Hi everyone. I am not at maintenance, but I am getting close. I might change my ticker to 145, we'll see. I have been reading the Living Maintenance forum since I signed up here. I had lost weight before, but I wanted to learn how to maintain after I lost. I appreciate everyone's posts. Now to my question. . . .

I just saw a post here and I have seen other posts about this same subject. It's about how once you reach maintenance, you body continues to change. Does this happen even if you don't change your workout regimen? Meaning, it's something that automatically that happens.

Please tell me about your experience with this. What were the changes? How long did it take for these changes to take place? I have loose skin. Should I expect any changes over time? This is my third time for losing a lot of weight. Should I expect any skin tightening on its own? It's been loose since my first weight loss. I'm thinking there won't be any changes, but I am interested in hearing your replies/thoughts. This is the smallest I have been since 10th or 11th grade (about 26 or 27 years ago). TIA

I can only tell you my experience as everyone's body reacts very differently and for a multitude of reasons. I have been maintaining for about 6 months and over these last few months and more recently weeks I have seen some significant tightening. Now I will say I have lost about 8-10 additional lbs over those 6 months and I have been a bit more focused with my weight training lately and most importantly I've really "cleaned" up my food choices in the last two weeks. I think this is actually what is making the biggest difference for me. Don't get too discourage if nothing happens right away, for me the changes have been very recent. Hope this helps.

Thank you for your reply. In fact, it was your earlier post that reminded me of this and made me want to post the question. I'm not expecting any changes, but if there are I will be thrilled.

Diana, During the past 5 years my body has been the same weight it was in the 9th grade.
This is after a 58% bodyweight loss. From 271 down to 115 lbs.
I've had no plastic surgery, and I'm not planning any.
Over the years of maintenance, my body has continued to adjust and adapt.
I am now over 60 and a reduced obese person,
so of course my body is very different than when I was 14 years old.
Of course I have some loose saggy skin. I'm old and I used to be fat.

I'm happy with the way I look now.
We all grow old in time, and
in my opinion, almost all women over 60 look better with their clothes on.
I look really good in my clothes,
and only my husband, who loves me, ever sees me undressed,
That's good enough for me.

Diana, if you've lost 1 lb and kept it off, you're a maintainer!

IMO there are some changes that can happen without exercise but it depends on your body. Since I was young when I lost my weight (hit goal when I was 23), I had quite a bit of skin tightening over the next six months or so. However, if your skin is less elastic you may not have the same experience.

From my experience things like your body fat percentage will not change unless you are actively doing something to change it. Now, if you started an exercise regimen while losing and keep exercising after, depending on what your workout plan is you may have these changes as a result of the exercise. For example if while losing you were lifting heavy weights and continually increasing weight, and you keep doing that, you will keep building muscle and will see changes in your body. However, if while losing you did 20 minutes steady state on the elliptical for all your workouts, you probably won't see any changes.

Thanks for the replies, so far. I have actually been exercising all along. I don't do heavy weight lifting because of a neck injury. I try to do toning workouts a couple times a week. I am also thrilled with my look (with my clothes on ) DH is the only one that sees me nekkid, so I'm good with that. Surgery is not an option. I have no interest in that. I was going to stop at 155, but last week my Endo suggested that I not make any changes in my food/exercise routine and see if I naturally drop to 145. I'm OK with how I've been eating and exercising, so I'm good with seeing if I can get to 145 without any changes. The other thing is that I think I am in between sizes. Most 12's are a little loose and 10's are a little snug. I would like to get out of the in between sizes.