Living Maintenance - How did you celebrate?

Hey Maintainers!

How did you celebrate when you reached your goal weight? Did you throw a party? Go on a trip? Buy an outfit? Treat yourself somehow?

Actually it's all been in flux for me between 125 and 140... so no official celebration, but every time I go clothes shopping now it feels like one!

I essentially bought a whole new wardrobe the first few months after reaching goal - I had to, because nothing fit! And, let me tell you, it was GREAT fun to shop those tiny sizes (and still is)! Being able to try on clothes and actually LIKE how they look is a thrill that just never gets old.

haha - that's fantastic!! :D I don't think trying on new tiny sizes would ever get old either!!

I got clothes when i first met goal, unfortunately I continued to lose while finding my maintenance level so some of those clothes are too big! That's okay, just gave me an excuse to go try on more small clothes! :dizzy:

And, six months of maintenance I bought myself breast implants. Though that was a pretty extravagant reward. Had been planning it for a while. :)

ohhh - breast implants is something I've been considering a lot lately. I have 5 more pounds before I hit goal and then I want to maintain for awhile as well, but then I was thinking about doing breast implants. I've lost almost all my breasts (have gone from a DD to a small B - and that's mostly because of the excess skin I have there, otherwise I'd be an A!) and they're pretty saggy from the loss...at first I considered a lift but there isn't much to lift.

If you don't mind my asking, how was the surgery? Painful? Was the recovery long? How do they feel? Are you glad you did it?

Celebrations continue every new season, clothes shopping is addictive.
I also did a drop of cosmetic sugery I had lasik after maintaining a few years.
Good luck.

Getfit - the surgery wasn't as bad as I expected. About two hours, I was out the entire time so I didn't mind that part obviously. More pressure & tightness than pain during recovery. I stopped the pain killers after the first couple of days and just kept up the muscle relaxers. There were some lifting and exercise restrictions for the first six weeks, took a little time to get used to that. I could do light non-impact cardio after ten days, so that was good. Took them about six months to settle and look more normal, they are still fluffing out some now. The size has actually changed again over the last month, as a matter of fact. :) I was never large, was a B most of my life, had gotten to c/small d at my high weight, settled out at an empty AAA after weight loss. I'm a DD now, looking at dropping a band size so the cup size will change too. I am absolutely glad I did it. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions. :)

I decided yesterday that when I hit the 200 lb loss mark, I'm going on a fabulous trip. I'm thinking Macchu Pichu but there are so many options. I've reined in my desires for international trips in the last couple years but it'll be a reason to get there. Now I just have to get there!

Ooo Nelie, that sounds fun!

It's funny, I thought that reaching goal would be this huge red-letter day, with banners and parades and the celestial choir welcoming me to Maintenance Land. :lol:

The reality was that I got on my scale, it said 135, and nothing changed. I ate the same breakfast, went to the gym, did the same exercise, and everything was the same. No celestial choir, no parties. Darn it. Nothing was different!

So I can't say that I didn't anything specific to celebrate. But every day was and is a celebration in its own, quiet way because every day I'm living the dream and reaping the rewards of finally being non-obese. I remember telling someone after about two years of maintenance that every morning was Christmas morning and every day was the best day of my life because I would wake up and remember -- I'm not fat!! Even now, more than seven years after reaching goal, I feel the same way. The first thing every morning I do is remember I'm not fat, the second is to weigh myself and write it down on my weight chart (could there be a connection? :lol:)

So in a sense, every day is still a celebration of the joy of living life in a body that works. :)

Meg Your post is beautiful (made me cry actually).

Somehow my goal reward (if I EVER get there), of fitting into the size 6 new jeans I have had hanging in my closet (I'm an optimist - what can I say) for over a year, seems so shallow in comparison.

I will think of the last line of your post whenever I face temptation.

Dagmar :badbat:

I decided yesterday that when I hit the 200 lb loss mark, I'm going on a fabulous trip. I'm thinking Macchu Pichu but there are so many options. I've reined in my desires for international trips in the last couple years but it'll be a reason to get there. Now I just have to get there!

Macchu Pichu is amazing (and really good cardio to boot). If you're feeling really adventurous and fit you could take one of the Inca trail hiking trips to get to M.P. I'm too much of a camping "suck" to have done that but I really did enjoy running around the Macchu Pichu site for the whole day.

Everything I saw in Peru was amazing as it was the first trip I'd ever taken outside North America. I'd love to go back!

Dagmar :badbat:

My experience is very similar to Meg's.

Oddly enough, after dreaming of hitting my goal for 2 plus decades, when I finally DID hit it, it was anti-climactic. I always had this notion in my head of bending down, kissing the scale and sobbing like a baby. But that didn't happen. It was no surprise to me when the scale read me that number. I'd been faithfully on plan and therefore I knew it was coming. My life had DRASTICALLY changed already prior to that one day. Just like Meg, I looked at the scale, noted the number in my journal and went about my business as usual. It was just another day "at the office". Prepping my meals for the day, eating this, not eating that, exercising, work, the same old, same old at that point. So yes, nothing changed. Nothing.

