[Piecomics]

Hi, I'm looking for Some advice. I'm new here, but I've been reading this form for a while it's super helpful! What I'm struggling with is this, I recently lost 30 pounds, my goal was to have this done by December 1. So I could lose a little more, I'm still technically 10 pounds overweight, but I feel like since I've reached my goal weight I should probably work on maintenance now.

So really I have two questions, does anyone have any advice on starting into maintenance?

Second question, how do you know if you've become addicted to the diet? I don't really know the right way to ask this question, but it has been fairly straightforward for me and I am still 10 lbs overweight. I feel like the best thing for me to do is to start working on getting stronger because I am very weak, but at the same time I could go ahead and lose a little more weight which would be easier.

Any thoughts? Does this even make sense as a question?

Thanks!

[Koshka]

I'll give a go at it.

I got back to my goal weight a few months ago which at the top of my normal BMI. But, truthfully, I'm still overfat (my body fat percentage is too high). So, I'm not totally done.

But for the last few months I've really maintained even though I do plan to lose some more fat. In my case, it will probably also mean losing a bit more weight.

I do think there was benefit from maintaining the past few months. I've learned a lot about what level I can eat at and maintain my weight. I also think it was good for my metabolism to eat at a slightly higher calorie level for awhile.

It did feel...odd...to not be trying to lose weight, but still not being out of control. For the last 20 years or so I've mostly been either trying to lose weight or eating out of control and gaining weight. Learning to maintain and doing it successfully is a different skill and is important to learn.

For me on maintenance I upped my calorie level about a hundred calories a day and then upped it a little more. I was trying to find out where I could maintain. It was very much trial and error. I thought it was better to up the calories very slowly rather than upping them a bunch and maybe gaining too much.

I basically continued to eat the same types of foods I was eating while losing weight. I limited the same foods I limited while losing. I just ate a little larger portions basically. If I had gone back to eating the way I ate before I lost weight I wouldn't have maintained, I would have gained.

On the getting stronger part, I started working on building muscle since I'm overfat. I also upped my protein to help me to build muscle. I consider it more of a priority to build muscle and loss body fat more than it is to lose weight. I probably do want to lose another 10 pounds or so, but the big thing now is to work on body composition.