C O N G R A T S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Welcome to maintenance!! You must feel wonderful! I want to keep this thread going, maintaining is a little tricky in my opinion. I have been maintaining for almost 7 months and seem to fluctuate 3-5 pounds some weeks between 120-125 ( never over 125 though)..... Its tricky knowing how many calories to eat and how much exercise to do. It is getting better but it is a little tricky in my opinion. I would love to have someone to talk to so I never go back to the old me............

 Hi...new to Alli.  I've been trying to check in and record my weight loss this week 3 lbs, but it won't allow me to access this area.  Can you tell me how to access this.  Thank you, New0609

 Type in your user ID and password.  Make sure you are registered.  Good luck with your program I have lossed 85pounds my dress size 14/16.  I started out at 285 dress size 24

 thanks for the welcome! i do feel wonderful ..i hit my goal of 135 and would like to slowly get to 130 so that i have a 5 lb cushion..the main goal is to stay in my size 8s!!..the last 5 lbs took FOREVER to go away, but i rarely was taking any alli..i was just eating  (my new normal) and working out (not as much)..so i think it will be ok..i was still losing, so it seemed pretty easy to live with..and i agree.. i am NEVER looking back at the old me..i knocked 25 years of oldness off of me .. i feel 30 something again!..  looking forward to getting to know you..   kathy

It's good to hear from new maintainers out there.  I have a feeling there are a lot more people that have reached their goal but have gone away from this site.  My weight has been pretty steady for the last year.  I have gained about 10 pounds of muscle though.  It makes it all worth while when I get compliments about how good I look.  When I show people the before and after pics of me, most can't visuaIize me being as big as the photos show.  That's probably the real testament of how well Alli has worked on my physical transformation.   Of course my mother says I'm to skinny.  It would feel a lot better having people call me skinny as opposed to them calling me the other way. I started out weighing 250 and got down to 166.  I now stay about 175 and thats the 10 pounds of muscle that I gained back.  I had lost a lot of muscle mass during my 9 months of losing.  My strength and endurance have really increased during the last year.  I'm 58 and feel like I did at 30.  My last BP was something like 117 over 71.  My pulse is down to about 60 per minute too.  All in all, I've been pretty blessed at this stage of my life.  Hope you all can reach and maintain your goals too. Good luck!

 thanks dave.. congrats on your success at maintaining...i have to agree with you that i feel as good now as i did in my 30s also.   my weight came off  slow and steady as i was working out and i completely changed my eating habits.. i rarely eat anything that i wouldnt eat taking an alli pill.. actually the last 5 lbs came off without alli (although it took over 2 months to do it)..but thats ok... the old fattening stuff that i used to eat regularly doesnt appeal to me anymore..and i have to say thats it is almost fun to go clothes shopping now..there are some cute things out there to wear if you are not a fat old lady..its  great to have the confidence to wear a swimming suit in public again.. the best part is that i have lots more energy and my joints dont hurt anymore!!.(my knees and hips were not liking lugging around all that extra weight!)..we are close to the same age..(i am 56)  and it is great to turn back the clock..i only wish i would not have waited so long to get a handle on it!...kathy

Every so often I check in to the maintenance thread just to see how everyone is doing because I am not doing that well so I guess guilt is keeping me away.  But then I read the posts from people (like Dave) who have kept it off and added muscle and feel so much better, and it remotivates me.  I reached my goal weight last September, but have slowly put back on 10-15 pounds.  I take off five and then put it back on again.  I know all the things I need to do and then just don't do them, so thanks you guys, it looks like it's the exercise that I need to kick up, and am making a vow to start it today!  The eating is under control during the week and then gets blown away on weekends.  I know all the nutritional information by now, I just need to conquer portion control and exercise, so here I go, refreshed and renewed and ready to kick it up a notch.

Judy

 judy...what is with the weekend  falling off the wagon??? it seems like its kind of an ongoing issue for many people..is it because of we get out of the routine?? is it because we forget about the calories in the alcohol and the alcohol makes us not care about what we eat??..i am taking a look at this myself..i really dont eat differently on the weekends, but sometimes i dont get to the gym..i need to pay attention to this because i am sorta new on the maintenance thing here..i really dont want to slide backwards..i have gotten rid of all my "fat clothes"  so if i gain weight i am in trouble...i probably have a couple of glasses of wine on weekends that i dont have during the week..but i have been having that all along..but i realize that its easy to throw "the diet" out the window ..maybe i am lucky now ..my new boyfriend is really into eating healthy and he enjoys the alli way of eating with me..so i am not tempted to eat junk..because there isnt any!!....i have found that this is immensely helpful..i dont feel any pressure to join the crowd and  eat stuff that isnt fitting  with the plan..neither one of is ia much of a party animal, so we are not around all of that snacky stuff that is always served  when you are out in a crowd....well good luck to you and thanks for checking in with us..i will be looking forward to hearing from you again..  kathy

Congrats to you for such a loss - - What is your secret?

I started eating the whole 1800 cal but I cannot exercise right now because of a foot injury so this last week I dropped the cal's down. I have not lost or gained weight but still feel something is not going right. I have only taken the pill once a day with dinner and have had a problem with getting gas, which makes me scared to take the pill more than once.

any advice will help

Thx

Angie

started on 6/30/09 with a weight of 196

still at 196

 Congratulations!!!  I just started this week and your maintenance post really motivated me!  I am 59 and had given up on every reaching 135 again but maybe....., I started at 158 CW155 and GW142.  I'll see how this goes!  Thanks for the boost.

Judy,

good luck. you can do it.

analyze the weekend thing. maybe make lots of cut up veggies friday night and bag up some pretzels. try some new veggies or fruits out there. have you tried a grapple? it's an apple that smells like grape. i haven't tried yet due to the price. last i check at safeway they were in a 4 pk for 6.00.

nita 

Angie,

can you lift hand weights every other day or workout your upper body without affecting the foot?

good luck to you. i've seen lots of ladies on the boards that have shoulder injuries and such and they work around it. doing the most and best they can do. basically being clever about it and not getting stuck.

i had a badly sprained ankle last year and once i didn't feel pain i was hobbling all over the place. i had gone to yuma az. and was hobbling to the local wal mart. getting lots of stares but i didn't care. lol. i had to do what i had to do.

good luck.

nita 

 Barbie,

you are so close. i'd love to be in your shoes. i still have a ways but totally staying motivated. these posts really help.

you can do it.

nita

 barbie.. how are you doing???  i had to make up my mind that i was going to do this.. dont you feel better now than when you started??  jane had a great post about all of the things that are easier, feel better and improvements made  with every  thing that you are doing right.. the scale is not the only way to tell improvement, you know..

   judy.. how are you doing out there???  huh??..i hope you are doing well...

                 kathy

Oh man, I'm so bad I don't even deserve to be on the maintenance forum.  At least it sounds like I'm not the only one having problems "maintaining".  I swear I eat lots of fruit and veggies, more than the normal person I'm sure, but I just consume too many calories, it's that simple.  I think the fat grams are low enough, but portions and exercise are not good.  Let me give myself some advice:  at least get in 30 minutes of walking every day, and write down everything you eat and keep a running total.  There, now if I can live by that, I'm home free.

Good luck to everyone.

Judy