My "mantra" has always been:  Whatever one does to lose the weight, one must continue to do to keep the weight off.

 So, I only undertake things that I'm willing to make a permanent part of my eating or exercise regimen.  Kinda keeps me away from the crash dieting, fasting, no carbs, or many hours a day exercising stuff.  It also keeps me from going whole-hog on touted "super foods" when such news items crop up- green tea, for example.

 ON the other hand, I do plan all my meals in advance, exercise portion control, and get in 1-3 hours of physical activity each day.  And, I have learned to exercise patience; the weight is not gonna come off fast like one sees on the folks on TV.  Been doing this for a number of years now-with success. 

Irene.

Jun 28, 2009 -- 4:01PM, Anesis wrote:

If you need to lose weight, how far will you go to lose it?

I have a "feel good" point that I discovered several years ago when I lost weight due to increasing blood pressure. I'll exercise and watch what and how much I eat to get to that point and stay there. Anything more is excessive and can become obsessive for me.

What risks are you willing to take?

Risks I'm willing to take? Huh? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the question, but this sounds like, "Would you do just about anything to lose weight?" Not on yer tintype! I try to research any weight-loss fads and see if there's thought to be merit to them, might try one for a while and see how I feel. I've gotten lots smarter in this respect since I became obsessive about raw foodism several years ago and eventually realized that.

How much time can you devote every day to losing? What are you willing to give up? How are you willing to change your lifestyle?

Whatever works within reasonable limits. These seem like fairly obvious questions that can only be answered for oneself. Why anyone else would care or want to know what I do about any of these is baffling to me. It's me, not you. Do what you need to develop and maintain as positive and healthy a body and mind as you can.

I think the question of how far will you go or what risks you're willing to take to get thin are kind of scary questions. I think focusing on appearance rather than on health is generally unhealthy. I liked what Irene said about making lifestyle changes.

Jul 3, 2009 -- 2:59AM, Anesis wrote:

Who said anything about appearance?

Lily just did, adding another dimension to the discussion it seemed to me.

I expect that most of us would agree that an unhealthy fixation with one's appearance could lead to going too far or taking dangerous risks with weight loss.

Jul 3, 2009 -- 12:55PM, Anesis wrote:

Okay, that makes sense. Would you go further to lose weight if you were doing it for the sake of appearance as opposed to any other reason?

I don't think I would because I've nearly always been reasonably satisfied with my looks except for longing for straight hair back in the sixties when mine was naturally curly. I didn't know until reading up on the effects of menopause that it can make curly hair straight and vice versa. My hair is only a bit wavy post-menopause, and I used to have to sleep on huge rollers in the sixties to straighten it out. A foggy morning would have my roller results frizzing and starting to curl. Now, my hair just gets a little more wavy. Weird what hormone level changes can do.

Anyway, I was thinking more of people such as anorexics who have a negative or distorted self-image when I suggested appearance can be a factor for some people to take unhealthy risks trying to lose weight. Which is not to say that people who aren't anorexic don't have an unhealthy self-image. Quite a few women complain about being horribly fat when an observer would hardly call them overweight. They often simply have feminine body types rather than department store mannequin or supermodel thinness.

Ever noticed that it's only been recently that Lane Bryant stores have begun displaying mannequins that look like they might be about a size 16 rather than a 6 or 8? (Or maybe they've had them for longer than I realized. I go to the mall, get what I want and leave, often not noticing window displays.) And that's a store that specializes in fashionable clothing for the so-called "plus" sizes. I've still not seen a mannequin that resembled a woman weighing 200 pounds or more in a Lane Bryant window .

Americans do have a very distorted idea of what is a desirable female body, I think.