Quote:
Originally Posted by luvthelighthouse
I HATE being overweight. It's too stressful. I am so scared if I eat one wrong thing, the pounds will start piling on again. Rationally, I know that is not the case... but I'm afraid I will start eating my old way again. I don't want to be a yo-yo.
Plan now for how you're going to keep the weight off. Now that I'm maintaining my weight loss, I still do exactly what I did to lose weight, I just allow myself more calories a day.
I still plan healthy meals in advance, I still pack my lunches on Sunday, I still food journal, calorie count, still go to the grocery store at least 3 times a week to keep fresh produce in the house, look up restaurant menus in advance, try to make healthy decisions as much as possible, plan a weekly treat meal (and don't let it spiral into a treat day/treat weekend), try to meet daily nutritional goals (5+ servings of vegetables, lean protein at every meal, 25% of the day's calories from healthy fats).
Previously, I had lost a significant amount of weight 3 times in my life and gained it all back. Each time I gained the weight back, I gained MORE weight. It was a heartbreaking cycle that made me feel like a discouraged, no will power loser. There was a lot of self hate.
This time, I wanted to set myself up for success. I started planning maintenance before I lost 1 lb. I knew I had to change how I ate forever, the only way to do that was to plan a lifestyle that I could stick to. I had to like the foods I ate, I couldn't feel deprived and I had to be able to stick with it for the rest of my life.
I still find maintenance terrifying. I am constantly afraid I will gain the weight back. I don't know when I'll feel safe, maybe after 5 years of maintenance when the statistics will be more on my side.