I feel funny posting this since I’ve considered myself a maintainer for some time now. I started my new lifestyle (eating right, exercising) in 9/2002, and I’ve lost approx. 40+ lbs. since then, going through months of losing as well as months of maintenance. I feel that I’ve finally stopped the yo-yo syndrome because this 2 yrs., 1 ½ months is a record for me as far as sticking to a program. Also, I really consider my way of eating and my exercise routine part of my lifestyle now, and I don’t really feel deprived or resentful of either.

Throughout this whole process, 135 has been the number I’ve had in my head as my goal weight. When I got down to 145, I felt that I looked pretty good, so I got a bit looser with my eating. However, I continued to lose weight VERY slowing despite the looser eating; I attribute this continued weight loss with an upping in the intensity of my exercise program. I realized the other day that I haven’t weighed 140 in a pretty long time (at least 4-6 weeks). As of this morning, I’m 137. The odd thing is that I was thinking to myself this morning, “Well, I guess I actually can get to 135. What do I do then?” I was actually taken aback with myself as this thought went through my head. I mean, I kind of thought I was in de facto maintenance mode for nearly a year now, but the “What do I do” question sounds like a question that someone who is new to maintenance would have. Nevertheless, I feel as if when I do reach that 135, I won’t have any more weight loss goals to meet. I’ll even go so far as to say that I may be inadvertently sabotaging myself so that I can continue to have a goal. For example, I weighed myself on Wednesday a.m. and I was 136.6. For some stupid reason, I pigged out all day on Wednesday (not binging, mind you, but eating far more than I should have and things that I would normally try to avoid, at least during the week: 2 servings of Cheetos, 2 ½ homemade peanut butter cookies, etc.). On Thursday a.m., I was 138.6 (I know that I can’t gain 2 lbs. overnight, so I realize that much of it was water weight). This seemed to be the impetus I needed to clean up my eating. I did better yesterday (mainly because I was so bloated & full from Wednesday that I had to eat light), and today I’m at 137.

I know I can easily lose those last few pounds, but it’s almost as if I need that goal in order to keep going. It’s as if I need to have that carrot dangled in front of me.

Can anyone relate to this? Any suggestions?

Hi vmelo
We had a thread last week on trigger situations: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48400
I think you fell into the "success" or "complacency" pit. My guess is that we've all done it. You've been reading and posting on this forum since its birth, so you know that for most of us maintenance look just like the weight loss phase. Easier for some than others, but no one has been able to go back to their previous lifestyle without the obvious consequences.

If you are still losing weight but don't want to be, start adding a few extra healthy calories. If you aren't a counter, just add an extra serving of something and see what it does over a 2 week period. Since I've NEVER lost weight without really working at it, the concept of conciously adding food to stop losing is a bit foreign to me

Once I reached goal on the scale, the goal changed, because I really didn't like the body I saw in the mirror. My goals then became more fitness oriented: drop my body fat instead of scale weight (build more muscle), run a marathon (incompatible with muscle building goal and really boring, but I did it), and STAY AT GOAL! For me, that is a daily series of conscious decisions.

How do you like your body at this weight/composition? If it's where you want to be, then start experimenting on how to stop losing by adding food. If you arbitrarily picked a number or used WW or some other chart that was not specific to you, maybe it's not right for you. Or maybe you are just where you should be, and need to focus on learning how to live there.

Take a look through the thread I mentioned, as well as wandering through some of the others- there's a lot of good info buried in this forum.

Mel

I've been working at it for a shorter time than you have, but I've pretty much reached the same place. I'm still losing weight, maybe a lb every 2 weeks, but then every few weeks I'll eat more than I should for a day or two, which puts me back up a lb or 2 and I then slowly lose it only to regain again. I'm not sure that this isn't a relatively normal or sustainable approach to weight maintenance though, at least for me, as long as my weight stays within my goal range and my clothes still fit.

I'm trying to set new, fitness related goals for myself instead. Reaching those goals will be easier at my current weight and with mostly good eating habits, but weight is not the focus of the goals. I want to run further and faster, and attempt a 1/2 marathon, probably next august. I also want to start to work on toning my midsection, which has taken a beating through my pregnancies. My weekly yoga class is helping me become more flexible, which I see as important for longterm health.

I see my taking care of my body as an ongoing project. Something like housework, it's never really finished, just sometimes the focus shifts from major spring cleaning to laundry and minor picking up. I still need to keep an eye on my diet and weight, but I can now switch my main goals to fitness related ones. I like seeing what new things I can accomplish physically.

Thanks, Mel and OnlyMe. Mel, LOL, I started that trigger thread! I'm definitely in complacency mode now. I do think I need to reshift my focus to concentrate less on scale weight and more on fitness goals. I'm just trying to decide what fitness goals I want to attain! I kind of feel like I'm ending where I began: when I first started this new way of life, I decided not to focus on weight loss as my primary goal (although, I certainly needed it) but to focus on health instead. Somewhere between the beginning and now, though, weight loss did become my primary goal (I guess once my weight was down to a reasonable level, I wasn't worried about health anymore). Now, I need to emulate that early period by focusing on something other than weight loss. Like you, Mel, I'm not thrilled with my body. It definitely needs some toning and tightening, which is why a fitness goal would work well.

OnlyMe, I love your housework analogy. I'm going to keep that in mind.

Ditto what Mel and OnlyMe said! I haven't had a "weight loss" goal in well over a year, but with my fitness goals (run a 5K, a half marathon, take up spinning, and so on and so forth), I've continued to lose weight and tighten up. I've come to realize there will never be a point at which I say, "done! that's what I've been working to achieve all along!" - as each goal is reached, another one will be lurking closely behind Congrats on your success thus far!

LOL,vmelo! I didn't even look to see who had started that thread, just remembered that there were so many good posts there
One of the things things that Only Me touched on in her post was something that I meant to say also: for most of us maintenance isn't really having the scale glued to one number. I equate it to yo-yo dieting, but the string is only 3 pounds long for me. I think that's probably true of naturally thin folks too. It never happened to me, but I'm sure I've heard someone say "no thanks, I ate so much yesterday, I'm just not very hungry today." The only real difference is that I have to consciously do that, keep the running tally of calories, carb and protein grams going in my head.

Sounds like it's time to pick some new fitness goals and congratulations

Mel