Minerva's corner...

Minerva said:
As a side note, I read this today: http://healthsciences.ku.dk/news/new-2016/new-research-obese-people-can-maintain-stable-weight-loss/

And it supports what I've experienced - that the body adjusts to a new weight after maintenance by producing less hormones which make us eat to combat the calorie deficit we experience during the process of losing weight. It's good to see a clinical explanation. :)
Click to expand...

"During the study period the participants completed three meal tests – before weight loss, immediately after weight loss and after 52 weeks of weight loss maintenance, where blood samples were collected after fasting as well as postprandially and subsequently analysed.

“The interesting and uplifting news in this study is that if you are able to maintain your weight loss for a longer period of time, it seems as if you have ‘passed the critical point’, and after this point, it will actually become easier for you to maintain your weight loss than is was immediately after the initial weight loss.

“Thus, the body is no longer fighting against you, but actually with you, which is good news for anyone trying to lose weight,” concludes Associate Professor Signe Sørensen Torekov."


Very interesting read Minerva, thanks!:)

I got there myself at one stage and felt I was 'cured' and kept pushing against it just to make sure I was 'cured' until I finally broke it...when I get there again I won't push the boundaries...instead I will be grateful.
 
Mini said:
"During the study period the participants completed three meal tests – before weight loss, immediately after weight loss and after 52 weeks of weight loss maintenance, where blood samples were collected after fasting as well as postprandially and subsequently analysed.

“The interesting and uplifting news in this study is that if you are able to maintain your weight loss for a longer period of time, it seems as if you have ‘passed the critical point’, and after this point, it will actually become easier for you to maintain your weight loss than is was immediately after the initial weight loss.

“Thus, the body is no longer fighting against you, but actually with you, which is good news for anyone trying to lose weight,” concludes Associate Professor Signe Sørensen Torekov."


Very interesting read Minerva, thanks!:)

I got there myself at one stage and felt I was 'cured' and kept pushing against it just to make sure I was 'cured' until I finally broke it...when I get there again I won't push the boundaries...instead I will be grateful.
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Thanks Mini :) It's all a learning curve at the end of the day. You will definitely get there again and knowing what goes on in the body with hormones and the like explains a lot. I know from myself, I maintained my loss at around 12st 7 for the last couple of years and it feels normal now. If I go above it - i.e. this dieting stretch - I passed the 13st mark again and my body kind of screamed at me saying "GO BACK DOWN". I just had ENOUGH food. Nothing really tasted good anymore. But, I do have to look out for this sort of effect in the reverse direction when I start dipping into the 11's, as I know, from past experience, that's when the body is like "ENOUGH! EAT NOW". :rolleyes: It's funny how hormones really affect us after all, we think we're all logic and actual decision making... but there's so much more to it.
 
Great loss, Min! xxxx

And fab article. I maintained at 280 (before I decided I should probably make an effort to lose weight again....) without trying for years after I first moved here and gained loads. Doesnt sound like an accomplishment as that is a massive weight lol...but i was 402 pre-surgery so for me, it is actually maintaining at a lesser weight than my heaviest. Anyway.....this is facsinating and in line with what I had thought too. :) x
 
Very interesting article, thanks for posting this. I've never actually been able to maintain for that long after losing weight, but it does give me hope that if I can, it will become easier to do so in time.
Hope your week is going well? Are you enjoying being back at Uni?
 
Being back at Uni is hard! So much to do and so little time until exams. I really don't think I'll do well with the calculus, it's doing my head in to be honest. While I do like math to a certain degree, I wasn't awful at it at school, I'm just not all that geared towards almost abstract stuff like this. Arghh... I always struggle with abstract ideas as I need to understand WHY something is the way it is, rather than just blindly applying theorems or concepts to things and it just being 'that way'.

Diet is going ok though! So that's at least something :p I lost 2lb this week at WI and seem to have lost another 2lb since WI as well, but with TOTM coming (painfully slowly... I really hate this copper coil thing ...) it might go back up by next WI. Who knows. I'm really tempted to have a 'day off', but with my birthday three weeks away, there's to real reason to. I'll have a day off then :D Only 6 lbs (or 4?) to go until my next mini-target, so I'm motivated to keep going! :D I feel little changes in my body already, clothes getting looser, I'll have to take my skirt in soon which is nice. Plus it's really not that bad, I have 'off-plan' dinners, like yesterday, we had a chicken thigh Jambalaya, not sure how many calories it really was, as it's really hard to count it, but it was the only meal of the day, so I put it as 1100 for the day, which is fine. :)
Need to remember to have more protein rich meals though, so that's what I'm going to concentrate on doing.
 
