Hi Spryng and
CONGRATULATIONS on reaching your goal! We're glad you found us here!
We've all had to discover just what you did -- it has to become a lifestyle if we're going to have any hope in keeping the weight off forever. The diet is never "over", right? I used to have the
idea that once I reached my goal weight, somehow I'd be immune from regaining the weight.
I actually was convinced that I'd be able to go right back to my old eating habits!
I'd even lie in bed at night and fantasize about all the forbidden foods I could eat once I reached my goal. I don't need to tell you how well that worked! (not at all)
Maybe that's why I spent way too many years of my life watching my weight yo-yo up and down, up and down.
Well, earth to Meg: the only way to keep the weight off forever is to just keep doing what I did to lose the weight in the first place. And that's why I'd have to answer your question about whether maintenance is harder than losing as "yes". When you're losing, you've got the excitement and motivation of the scale going down, your clothes getting bigger, and compliments
. Once you're at goal, you fight just to keep the scale in one place. You don't get too small for your clothes any more. And the compliments dry up. It's just the same old day-in, day-out drudgery: planning meals, weighing and measuring, tracking, exercising. Some days you just want to scream "screw it", toss your scale out the window, and throw yourself into the arms of Ben & Jerry.
But you don't!!! (and I know
you won't). It's
so worth every little bit of effort and planning that we have to put into maintenance. For me at least, the alternative is unthinkable. I'm NEVER going back to weighing 257 pounds -- there's nothing there but pain for me.
As for what plans we used to lose the weight, we had a thread a while back that talks about a bit about how we did it:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36691 and there's some more info in the Introductions thread (wish we had more introductions there, guys!
)
Anyway, welcome to the world of maintenance.
Feel free to start a thread about anything that interests or concerns you about maintenance. It's exciting to see how many 3FC members are reaching their goals
and if we all stick together to encourage and support each other, we can keep the weight off for life.