Hi everybody,

I've been through a rough period lately: first, according to the scale, I did not lose any weight in the past month, which is quite frustrating since I'm also working out regularly 3x per week, now; secondly, in the last week I have been sick with gastrointestinal problems, unable to eat my normal SBD meals and to work out; actually, the only thing I seem to retain in my stomach is bread (not even brown), my baby son's cookies, sometimes a bit of chicken soup; One would think I wouldn't be hungry but NO!! I'm always eating! I'm afraid I've been doing severe damage to my diet and compromise my short-term objective of dropping bellow 60 kg until August 12 (my son's first birthday).
Help! I'm losing steam on my path to healthy eating and successful weight loss.

Stuck-On-Baby-Weight

"stuck"-

i'm sorry to hear you're having a rough time! it can get like that sometimes; you may be sick, or there are unusal circumstances or whatever. sometimes, life just isn't that cooperative with us!

i would really encourage you to let go of concerns about whether or not you meet your short-term goal. while those can help you stay focused, the danger of lose-by dates is that if something slows you down, you can end up feeling like a failure even when you have made good progress and are doing well. sometimes, life and your body just don't cooperate with your plans!

for goals personally, i always prefer behaviorally based goals, since you have total control over those. you could commit to only weighing in once a week, shooting for being on-plan for x number of days, drinking X amount of water, a certain amount of workout time, etc. the good thing about these goals is that you have control over them, and if you follow them, you also will get payoffs for your healthy behaviors, too.

also, realize that if you're sick, you simply have to do the best you can. south beach will still be there when you're feeling better. sometimes we get focused on speed, but the truth is that you have to make permanent changes in your lifestyle to maintain your losses anyway, so the speed really doesn't count for all that much.

don't let what the scale says throw you off-base; people confuse one measure of progress for the acutal progress. your real goal, to me, it sounds like, is to be a healthier mom for your son, no? and you've already met that one, right? so make his birthday a time to celebrate your progress instead of feeling bad because you got this thing called life going on.

good luck to you!

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Fat Baggage- Is Yours Packed?

Dear Goddess,
Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. You wrote a lot of things I hadn't thought of: the idea of setting behaviorally based goals is a very good one. I guess I did that at the beginning of the diet, without even noticing, and that was probably responsible for the good results I saw after the first few weeks. I should continue praising myself for changing my life every day, instead of focusing on achievements. If I continue those changes long enough, eventually the achievements will follow. And in this perspective: I was off my diet for a week because I was sick, so what? What's a week in a lifetime?
And thank you for reminding me why I'm doing this; you are so right: I am doing this for my son. Before I got pregnant I was stuck in a hole: I lived a sedentary couch potato life, I ate a lot of junk food, I spent way to many hours working, unproductively because I had no energy; My life was a mess and I was feeling very unhealthy and quite unhappy.
Now, my life is under control, my fridge is full of healthy food, I work from 8 am to 5 pm- and my job gets done!- I have the energy to play with my wonderful son every day, take him for bike rides, go to the gym regularly, and I don't even know (or care!) what's coming on t.v.. Having a baby made me see the kind of person I want to be, for him: healthy, energetic, happy, and confident. I'm a firm believer of setting examples; in the end with children, it doesn't matter what you say, but what you do. If I'm a couch potato, he'll probably become one as well. If I'm all the things I said above, chances are, he will be those as well.

Sorry, I didn't mean to write a lecture or anything; I'm just back on track again and, as soon as I get out of this sick bed, I'll be full of steam again!!!

S-O-Baby-W

"baby"- i'm so delighted to read this today! i'm very glad some of my thoughts were helpful to you.

believe me, the reason why i understand how you've been feeling is because i've been there myself, many times over! it's especially easy to feel discouraged when you're not feeling well. it feels like forever.

but when you went back, you absolutely got it! "what's a week in the rest of my life?" is exactly the point! you keep that mindset, you will get where you're going.

acheivments are great and worth celebrating, and milestones are definitely fun and satisfying, but you're right to celebrate the wonderful transformations you've already made every day. that's what will keep you motivated and on track.

hope you're feeling better soon! peace out.

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Fat Baggage- Is Yours Packed?

Dear Calico,

Thanks for your response! I also thought the muscle vs. fat may be a possible explanation for my reduced weight loss rate. I'm just not sure how long it takes for the body to increase its muscle mass. I mean, sure after just 2-3 workouts you see increased tonus in your muscle, but does that really mean your muscle fibers are increased? Well, I hope you're right! My fitness condition is definitely improving, even if the scale is still stuck.

A question, specially for all of you who successful lost a lot of weight: did you see a lot of loose skin after your weight loss? I have some saggy skin and many stretch marks on my lower abdomen, resulted from my pregnancy. Does it get better with time, or should I expect it to get even worse the more weight I lose?

Thanks for your support, and good luck for you all.

S-O-Baby-W

Hi, "Baby".

The skin thing is a very individual matter. Skin will always regain some degree of it's former shape. How much and how fast depends on a number of issues: how stretched the skin got, rate of weight loss, age and genes. In general, you won't know how much your skin will shrink for a whole year after you're down to a normal weight range.

Keeping hydrated, staying moisturized and exercising (as you are doing ) are all helpful in this area.

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Don't get stuck on the tape measure either! I swear I have not seen a change in the tape measure in ages, over a 20 pound weight loss, but I've lost a little more than 1 pant size during that time. I can measure my waist and it still says the same thing (don't know how this is possible), but I was wearing a size 22 pants a couple of months ago, and I can just squeeze into an 18 now.

The best thing for me to judge progress has always been clothes. If you can afford it, go to a charity shop and buy a pair of jeans that are so snug that you can't do them up. You'll know that you've had some success when you can easily fasten them. I have done this throughout, and everytime I can easily fasten the current jeans, I go buy a new pair of tight ones.

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Katie
275/238/150
Restarted 01/08/2007
37 pounds lost!
http://justanotherfatgirl.blogspot.com

baby-on the skin issue, i do have some sagginess in my lower abdomen as well after losing over 100 pounds. it actually seems to be slowly improving over time, though. from what i've read, plenty of vitamins and working out-especially weight-bearing exercises-can be helpful. i also use good-quality lotions and drink lots of water, which is great for my skin.

i used to be concerned about that, too, but overall, it's still WAY better than what it used to be, it has been improving over time, my moderate rate of losses seem to minimze the overall impact, and it's not going to kill me (like the hundred pounds could have). eventually, if it bothers me, i will check into surgery, but for now, i am still thrilled with the improvements in my body.

hope that helps.

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Fat Baggage- Is Yours Packed?

Hi S-o-Baby-weight - at 64 - give or take - its been my experience that whether one loses weight or not - at some stage we are faced with various sagging things! So - might as well face the issue now and get to appreciate the fact that in managing weight and lifestyle NOW - you are preparing for as good an aging process as you possibly can! I do all the sorts of things others have mentioned here - and no matter what age we are - it really helps with energy, well-being and self esteem. I reckon those things are heaps more valuable than a bit of sag here and there eh!

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The fox is wild!



5'3" Maintaining 121-125
Original weight 198 +