I find the hardest part of maintenance is being comfortable with just being ok. For so long I have only wanted to be thinner. But every time I get to my goal, I sabotage myself so that I gain a few pounds and want to be thinner again, keep striving for it. Now that I've finally accepted that sugar and starch are poison to me, I dont't mess around with them anymore and I can tell that I will be able to hold myself here now. The problem is that I find his place very uncomfortable. It's like, Now What? What do I work toward now? It's hard for me to accept myself as being just right and simply live happily with it. This is really twisted psychologically, but it is very real. Did anyone else experience this when you got to maintenance, do you still fight it, and how did you get past it?

I was.... dumbfounded when I got to my goal weight. But no, it wasn't tough for me to accept it. In fact, allowing myself to balloon back up, THAT'S whats eating at me.

Be proud of what you've done, treasure and protect it.

For me maintenance has been a big adventure and I am not over the joy of it yet after getting on for a year. I think everything changed for me in the first few weeks of my original low-carb diet. Giving up so much processed food at once seemed to free me from the drive to overeat, and it's been the same ever since. I'm not counting my chickens, though; I need to keep this up for life and I do not trust myself at all.

I still feel there is plenty to work towards. I work towards keeping my weight level, and so even if this is a bit like treading water, it's is still much preferable to drowning.

I don't have the twisted psychological thing that you say you have. Maybe this is because I am a bloke and so society doesn't make me self-conscious about looks the way it does with women. Even though I am pleased to be slim at last, I never valued myself by my appearance when I was overweight and so I do not now. I am the same person, either way.

I did not experience a feeling of "Now What?" either. I was just SO happy to get to goal - AGAIN. My focus became on what I could do for myself to keep myself at goal long term.

I will say that after getting to goal the end of 2011, I experienced a LOT of health issues almost the entire year last. So I did have something to focus on and work toward - improving my health. I'm still in the midst of it now. So maybe that helped me be comfortable with the fact that my weight goal had been met, I don't know.

Is there a hobby you could pick up and conquer? Something else to focus your attention and energy on?

I think I am understanding htis- do you mean now that you are not LOSING ...now what? Is this IT?
I felt that way. There is so much support and so many books and articles on LOSING and almost nothing on maintaining. Look at this site alone!
It is about acceptance for me- and it is a very different set of skills to maintain long-term than to lose short-term.
Welcome and hope this area on the site helps.
Demi puts some of the REFUSE TO REGAIN blogs here too- might want to lok at those.
E

It's like Freckles said, I need something else to immerse myself in. This has been my focus for so long and even at goal I find myself purposefully cheating so I will gain three pounds and have to work on it again. Watching the scale move around seems to be the game I play, but inevitably it leaves me hating myself for a few days. Being at goal feels great, but maybe less of a thrill than losing is.

Maybe not less of a thrill....just a different kind of thrill.

Enomarb is correct about maintenance being an entirely new ball game. It was very helpful for me to read, read, read in this specific forum. Join the weekly weigh-in thread and make it your goal to keep your weight steady there each week. That really has been a huge help to me to stay accountable.

And find something new to draw your attention away from wanting to gain so you can lose!

Hi! I am not goal yet but I'm already thinking about how maintenance will be. I am pretty antsy anyway so I need goals and things to occupy me. I find knitting a good therapy. Not everyone's cup of tea, I know, but wanting to finish the garment is a bit like wanting to lose weight. You really want to get there. And when it's done you can always start another. I also study in my spare time, though I'm getting a bit tired of that as I'm on my third masters now!
Anyway, I hope you manage to maintain and when I get to goal I'll see if I can do the same!

I found the weigh-in thread, but I don't know how to post it. Can you help me.

Go to VERY last post in the thread. Do not use the quote button. Copy the list (make sure you get the whole list) from the last post. Click on "post reply." Paste the list into the text box. Add your name (in alphabetical order). Add the dots up to the most recent date and then type in your weight.

Double check to ensure that you have not dropped anyone or their weigh-in from the list by previewing your post and comparing it to the last list posted. (Sometimes people end up posting at the exact same time.)

If you need any more help or have any questions let me know, or you can ask for help within the thread. I would add you, but it's better for you to learn how to do it now.

Thnks. I'll give it a try. I don't think I can do it with my ipad, so I'll have to wait until I can get to the pc again.

I'm also not at goal yet, but I can easily understand what you are talking about. I spend so much time tweaking my diet and thinking about weight loss, that when I do get there I think I will also feel a kind of void. Thanks for posting this- now I'll be thinking of ways to combat that in advance.

I recall expressing the same things when I first made my goal in 2005. Losing weight and seeing the scale go down is a rush. Id get up daily and relish in getting on the scale and the high it gave me. It was very empowering!
Then, I got to my goal and now what? There are aspects about maintenance that can be wonderful but the rush and the high from seeing loss on the scale is not going to be one of them any longer.
Staying the same became its own reward. Not having to see if my clothes fit from season to season has become a big deal to me.
Before, my clothes were always too tight from year to year. I had several sizes in my closets and drawers. It was always the dryer that made them shrink!!
So, I get on my scale and stay within my weight range. +/- 3 lbs is what I allow myself. I'm deeply grateful for this new state of mind. Do I think that my body could be better? Of course I do! But I'm still happy with what I've managed to accomplish.

It's encouraging to hear someone else had those feelings. Thanks for posting.

I find that the thrill is that day in and day out I'm keeping it together on my maintenance plan. It's the thrill that the weight remains steady, the clothes fit, and that I really am working maintenance. The thrill that I have the tools and hopefully the mind set to make this my permanent way of life and what to do if my weight does creep. The thrill that I finally "got it" that this is my way of life for life if I want to stay maintaining and in good health.

I'm 53 years old. Like Judy, yeah, my body could be better if I worked really hard at it. I'm not willing to work that hard. I don't feel like I need to strive for the perfect body. I have breasts that are saggy, some cellulite on my thighs, and still have some fat at my waist. I can live with it. I'm in excellent health, menopausal, and active. It's all good.

I never experienced the "Now What". I was so grateful to have gotten to goal this third (and hopefully) and last time, there was no "Now What".

I guess for me, I wouldn't play it fast and lose gaining pounds to lose them...I had to work to hard to lose them in the first place. Maintenance for me is a good place to be.

Progress not perfection.

Lisa