How are you target members doing out there?

janetelizabeth

Gold Member
Hi everyone...
I love reading posts on here about everyone's ups and downs towards their target.

I reached Target last October and although it feels great it also raises another set of issues....
I quickly realised that I couldn't slide back into my unhealthy eating habits without having a gain at my weekly weigh in!
True I am more lenient about what I eat but mostly my meals are on plan.

How are other Target members doing....is it hard for you too?

Janet ;)
 
Hello from another target member! Lost three stone in exactly six months

i hit target last July, in fact it will be exactly one year next Wednesday, and I have somehow managed to stay within target range the whole time, and I am sooooooo happy about this.

yup I quickly realised that it's not a case of "target hit now back to normal", but I have found that eating sw way is now second nature, I tend to stick to ee through the week and relax at the weekends having what I want, Indians, cake etc some weekends I need to be more mindful than others if the pounds are heading upwards but on the whole this seems to be working. Also exercise has made the biggest difference to me, it's sonething I randomly did before but i def feel that now I regularly exercise it helps keeps the weight off.

it is hard but also worth it, I have a wardrobe full of size eights and tens, all my 14s were sold on ebay or given to charity shops so there is no turning back now! The only thing I don't like about the weight loss is my boobs, they are barely empty bags of skin now and I feel awful, but the good thing is with asdas 'two sizes bigger' bras at only £6 at least I look normal with my clothes on, hey hoh we can't have it all and I should get over myself really!, people have much bigger worries than being flat chested!
 
Good for you Becky staying put for one year now. I know what you mean about relaxing some but as I weigh in every Weds I tend to do my relaxing Weds - Sat...then strictly back on plan ready for weigh in again. How often do you attend group now? I go every week just to make sure I behave myself!! lol.
I'm not a big exerciser....just walking really. I used to do plenty but had an oblique tear in my cartilage and don't want to aggravate that again as it's all settled down.
 
I called target last November and except for a couple of gains after Christmas and holidays etc, I've stayed within target range, After a holiday, I just follow plan carefully until I lose any gain, otherwise I basically stick to the principles but give myself a bit of slack - I know I can have the occasional overindulgence but I know that SW is for life unless I want to regain all that I've lost.
 
I follow plan to the letter and don't allow myself to go 'off plan', because one day off will lead to a week...a month ... and before you know it I'll be back to where I started! I go to class for a WI about once every 4 or 5 weeks.
 
So happy to find this thread! I reached target last November by losing 7 stone! I've kept it up no problem but lately finding it really hard! I'm keeping food diaries and everything is ok but I was sick last week and when I weighed in I was up 5 pounds putting me out of range by 3.5 pounds! Terrified it won't be gone this week as I really want to make it to the year and be a diamond member!
 
I think the hardest thing about being at target is having to readjust your thinking as you no longer have the goal of losing weight each week, and even though we all know that weight naturally fluctuates week by week, it is still disappointing to gain a pound or two.
 
I feel too that when your loosing weight people are really supportive and positive towards you but when I got to target some people changed to almost a concern that I wouldn't stop and can be negative when they hear I still attend class! I love class it's not a chore and I try stress to people that maintaining a target means I can't lose too much without knowing! People just think it's another diet and once you've lost it you should stop! Does anyone else get slight negativity towards their new bodies?
 
Good for you Grollyzbird....you've made a good start.

Kinnakk....I'm like you I enjoy going to group every week...in fact I'm now their 'met & greet' person! Can't say I've have any negative feedback but like you that wouldn't have deterred me.
Sorry you were sick last week, hope the gain was just part of that. I think sometimes I get the feeling I just want to let the reins off and chow whatever I like but...we basically know this is a lifestyle change, as Patty said.

LardyLady, I too get disappointed if I see those scales go up! My consultant knows I prefer to be just until my target weight. Congrats on losing 8 & 1/2 stone!!

Patty...you summed it all up...we know what to do and how to get back on plan again for the results we need.

I'm off now for a few days holiday and will be back on Saturday so please carry on chatting and I look forward to having a catch up read when I get back.
My only quibble about being away is staying with relations and being at the mercy re catering....and no scales to check my weight!! Oh well...will let you all know how I do. :confused:
 
You ladies are inspirational thank you,for,this,thread
 
So good to hear how you're doing - I'm very worried about regaining my weight.

I'm finding that I have to continue with SW nearly all the time - I don't worry about the odd meal/day or even longer off plan. I would say I 'food optimize' about 80-90% of the time and find this relatively easy, partly because I work full-time and I'm mostly very organized with my lunches. The evenings and weekends can still be tricky though, particularly if we go out. The thing is, SW is a way of eating for life and the one thing you can not do if you want to keep the weight off is to revert to your old way of eating.

Maintaining is certainly a challenge in its own right and that's why I still regularly come on Minis and keep a food diary on here.
 
I'm really hoping I will be joining you Target members tonight! Fingers crossed...

It really gets to me when you see in the papers 'Diets don't work' etc, meaning that the change isn't sustainable. And then on the other hand people I know keep saying 'So are you going to stop soon?' when I tell them I'm near target. Well, no. I'm not going to stop. I don't want to go back to having crème eggs for breakfast, fatty meals, chocolate and booze every day, pasties and sandwiches here and there... Hello, everyone! Diets don't work long-term if you go back to doing exactly what made you gain weight in the first place! It's obvious!

I suppose it's true to say that really restrictive diets don't work, because you don't learn sustainable habits. Diets won't work if they starve you so much your metabolism shuts down and you lose all your muscle. And maybe diets don't work if they don't get you to address your mindset around food.

