Slipping and Sliding

I'm now getting pretty close to six months of maintenance. It's going well so far, but people are still surprised at how seriously I take it, and how much effort I put into keeping track of my weight. I think the photo is a nice illustration of what's driving me - it's like I have made it to the top of a mountain. The views are fantastic, and I'm really pleased to be there, but I have to be very careful indeed. If I slip, and start to slide down the mountain, it is going to be difficult - maybe impossible - to recover and climb back up again. So I need to be constantly aware of where I'm putting my feet, in case a small mistake becomes a big one. You might recognise one of Nutracheck's 10 Tips for Weight Loss Success here - a slip doesn't have to become a slide!

I keep myself aware of where my feet are by weighing myself every day, and entering it on the laptop (on a spreadsheet, if you are into such things). Of course weight fluctuates day-to-day for no obvious reason, so I don't fret too much about that. But I don't only add my daily weight into the spreadsheet - I also get the laptop to work out my average over the previous 30 days, and that smoothes out those daily blips. It's those 30-day 'moving averages' that really interest me, because if THEY start to rise, then the odd slip IS turning into a slide. And I need to do something about it.

Sorry about the maths, but it's a big deal for me. I know that an awful lot of people lose weight, but put it all back on, sooner or later. I saw a recent study that said the usual figure quoted (only one in twenty of successful dieters manage to keep it off) is not very reliable. But they still said of those people who had lost 100 lbs, only one in eight had kept it off five years later. I lost more than 100 lbs, and seven failures in eight is pretty bad odds, so I am going to do everything it takes to be that one person. I want to live on that mountain top for a long time, so I am going to watch my step as obsessively as I possibly can!