Hi! There was a suggestion for this type of thread, specifically to avoid the temptation to "keep going down" in weight with the 120s, 130s, etc, threads.

I have just within the past week met my goal, so this is widly new territory for me. I'd love to have a thread where we can talk about how to maintain in everyday life and get to know one another on this leg of the journey!

My current struggle is finding that sweet spot of calorie counting and working out, in order to maintain my current weight. I just lost another pound without trying, which is H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S, since I was trying so dang hard to lose it before! I'm eating about 1800 cals/day, a few days lower and a few days higher (like 2000-2100) if it was a big workout day. I am a Zumba addict, but I also force myself to run, lift weights and bike for variety.

Any big plans this Christmas season?

Have you checked out the Living Maintainence Forum ? Lots of great people there , some just starting maintainence, some long term maintainers, some not quite there, yet. In other words , something for everybody. Come on over and check us out.

I love this idea! I am toying with lowering my goal, but not so that I can get skinnier and skinnier. I was wanting to lose more than my original goal so that when I put on the muscles I plan to build up over the coming year, I can end up with a good, middle-of-the-road BMI.

Still, I will be a featherweight maintainer. So I will be among the first to sign up!

I'll join. I was getting sucked into the mentality that I needed to go lower and lower, but I stopped and looked at myself and realized that I was chasing numbers and a perfect body that I wouldn't have. I needed to stop and look at what I had now. Maybe I'll lose another five pounds, maybe I won't. Either way I'm really happy with how I am right now. My goal was never to be "skinny" or "thin" but rather end up with a body I'm happy and comfortable in.

I've got an hourglass figure. I like it.

And Christmas plans? Nothing really right now. I'm just looking forward to relaxing

I just got to maintenance weight too. I don't have any interest in going lower, as i'm happy with where i am and i know this weight is sustainable. A bit lower would be nice in theory, but i've been there before albeit about 10 years ago, and lower is just too restrictive food-wise, it's not a long-term plan.

My problem is putting on weight. I've already slackened off (too much) with my eating, and i've got a 4-week holidy starting next thurs. This hasn't hit the scales yet, but i can't believe why!

I need to see where i'm at after this holiday and then either lose back to where i am now, or hopefully just continue the maintenance!...

I think i will always have the opposite problem to losing-without-intending-to, and instead i'll have a tendancy to put on weight. I'm thinking my strategy going forward will be to just make sure i'm in my target range. I can allow myself to gain a bit, but when i'm at top of range i have to lose it again.

I don't think i can stay on 120kg and that's it. I think i'll end up going 119-126, up and down at different speeds, and i think i'll enjoy those fluctuations because 1) i love eating, so going up will be great and 2) I love feeling great by losing weight so going down will be good too! All a lot more fun than just trying to stay at one weight, in my opinion, but lets see if i can do it.

Is this a common thing to do? Or is it a bad idea for any reason? I've not really read anyone else that does it semi-intentionally (but then i've hardly looked at the Maintainers threads yet).

Ange- I think that is reasonable, although I don't have any long-term statistics! LOL I was thinking about that same concept today, though. "The Range". When you hit the top of the range, so consciously slow down the eating, increase excercise, etc. Vice versa at the bottom. Does this encourage a binge/starvation cycle, as some on here suggest? I really don't know. I think it has to vary with each person's personality. For me, I like to imagine that i can still watch what I eat and work out, without dipping too far above or below my goal. We'll see!

bargoo I LOVE you guys over in the maintainers forum- you have been so helpful, supportive and wise.

I think it's useful to have a Maintainers Thread in the Featherweights section too. A lot of posts crop up here about "Well I haven't dropped any weight in 6 months and I'm on 1000 calories... should I keep going? I'm so frustrated!" I think it's easy in this forum to get caught up in continuing to drop and drop, agonize over every pound. Having a place where people who regularly post in Featherweights can talk about maintaining is useful to signal others that it's ok to be satisfied with your weight loss and not constantly trying to drop.

I do echo bargoo's comments about checking out the Living Maintenance forum- those guys are so great

Anyway Chickie thanks for starting this. I'm struggling for the first time in my life with maintaining, and not losing or gaining. I look forward to chatting more here

I'm getting close to maintenance, so this is a good thread for me as well. My original goal was 105lb, as I was generally between 98 and 105 for most of my adult life, and I thought this was more manageable. Now that I'm at 106, I'm feeling pretty good, but I still have a surprising amount of fat on my abdomen, and that's where it tends to interfere with hormones and the like. So I think I'll keep going for a bit to see if I can deal with that, but I won't be too upset if it doesn't happen. I've increased my calories a little, especially in this cold weather, but I still seem to be losing at the same rate. I'm tempted to increase them by about 50-100cal, but to be honest I'd like to get the weight loss over sooner rather than later if I can, so that I can settle into maintenance and finally be able to buy clothes that I know will continue to fit!

