Do you really think you will be able to keep this life style for the rest of your life?

I was at the gym last night and as usual talking myself into keep going.
I have to do it every time... I wish to work out would get easier with time, but after 1 1/2 years on doing it, still the same hustle...
And I am not mentioning the food journey part of it. Right now there are left over pizzas and rolls at the lunch room and I am trying to ignore it.... but it is so hard!!! I WANT eat that!!! I WANT to be able to eat food I LOVE!!!
Everyone from work were there eating while I kept myself on my computer... and they not even invited me because they knew I would say NO!
So my question goes to the people who already lost great amount of weight and for the maintainers:

Aren’t you afraid you will eventually go back to the way you eat before, since it is so hard to keep on a healthy style where you need to keep reminding yourself about what is better for you and ignoring all the delicious food you WANT so badly to eat?
Don’t you look at the people who have lost weight before and gained it all back and wonder if that will be you tomorrow?? Why would be different with you??
Don’t you keep some of your “big” cloth, because you are afraid of going back to that size and don’t having anything to wear???
Do you REALLY think you will be able to keep this life style for the rest of your life?

I think I will absolutely be able to keep this lifestyle for the rest of my life. I sometimes have to make myself get up and exercise, or force myself to do it if I get home. I sometimes have to make myself skip a bad for me treat, or make myself work harder the few days after an indulgence. I sometimes have to make myself balance my checkbook or get up for work in the morning. I just do it. I put healthy living and eating on that same list of things I have to do.

I know rationally that I feel better when I exercise more and eat better. I'm not a person who loves food so much that I have to keep reminding myself not to eat things, i don't think. I do make a point to budget in splurges now and again for things I want, maybe that helps with that craving.

I'll slip now and again, I'll have periods where I don't exercise as much or where I go crazy with a meal, but I'll just keep moving forward. I can't not do it - I won't slip back to the way I was before. I like me today too much for that.

I've spent most of my life battling with my weight. I finally, for the first time in a long time, feel good and healthy and no way will I let anything or anyone, even myself, take that from me.

Yes, there are days I have to make myself workout. There are days I struggle with my foods as well. But to me, it is way better than living like I was before and I will NOT let it happen again EVER

So, to answer the question - yes, I do believe I can do this for life.

I dont know....this is a fear I have in the back of my head. That itll all come back and I'll be right back where I started. I always think of Rockin Robin...what she says. Youjust find what works for you and you do it. Then you continue doing it. I pray I can be strong and not sabatoge myself.

I'm a long way from goal but I can already tell this is different from the other times. Before when I'd lose weight I'd eat the same things ALL THE TIME. So of course I didn't make it. Now, I try new things. I keep my food journal with me to write it down. Writing it down is becoming a habit that isn't so hard to maintain as it once seemed. I love the way I feel after a workout. Yeah, sometimes I slack and take a day or so off, but then I get right back on it because I want this! And I hate the way I feel after I eat a lot of junk. It used to be such a thrill to go off program and enjoy myself with the foods I really want. Now when I eat those foods I realize I don't really want them anymore.

And as Shannon said, I look at is as something I have to do. I don't always want to go to work but I do it because I want money to pay my bills and go do fun things. Well, I don't always want to cook and work out, but I do it because I want to live my life and go do fun things without my weight holding me back!

Just always keep in mind why you want this. When the benefits outweigh the costs, it's easy to make the right decision.

I think about this a lot.

However I have added some tricks to my regime that I think, and hope, may keep me from regaining the weight I have lost.

I weigh myself daily. Never do I fail to do that. Each morning I hop on the scales and see what weight I am today. I allow myself three pounds leeway. If I am over those three pounds, I do something about it immediately.

It is so easy to slip back into those old, bad habits. I would love to pig out like I used to. My goodness, but that food tasted soooooooo good.

But if I overeat today, those scales will remind me of it tomorrow.

So far, so good.

I'm determined to stick with my maintaining. I'm very determined.

I'd LOVE to say YAH, SURE, NO PROBLEM

But I really have no idea. I mean, I've lost before. I've regained before. And lost and regained and lost and regained...

I don't know what life has in store for me, and sometimes, well, life HAPPENS.

I WILL say that I INTEND to keep the weight off, permanently, and I intend to:
monitor what I eat
exercise
weigh regularly
have an EEeeek! weight that I won't allow myself to get above.

