Weight loss contests?

I don't know if we have these in the US, but I've seen a few references to them on UK and Australian websites. From the article:

An investigation into the weight loss habits of 70 slimmers showed that less than half had kept their weight off, with the remainder being overweight, obese or severely obese.

Paula Hunt, an independent dietician for Weight Watchers, says: "Even if people are successful in losing weight, by two and certainly by five years, almost all of that weight is regained."

From the BBC

I'm at a year and a half of maintenance, and chugging along 5 pounds under goal weight. Yay me! And yes, I went back to Weight Watchers and weighed in yesterday, finally. Back to the land of accountability.

View from the other side

At my doctor's appointment yesterday I mentioned that I zealously track my food.

She looked worried.

She tried, in her most polite and non-judgemental way, to warn me of the dangers of binge eating and purging. Ha! I cut her off pretty quickly and filled her in on the Weight Watchers membership.

Binge eating is a serious problem, just not one I've ever associated with myself, or thought others might. It's weird being skinny.

What I'm eating this week

This was Monday, but it's par for the course on any given week. If I'm trying to lose weight, I sub a veggie in for the crackers/pretzels as my mid-afternoon snack.

I was hoping to put the body of this post behind a link, but it apparently requires soem template editing.

Pre-breakfast
Mug of coffee w/ 1/4c skim milk, 1/2 packet splenda. Sometimes 2 mugs.

Breakfast
Amy Oatmeal
   1/4 c old fashioned oats
   1/4 c wheat bran
   1/8 c raisins
   1/8 c chopped walnuts
     1 c skim milk

Mid-morning snack
2 c cherries
Mint Tea

Lunch
Hoppin' John
   Brown rice (cooked, from 1/4 c dry)
   1/4 can black eyed peas, rinsed
   1/8 lb sweet italian sausage, cooked and blotted as fat-free as possible.
   thyme, black pepper, cayenne

Mid-afternoon snack
100 cal snack pack of Goldfish crackers
Mint Tea

Dinner
5 oz steak
1 1/2 c pasta salad
   Whole wheat pasta
   lite caesar dressing
   stir-fry veggies from a frozen blend

Dessert
1/2 c Edy's Slow Churned Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream

Thermogenic effect of food, or is the heat melting my fat?

So, I've lost 2 pounds in July. How? I don't know, FitDay says I should be on an even keel. Possible answers:

1. I'm burning more calories on my lunchtime walks than I thought.

2. I'm over-estimating the calories I put into FitDay

3. The heat is making me burn more calories to stay cool.

4. Thermogenic Effect of my food.

I like that last one, but I don't think switching from Lean Cuisines to spinach Chickpea curry over Basmati for lunch really made such a difference. And it's not like I've been getting a lot of exercise, I haven't done yoga in over a week, and I've only walked once or twice a week, for a mile and a half at a time. Oh, and those 2 pounds? Put me at 40 pounds under starting weight, 48 under all-time-high.

More "What Doesn't Work"

Alcohol. Alcohol just doesn't work. Any day I have alcohol is a day I will exceed my maintenance calories. Over the holiday weekend I had 4 drinking days, and exceeded by 300-1200 calories each day. It's not just the beer, the beer is empty calories but it also leads to a "this tastes good, I should have more, ooh, and some of that!" mentality.

How to cope with this?

I think I'll save the drinks for after dinner. If I enforce a "no food after drinking" rule, and stick to it, I think the outlook is much rosier. Or, I could give up drinking entirely, but where's the fun in that?