icymaiden's Journal, 31 January 2012

You have done wonderfully maintaining your weight. You have yo-yoed in the past and are extremely aware of what can happen if you just relax. It's probably a good thing to be cautious. We know inside from previous experience that we have a tendency to let go and return to our "fat" selves. Maybe seeing yourself at still plump keeps you focused. You look great, and you are special in God's eyes. You are an inspiration to the rest of us who need to stick to the program and who have to be diligent for the rest of our lives. Hugs.  

Aww..thanks. I never thought of myself as an inspiration though. I'm a flawed being, just like everyone else on here and I make lots of mistakes. 

Wow, what great success you have had on Atkins. I applaud you!! I was curious with your food entries, some of them are low cal. Is that because you didn't finish your entries or did you lose by eating such low calories. I am just starting out on Atkins and worried I may be eating too much and wondering how your success happen, what you ate is accurate on your calendar...thanks again, way to go!  

I gain so quickly when I go off plan for any reason that maintaining scares me a lot. I only want to lose another 15 so really need to start addressing this. 

Tina, if you are looking at my recent food journal it will be very incomplete. I stopped tracking about a month or two ago cause it was too time consuming. The food tracker is a great tool to see what you are eating and learn what works for you. Once I learned what foods to eat, which foods caused issues and which did not, I stopped tracking. My atkins experience was low carb and sort of low calorie as well. I did not intend to be low calorie with low carb, but I had trouble breaking 1000 calories eating veggies and salads all the time. I would have to purposely eat things like Macadamia nuts to up my calories if they were under 1000. And I wasn't avoiding things like mayo, olive oil, cheese and butter. My food prefernces just naturally gravitated towards low calorie. At the beginning my breakfasts were atkins shakes and strawberries. Lunches were salad or low carb soup (which turned out to be low-cal, so I always added cheese), dinners were usually lean meats cooked in olive oil with 2 veggie sides (usually with cheese and butter), after losing most of the weight my breakfasts have changed to low carb yogurts and fruits (eggs on the weekends), lunches still have not changed, and dinner has become a bit more flexable, adding in higher carb veggies once in awhile, and letting myself eat regular food once every 2 weeks. Just look at my diet calandar for March, April & May and you will see I basically stuck to the same types of things over and over. I do better with routine. If you need any more help, just ask or message me. 

Icy, I have followed your progress closely over the past months and I agree with Gigi that you are indeed an inspiration. Your dedication and commitment are to be applauded. They (whoever they are) say that breaking the mental picture of our once fat selves is the hardest aspect of the whole process. However, I am sure, that over time you will begin to accept that you are now lean and trim and a very beautiful woman. Congrats of making your goals become real and for being that mentor to the rest of us who need to reach our goals. Thank you for always stepping up to the plate when I needed someone to advise and suggest. Hugs too! 

Thanks Gwen and you're welcome. IDK but my dedication and commitment are really just me being stubborn. I'm not the type of person who takes "no" as an answer. I'll do what others will say I won't just to spite them. So really people telling me "you'll always be fat" or "you'll never lose the weight" are the surest ways to get me to prove them wrong. Boy that makes me sound like a horrible person! On the flip side of being stubborn I also really have a great need to help others and I achieve happiness knowing I have made other people happy or have made a difference to others. My biggest fear is that I'll get used to being thin, and then take that for granted and get fat again. So maybe not mentally accepting that I am thinner is a "back up" for my mind so if I gain again I cannot say to myself "you said you wouldn't gain weight!" If i see myself as fat, then getting fat won't be such a shock? IDK. I've been in denial of my weight gains thru my whole life. Maybe lying to myself and telling myself I'm fat will keep me working out and eating right? Reverse psychology on my own brain.