For me, there are two parts to the question.
First -- am I capable of keeping the weight off for the rest of my life? Absolutely! I have the tools, skills, and knowledge necessary to maintain my 122 pound weight loss indefinitely. No question, I have the ability to keep the weight off -- if I so choose.
Which is the second question -- will I continue to make the choices required to keep the weight off? Knowledge and skills and habits alone aren't enough. Weight loss maintenance is something we actively do every day, from the minute we wake up until the minute we close our eyes, with the hundreds of choices we make every day. Will I eat the cookie? Will I go to the gym at 5:30 am? Will I weigh myself and write it in my weight graph? Will I pack food for work? Will I plan menus in Fitday? Will I say no a dozen times to tempting food and yes to maintenance?
I'm in my ninth year of my new life and every day in my new body is still as precious to me as the day I reached goal. Not a day goes by that I'm not profoundly grateful to be where I am and no longer fighting the sadness and pain of morbid obesity. The difference to me couldn't be clearer -- it's like night and day: morbid obesity versus a healthy, fit (size 4!) body. Light versus darkness. Joy versus misery. So every day I make the choices necessary to keep the weight off. It's not easy, it's not intuitive, and it takes a lot of time, sweat, and sacrifice. Still, to me, it's an easy choice and my conviction that it's totally, 100% worth the effort never wavers.
Will I ever decide it's not worth the effort and make different choices? None of us has a crystal ball but I simply can't imagine throwing the joy and freedom I delight in every day -- in return for what? The momentary taste of oversized portions of unhealthy food? It's just food. It's not happiness, celebration, love, recreation, solace, or entertainment. Fortunately, I love what I eat now but I always try to keep food in its proper place. It's nourishment for my body, period. Why on earth would I trade the incredible rewards of my new life for -- eating more calories than my body needs to function? It's a no-brainer.
I'm haunted by something that one of the maintainers said many years ago. She said she would rather die than go back to obesity. And for years I've been thinking about what that means and how I feel about it. I totally understand how she felt so strongly about keeping the weight off because I feel it too, though I still haven't sorted out the "rather die" part of it. But maybe that burning resolve to never go back is what keeps us making all the decisions and sacrifices, day after day after day, that are required for maintenance.
Only one person made me fat. Me. Only one person made me fit and healthy. Me. Only one person can make me fat again and I'm simply not going to do it. As Midwife said, the power is completely in our hands. No one and nothing can make us fat again except for ourselves. We control our destiny and I truly believe that I will continue to make the choices required to keep the weight off for the rest of my life.
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