But really a diet is what you eat. SW has some 'rules' (just like basic healthy nutrition is based on 'rules') therefore it could be considered a 'diet' - it just happens that it's not faddy, it's a balanced normal diet and doesn't eliminate food groups! I personally think we need some rules, or at least guidelines, because we live in a society where just going out and eating whatever you feel like tends to lead to weight gain. The balance of power between individual people, with stressful lives and emotions, and big corporations, with masses of money to put into addictive chemicals and advertising, is completely unequal.

So if doing something like SW doesn't work, then there is no hope whatsoever for people who are unhealthy or unhappy because of being overweight. And it doesn't exactly make me feel good to read things like that when I have been working hard for so long to get healthy! But at the same time it makes me really determined to keep at this, to make a change for life and to maintain.

Ooh that turned into a bit of a rant! But it just makes me really cross when media imply that what the majority of people do is 'normal' and dieting, in the sense of sticking to guidelines for a healthy diet, is not 'normal'. That's why the health of this country is in such a mess!
 
Thanks for starting this thread - it's always great to read other people's experiences on this!

I got to target 3 weeks ago... just before I had 3 mad weeks of holiday fun and complete debauchery! Today is my first proper day back on plan before WI on Friday. My clothes still fit and generally I feel like I've probably only gained a couple of pounds so hopefully still within target range by Friday's WI. Even on my holidays I was making much better choices than I was a few years ago. When everyone else was eating white bread, I was eating melon. This wasn't because I was "on a diet", it was because it was what I wanted to eat. I knew I'd feel good afterwards and the way I'd feel after eating a big white baguette just wasn't worth it!

I agree with one of the other maintainers when they say about exercise being a big part of their lifestyle. This is definitely the case for me now too. I cannot WAIT to get back to the gym tonight as I know I'll sleep so much better and get that post-exercise buzz - both of which I've really missed these last 3 weeks.

Even though I haven't had the chance to maintain yet consistently within my "normal" lifestyle, my plan is probably similar to a lot of the other guys who have posted - meals generally 100% on plan, lots of superfree, lots of water but relaxing a little in social situations. For example, if I'm out for dinner one night, I might have chips with my steak rather than salad and not worry about the syn in a glass of red.

There is a great thread already for maintainers if anyone else is interested... it can be quiet at times but might be nice to get it buzzing again with our experiences. The link is here - http://www.minimins.com/slimming-wo...g-who-wants-help-mutual-support-stay-put.html
 
Fingers crossed for you Gwella.

You might have had a bit of a rant, but it makes sense. No, you can't stop in the way that the people you quote are meaning and why should you - you are eating a healthy, wide-ranging diet (the odd pasta 'n sauce aside perhaps!) with no food groups excluded unless you wish to exclude them and still enjoying chocolate or whatever your particular foodie vice(s) is/are! The problem is most people only know of the type of 'diet' promoted in magazines which are of the 'get a bikini body in 10 days' type which are so faddy and restrictive that you couldn't keep them going even if you wanted to! If only we had different words for 'diet' as in nutrition and 'diet' as in weight loss - and even that's wrong as it's actually 'fat loss' that people are after.

My response to people who say about stopping is simply along the lines that I now enjoy the way I eat and have no desire to eat the way I used to but no, I'm not intending to lose more. I've found that it passes anyway after a short period of time - someone else starts losing weight very quickly and the attention turns to them!
 
I'm really hoping I will be joining you Target members tonight! Fingers crossed...

It really gets to me when you see in the papers 'Diets don't work' etc, meaning that the change isn't sustainable. And then on the other hand people I know keep saying 'So are you going to stop soon?' when I tell them I'm near target. Well, no. I'm not going to stop. I don't want to go back to having crème eggs for breakfast, fatty meals, chocolate and booze every day, pasties and sandwiches here and there... Hello, everyone! Diets don't work long-term if you go back to doing exactly what made you gain weight in the first place! It's obvious!

I suppose it's true to say that really restrictive diets don't work, because you don't learn sustainable habits. Diets won't work if they starve you so much your metabolism shuts down and you lose all your muscle. And maybe diets don't work if they don't get you to address your mindset around food.

But really a diet is what you eat. SW has some 'rules' (just like basic healthy nutrition is based on 'rules') therefore it could be considered a 'diet' - it just happens that it's not faddy, it's a balanced normal diet and doesn't eliminate food groups! I personally think we need some rules, or at least guidelines, because we live in a society where just going out and eating whatever you feel like tends to lead to weight gain. The balance of power between individual people, with stressful lives and emotions, and big corporations, with masses of money to put into addictive chemicals and advertising, is completely unequal.

So if doing something like SW doesn't work, then there is no hope whatsoever for people who are unhealthy or unhappy because of being overweight. And it doesn't exactly make me feel good to read things like that when I have been working hard for so long to get healthy! But at the same time it makes me really determined to keep at this, to make a change for life and to maintain.

Ooh that turned into a bit of a rant! But it just makes me really cross when media imply that what the majority of people do is 'normal' and dieting, in the sense of sticking to guidelines for a healthy diet, is not 'normal'. That's why the health of this country is in such a mess!


So well said instead of offering WL surgery doctors and dietician s should be getting overweight people on SW and teaching them how to eat for life...the diet industry fast food industry and processed foods have made our nation overweight ill and a drain on resources,but,it,can be fixed so easily for so many! Just be re education people on how,and what to eat!!, i love SW
 
I did it! Happy to be joining you lovely ladies and gents on the next phase!
 
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