Welcome, ladies!

ITA Indiblue- I stillplan on getting great tips from the Living Maintenance (and I already have!) but it's nice to have a little something here so that we featherweights don't have to feel like magical disappearing women. LOL I'm excited to talk with you all about the daily struggles, 'cause boy do I have them! And yet it is so motivating (so far) to see myself in the mirror at this weight and wear the clothing I like. I wonder how long the bliss lasts? I'm sure it gets harder when the novelty wears off.

Esofia- Oh abdominal fat...double sigh. Why oh why can't we lose weight like men, and when we're done, eveything goes back where it should?!? I kept trying to go lower and lower in my weight loss, in the hopes that my belly pudge would go down. NOPE. I just kept losing everywhere else. MADDENING. For me, I just don't think I am willing to go down to a ridicuously low body fat % and eat like a body builder to get that flat, ripped tummy.

BUSY day for me. Church, the zoo, groceries and a birthday party. Coffee is beckoning! I probably drink way too much, especially in terms of calories, but that has been my steady treat since the beginning. I stick to sugar-free mochas that are 150 cals or less, and usually have 1 a day. lately, though...I've been having this 2-3 times a day! I still stay within calories, but obviously that means I'm eating less actual food. This time of year is just crazy, but my goal is to stay on plan with calories, even if it is crap-food.

chickie and Esofia The grass is always greener! I'll be totally honest, I have a flat stomach, but that's because I have saddlebags, e.g. lots of fat on my thighs. I wouldn't mind things being a little more balanced. But, it's the body I have and it won't go away so I might as well accept it ^_^

Whereas I have ended up with no bottom at all! I still have a waist-hip ratio in the "high risk" category, and while WHR isn't perfect as a way of gauging health, abdominal fat remains one of the most dangerous places to have fat. I've got a serious medical condition which probably involves hormones and makes heart disease likely to hit me 25 years earlier than usual, I've got gallstones (and am probably too ill to cope with surgery) which are associated with a higher WHR, and on top of that I have PMDD which occurred at the same time as rapid unexplained weight loss, and which I have been told is probably connected as oestrogen is stored in and produced by fat. My waist is hugely bigger than it was when I was this weight before. I'm not actually doing this for vanity.

Apologies for my assumptions, Esofia!

That is rough, Esofia! I'm sorry you have to deal with that!

Indiblue- I can't fib..it's all about vanity for me now. LOL I just turned 30 and I feel like I have reclaimed my youth. I was always small and athletic, so my period of being over-weight and out of shape stills feels incredibly foreign somehow. It's like I look in the mirror now and I see ME, the "regular me" that I always knew. Thatis probably my favorite part of all of this so far.

I'm trying to decide if i want to do double classes today at the Y. I've never tried kickboxing, so that might be fun before Zumba, but it is such a process to eat enough and eat the right things, but not too much, before working out that much. What a silly thing to complain about! LOL I'm having long-awaited cosmetic surgery sometime in March, so my current goal is to maintain my overall body composition, so that my shape is as good as it can be before the surgery.

PS. I'd love to learn more about everyone, especially non-weight related things. I'm hoping to stick together for this LONG maintenance journey! A few things about me: I live in the Soth, but am originally from Northern Ohio. My husband and I have been married 7 years and he is active duty Navy. We have two boys, ages 6 and 4, and we live in the country. I raise chickens and have 2 dogs (1 awesome German Shepherd and 1 dumb-as-a-rock Japanese Chin). I teach Spanish at my son's preschool 1 day a week and I love hands-on things like making jam and scrapbooking. Plus ZUMBA...holy heavens I am obsessed with Zumba! LOL Here is my oldest son and I last week:

LOVE that picture of you, Chickie. You are lovely and your son looks just like you!!

I'm from the South and am jealous you live in the country ^_^. Right now I live in a crowded, polluted, at times dilapidated city in India... the furthest thing you can get from the beautiful mountains of Tennessee or plains of Kentucky! Am looking forward to being stateside again in July

I just want to report that after a week of being up 3-4 lbs, bloated, and feeling awful, I'm weighed in at an even 124 today and feel on top of the world. Huzzah!

Today I'm starting New Rules of Lifting for Women. I'm a bit nervous about the meal plan part of it. I'm not counting calories right now but eating mostly plant-based meals. I know I need to switch to more protein... and probably even more calories... for this program. Not sure if I want to start CCing or how much I want to start upping my cals. Trial and error for the next few weeks I think..