So I have entered maintenance phase earlier than I have expected! I have originally set my goal at 56kg, but I've been maintaining at 62 kg for the past 3 months and I realise that I am at ease with my body. I adore my reflection in the mirror and I actually enjoy shopping for clothes and wearing makeup, whereas I just allowed myself to be a complete wreck when I was fat. I feel light, free and happy. And I am grateful for this new happiness stemming from within me.

The first month of my 'maintenance' was actually unintentional. It was, well, a plateau! I was exercising, eating low calories(and feeling slightly hungry ) like how I've lost weight prior to this plateau and the figure on the scale just refused to budge. After one month I finally decided to take it easy on myself; I've became paranoid over every chip and every bit of sauce that it was ridiculous, I couldn't live at ease! I was also so so so so worried that I will never be able to eat proper meals again (I had been eating only fruits/vegetables for lunch), and that I could never have the occasional snack ever again. I caught myself waddling into obsession, and realised that losing weight, had almost became my addiction. So I decided to focus on maintenance instead of losing weight, and I have found beauty and appreciation. I was finally comfortable in my own skin and realised that hitting 'goal weight' was not top priority anymore because I am already strong and happy. I've learnt how to eat intuitively, have an occasional treat, make good food choices and live without obsessing over the scale anymore.

I will probably go back to weight loss mode eventually (for fitness and vanity haha). But as of now I feel awesome in my body, even though I have not hit my goal weight. I would like to know is there is anyone out there who shares the same thoughts and feelings as I do?

I do agree that we can't really predict what our goal actually is. We may think that getting to X weight would make us happy and gorgeous but we might actually achieve those things at a higher weight than we thought. It sounds like the weight that makes you happy was heavier than you expected (although it is totally fine in itself) and I am glad for you. Congratulations!

I was just thinking about this very topic this morning as I was looking in the mirror and seeing the big difference in my body over the last three months. I thought to myself that I am happy how far I've come so far, and how much better I look than I did when I started... but I realize I still have a long way to go. But the point is, to me its not an all or nothing / zero-sum game. I am not going to be unhappy with myself until I reach my goal. Its not like all of a sudden a lightbulb will come on and I will realize that I reached my goal and be happy. On the contrary, I am gradually getting happier with my body as I proceed towards my goal.

Absolutely, it is a gradual increase in happiness as we get closer to our goal. It is the same for me. Well done on your weight loss joefla70!

My goal weight keeps changing, so for me it's going to be more of how "How do I feel?" after I hit 160. My BMI chart says I should be 135, but the trainers at the gym said based on my lean body mass, I should be 160. That sounds incredibly high to me (I'm 5'7"), but 160 has always been my "healthy" goal, and 135 my "vanity" goal. Who knows - maybe I will be happy at 160!

Our GWs are often pulled out of nowhere...maybe some celebrity allegedly weighs that much, maybe it's what a sister or mother or friend weighs, or maybe it's what we weighed when we were 16 and felt attractive. It's definitely good to have something to work towards, but we have to be open to modifying it along the way (and not feeling guilty for doing so!).

We've all got different lifestyles, too - if maintaining a lower weight meant giving up wine, I'd be miserable

Even though I'm short I have been a lot happier since I hit the 160s, I feel like I appear to be a more normal sized person and I am not seen as that fat one as much.

I will feel happier and most content at any weight that just allows me within a healthy range have the figure I have now but more streamlined, doesn't have to be perfect. I'm just looking forward to finding my optimal weight somewhere under 140, I won't torture myself to hit the final pounds, I'll just focus on trying to exercises.

I'm very unsure of my goal weight.

To be honest, I've always been overweight, I think I have a little bit of anxiety that if and when I do lose the weight that I want to lose, whatever that magic number of pounds might be, I might not like the way I look, or I'll look or feel worse about myself more than I already do now, being overweight.

