SP Premium
PENNYLANE15
80,000-99,999 SparkPoints 99,588
SparkPoints
 

For those in maintenance....

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

I'm so close to my final goal weight of 155lbs...about 6lbs away to be exact and I'm beginning to think about maintenance. Frankly, it scares the hell outta me! I honestly feel like it's going to be harder to maintain than it is to lose. Throughout this journey of losing 138lbs (currently 132lbs) I've dealt with falling back into old habits and as we all know that is quite easy. That is my biggest fear when I hit maintenance. I know it's going to take some time to figure out what my body needs to function at a normal rate. How many calories to eat and burn to stay at that weight. I'm sure it'll be a few weeks that I'll go up a few lbs and down a few lbs till I find a happy medium and I'm okay with that. I'm worried about that "comfortable" feeling.

When I first started in April 2010- I weighed 293lbs. By Jan 2011 I had lost 81lbs and felt awesome! I was 212lbs, a size 14 and feeling great! I began to feel comfortable at this new low weight/size because it had been forever since I had been there. Then I met my fiance' and I like to use the excuse that Life, Love, and Laziness got in my way and next thing you know by Jan 2013 I was back up to 240lbs and really pissed off at myself. I also felt guilty because my fiance had also gained about 20+ since we got together and I feel like my bad habits (that I was falling back into) were rubbing off onto her. So we decided, together, to attack this year and get healthy. Boy am I glad we did! It's Nov and I'm sitting here writing about being 6lbs away from my goal weight. 6 lbs! Although I am insanely excited about this , I can't help by panic that what happened in 2011-2012 will happen again. I'm a binge eater and I still strugge with that every now and then but I am MUCH better than I used to be. I don't want to be back to where I was before.

So my question to you, maintainers----how do you do it? What have you done to stay on track and avoid the old habits? Do you weigh yourself weekly? monthly? Do you allow cheats? Exercise less/more? Any advice would be loved! I know everyones body is different but I'd like to use your tips and just adjust them to my life! Thanks in advance!!
Share This Post With Others
Member Comments About This Blog Post
  • TINAJANE76
    Hi there! I see that you've already joined the At Goal & Maintaining + Transition to Maintenance team thanks to Gregg pointing you in the right direction. Although everyone needs to find their own way in maintenance (I think that's what makes it so hard!), I've found maintenance to be remarkably similar to weight loss. Most of my habits are pretty similar. I eat a little bit more, but not too much. I generally exercise about the same amount as I did when losing weight, I still allow for cheats, but don't really consider them cheats anymore--they're just built into my overall plan.I weigh myself pretty much every day and have one weekly weigh in that "counts", which I log on the maintenance team's challenges. The daily checks just keep me honest and help me to make adjustments as quickly as possible, which has been an important key in helping me to stay successful. I've also tapped more deeply into the emotional issues behind my overeating and have taken steps to combat them.

    Good luck and don't be afraid to make some noise over on the maintenance team if you need any help.
    2610 days ago
  • GREGGWEISBROD
    Hey hey! Join this team:
    http://www.sparkpeople.com/mysp
    ark/groups_individual.asp?gid=1
    111

    My friend Tina is one of their leaders, and they've cultivated an incredible set of resources for 'the maintainer'. Go check them out. Really proud of you, by the way, you're asking all the right questions, and that's always a good sign going forward.
    2613 days ago
  • MANDYLOVE_76
    Congrats. I am on my next phase of losing so when you find out let me know. For me I have been letting life get in the way of my fitness goals but no more. I am making a commitment to change for good.
    2626 days ago
  • WEIGHTLOSSKATEL
    Congrats on how far you've come! I'm sure you will get a ton of advice from people here on Spark. Maintenance is hard and it's easy to get comfortable and back into old habits. Just remember to stay focused and don't let one bad day turn into one bad week!
    2631 days ago

    • Add Your Comment to the Blog Post

    Log in to post a comment


    Disclaimer: Weight loss results will vary from person to person. No individual result should be seen as a typical result of following the SparkPeople program.