My wife has finally decided to drop her weight after years of denying it. However, she's only wanting to get down to about 15-20 lbs. above where she would need to be (to be at her recommended height/weight) - because she's afraid that she won't be able to maintain at that weight.
Let's say that her ideal weight is 150, which is what she was in her 20s (she's 5'7" and average, not petite, build). She only plans to get to around 170 because, in essence, she can eat more calories at this weight than the other to maintain. I just don't understand this logic. She's already committed to being on a very restrictive diet for months on end, and she's doing great so far (22 lbs. gone). So she'll be content to still be overweight (admittedly not as much) when she hits her goal? She doesn't yet know that she won't be able to maintain 150-ish before she even gets there. It seems to me to be defeatist thinking - admitting failure before even starting. I guess there's some logic to it, but it almost seems like a fear of failure.