Well done on a fantastic week's loss. You are doing so well. You seem to be doing everything sensibly, and not worrying about having some "off plan" dinners - it's all about the long game really isn't it. I remember TOTM playing havoc with my weight, thankfully those days are long gone!

I think I struggled with calculus for the same reason, like you I need to understand something rather than just learning and accepting it. I think that's why the biology aspects of my degree came more easily to me as it was more "real", applying mathematical concepts to measure biological processes was so hard!

Hope you have a great weekend.
 
Well done! Youre powering through brilliantly. :wee:

I couldnt have a coil put in, even though the GPs kept pushing me towards that option. Im just too freaked out about anything foreign in my body. I couldnt have the implant in the arm either. *shudder*. yikes. lol

I was always terrible at math(s) because I had bad teachers, no confidence and grew to despise it. Definitely not my thing! Shame too because I really enjoyed the sciences....mainly biology and was interested in geology as well - although even chemistry was interesting albeit a bit confusing.

Have a lovely weekend :) xxxx
 
TOTM has never actually been a problem before, I am lucky that I don't get pain and it was always quite short - until the coil anyway. I thought long and hard about my choices in that regard and for years I was not on any contraception at all, because my spell of not-eating (about 6 years ago) stopped my periods completely for over 2 years. It's stabilised, but after an (accidental) ectopic pregnancy in September last year, it looked like I couldn't take risks anymore, so while I don't completely like the idea of something foreign being there, it was the only non-chemical choice... Contraception chemicals always used to wreak such havoc both in hormones going all over the place and noticeable libido absence (TMI sorry :p ) which isn't great for either me or my partner. So what can you do :rolleyes:
 
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I always had horrendous periods, which got steadily worse in my fifties until it was happening every three weeks, lasting for ten days at a time and so heavy I became anaemic, not to mention suffering some embarrassing incidents. Various tablets from the GP didn't help, so she suggested a Minera coil. Like you I didn't like the idea of something foreign in my body, but it turned out to be the best thing I ever did. It almost instantly made my periods light and manageable, totally obliterated my mood swings (which were awful) and I sailed through the menopause without any awareness of it even having happened until it dawned on me that I hadn't had a period for over a year. So I think coils can be a really useful thing, especially as you say, oral contraceptive hormones can wreak havoc with your body. Plus I was a bit crap at remembering to take them. Hence 4 kids in 5 years :eek:.

You've mentioned a couple of times about a spell of not eating, which must have been serious to stop your periods completely. I'm so glad that you are eating sensibly and mindfully now. It must have been a really difficult time. Keep going as you are, you're doing so well. Not long now until your birthday, which you can enjoy and celebrate.
 
Your time really doesn't sound pleasant with it all, I'm glad the Mirena coil sorted it out. It was a thing I looked into as well, but because it's also hormone/chemical based, I was sceptical. As for the spell of not eating, I think it was partly down to Lighter Life unbalancing my understanding about food as well as my life feeling too chaotic at the time emotionally, so control over food was a way to cope, and to keep some form of control *somewhere*. It was a miserable time, but I've learned and moved on. It scared me when the doctor examining me at the time to find the cause for my menstrual cycle stopping, told me my hormone levels were that of an 80-year old, things inside were shrivelled. It's scary what lack of nutrition can actually do to the body, it's not something I ever want to do to myself again.

And on the topic of TOTM, I feel bluergh. It hasn't quite come, but I feel bloated and hungry - not physically hungry as such, but emotionally. Just want to eat something I love, for comfort because I feel so UGH. Some pizza would really be good about now... mmmm... I can dream...
 
I switched my WI day to Monday as it suits me better, so 5-day week with 1 lb loss, which is good :) It would have been 2, but my body had other ideas and one went back on, possibly to an approaching TOTM. So that's a stone in 4 weeks, yay :) Most of that is water though, I wish it all went as quickly as this!

