Well I've passed the 1 year at maintenance milestone, a place I never made it to before. In that year I've been as much as 7lbs below my goal and never more than 2lb above. I'm currently bang on my goal weight but would like to get down a few pounds so I'll have a seasonal buffer. I'm fitter now that I've ever been in my adult life.
I still get scared nearly every day that I'll slip back into old habits and start gaining again. I do feel like that fat girl is still inside me wanting to take control again over the slimmer me. Do others feel the same and if so will the feeling ever go away?
I was like you... a year after reaching goal, weight still right on target, in fact a little lower. And two years after reaching goal, I was up only 5 pounds. Troublesome but not disaster, right? Well, somewhere in the next year things went south... I didn't revert to "bad habits" like candy and fast food and junk, but I did begin eating more calories overall than I should have been eating (obviously). In spite of all my success in the past, I haven't been able to get a handle on this yet.
Yes, it really is possible to regain--even though I was sure I wouldn't. I now think that anyone who has been obese will always have to be more careful with food than someone who has not been obese. So be glad that you are still feeling the danger of regain.
The time may come when your way of eating is second nature to you, so it doesn't take that "constant vigilance" mode, but it's always possible to overeat.
In that year I've been as much as 7lbs below my goal
and never more than 2lb above.
I'm currently bang on my goal weight
but would like to get down a few pounds so I'll have a seasonal buffer.
I'm fitter now that I've ever been in my adult life.
I still get scared nearly every day that I'll slip back into old habits and start gaining again.
Do others feel the same and if so will the feeling ever go away?
Your description is simliar to my own experience
with four and three-quarter years in maintenance.
The main difference is that within that time period,
my weight-bounces have been a bit larger.
I have gone as much as 10 lbs below my goal,
and a few times post-vacation water-weight has put me as much as 10 lbs above it.
Also I STILL want to drop some pounds for a seasonal buffer.
AND Yes, I feel the same even after almost 5 years.
I don't know if the feeling will ever go away or not.
I STILL Hope it will, but
maybe it is a feeling that I, personally, need
in order to force myself to remain viligent.
I'm new at maintaining the weight I am now, but maintained at a higher weight for ten years.
As others have posted, the slippery slope seems to be a constant nearby choice. I like what Bill posted about this moment being like it is.
The vigilance Bright Angel writes of so well is my companion. It is an attentive watchfulness, avoiding this, choosing that. It keeps me clean. Perhaps noting the nearby slippery slope is that being strong in the broken places. I know what happens when I slide too close to that road.
I choose, as many others do, who live abstaining from particular choices, to live enjoying the abstinence. I like the clean, stronger feeling of living it gives me.
Some days the vigilance is gentle and an easy part of living, sometimes it requires me to be very deliberate and careful.
I don't know if the feeling of being fat ever completely goes away. Even when I've been very slender, over the decades, it was there. Doesn't mean that need be true for anyone else.
I always enjoy thinking through these things. Thank you for such an interesting subject.
I just hit two years maintaining and I absolutely worry that the inner crazies are going to come back and my old habits will reassert themselves. I have been less than vigilant the last few months and am a little heavier than I would like, actually. I have to get back to some of my better habits - I've let slip some of the journaling and counting and preplanning and I have been caught out by it. A lot of it is second nature, but like Jay said, it is always possible to overeat.
I am only 4 months in, and am excited to be in your shoes celebrating 1 year at goal!! Awesome job. Stay vigilant - this is how we chose to live our lives; it never was about a fleeting diet that ends.
Wishing you many more years of continued success & good health!
Congrats Kitty! I too have the fear of regaining. I'd like to think it's a healthy fear--a fear that keeps me alert and on my toes. This morning my weight is at the top of my comfort range and it's time to make better choices for me.
Hey, I'm kind of hovering around the maintainer's board today, and I saw this thread. Maintenance is something I think about now even though I have months and pounds to go.
I'm developing a more keen sense of the fear of backsliding and gaining again. It sounds like it never really goes away. But does that fear get worse as you get smaller? It seems like it might, as you have more at stake (all the time and effort going out the window). I've noticed that as I lose weight, it's a bigger concern.
One Year at Goal
