Living Maintenance - Close to goal, but freaking out a little...

I have a general "close to the finish line" question...

Did anyone start to feel a little panic-y when you got close to goal? I'm realizing it's kind of messing with my head a little. I think deep down I doubted it was possible, or that I'd even get this far.

I'm thinking about staying in a safe holding pattern for a while, rather than rush to the goal and trigger old binging and self-sabotaging behavior. Is this the time (10 pounds from goal) to pull back a little? I guess I'm feeling out of sorts at this stage of my weight loss.

Thanks!

My advice would be, if you are still losing consistently, and things are working, and you are feeling good physically, then keep going! Don't stop!

If your weight loss starts to stall even though you are doing things right, then that would be the time to consider a holding pattern.

Don't worry--lots of people feel panicky as they approach goal! Just take it easy and hang in there. :cheer2:

Jay

I felt panicky a few pounds ago, when I was going through a couple of weeks where it felt like I was losing fast and my body was changing too fast. Things have slowed down now and I'm all "Dang it!" LOL. I'm never happy. But yeah, I have felt that feeling. I think all we can do is realize that it's just a little discomfort (and maybe fear) at being out of our comfort zone, and that this is a GOOD and healthy change. It's OK to be a little freaked out; just realize that your new reality may take a bit of adjustment. You can always gain back that final 10 if it feels too uncomfortable when you get there, but my guess is that you're gonna LOVE it once you get adjusted!

Congratulations on doing so well. You're almost there!

I'm where you are and I know exactly what you mean! 129 pound lost and just 5 to go...I've been so focused on losing that now that I'm so close to goal I'm a bit uncertain of what's next. How do I maintain once I get there?! It's tough to get used to.

When I was withink 10 lbs of my "goal" weight of 165, I started to get really burned out. I probably lost about 70 lbs in 7 months which was pretty aggressive. Even though I was losing, I was tired to being hungry all the time. So, I decided to take it easy and slow down my weight loss. I figured it will let me slowly transition into maintenance mode. So, I started to increase my calories every week by 100-200 until I stopped seeing the scale go down.

Since that time I lost probably another 7 or 8 lbs over 3 months (and actually decided that I wanted to end up around 170, not 165). Many weeks I didn't see any weight loss and even saw small gains, but I just adjusted my calories accordingly and stayed patient.

For me, it gave me a much needed break and it gave me a great transition into maintenance mode.