I am losing some momentum, as I always do at this stage, a sense of hopelessness sets in, a feeling that no matter what I do, the weight won't shift. I know it will if I keep at it, it's just that irrational voice at the back of my head saying that I will fail no matter what. That it's all for nothing.
I'm also feeling quite stressed over a piece of coursework due in about 3 weeks, I have to write an application in Java and I'm terrible at it. I've no idea where to even start. Ugh. -.-
 
Aww honey. Water weight only really account for 4-7lbs -ish so be proud of your achievement!

Also, I have the same feelings (although mine are more "SW never works for me and doesnt really suit me. Why do I bother wasting my time and money when it will just come to nothing..." and ended up going completely off on a mini binge. Well, not so much a binge....like a manic type thing. Just a day of "whatever." So over the course of the day I had Timeouts and chocolate buttons and quote a bit of cheese and just bits of crap like that. I gave myself a good shake and a talk this morning and am back on plan-ish. I had a strange craving for Exante pancakes (weird I know but I really do LOVE them. theyre pancakey but not heavy and dont make me feel ill like real ones lol) So I had a pack of those with some scrambled egg and a 15g sprinkle of cheese on top of the egg. But then of course that triggered my longing for VLCD losses and the feelings of being in the zone and in control and making progress. *sigh*

As for your work....you have some time and as long as you use it wisely, you will be absolutely fine. I have no doubt :) xx
 
Well done, a lb a week is still 4 stone over a year..not that you want to lose 4 stone of course, but it's still a good loss. I share your loss of momentum after a coupe of weeks, the elation of the initial big losses spur you on and then it's the tedious pound or two a week that just seems to go on forever. Even doing the VLCD diet this time it seems to have slowed down quickly, although to be fair I have come off plan on three or four occasions. Maybe it's because I'm not mobile. Whatever, it's still a pain.

Beelishy, I love Exante pancakes too, especially the maple syrup ones. They are my favourite breakfast at the moment!

Good luck with your coursework. I have always been the worst procrastinator, still am. Once you make a start it feels so much better...but if you don't know where to start that's a problem! Can you ask somebody for a bit of help, a fellow student or lecturer maybe?
 
The thing with any diet is perseverance... 4 weeks isn't always long enough to determine whether it's working or not... At least in my opinion. I'd say, at 4 weeks, everyone does experience a slump, as that initial motivation and momentum slows down. I've got to keep going, because diets DO work. Some are slower than others and that's ok. :) I do miss the fast(ish) losses of a VLCD, but THEN AGAIN, I never actually had fast ones, even on a VLCD I lose painfully slowly , so between STS and 2 lb per week (rarely), I'm always amazed how people seem to drop 3lb or more per week, it's never happened to me. So I'm better off eating actual food and keeping track of calories - as that's something I didn't really learn when relying on packs. It's something that comes with practice.

I've worked out that if I lose 1lb per week on average, I'll be halfway through 11's by start of July. That's a good motivation to keep going. :) It's all possible so long as I stay on course! Having said that, there's two "off-plan" events in between, but my mind is in the right place to have a day off and be able to continue the next day as intended. I have also noticed I'm not so out of breath just walking at pace, when I get upwards of 13st, things tire me out a lot faster. But no more, I feel healthier and fitter, even with just a stone difference between then and now. :)
 
On another note, I've had a clothes delivery come from Dorothy Perkins, ordered two things in size 16 and they're too big. The company is fairly generous with their sizes, so I don't trust that I'm a size 14 yet, but it's a bit annoying to send it all back! The size 12 top fits though, so I'm pleased with that. :p
 
I had a slight freak out over my diet today, I think. Well, my body just rebelled and I was feeling really ill all day, so went a little overboard with the food. Nothing majorly BAD as such, I went out for lunch with my sister for a catch up as I hardly ever see her, had a fajita style flatbread with some grilled lebanese chicken but, felt sick when I came home... Maybe it was too rich or maybe it was a combination of not eating very much over the last few days, plus a cold brewing.
So then I had dinner as well a few hours later, two beef burger patties with two fajita wraps. It was nice and now I feel quite full. It was at the very top end of my maximum calories for the day at 1400, so it's not majorly awful and there was no "bad" (i.e. sugary) food involved... but I don't really crave that as such. It was just proper food as opposed to the vegetable mush I resign to usually.

It all still fits in with the 16:8 I'm doing, so while the losses might be less this week, it's fine. I'm in this for a long while yet, there's no major rush. Just got to take each day as it comes.
 
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