This morning, I am officially 136.4lbs. I got on the scale a zillion times to make sure it was right. In these last stages of my weight loss, I hardly lose at all during the month no matter how I eat/exercise. Then right after my TOM, I have a 2-3lb loss that stays off. I was hovering right at 138-139 for about three weeks, so I was crossing my fingers to see 136._ on there.

So yay for me, for reaching maintenance! But, I'm not going to get officially really excited until I get to 133 which is smack dab in the middle of my maintenance range. After that, I'm going to ease into maintenance and let my body pick what it wants to maintain within the range. Maybe adjust a bit, we'll see. It's amazing that it's so close...3.4lbs away from a weight that I never thought was possible for me, 3.4lbs away from losing 50lbs, 3.4lbs away from ending the weight loss journey and switching into weight maintenance. A whole new beast to tackle, lol.

And on another note, I had a few NSV's yesterday and last night. 1) I woke up at 6:30am on a Saturday and went running/walking which led to a very productive day 2) I was *planning* on having a cheat night of pizza, but I last minute changed my mind to grilled shrimp skewers at Applebees 3) I went out with one of my girl friends, and had a beer and a shot of tequila, had a great time without being drunk, and stayed well under my planned cheat-day calories, lol. 4) All these choices came pretty naturally to me, I truly wanted grilled shrimp more than pizza and it was an easy choice to make. All of these are pretty minor, but a healthy balanced lifestyle while still enjoying some of life's little pleasures (eating out, having a drink downtown) is starting to feel second nature to me.

Anyways, just a few random ponderings from Megan, haha. I hope everyone is doing absolutely fabulous this morning!

Good for you!!! It's so awesome to see how these things felt second nature to you! That's an awesome NSV and something to be really proud of!! Does your boyfriend know that you were losing weight while he is gone? His eyes are going to just pop when he sees you!!!

Hello fellow Megan!

Maintenance is certainly as hard as weight loss, that's for sure. One journey to another.

Wow - congrats!!! Thanks for posting this

Congrats on all your progress!!

Congratulations! It must feel so good to have made it. I can't wait to get down to my range.

Congratulations! You look terrific!!!

Congrats! And well done on the choices too, sometimes it seems to get easier to be 'good'!

i wish those choices would start to come second nature to me, lol! congrats!

Congrats! I hope to join you very very soon!! I totally know what you mean about this whole lifestyle becoming second nature. It feels amazing, and it's incredible how much one can change her life around in just a few short months

Anyway, I hope you're super proud of yourself!!

Congrats!

Congrats to you! That's awesome!

Congrats! I did the SAME thing when I was close to my goal - I wouldn't lose for the month, then during/after my TOM I'd drop 5 pounds. It made finding my maintenance calories pretty difficult. I tried going up 100 calories, then didn't know for a month if that was right. I ended up losing another 15 pounds or so trying to find that level.

Good luck and see you on the maintenance board!!!

CONGRATS MEGAN!!!!! That is so awesome and it's good to know that making the right choices eventually comes naturally! LOL

You should be so proud!!!!

Thanks everyone for the replies! I had a reply typed out last night and my accidently clicked "back" and lost it, haha.

zephyr, my guy does know that I've "lost some weight and gotten healthier," but he has no idea what my highest weight was or how much I've lost. He's seen a few transitional pictures, but I purposefully choose the ones where the size difference isn't really obvious. So I think he'll be pretty surprised

And I can't claim that all the good choices are second nature for me, really. I still want pizza, salty fatty french fries still taste good to me, if it wasn't for the guilt, I'd still eat a whole batch of cookies in a day, I still want to sit on the couch and not go for a run. I'm not one of those lucky people that lost all taste for junk once they quit eating it. However, I have come to the realization that it's easier to make the right choice. I have allowed myself to have some serious planned cheat days (the night this thread was about, I was going to let myself have pizza and a big ice cream). But, afterwards, even if it's planned I feel guilty and crappy about it. I've finally accepted that the fun of eating cheat foods isn't great enough to have to deal with the guilt. So instead, I'm much more inclined to make better choices such as "I still want to go out to eat for my cheat day, but I'll have grilled shrimp skewers instead of pizza."

And MindiV, I have no idea what my maintenance calories are going to be. While I am a foodie, and would gladly eat 5000 calories/day of healthy food if I let myself, I absolutely cannot deny that I'm perfectly satisfied and nourished in 1300-1600cal/day. I can't imagine adding too much more to that. But I think I'm going to add 100cal to my daily average for each month until I quit losing. We'll see...maintenance is a whole 'nother ball game, haha.