3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community - Approaching Maintenance. Again. :)

Hi there, my name is Mrs. Snark (Michelle), and I am once AGAIN approaching the maintenance phase and I am (once again!) trying to prepare myself to successfully STAY THERE!

I have lost weight many times before -- I'd go so far as to say I am an expert at losing weight -- but I have been unable to maintain the losses long-term. I think the longest I maintained previously was a year (which was really great for me, a year is a long time!). The shortest I've maintained was maybe a month before I began to pack the weight right back on.

Once I get into the groove I am really, really good at losing weight. Sometimes, however, it can take years to actually get INTO that groove, so you know, it is still brutally hard to do. The last few years have been a real battle for me -- mostly a losing battle against fat.

In April of this year I finally got my act back together. And this time I made some changes that I am hoping will set me up for true long term success. Namely, I embraced mostly "clean eating" and stopped trying to portion control junk food as a strategy. If I leave junk food in my diet inevitably the junk food will win. So I have pretty much given it up completely, except for the very, very RARE special occasion. I hope to keep it that way.

I also gave up exercising like a demon to make up for eating junk food (my tired, injured body forced me to give it up actually) and now I embrace a much more gentle exercise program that is more about overall fitness and endorphanized (I made that word up) mental health than about the grueling necessity of burning off loads of junk food calories that used to sneak into my daily diet.

So that's me in a nutshell. I've included my weight loss progress photos for this year, which I hope to keep adding to and improving indefinitely! I'm turning 46 in October and one of my goals this year is to feel good about how I am taking care of myself, both physically and mentally. Since April I've been doing a pretty good job and I want to keep that up!