[MrsScribbles]

Hello. I'm Sharon. I made goal last Friday. Up till then dieting was hard and easy and good and bad etc. I didn't mess with my diet. Every single week I lost weight. I lost my cravings for the old cookie container and thought I had the old binge cycle under control. It was hard and tough at times, but I stuck to it and lost 49 pounds.

Yesterday (Wed..it's Thursday in Australia) was my first day sticking to maintenance as I have been on a binge for several days eating lots of breakfast cereal, homemade rum balls, chocolate and crisps.What I thought was going to be easy has proved to be worse than dieting. I weighed myself this morning and am happy I was only up half a pound.

I have no trouble getting up at 4:30 in the morning to do an hour of brisk walking. I have no trouble drinking about 20 glasses of water a day. But I find I want to eat and eat. One of things I need to find, is what will work for me. I had worked out a maintenance diet for goal, but had found I was hungry a lot, which surprised me. So I added some extra protein and changed some things on my plan, and yesterday was a good day. So far today (am in the middle of eating lunch) it's working as well.

I'm 50 (well 51 next month), happily married, living in a small community here in north Queensland, Australia. As I said I've lost 49 pounds and feel great. I'm having a breast reduction on the 25th. A dream 30 years in the making, so I'm excited and scared at the same time.

Sharon

[Shannon in ATL]

Woo hoo! Welcome Sharon! (Sorry, I didn't see this post until today... ) Good luck on your maintenance journey! I'm still fairly new to it myself, and this forum has been a big help to me.

[Glory87]

Great to meet you!! And I love "hearing" your post in an Australian accent

As far as your maintenance, can you go back to what you ate while losing and just modify that meal plan for your maintenance plan? When I switched to maintenance, I just slowly increased my calories (about 100 per week). I basically eat the same foods - just a few more healthy calories a day. I DO have the occasional rum ball (or substitute some other treat), but it is not an everyday thing!

It is possible you might be like me - cold cereal MAKES me hungry, makes me want to eat more. As much as I love it, I just can't eat it/keep it in the house. Oatmeal doesn't have the same effect, but a bowl of something like Wheat Chex? I'm starved the rest of the day!

[harrismm]

Congrats on your huge accomplishment.I have been in maintenance before and would love to get back.I do understand how difficult it is.Hang in there.

[fiberlover]

Congratulations! I haven't been here lately, so I missed your intro.