Bad idea. Weight maintenance is hard. It can be harder than losing weight. What happens when you reach goal and go on maintenance and you get tired of healthy eating so take a sabbatical?

Sure, weight maintenance is hard, but does that mean we should all keep losing weight indefinitely to avoid maintenance? Of course not --weight maintenance is life... the rest of your life. And it's a skill we will all have to learn, unless we just never reach our goals. What's the difference between her maintaining now or seven pounds from now?

Also, I don't think the original poster intended to say she wanted to take a break from healthy eating, only that she didn't want to keep herself at a continuous food deficit. There is no rule that says we must lose all of our weight in one shot in order to keep it off successfully.

My thanks to everyone that has posted in response so far, I really appreciate the thoughts and insights.

I would like to take just a second clarify what I meant and thank Drina for really hitting the nail on the head. I in no way meant that I was going to revert to unhealthy eating habits by taking my little break. Instead, I want to give my body a little bit of time to adjust to the fact that I have lost so much already. I know that the last 10 lbs or so are usually the hardest and I want my body to be prepared for that.

Also, emotionally I need a break from the "weight loss" mentality. I have been working so hard and I just need to back off and find some peace right now. I have started to feel bad about myself (despite the good work I know I've done) because I haven't hit goal and it's been almost a year. I guess part of me just needs to step back and regain the perspective to say: "Wow girl, you have come so far and you know what? You can make it the rest of the way."

I will be eating "maintenance" during this time, upping my calories slightly so that I am no longer eating with a deficit. But again, not returning to old habits. I will also continue to work out and keep up with my generally healthy lifestyle. I definitely haven't viewed this as a "diet" but a true lifestyle change, but our lifestyles have to be flexible enough that we can keep up with them...right?

All the love,
Sidheag

I say, if you do it with such a mindset, then it may work. You just have to be careful to not revolve back, without noticing it, to 'fattening' habits, but it seems you're aware of that risk.

I hear you on the "need a break" bit. I did everything by the book and all I got as a result was to end up on the highway to ****, I mean to an ED. So much for the 'committment' and the 'success' that it was supposed to bring me. Then I got fed up and took a break to work on my problem before it really blew up, and since then, not only has it been quite easy to maintain, but I've even shed a few more pounds (pounds that I didn't manage to lose before, when I was counting and logging my food intake all the time).

If you go on with a healthy and activee lifestyle, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to maintain.