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From:	Rocket Scientist (proxy1d.external.lmco.com)
Subject:	Hi Kim...
Date:	October 5, 2005 at 8:12 am PST

In Reply to: Looking for help, support, encouragement, ideas posted by Kim on October 1, 2005 at 6:54 am:

Booklass had a point - health trouble, weight trouble, etc. will persist as long as the habits behind them persist. You say you lost weight before. It might be a good idea to look at the time periods when you lost weight, and the times when the weight came back. What was going on at those times? What changed - your activities, your habits? I'm betting when you lost weight, your habits changed for the better, and when you re-gained the weight, they changed back to what they were before.

So far, I have not heard of anyone who started exercising, started eating better, lost weight... and then gained it back while they were still exercising and eating properly and doing what made them lose weight. What I've heard time and again is that if you want to keep it off, the changes you make have to be permanent changes. Often, I see people on the McDougall board talk about how a "diet" won't work b/c that implies something temporary. You "diet" until you lose weight, then when you're all fixed, you can quit dieting. These people talk about McDougalling as a "lifestyle," meaning they will pretty much eat and exercise that way until the day they die. I suspect the people who keep weight off after doing Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, etc. succeed because the habits they develop while "dieting," they just get so used to doing those things, they can't break their good habits after they stop the "diet" program!

Please don't misunderstand me. I am not criticizing what you have done in the past to lose weight. Rather, I'm trying to point out that you probably have done some very good things to lose weight, but you have to keep doing those good things forever to keep the weight off. Take a look at what made you go off your good habits - did an injury stop you from exercising? Did stress give you a craving for sweets that you simply could not stop? Did you "treat" yourself a few times during the holidays, and when January came, you found you just couldn't quit eating those treats? (Often, "treat" foods are addicting - I've had problems with that!) Maybe this time, you should *start* by looking closely at what has worked for you, and why it quit working. You've succeeded in the past, but what can you do, what are you willing to do now to keep that success going permanently? Don't get into the rut of self-criticism, it won't serve you right now. Instead, treat it like a science project or a mystery story - look at all the facts, and all the possibilities, and come up with a few ways to solve the mystery of "How Kim can lose weight and feel great!" It's not an easy journey, but at least you already know you have the courage to try!

Here are links to the two other weight loss discussion boards here - many of the people who do these programs have great success, and they each seem to have qualities that appeal to different people. I suggest you hit the library, check out some books by both Dr. McDougall and Dr. Fuhrman, and see which program you think you'd have an easier time with. They *both* have great recommendations - but some people have an easier time with one or the other.

http://www.vegsource.com/mcdougall/
http://www.vegsource.com/talk/eat2live/

I hope this helps some!

RS

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