MAINTENANCE PHASE

First of all, I do not believe I am in a plateau. I say this because to ME a plateau means you are giving it all of your efforts and find it impossible/difficult to lose more. I took a two year break from giving it all my efforts when it comes to food and still have some unsavory habits to clean up – binging on bread, vegan ice cream and a summer of overindulging in vegan baked goods (yum). If anything, I could say I was in a mental plateau which feels more right to me.

According to my weight logbook, I have hovered around 182 lbs to 188 lbs in December 2021, 2022 and 2023. For the past three years, I have finished the year at around the same weight, but this 2024, I’ve broken through that plateau so to speak.

Weight Loss Stats:

74.7 lbs down total. Who cares how long it takes. Look how impactful 1% better each day is.

I don’t believe I’ve truly been mentally ‘ready’ to lose this last bit of weight until now. Also, I haven’t given it a true effort. I am blessed to largely effortlessly maintained my weight loss and I want to pause and showcase the impressiveness of this, something I have only recently come to appreciate after hearing Dr. Goldhammer speak.

In this episode of The Real Truth About Health with Dr. Goldhammer, he provides some stark statistics on weight loss. If this bums you out, don’t let it! There is so much hope for you with a whole plant food diet. The reason most diets fail, is people view the change as temporary or they eat less of the tempting/toxic foods, but we aren’t very good at balance generally. As the late Dr. McDougall says, you must change the composition of your plate.

When I talk about losing the last bit of weight, people comfort me by adding, but you’ve maintained! That is the hardest part and you’ve done it! I don’t want to sound cocky but ‘maintenance’ has generally not been hard for me. I have arrived into my new life with my new habits and eating mostly whole foods (with some vegan indulgences from time to time) has made the maintenance effortless. Yes oil, french fries and vegan junk sneak in from time to time and nuts have never left the building, but clearly not enough to curtail my maintenance. Perhaps more people should consider that when selecting a diet, is it something you can do for life? If the answer is no, then without that permanent change, odds are the weight is coming back.

Dr. Goldhammer walks us though both of these stats, but essentially, 95% of people fail to sustain a mere 5% of body weight loss for a mere one year, and only 1 in 667 women who started with a BMI of over 40 can successfully achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

My starting weight was 248 lbs and at 5’5″ that puts my BMI at 41.3. Today my weight hovers around 173 lbs with a BMI of 28.8. To date, I have lost 75 lbs. A mere 5% of my original body weight would have been 12.4lbs, and I’ve crushed that by maintaining a 60lb weight loss for three years now. However, 2024, I busted through that alleged plateau and closed out the year having lost 30% of my original body weight.

Hearing these statistics makes me SO DARN THANKFUL I discovered a whole plant food way of eating. I do not see how the food addict in me could have effortlessly maintained such a significant weight loss while still consuming ‘a little bit’ of the foods that made me sick to begin with. Life is peaceful eating plants. When I eat vegan baked goods, chips, ice cream or french fries, my brain fires up and tells me to eat more, so these are the things I need to watch go forward.

PLATEAU TIPS

Daily Accountability

I’ve been using an app since May 2024 called Marco Polo. This has been a great way to make daily videos of my insights and food eaten. It’s been helpful to raise awareness of my patterns. I’ve now gone through the same pattern cycles over and over again from May 2024 to September 2024 and it finally got old. Since the end of September, my mind had a breakthrough and I’ve been on an incredibly good path.

The lessons that have become clear to me with the help of my psychologist and through my daily video dairy are:

• Identification of the lies I tell myself: I’ll start tomorrow, I’ll start on Monday, just one more serving. These can also be defined as permission giving thoughts.
• Noticing when the Opportunist part of me shows up. I have a pre-curser to the Bingey Mingey part of me and that is the Opportunist. The Opportunist is happy to take advantage of situations and overindulge, the opportunist will also create opportunities to overindulge if none exist. I am reminding myself that for now, consistency is key and it’s just not worth it to go off track at this time.
• Overconfidence. I’ve gone through multiple cycles now where I tell myself lies, then the opportunist appears, then bingey mingey appears and then I eventually get back on track. I’ve noticed it takes anywhere from 4 days to a week or two to get back on track. Once on track for 1-2 weeks, overconfidence kicks in and I seem to think I have solved my lifelong food addiction struggles and convince myself, it’s ok to go off my own plan I set for myself and overindulge. The problem is, that is enough to keep me stuck in this cycle and I want off this wheel.
• Watch my language. I really have to watch how I talk to myself. Negative self-talk shapes my thoughts, emotions and actions, which shape my reality. It’s important that I catch when I’m talking negatively to myself, so that I can change my language and stop the downward spiral.

Visualize the Finish Line

After watching Young Woman and the Sea on Disney, I have been able to visualize the finish line. My end goal has only ever felt like a wish until watching this movie. Now I can visualize myself swimming through obstacles and arriving at shore.

Identify Trigger Foods

Currently squishy white bread with vegan butter is a problem, as is vegan ice cream and squishy vegan pastries. I am not willing to say, never to these things and do not feel I need to, but just for now while I finish off my weight loss goal, I am very, very cautious when eating these things or try my best to stay away. It’s better if I can plan to eat these things instead of indulging spur of the moment.

I have finally gotten my husband to agree to no vegan butter in the house just for now. I’ve also made a deal with myself that if I want vegan ice cream, I can go to a local ice cream shop for one scoop. This way, I have one serving and not an entire pint in my freezer. Cleaning up my environment is helpful.

I have an Index Page on my blog now that features all of my blog posts in chronological order from top to bottom, so if you’d like to catch up or refer to an old post, this is the link to check out.

Peace, love & plants,

Michelle 😊

p.s. I’m currently loving The Hidden Power of the Five Hearts by Kimberly Snyder. While my journey to vegan has encompassed learning about nutrition along with the many horrific ways we humans exploit animals, other learnings have been pivotal to my success and mindset such as habits and self compassion; and I believe the teachings in this book are another tool needed in my journey. Kimberly’s Heart Align Meditation is available for free on her site here.