I have a BMI of 37.1 or something according to the calculator I just used. It tells me my ideal medically appropriate weight should be between 118 - 155 lbs. What's nice is it also tells me that the average weight of people my age is 165lbs. I'm shooting for 150, but to be honest, and maybe it's really negative and I shouldn't think this way, I can't imagine being 150. I feel like I'll never weight that, and if I do, I'll be a stick because I have a larger frame.

First things first, see how my first week on weight watchers goes. I'm feeling good and positive. I don't so much want to think about the number, more about being less people and feeling good. First and foremost, get back into the 100's!

As someone who was obese all my life, when I started and set a goal of 165 lbs, it was kind of a dream goal. I NEVER actually expected to reach it. I would have been satisfied with onederland at my starting point (bearing in mind at age 12, I was close to 200 lbs) and never saw onederland after that.

In the 180s, I kind of realized that I didn't actually have a large frame as I'd always thought and that I might have to go lower than 165 lbs to look like what I'd imagined it would look like but 165 still seemed pretty far away. Now holding steady at 153 and trying to get down to the 140-145 maintenance range, I'll admit that there are many days why I wonder why I'm even bothering. I'm content with the way I look and feel now, and it's pretty much all vanity from here on out. The fact is, I thought I looked pretty hot in the 180s, but I like the 150s even better. I'm not sure I'll ever make it down to 140 as I want to or even if I should. I'm getting to that point where I getting veiny on the tops of my hands and feet and look really drawn when I'm tired so it might soon be time to call it goal.

I'd like to weight between 145-150.My original goal weight was 180 lbs.I'm working really hard on firming up, abs are really taking shape so with that i know I can look like i want to.

I like myself now but i never want to think as if I've reached my goal cause I don't want to ever think that I've made it and afraid that I'll stop focusing on what i eat.It'a all psychological for me.

I guess I'll continue to work out and see where it takes me or realizing where eating a certain amount of food,i can hold that weight at..which is what I'm working on.Not eating just to eat.

When i see that I can't eat any less and sustain that weight I won't push so hard.

I 100% get all of this. This is my current journey, actually. Over the last couple of two or three months I am working on not being so crazy about it all. I'm not near my "goal weight" but I'm putting that on the back burner and focusing on the not being crazy aspect of it all.

This is actually a topic I frequently discuss on my site. I had numerous journals, calorie trackers, weight keepers, etc. I wrote down every single calorie consumed, every single fat gram, every single carb, etc. etc. I had stopped enjoying life and became addicted. Now, at 220'ish - I'm working on listening to my body and respecting myself. I'm working on eating when I'm hungry and stopped when I'm full. I worked out 5+ days a week and enjoy it (for the most part. haha!)

I'm learning to live during the journey of it all.

My orginal goal weight was anywhere from 160-175...when I hit 180, I realized that my face was getting thinner as well and a few more pounds lost would have pushed me into looking sickly in my upper body(which is lean from the waist up)....so I decided to try and maintain a weight around 180 which is just at the top of the healthy range for me...and just focus on toning... even if my "Ideal" weight on all the charts is 160 (I would look dead)

TheGreenerSide- I think your post sounds beautiful. Hearing you say you have come to a place where you feel so good, and so good about yourself is incredibly encouraging to me. Honestly I have this fear that I will be one of those women who are never happy with the weight and size I am. I think that finding such contentment and love for yourself is exactly what every woman can hope to achieve someday. No matter what size we take those feelings for. Bravo and thanks for your elloquent post!

I think goal weight can be a range. I've put mine down as 138 but in reality that's actually my highest acceptable weight in my mind. I'd like to be anywhere from 125 to 138. That's my goal range.

I've been thinking long and hard about this lately. When I graduated high school I weighed 220 lbs. I was 270 by the time I was 20 and hit my high weight, 312 lbs, by the time I was 21. I have no idea what 145 will look like on me, I haven't weighed that much since I was 10-11. The only reason it is my "goal" weight is because it puts me in the "healthy" category according to some stupid chart that doctors put way too much stock in. The past few months have been less about the number than just getting strong and it has helped my mood and outlook tremendously. If I hit my goal it's cool but it's easily adjustable up or down so I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.