Scared of plateau :-(

[judywoody]

I have struggled with my weight since I was a teenager...At my current height (I am 28) I have never weighed less than 11 stone...EVER!!

I was my slimmest when I worked as a post woman, cycling a very heavy bike through a very hilly and vast territory. I didn't gain the weight back at the time and after I quite my job but I think I got out of shape a little bit. Then I started yo-yo-ing - gained 2 stone, lost it and went back to 11, gained 2.5 stone and now trying to lose it again!! During this time I always tried to exercise as much as possible but I am not a sporty person and would always link exercise to something useful like cycling to work rather than just doing it for the fun of it...
Now I gained back 2.5 stone I have a problem..I work from home and am very sedentary..I don't really have the motivation to just do some exercise nor do I have to cycle anywhere..No wonder I gained weight..Anyway, I am trying to stick to SW as long as possible.

I am mostly scared to reach the 11 stone mark again..I have never been slimmer and I really want to be 9.5 stone!!! But even as a post woman (never had that much exercise in my whole life!!), I was unable to get below 11 stone. A year ago or so I tried every diet under the sun, from Atkins to Slimming world to calorie counting...NOTHING!!! I really don't understand what is going on with my body..Granted, once I reach 11 stone I find it much harder to stick to a diet anyway. It is really disheartening. Has anyone ever managed to be slimmer in adulthood than they have ever been as a child or teenager? I was wondering whether it has anything to do with the fact that I started getting fat when I was 11 and only lost the weight for the first time when I was 22. Is my body too fond of my fat depots? Or o I just have to be extremely patient?

Also, my consultant said (that was a year ago, not going to classes now) that I need to do more portion control once I reach a plateau..But how? Is there a general rule so I can avoid a plateau? I have become a vegetarian and I am only doing green days at the moment..that makes me even more scared..Any idea?

 

[kingleds]

Have you actually hit a plateau? If not I'd advise you stop worrying until it becomes and issue for you. Sorry, thats sounds a bit blunt, but life it too short to worry about stuff that might be a problem at some point in the future maybe.

 

[judywoody]

Have you actually hit a plateau? If not I'd advise you stop worrying until it becomes and issue for you. Sorry, thats sounds a bit blunt, but life it too short to worry about stuff that might be a problem at some point in the future maybe.

Nope, not yet - But I know I will..it's ALWAYS the 11 stone mark I was never able to break..It's not that my whole life is affected by this worry but I would like to prepare and maybe I could do something beforehand to avoid it this time?

 

[Wegle]

I'm a veggie and do green days. I'm quite similar to you in that I always managed to get to 12 and 1/2 st then couldn't get any further. With slimming world I've blasted through this. I think a lot of it was psychological and not really that I couldn't. The good thing with SW is that as a veggie I have never felt deprived of the foods I loved so when I got to the 12st mark, in other diets I would have probably said to myself "Well this is it I'm going to have some of the food I'm missing now". Because I'm not missing anything on SW I've just carried on the plan and my weight loss didn't stall once. Only had one gain which was when I went off plan over the easter hols and that was only 1/2lb.

Like the above, don't worry about something until you have to. I bet you won't even notice the 11st mark and all of a sudden you will realise you have blasted past it! If you can get to class definitely go, it's so good for keeping you motivated and on the straight and narrow.

Good luck!

 

[katty]

i used to say exectly the same thing about getting below 11 stone, except mine was getting below 13 stone. i did get past 13 stone, then past 12, and i'm now nearly in the 10's. for years, when i have gone on a diet, i expect to see results there and then, if it didn't happen within a certain amount of time i would just get fed up and eat all the weight back on again.
so the only thing that i can put my weight loss down to, is that something in my head changed, and i became very patient. i had 2 maintains and a small gain before i broke through the 13 stone barrier(a whole month for a 1lb loss), but once i finally did it, with tears and everything lol, i have never looked back. so now i am still slow and steady, but i gained all my weight over years, i now accept that i can't lose it in weeks. good luck, and all i can suggest about plateaus is to just fight your way through it

 

[kingleds]

Nope, not yet - But I know I will..it's ALWAYS the 11 stone mark I was never able to break..It's not that my whole life is affected by this worry but I would like to prepare and maybe I could do something beforehand to avoid it this time?

Fair enough - don't have much advice to be honest, as have yet to get to the point where I have plateau'ed, but the general consensus on here seems to be more exercise and Superfree food - maybe thats what your C meant about portion control? YOu limit the amount of carbs you're having by having more veg.

 

[AnnaFaraday]

Nope, not yet - But I know I will..it's ALWAYS the 11 stone mark I was never able to break..It's not that my whole life is affected by this worry but I would like to prepare and maybe I could do something beforehand to avoid it this time?

If you have already convinced yourself this far in advance that you know exactly what will happen, there is very little that you can do about it.

It is what people call a "self-fulfilling prophecy".

But if you apply a little logic to the situation you will see that it is not possible to be certain about what will happen in the future by looking at what happened in the past.

It will happen if you are determined that things will stay the same - equally, if you are determined that you can get a different result, then you will.

You can decide.