Hi all you maintainers, I'm a (nearly) 44 year old SAHM with 4 beautiful children. Just over 2 years ago I had an incident that let me know, "woh, sweety you're letting yourself get too unhealthy to enjoy life." I started making better choices for better health. It's been a long haul, but I've dropped 39 pounds steadily in that time. Like many, I was shocked to see I was actually "obese" rather than just overweight back then. I picked my goal number because for my height 135 puts me JUST in the healthy range. Now that I'm 1# from that goal I'm scared to death....I truly don't think I'm ready mentally to switch to maintenance. I'm thinking of lowering my goal by just 5# to avoid that cycle. Since 130 is still relatively high for 5'2" does that seem reasonable even though I know in my head I'm healthy and strong at 136#. This is all such a mind thing. I'm looking for advice. Reassurance...kick in the pants...whatever you're thinking.
Thanks,
Kristi

I changed my goal weight as I went along. I said i would be comfortable with my weight when I fit into my size 6 jeans and was comfortable. I'm 5'1" and that was 115 for me. But, you decide what is comfortable for you. You know at what size/weight you look and feel the best at. Numbers are just that, numbers.

Congratulations on reaching your goal (almost!)

I lowered my goal a couple of times too. First, I aimed for 125. When I got there, I decided I wanted to stay below 120. Then, I decided I wanted to shoot for the low 110's and then figured out this is as low as I can comfortably go. (this was a process over some months!) Now I aim to stay between 110-115 and I like it here. But that's me.

Only you can decide where you are happy and where you feel good. You've already made tremendous progress! And maintenance really does look a lot like the weight loss phase ... I pretty much eat and exercise the same, just have a little more calorie leeway (but not that much!).

Thanks slim me and MBN for weighing in on this. I took a long walk today and have kind of figured out what I'm uncomfortable with. That being that everyone's weight fluctuates and most maintainers have a red line. If I stop losing at 135# I'd probably set my red line at 140# and for how I feel "right now" that's too high. I'm thinking I need to go some lower so I have a little more fluctuation on the up swing. Understand? I hope I do!!!

I've changed my goal weight as I've gone along, even though right now I'm a good 30+ lbs away from goal.

I started out with a goal of 145. As I neared 180, I realized that 135 would be reasonable still. As I dropped towards the mid 160s, I realized that 130 would work for me. Right now I'm holding steady at a goal weight of 130, but I suspect that the closer I get to that, the more I'll feel that I could go lower.

We'll see. Right now it's a slow process for me cause I'm in a bit of a holding pattern, but I know that I'll get there eventually.

.

Forget "sleeping on it," - the long walk is a great way to handle things, isn't it? OK, taking a long walk to think, and *then* sleeping on it.

Hi lovnmom,

In your initial post, it seemed like you wanted to change your goal just because you are "scared to death...not mentally ready to switch to maintenance". I think that picking your goal weight and mentally switching to maintenance are two different subjects. If you get to 136, are you going to decide you're not ready for maintenance and change your goal to 130? I agree with all that has been said - you are the only one who knows where you feel you are at a comfortable, healthy, sustainable weight. There's nothing wrong with changing your goal weight, but I just wouldn't want to see you do it as avoidance of dealing with maintenance.

Unfortunately there is a ton of literature, blogs, websites, on losing weight, and not a whole lot on maintaining weight loss! A lot of the maintainers around here read and held extensive discussions threads on "Thin for Life" by Anne Fletcher (though my library doesn't carry it, so I never read it ). I know a few other book recommendations have been made here, and of course, we've had an awful lot of discussions about maintenance and have a great, supportive community here. Perhaps reading old threads (and posting in new ones!) could also help you "switch" to the maintenance mindset (even if you're not quite at the number you want - you're still a maintainer already!). Welcome and congratulations on all you've accomplished!

Photo, Nice to hear from you. I hope all is good. I've missed you at the 40's thread. Take care and good luck with all you're doing.

Julie, You bet. I'm doing 8 more miles today with a friend who is running a marathon this weekend. She's being nice and walking the 8 with me today!

Megan, You've got it pretty much on the money..I am very frightened of switching to maintenance, but I think if I have a lower red line I'll be fine both physically and mentally. Thank you so much for your thoughtful post. I really appreciate it.