You'd think that would be a good thing!

For the past month or so I've had this sense of increasing immunity to failure even in maintenance. I've fallen into a very comfortable pattern and am losing about 8 pounds a month. I eat much more intuitively now, stopping when I'm full and making healthy choices. I still have to stop myself on too much of a good thing like, oh...I don't know...chocolate lava pudding cake! But then I just remember to split it with DH. I don't know...I feel like I'm eating like a normal person and it isn't a hardship at all.

I weigh myself daily and I plan to continue doing that for the rest of my life. I can't imagine burying my head in sand if I have to face the scale every morning, no matter what I did the night before.

I'm beginning to live a very active life, and I'm not just talking about exercise. Exercise has become a one hour a day habit. It's easy to get in. Additionally I walk and bike all over town.

I don't know...I'm feeling pretty good. Do you think that's ok or should I be more guarded, in terms of maintenance?

You're too happy. Stop it. Stop it immediately. Or something bad may happen to punish you, to remind you that you're not **supposed** to be happy & you're not WORTHY of being happy. Particularly not for more than a few brief moments in time.

[HA!]

You're good, I think. Don't eat anything particularly salty for the next 24 hours or weigh yourself right afterward, and you may even keep on feeling this way for another day or two.

To be clearer: I said, Enjoy it!

HOORAY!!!! Happy dust falling all over!

Come hug me!! I need some of that!! Okay, just reading your post helped!! Thanks for sharing.

You are doing so well Eliana, I really could do with some of your invincibility.
Although at this point in my journey I have no doubt that I will get to goal eventually, I struggle with impatience. I'm slowly learning to enjoy the journey and the challenges and triumphs along the way, like running and buying new smaller clothes, and being able to do so many things I never could, but my inner brat throws a lot of hissy fits when the scale doesn't co-operate when she thinks it should.
I'm still working on her though, I won't give up, she's just going to have to learn to deal with it like I have to.

LOL! I guess I do sound a bit ludicrous. I am definitely in a happy place. I am now the same size I was when I got married. How many women can say that? I am headed back toward my college size of 8. I finally match that image of myself that I have in my head and I'm not even done. And I'm far happier NOW at this size than I was THEN for having been where I've been. I'm no longer embarrassed. I no longer want to wear a sign on my forehead that reads "THIS IS NOT ME". People who "knew me when" would not fall over backwards to see me now and I can only imagine what people who have only known me fat think I look like. I don't care! I spent half my adulthood body fat (25-35). I worded it that way because someone very wise in another thread today pointed out that some of us mature into more womanly and NORMAL bodies before our waify little friends do and we grow up thinking we are fat just because we aren't shaped like pencils. My goodness, I look around now and see the tiniest little people of 13, 14, 15 and it's true! My niece is 12 years old, she'll be entering 7th grade, she weighs 79 pounds and has not yet matured in any way, physically. I was wearing a bra in the freaking second grade!! I was 5'4" (short, I know) in a family where the men barely reach 5'4" and the women are all below 5'0". And I reached that height by the fourth grade. I was the amazon woman. My mom dressed me all in black one Easter, head to foot black from shoes to hose to dress to headband, because it was slimming. My petite little cousins, the same age as me, wore pastels. I have the picture. My brother's in a white suit. Out of 12 of us, there I am, dressed for a funeral, towering over everybody. My mother is 4'9". She didn't know what to do with me.

Wow, that all just spilled out.

In any case, I've learned. I've learned, so, so, so much! I've learned things I didn't know I didn't know! I think there just came a point where my output did not match my input. All the walking I did in college stopped but the calories kept coming in. I still say I never ate a lot, but I ate the wrong things and way too often. Just eating fast food is way too many calories. For me it was mindless fast food, pop, chips and too many trips to the fridge scrounging for food. I think it was a sugar and salt addiction. With those problems curbed, this is so easy. I think I nibbled my way to 235 pounds. Setting rules and not nibbling anymore has made a world of difference. Six meals a day, each treated as a "meal", and no more snacking...it's the difference between fat and thin. And moving more...what a blessing to BE ABLE to move more.

I think you sound like you are really happy. What the Heck is wrong with that?

I think your Easter story points out how cruel the people who say they love us can be. I too grew faster than everyone else in 6th grade. I was my full adult height at age 11 1/2. Getting my period on Christmas morning didn't help either. I did not want to retire playing with my Barbie dolls either just because I had "become a woman". I too towered over everyone else. My BF was 4 foot something and people used to call us "Mutt and Jeff". I had to wait until adulthood to know who they were talking about ( two cartoon characters--one who is very tall and one who is very short).

Go On---Be Happy!! I'm feeling pretty "groovy" these days myself. Let's celebrate the good stuff today. Fearless Friday. Let' dare to believe in ourselves and our inherent goodness. Yea!

My mom and step dad call themselves "Mutt and Jeff". She's 4'9" as I said, and he's 6'4".

That is so wonderful. *sigh* You give me hope.

Eliana, I am Happy for You. I hope one day to be able to stick with my plan and exercise and reach my Goal Weight. It has been a struggle the last few months. But will keep trying. You are an Inspiration to Me! Keep Up the Great Work!

Can you say - lifestyle?

Why yes, I think you can, in fact, I think you DID.

"The surest way not to fail, is to determine to succeed" and in determining to succeed, I think you developed a VERY sustainable plan. One that initially you were willing to stick with and now it's not that you're only WILLING to stick with it , but you WANT to stick with it and it's become NATURAL and ENJOYABLE to stick with - and yes, it's kinda easy to stick with.

You've up and created yourself a new normal. You're going to go far and stay far.

You really think so? I was afraid someone who maintained a loss was going to tell me to keep my wits about me. Never let my guard down. And I suppose there's truth to that too, but I'm feeling awfully darn confident right now.

Well then, let me add this:

Keep your wits about you. Never let your guard down.

My previous post and the above lines (yours) are all appropriate responses.

Though it does become natural and automatic, you DO always have to be diligent, careful, mindful, responsible and *on top of it*. You have to continue to MAKE IT WORK. Because the minute you stop making it work, it's stops working.

But again (& we could go round and round), you'll know better HOW to make it work, you'll want to make it work, it will become a part of you - provided you continue to put forth the effort... yeah, we can go round and round.