I related to a lot of this chapter when I read it since I’m now about three years into maintenance (BTW, I still have to pinch myself when I type that!
) First of all, I do think that maintenance is getting easier, albeit s-l-o-w-l-y. When I look back and compare now to the first few months after I reached goal, yes, it’s easier but not for physical reasons – more from a psychological point of view. See, I felt SO unprepared for maintenance (we didn’t have the Maintainers Forum back then!) and worried that I’d somehow gain 50 pound overnight even if I kept on doing all the right things.
I guess I didn’t have any confidence that I knew how to keep the weight off (by doing the same things that it took to lose it in the first place, as it turns out). So I’d freak out if the scale fluctuated by a few pounds or if I ate something that I shouldn’t and think that was the first step to total disaster. Experience has taught me that so long as I stay on track 95% of the time, the other 5% won’t derail me.
And maybe maintenance is getting easier from a purely physical aspect also. I’m starting to think that my body’s getting used to being at a normal weight. Certainly it LIKES being at a normal weight from all health indicators – I’m ridiculously healthy! All my numbers (BP, lipids, resting heart rate etc) are unbelievably good, even for someone half my age. In a tangent – isn’t it amazing that I could un-do so many years of abuse and neglect to my body -- in a YEAR? Wow! What a credit to our resilient bodies! To be able to go from obese couch potato to excellent health and fitness in a year?! By simply eating less and moving more? Who would have thought?? It's a Miracle Diet Secret!!
Anyway, back to maintenance. Three years of living maintenance every day has given me the confidence of knowing that the only way that I’ll gain the weight back is if I make a lot of really bad choices.
I now know – beyond the shadow of a doubt - that the power to keep the weight off is totally in my hands. Regain isn’t going to happen to me passively; I would actively and consciously have to make bad decisions – ranging from not monitoring my weight to not exercising to eating the wrong foods – in order to put the weight back on. So knowing that keeping the weight off is completely under my control and in my hands makes maintenance a lot easier in my mind. I KNOW what to do to keep the weight off and I fully intend to keep doing it every day of my life. This new body (and new life) is a gift beyond compare and I’ll never ever choose to give it up.
How about the rest of you? Is maintenance getting easier?