before they got to two years. Multiple attempts are common before success.

So, anyone who is wavering: you are normal. The good news is I think we have one of the nicest ways to get to be abnormal, i.e., get to goal and stay there. Although I didn't lose all my weight on No S, I am 30 lbs. down from my highest. I don't actually fear going there again, though I can be frustrated with where I am. But knowing what I am up against and that I can enjoy myself a lot fo the time here helps keep me from wanting to plunge into some strict regime.

I can see that. Part of the reason for constant vigilance is that normal eating is so so outside the mainstream. Portions are huge. Readily available food is designed by food scientists and psychologists to make us want to eat more (See End of Overeating by David Kessler and Mindless Eating by Brian Wasink if you think I'm being paranoid.) Many people have time constraints that make cooking meals from scratch difficult at first when the learning curve is the steepest and the investment of time is considerable.

I expect that I will always have to intentionally practice No S. It's getting easier but i don't feel like I can say that I can completely ignore that part of my life and it will take care of itself.

Now that I think about it, I don't think I can say that about any part of my life. Anything I want to be successful at requires some effort from me. Not a lot but some. Interesting.

Blithe Morning wrote:
I expect that I will always have to intentionally practice No S. It's getting easier but i don't feel like I can say that I can completely ignore that part of my life and it will take care of itself.

Now that I think about it, I don't think I can say that about any part of my life. Anything I want to be successful at requires some effort from me. Not a lot but some. Interesting.

I have been doing No-s for years, and it's still intentional at times. It does go on auto-pilot for nice long stretches, but any major life change seems to require a bit of extra attention to No-S as I adjust into the new routine. Plus there are sporadic "need to pay attention for a bit" episodes.

But before No-S, I did calorie-counting. Compared to that, this is SO low-maintenance!

Plus it works. And I get to enjoy eating, which didn't really happen in the calorie-counting days