I'm just curious and want something kind of like a roll call to see where we're all at.

I'll be three years out in one month and I'm five pounds away from my pre pregnancy weight and eight pounds away from my original goal.

If you're at goal, how long have you been maintaining within a 5 pound window?

If you're not at goal, how far do you have to go?

How do you transition your mind and eating from loss to maintenance or back to loss from maintenance? Do you go back to basics, restrict calories, get more active, etc.?

I'd like to see some experiences shared here. I'm finding that I just don't make the time to come to VST much anymore. Sure, there's a small measure of burnout (I just avoid most of the topics when I do come around) and sure, I just had a baby a few months ago. But I think a major thing is that I don't like being here as a vet and not at my goal weight. It's silly, because this is exactly where I should be as I'm trying to lose.

I'm struggling. Eating isn't that bad. I'm very fortunate, because I've read a number of threads lately where even vets are having trouble with non-stop hunger or food thoughts. I'm not dealing with that.

But I maintained so easily. I'm not bragging...it's just how it was, and I honestly feel like I deserved it after struggling for 17 months to lose 107 pounds a tenth of a pound at a time! Transitioning from maintenance to pregnancy to loss again SUCKS. I hate it. I log my food and I track and no, I don't feel hungry (thank goodness) and I don't really want to graze or binge (thankfully) but I feel like the SLOWEST LOSER IN THE UNIVERSE and I'm really struggling with my body image and with the idea that I have to eat 700-900 calories a day, and skip the extra cups of coffee and actually pay attention to what I eat.

I want to be lazy again, honestly. I want to be back in maintenance, back at goal and I want my size 5/6 pants to fit perfectly, without being slightly snug. I want to go back to hopping on the scale each morning and not minding if I see the number go up a touch one day and down a bit the next, because I'm already in my maintenance window and a small change won't hurt. I want to see progress again!

I cannot wrap my head around making this transition smooth. It's not a huge amount of stress but there is a very real underlying fear that if I don't manage to get back into loss mode mentally, too, that I won't ever lose the weight and I'll slide into regaining.

Where are the rest of you on this?

~Cheri

It is the small miracles that bring happiness.

Miracle indeed!

Fiddleman is just bragging! Lol....I buy Miralax in BULK and I'm lucky if I produce a BM once a week!

Well I'm happy to say that I'm back to my regular AM schedule and have been since around 8 months out. Right after surgery, I had diarrhea and then when that went away I was often constipated until I could eat enough to get some fiber in. I had a brief fling with Metamucil but I hated drinking it. I relied on Colace during the constipation phase.

Lynda

Fiddleman is just bragging! Lol....I buy Miralax in BULK and I'm lucky if I produce a BM once a week!

Hehe.. Same here! I just bought bulk psyllium seed husks.. Still not working!

I had issues before surgery with it, so not surprised that its still an issue.

Take Magnesium. The lady at the health food store told me about it. It makes sense.

Milk of Mag is just magnesium

I take 2 before bed and it's made a huge difference.

Take Magnesium. The lady at the health food store told me about it. It makes sense.

Milk of Mag is just magnesium

I take 2 before bed and it's made a huge difference.

When ever I hear magnesium I think of the nasty magnesium citrate they made me drink before surgery... Is that the same thing?

The worst is when my normal routine is disrupted. I came home from a mini vacation and went right for the bottle of dulcolax!

Hehe.. Same here! I just bought bulk psyllium seed husks.. Still not working!

I had issues before surgery with it' date=' so not surprised that its still an issue.[/quote']

Try some more caffeine. It may not seem like it would work, but it has been helping me have a killer regularity (yet, not diarhea) after doing the Miralax / chia seed combo forever. Miralax / chia seeds is pretty good about getting me a BM every day, but sometimes 2 or 3 days sneak in. Ever since I have been upping my caffeine supplement, I not only have way more energy to workout, but also have as a side effect, a BM multiple times a day. Again, Life's little miracles. I do suck down a lot of water to keep hydrated, but sometimes am short and end up with cramps of muscle stiffness. Whenever this happens, I work on coconut water and/or g2. I swear it has really helped in a good way. Oh the things we chat about.

The worst is when my normal routine is disrupted. I came home from a mini vacation and went right for the bottle of dulcolax!

I know exactly what you mean! Any flight messes up regularity in a big way. Must be the combination of sitting in a plane for many hours and breathing in cabin air ( probably dehydrating in some way). Need a cure for that one!

Hijack much? This might best be covered in a separate post?

This will be the end of hijack , promise. After all, regularity helps with weight loss.

Magnesium oxide capsules. completely different than that nasty stuff you drink.

...Let me be the last one to Hijack... read this, 4 part article, that talks about the importance of what comes out "the other end"! and weight.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/04/gut-microbiome-bacteria-weight-loss?page=1

Most intersesting!

Nothing helps me work up a good BM like going for a run. I swear as soon as I get 2 miles from the house it's like a fire alarm goes off in my shorts. TMI?

Nothing helps me work up a good BM like going for a run. I swear as soon as I get 2 miles from the house it's like a fire alarm goes off in my shorts. TMI?

Um, yeah!! But I will say this. My daughter, the runner, has squatted behind trees and pulled odd her undies and tossed them because she couldn't get back to civilization (ie BR) quick enough. So I guess I wish I was a runner?? . Nah!

Be careful where you poop when running!