Inspiration

I find inspiration in a few places, for instance, other blogs, books and quotes from just reading or listening to something.  I want to highlight them here:

Refuse to Regain - Barbara Berkeley (~35 lbs. loser) was the first site I located that emphatically stressed maintenance.  No one ever got to the nuts and bolts of it and put it out there.  Now, this can and will be researched but in 2008-09, this is the site that gave me hope and made me feel like I could be a maintainer.  She has an Obesity Treatment practice in Cleveland, OH--I am just in awe of her for being so forward thinking.  I am from the Midwest and wished I still lived there; I would drive to Cleveland once a week for a session with her.

Lynn's Weigh-Lynn Haraldson lost over 160 lbs. and is still in the spotlight or rather the blogosphere.  I was following Lynn when she had her Lynn's Weight Loss Journey blog and then she teamed up with Dr. Berkeley and now she has Lynn's Weigh and contributes to Refuse to Regain at times.  She has never disappeared (except for surgery) and has continued to march (something we used in the military, more on that later)--meaning she has kept off the weight and continues to live her life.

The next group, I found via Dr. Berkeley's blog:

Keeping it OFF-Sandrelle is such a doll.  She lost 100 lbs. and has not looked back.  Her blog is choked full of information about her journey and maintenance.  You must read her scale series.  It's about what the scale really tells us and the water weight portion is like gold--I have read it many, many times.  She also talks about her struggles with Thyroiditis, pictures and all (well, not too graphic but there are pictures of her in the hospital--very brave).

Roni's Weigh-Roni is a Weight Watcher (~70 lbs. loser) and will especially be inspiring to the social media people. Ever the savvy blogger she has a pictorial collage like no other I had ever seen.  She took monthly photos during her journey and then after the journey turned it into a banner across the top of her blog (not the main banner anymore), and had another baby but continues to move forward.  She weighs herself every Wednesday for those who would like to take a peek.  She just started an Instagram Food Journey--such a great idea and Bravo!!! Check out the tummy tuck photos too--a girls gotta do, what a girl's gotta do!!!  

Keeping the Pounds OFF-Jane lost over 200 lbs. without surgery.  Whew!!  This woman is a beast (this is a good thing) who blogs about maintaining. She is honest and lists what works for her.  Jane blogs about what I have journaled about for years: "Every diet ended with a maintenance plan.  By the end of every book I read that I could now eat anything I wanted in moderation.  None of the books told me how to get my brain or my body to understand what moderation meant." Amen.  Jane went to a support group for compulsive eaters, not OA.  She gave up milk fat---dairy and sugar (I haven't given up dairy, yet, but I have given up sugar and caffeine, yikes!!!)

The following blogs I have looked at over the years but not consistently, but they are great maintainers:

Jack-Sprat.net-It was nice to read a male perspective on losing weight and keeping it off (they have the struggles as women).  A wicked sense of humor.  After trying everything under the sun, on Weight Watchers he lost ~50 lbs.

Ivana is Finally Slimming Down-She doesn't blog regularly anymore but she does give yearly updates of the previous year (so 2011 is up right now).  I found a great quote on her blog, "Maintenance: the least sexy aspect of weight loss, and statistically the least successful."  This Weight Watcher maintains an over ~60 lbs. weight loss.  I like how she stated that exercise will only get you so far; it's the eating habits.  So very true--the "live to eat" mentality comes to mind; when it changes to "eat to live" mentality then we start maintaining--just my opinion.

Fit to the Finish-Diane is a Superstar 150 lbs. loser whom I feel is a brand now.  She has been on Dr. Oz (my mother told me about her).  She has published a book, has a family and continues to maintain.  I like that Weight Maintenance is important to her and one of her main tabs across the top her website is Weight Maintenance.

Time for a Change-Tess is a no nonsense blogger/maintainer.  This Weight Watcher maintains a 150 lb. weight loss.  Her site is very organized with links to her "What did she do or how did she do it" items.  

Debra's Just Maintaining-Debra's site is not updated a lot but the information on it can live forever. The look  reminds me of the "Huffington Post."

The following are those I admire or think about often, they are maintainers (some maintain what they can and then others move into another stratosphere)

Jillian Michaels-Jillian, yes, the Biggest Loser Jillian is a maintainer.  She is now a brand who has taken maintenance to another level.  I think she was a chunky teenager and there is a picture of her online hovering in the 150s-170s (sorry, a flashdrive with a ton of information on it recently saw its demise).  Then got into martial arts (the kind I had never heard of, see bio) and the rest they say is history.  The only thing I don't like is that she doesn't really talk about (read: say the words, maintenance or maintaining) maintenance and maintaining which is the very commercial thing to do; but knowing her story and all she has and is accomplishing, I am willing to forgive, read and follow.

Rhonda Crittle-Rhonda is my daughter who was an overweight teen and lost ~90 lbs. on Weight Watchers and maintains her healthy weight now for over 7 years. Her story will be infused here on my blog with my story because they definitely intertwine.  She is a vegan; I am not but we still make it work together when traveling or just doing mother/daughter things.

Amy Rhodes-I still have the issue of Oxygen Magazine: Off the Couch issue with her on the cover 2010.  She lost over 300 lbs.  I have tried to locate her on the internet to no avail.  I would like to know how she is doing, if anyone knows please send me a private message.  I will not pry, I would just like to know.

I think about all the former Biggest Loser and Extreme Weight Loss people also.  I am not saying that a maintenance forum is the key but it certainly can help.  Many people search for a place after losing weight and according to Diane Carbonell, "Many people have questions about the maintenance part of weight loss.  This isn't surprising, because many studies show that only about five percent of people who lose weight keep it off for more than two years."  So there is a 95% failure rate for weight maintenance.  Ouch!!! I hope a lot of light bulbs go off here because if the weight loss/diet industry generates over ~ $40 billion;* what do you think the weight maintenance industry generates? (Hint: it starts with the letter z).  Just like Ivana says, "...least sexy," but this is such backwards thinking to me.  My hope is that this will change.  There will be more weight maintenance sites, blogs, and centers with counselors, support groups to attend and research to read more about what is working.  I want the Google search of choice to be "Weight Maintenance."  Maintenance really does follow the weight loss journey.

*This was a quick source that I just looked up, I only wanted a ballpark figure for the purposes of this sentence.