Other than that, I'm just going to take it one day at a time. I'm not going to think ahead much more than that, when it comes to weight maintenance. Because IMHO, maintenance seems to be about monitoring the small small details on a really regular, probably daily basis and acting quickly. To keep that teeter-totter in balance, where input is on one side and output is on the other.
Weight LOSS, however, is to me, about making a plan and focussing on the big issues and letting the numbers do what they do. Because it is relatively easy to make sure that the teeter-totter is favorable to weight loss.

Kira

I know that I definitely will regain all of the weight (with some extra to spare, most likely) if I return to old habits. Yet I do find this time to be significantly different, most monumentally in that I've found ways to not be hungry all of the time. So, as long as I weight daily, and eat to control hunger, I think I'll continue to keep doing well.

I've struggled alot lately. I'm failing to lose, but succeeding in maintaining my weight loss. A lot of stressful events are playing a role, including health scares for myself and family members. It may be an excuse, but in the past I would have used it as an excuse to gain, rather than an excuse to maintain (and I'll take the latter any day).

Yes, I do think I will be a successful maintainer for the rest of my life. I do love the foods I eat - they are different foods than the foods I loved in my "old life" but I look forward to every meal.

I do occasionally want foods that are not part of my day to day plan. Sometimes I eat them, usually I don't.

I've already had that chance in my life - to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it. It didn't make me happy. The food might have tasted good, but I was a heavy, depressed, lethargic woman who didn't even look at myself in a mirror.

Now, I eat carefully and mindfully. I pack lunches, I grocery shop. I do stuff the old me would have thought would be too much hassle. I eat foods that the old me would have thought were boring.

And I am a slender, happy size 6. I replaced my entire wardrobe (except for socks). Not one piece of my big clothes remain.

I have no worry over regaining my weight at this time. I have regained on all other diet regimes I have been on, but have maintained my current weight for over a year now. I love, love, love the way I eat now (South Beach) and am thrilled that I get to eat great, healthy food and am so satisfied. I think I had been getting increasingly carb sensitive the older I got, and now don't eat any refined sugars or starches. This seems to be the key so far for permanent weight loss for me, but only time will tell.

Yes, I do feel very hopeful that I can keep my weight off. While the weight loss portion was very difficult for me; I am really enjoying maintenance and the foods I get to eat. I didn't expect that at all.

I had very few clothes at my higher weights, but I didn't keep anything.

i think it's very possible to maintain a healthy lifestyle. i'm just not one of those people who've done that yet though. i'm new here and am about to start my healthy lifestlye tomorrow and i hope it'll really work this time. i'm one of those people who lose a good amount of weight, only to regain it all back, sometimes more. and i've done this repeatedly. i'm tired of doing this. but there seems to be a lot of people here who've maintained their goal weights. it's quite inspirational, and it's definitely something doable. although slip-ups i think, are inevitable, the most important thing is being able to get right back on the wagon.

I do believe that this lifestyle change is a permanent one.

We are so lucky at 3FC to have the Maintainers section. Everyone is welcome in that section! You don't have to be at goal....If you want to NOT regain the weight, get thee down there.

There are a few moments in my life that are frozen in time, that changed my life. I can remember the very first time my husband smiled at me (we were 17 and we met at the soccer field at the high school---I remember his slightly gapped teeth and his rocking hot soccer player legs---I still appreciate both every day 19 years later). Anyway, another moment that will stick with me is when I read a post by Meg:

"For me, maintenance looks a whole lot like losing."

You mean, if I revert to my old ways, I'll get my old body back. If I stick to my new ways, I'll keep the weight off? , indeed.

I control if I gain the weight back or not. Each of us controls that. I used to groan about the statement that weight loss is 90% nutrition, 10% exercise. I wished it were more exercise. But even if I have mobility or physical issues in the future, I still control what I put in my mouth.

And I have LOTS of fabulously inspirational folks here at 3FC to emulate!

I think about this all the time. I lost over 120 pounds and gained back 30 -- of course I worry about it. What's more, I gained back the weight without reverting back to all my old habits. I just relaxed enough to gain back 1-2 pounds a month and voila!

The good news is that I know as long as I continue to care that I will not gain it all back! And I've learned in this period of gaining that to be successful I will need to keep monitoring myself. In short, I'm always going to struggle to maintain my weight, but as long as I continue to care and worry, that I will be okay.