It’s August again, which means that I have reached my 2 year mark on Jenny Craig maintenance. That means that I reached my goal weight 2 years ago, after losing 77 pounds in about 10 months. Over the past 2 years, I’ve stayed within 3 lbs of that goal weight.
My Weight Loss on Jenny Craig--November 06 to August 07 and Maintenance Ever Since
One year ago, I joined the National Weight Control Registry at Brown University. To join, you have to lose 30 lbs. or more and keep it off for at least one year. Right on schedule, a large envelope arrived in my mailbox with the very extensive research questionnaire the NWCR sends out. I was very interested in reading the “tips” Dr. Wing included in the packet. Here are the seven things members of the database do to successfully maintain their weight losses:
- Eat a low-calorie diet. On NutritionData.com, you can put in your height, weight, age, and activity level, and they tell you how many calories you can eat per day. Mine came out to be 2040–not much, especially if you’re frequenting restaurants. It’s sobering to see how really few calories it takes to maintain this weight.
- Eat a consistent diet. We do this so much that Mr. F often says, “in dieting, boring is good.” I don’t get tired of our food at all–we have made sure we include the foods we enjoy. That would be cheese and nuts for me and chocolate for Mr. F.
- Be physically active. I consider myself a computer potato–it’s part of my job. So I’m not sure I would qualify as “very physically active.” Mr. F and I do walk about 3-4 miles per day, though. Mid-afternoon, we walk one mile to our coffee shop and then home again, and after dinner, we take another 2 mile or so walk around our neighborhood. We don’t sweat, but our blood pressures were ridiculously low (110/70 for Mr. F and 100/60 for me) at our annual physical.
- Weigh frequently. For me, this is every morning without fail. Mr. F prefers to weigh once per week. It keeps you honest. Yes, there are fluctuations, but you see the patterns.
- Watch limited amounts of television. We have never been big TV watchers, with the exception of Star Trek, Star Gate, and college football.
- Eat breakfast. I can’t imagine skipping this. We enjoy the Jenny Craig “Complete Start” cereal. You cannot duplicate this product in the store–we tried. It’s extremely healthy (no high fructose garbage). We add bananas, blueberries, and fresh strawberries. Yum.
- Don’t let small weight gains get bigger. One of the advantages of my daily weigh-in is that I can fix any problems quickly. I have a set of stages–one pound up, and I make small adjustments until I’m down again, usually the next day. Two or more pounds up and I go to 1200 calories until it’s gone again, which is usually only a day or two. It’s much easier to be strict for a couple of days than for months.
So I guess that my approach to maintenance is pretty much the same as what Dr. Wing and her colleagues are seeing in the database. It’s also similar to the advice Brian Wansink has for people–especially the eat consistently one.
Like many of the other members of the database, this wasn’t my first effort at weight loss. But it is the first time that I have felt fully in control of maintenance. The confidence is great–I admit that I gulped a bit when I hit my goal weight 2 years ago and bundled up everything in my closet and dresser that was larger than a size 4 and took it to GoodWill. But I don’t even think about gaining weight now–I know that I’ll just go to the closet, put something on, and it will fit. I remember seeing an ad once for a diet product that showed women doing amazing things, and then asked, “What would you do if you didn’t have to worry about your weight?” Well, I don’t do amazing things, but it’s very nice to not think about your weight or worry how a photo will turn out, and so on and on.
All of this makes me deeply sad when I see my fellow citizens become ever heavier. So many people are telling the public that you can’t diet, and if you diet you can’t keep it off. I was reading an interview with Paul Campos, author of the Obesity Myth, and I thought it was very depressing–so much negativity. And the news also featured an article that said that gastric surgery for obesity wasn’t as deadly as it used to be. Oh, that’s so reassuring. I’m so grateful that Dr. Wing and her colleagues are fighting this trend–let’s look at how people are succeeding instead of telling you it can’t be done. I’m no master of willpower, so if I can do this, my guess is pretty much everybody else should be able to do it, too.
