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Old 12-24-2008, 11:45 AM   #1  
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Default Realizing I am a Maintainer

Hello all! I have been lurking in the maintainers forum for a while now. Ever since I was approaching 130 pounds, the weight has been coming off slowly, and the inches too, and I have started to feel more like a maintainer, and so I have been here reading posts, gathering inspirtion, and reading for advice.

So here I am: I am pretty close to maintaining, so I should start thinking that way. I find myself resisting it to some degree, since I still want to lose pounds/inches and see where my goal eds up (120, or 125? Size 4, or 6?). But most everything will be the same: I'll eat the same way, and exercise the same way. Why is this concept such a mental block for me? As much as I enjoy my workouts, I think the idea of idea of exercising like this, or close to it, FOREVER is what is freaking me out. But the thing is--I love it. I love biking to work, I love the jelly-muscles I get after yoga class, I love the it-hurts-so-good 'high' that I get after HIIT on cardio or after a class at the gym. I even love waking up a little sore in the morning, because it means I know I pushed myself the day before. So why is it freaking me out? I think we start to lose weight by convincing ourselves that it's not forever, as a way to 'trick' ourselves into doing it at all, and then at some point we have to switch over to realizing that it IS forever. ...Seriously, if I went back to half-hearted only-when-I-fell-like-it exercising, and eating like I did before--well of course I would gain weight. And besides the fact that I truly do enjoy exercising, and enjoy challenging myself, there's also the fact that I really like looking the way I do now. I can try on clothes and like most of what I try on, and look good in it. I am making it a 2009 goal to really kick up the dating, since being overweight is no longer an excuse, and I really like that I can confidently put myself out there. So this is where I want to stay. Like it or not, this means I am going to keep doing this forever, and that makes me a maintainer.

So here I am, a maintainer!! Thanks for letting me letting me join you all, fellow Maintainers, and thanks for being an inspiration!

--Kyla
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Old 12-24-2008, 01:17 PM   #2  
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Welcome Kyla!
You are in the right place and you seem to have "the hang" of maintaining-- it does look very much like what you do when trying to lose weight.
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Old 12-24-2008, 01:39 PM   #3  
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Kyla! We're glad you're here.

Instead of focusing on forever, maybe just think about today, tomorrow, and next week? It sounds like you genuinely love what you're doing (and the results! ) so maybe just put the thoughts of "forever" and "always" out of your mind and have fun?

PS -- I think this is the same thing that freaks people out about getting married!
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Old 12-24-2008, 02:00 PM   #4  
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Welcome! I'm a new maintainer, so I continue to be inspired by these guys every day! It is hard to think 'forever'. I'm working on changing things around periodically so I don't look at forever, I look at 'for the next six months I'll focus on xxx, then yyy" etc. Well, exercise wise at least. I'm a calorie counter and weigher forever I'm afraid!

I was much less freaked out by the thought of getting married than I have been about logging my calories and having to get up an hour and a half early to exercise every day!
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Old 12-28-2008, 01:50 PM   #5  
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Thanks for the welcome! Yes, I think it's important not shift perspective so I don't look at like it's "forever". So I've thought about some good goals for the 2009 goal thread, and I'm going to focus on those. I don't want to lose momentum not that I'm close to where I want to be, um, forever.

So I'm attaching some photos showing my progress. The first is when I was on vacation last February--I was at my highest weight in two years. I was letting the winter blues get in the way of exercise, and I was on vacation and eating everything in sight. I came back and got motivated by the high number on the scale! The second photo is at a friend's wedding in June. I had lost 10 pounds or so at this point, and was pretty pleased with myself. And having a pretty dress doesn't hurt. The third is while I was on vacation with my mom in October. There was about 10 pounds lost between the second photo and the third. I have lost a couple pounds since then, and over Christmas my mom said, "You've lost some more than a 'couple pounds' since October." No, but I have toned up some since then.

Anyway, this is where I am. Hopefully, now that I've finally posted over here in Maintainers, maybe I'll post more than lurk. Thanks for the support!
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Calgary Feb 14-26-2008 Part 1 192B.JPG (29.1 KB, 16 views)
File Type: jpg Kuntz-Folkl wedding May-31-08 024 revised.jpg (29.9 KB, 20 views)
File Type: jpg dscf0252B.JPG (27.9 KB, 21 views)
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Old 12-31-2008, 08:16 AM   #6  
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For me instead of thinking "Oh God, I have to do this forever" I think "Yay - I get to be slim forever!"

Make it a positive instead of a negative.

I'm actually finding it surprisingly easy - I even lost weight over Christmas!
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Old 01-06-2009, 01:28 AM   #7  
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Hey Robsia, that is a great way to look at it. We get to be slim forever. Hurray!
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