The truth is I had been celebrating for quite some time already! Walking around in a slim, trim body HAS been the reward. And it was/is more rewarding then I ever could have imagined. Every day is a blessing and a joy to not be morbidly obese. To do my day in and day out things feeling all confident, strong, healthy and marvelous. Just getting dressed in the morning brings me happiness. I get a huge kick out of my tiny underwear and then I get to visit all my wonderful clothes and pick out a beautiful outfit to wear. I feel like a movie star and I get to play dress up every single day. I feel as if I've won the biggest prize on earth. My own personal little (not so little) mega millions jackpot, only it's priceless. Priceless. It's something money can't buy and it didn't involve luck, it involved my hard work.

That being said, I have no problem treating myself to clothes, clothes and more clothes. Somebody's gotta stop me! Nah, not gonna happen any time soon. In fact today I have set aside to switch over my closets, drawers from summer to fall/winter. I am overflowing with clothes and can't keep more then one season "out" at a time. :)

I have taken a couple of little trips and long wonderful weekends since losing the weight, though nothing major yet. These things would never have occurred had I not lost the weight. I was not interested in taking any sorts of vacations in the past. What would have been the point? I was too sedentary and unable to enjoy most things that a vacation entails - except for the food. I don't hesitate to these long weekends whenever the opportunity arises. I do feel as if "I've got it coming to me".

I really haven't celebrated at all. I hit my goal months ago (135) and then kept going. I am now trying to be happy at 115 to 120 without letting my head convince me that I am still too fat. Everyone I know keeps telling me that I am too little and need to stop but I can't seem to wrap it around my head that I should just maintain and quit trying to lower the goal. My husband threatened to hold me down and force feed me the other day. Its like some weird eating disorder has appeared at almost 45 years old.

I have a feeling that my experience will be of that like Robins... I think hitting below 200 for the first time (last year) and losing 100lbs (also last year) for the first time in decades was way more exciting at the time... not that I won't be thrilled I haven't been below 150 for 20 years.

I plan on buying tons of clothes as Ive limited what I've bought along the way. I basically live in t-shirts these days...

And I plan on doing Ironman. That to me is sorta the symbol of my graduation.

I've just started my journey, but I already know that when I reach my goal, I'm going to treat myself to a photo shoot. Sort of pinup/rockabilly style. I've always wanted to dress up in that style, but have been too self-conscious to attempt it. It's a great motivator; I'm already looking forward to it!

I bought myself some new clothes and decided that I want to lose more ;).

When I reach my goal (below 150 - and stay there for at least 4 consecutive weeks!) I am getting a new road bike. It'll probably be the middle of winter that that point so I won't be riding it outside right away, but it's what I'm looking forward to!

I welcomed myself to maintenance, and continued to do what I had been doing.

Once I settled into maintenance, I stopped buying second-hand clothing, and started shopping for wardrobe staples. This is an ongoing endeavor, that hasn't ended :o

No celebration, very similar experience to Meg and Robin and others - just continuing to take life one day at a time - and give thanks that I can participate fully, doing the things that God intended for me to be able to do.

I celebrate every day that the quality of my life is so dramatically improved. What a glorious gift to myself :D

I celebrated returning to the 140's as of 10/14/09 with a 32G iPod Touch, engraved with "A goal is just a dream with a deadline - 10/14/09". And then continued on with following what's been working all year long to get me here. Not sure where my final end point is going to be, but I am now certain to be a Maintainer of a 25 pound loss. It feels too good to ever give it up.

I did a little happy dance and came on 3FC and boasted about it, after that I started shopping and haven't stopped yet.

IIRC I planned to celebrate goal by buying a fancy dress. However, I must not have actually done that because I remember buying all the fancy dresses in my closet and they were purchased much later. Now it's bugging me that I can't remember what I did. Oh wait, now I remember that I was totally broke when I hit goal and couldn't afford a fancy dress, that's why I didn't buy one. :p

I think I did buy some nice clothes though. Thanks to 3FC's search feature I just found my post with some "after" pics that I posted three months after getting to goal, and I'm wearing sparkly pants and a halter top that I remember being some sort of weight loss reward. :)

I made a post about it on 3FC, and decided I want to lose a little more. You never know what you are going to look like until you get to goal weight, and I have found that many people re-evaluate after reaching goal, depending on their body image.

I also decided I needed to start doing some serious toning exercises. I have almost no fat on my tummy any more, but I still don't have that "tight, sculpted" tummy I always wanted... or that nice perky bum. So, that's my next project... lots of toning/ weight lifting exercise.