So I thought maybe I should say hi.

Hello Maintainers!

My name is Heather, and I have lost 62 lbs so far. Since I may be in maintenance in as few as 20 lbs, I have started lurking in this forum to mentally prepare myself for the transition. I am quite sure if this whole lifestyle is going to fall apart, it will be during the transition from weight loss to weight maintenance. I hate change! (some Buddhist I am! )

I was always a skinny child and teenager, and couldn't have cared less about weight until the run up to my wedding, so I have no real idea what I want to weigh. I suspect that I will land on the heavier side of normal, since I have large boobs and hips... so I have decided to get myself to 145 lbs (highest "healthy" weight for my height) and evaluate there. I suspect I will want to hit about 135 ish (and have 140 as my red line), but I really have no idea. I trust you ladies when you say that I will know when I get there.

Anyway, I am typically a lurker, but I am trying hard to reach out. My mother has been a great help during the loss phase, but she will readily admit that she knows nothing about maintenance. (she lost 70 lbs two years ago but could not maintain... she is losing again now). I am lazy, so I really don't want to have to lose the weight again... I would rather just maintain the loss when I get there!!

You ladies have been an inspiration to me. You make me believe it is possible to lose the weight and keep it off. Thank you for that.

Anyway, I must head off to school now (stats class awaits!)

Peace, Heather

Hi Heather Please don't lurk- If you've lost a pound and kept it off, you HAVE maintained that loss!

Mel

Mrs. Wolf, congratulations on your success! I am just heading in for a landing on maintenance myself. I set my goal to 135 but I am not certain I really need to lose more. Yesterday I caught glipses of myself in several mirrors while out and around and I thought I actually looked fine. I thought initially I wanted to be in the low range of normal (132) but knees are hitting and my hip bones are what prevent me from getting into a smaller size (currently wearing a 4/6) --not the meat on my bones. It could have been what I was wearing yesterday though! Anyway, I am going to start "lurking" as you call it (here) too.

Hi Heather, and welcome! Please jump right in and don't just lurk! As Mel said, if you've lost any amount of weight and kept it off, you're a maintainer already. I think it's really smart to be thinking ahead to your maintenance. Glad you're here!

Hey Heather - this is a great place to be. It will really help get your head in a good mindset of what the realities of maintaining are.

It has helped me tremendously! Don't be afraid to jump in.

Hey Heather, I thought I had the weight loss thing all figured out until I started transitioning into maintenance and it was like learning to walk all over again. Definitely hang out and start making your plan!!

Welcome here, Heather, and congrats for your success so far. You're right in jumping in before you've reached goal, I say; this part of the forum is always of great help no matter how many pounds one is maintaining", and better be preparer that find ourselves unarmed once we reach goal and go all "and now what?".

That's exactly what I told myself. I don't like dieting, so I avoid gaining weight. I wish I had had that revelation ten years ago, it would've spared me quite a few diet-related predicaments. (I suppose it's the same mindset than the one that pushes us to throw away our fat clothes, so that we don't have anything comfortable to fall back on?)

Thank you all so much for your kind welcome. Although I am quite outgoing in person, I am really quite shy online. Don't know why that is.

Thighs Be Gone - I am so unsure about where to land. I seriously have no idea what I weighed (ever!) until I started dieting for my wedding (started @ 175, ending @ 159), so I don't know where "thin" is for me, scalewise. I will have to see when I get closer, I guess.

Megan - I am nothing if not a planner. Sometimes to the detriment of being a "doer", if you know what I mean.

Glory - transitions are hard for me. I know how to lose weight, so my natural inclination is to just keep doing that. I am actually glad to know that maintenance looks a lot like loss, only with more calories (or points in my case). It is reassuring that I may not have to change my life yet again!

Kery - using my laziness is key for me. I can't fight it (or, I am too lazy to fight it) so I make it work for me. I won't go to the store for junk, so I just don't have any junk in the house. Therefore, no junk. I use the same tool for smoking. It was extremely difficult for me to quit (hardest thing I have ever done, seriously) so I don't want to do it again. That alone keeps me from having "just one" with my friends who smoke. I will do what needs to be done on the little thing (maintaining) so I don't have to make all the effort to do the big thing (losing the weight AGAIN)

Hey there Mrs. Wolf. So glad you've joined us. Glad to see you thinking ahead and on your toes. It will definitely make your transition into maintenance that much simpler. And like you seem to have figured out - it's really not all that different then weight loss. Except of course - that you've reached *your* "ideal" weight. And you get to buy lots of clothes. And you get to enjoy that new slim body. Yeah, maintenance is a GREAT place to be. Welcome. Welcome.

Welcome!
Glad you joined us!!
Jump right on in-- we don't bite.

Haha, yes, laziness can be a great tool at times. (There's a McDonald's about 3 minutes on foot from where I live... and I'm too lazy to go there, so I eat the healthy foods in my fridge. )

Kery, you and I are like two peas in a pod.

The funny thing is that it's become selective laziness... because I'm not too lazy to jump into my sneakers to go for a run at 7 am these days (well, the weather is very sunny these days, so it helps). ^^