I have been in Maintenance 7 months and find it very easy. To me, it feels like coming home, because I spent my 20's and 30's at this weight -- it is a body I have lived in before. I am wondering whether maintenance is easier if your goal weight is one you have spent time at as an adult as opposed to one that you just passed through on the way up.

Hey good for you 7 months that is great!!

Yes I too, feel just like my old self !
I was lighter, but for me at this stage/age 135 feels grand.

Q" maintenance is easier if your goal weight is one you have spent time at"/Q

Gee I don't think for me that is part of my maintenance success or not??? Never really thought about it that way.
Cheers Kathy

Great question. Most of the reason I wanted the weight off was because that person in the mirror wasn't me. I wanted to be me again. So I guess that for someone who has always struggled with excess weight, the opposite could be true. I've seen a lot of threads on self sabotage where "fear of shedding the weight" is an issue. Some see an advantage in being heavy and "invisible" and fear becoming thin. I'd love to hear the input from folks who've had a more "long-term" struggle.

Not quite at goal yet and not sure if I will get there. It's taken me the better part of three years to get to where I am now.

But as for ever being at goal weight before: Yep. I spent most of my late teens and to when I got pregnant with my first child at age 26 at 110 lbs so it's a weight my body is familiar with. At 113.5 lbs, I am feeling very good and very much like my old self. Never thought I would get to this point as I spent just over a year in the 120-122 lb range.

I can tell you I have absolutely no issues with shedding the weight as it feels like returning to my old physical self. Only this time it's better because I am older, (hopefully) wiser, and much better educated as to what my body rhythms and needs are. For the most part, I feel centered, balanced and much more mindful of what is happening in my life each day!

It's a great, no FANTASTIC place to be!

Kristine, I felt exactly the same way when I started lc: I looked in the mirror and saw a stranger. A stranger with no chin

I'm not sure exactly when I decided I wasn't trying to lose anymore, but it's been months I think. I definitely remember it was when I looked in the mirror and felt like myself again. It's a great feeling.

I agree that this is a good and interesting question. It's a bit hard for me to reply since I I have been dieting off and on for at least 40 years. I now weigh less than I did when I got married for the first time at age 22. But much more (24 pounds more) than I did when I left my husband at age 26. And about the same as I did when I retired 6 years ago. I am now age 60 so you can see how
up and down this has been. I would really, truly. love to stop this yo-yo-ing.

Hi SarahO. Happy Holidays!!!

Kay

Sarah O --
My stranger in the mirror was not one with no chin -- instead, she had a couple of them. After I lost the weight, my mother, who never criticizes me, admitted that she had noticed my double chins when I visited her at my highest weight. I was embarrassed -- somehow I had thought a mother's eyes would see me as I had been at 20 rather than seeing what was plainly in front of her. A mother's love is powerful, but I guess it is not blind.

I was 140-145 lbs all my adult life - since my 20's. 140 every summer, and 145 every winter. At 44 my metabolism slowed down - I gained 35 lbs in two years. This year, at 46 I lost - relatively easily the 35 lbs. The real interesting, my new body very different from my old one. Yes, I read a lot about moving fat, so I hope somehow I will get back my previous form. (I reached my goal weight in September, but still after three month my body changes week by week.)

This is a whole new body for me. I've been up and down since adolescence, but never this slender!
Since this is like a present I never thought I could have, I'm being as fussy as a new Rolls Royce owner. New creams for the face, new clothes for the bod, and my Maintenance has not changed from the regimen that lost me the weight in the first place.
Not only am I a little paranoid about regaining, thus not wanting to mess with a good thing, I actually don't feel tempted by the way I used to eat. This new way is much more tasty AND satisfying.

I'm with Kristine. 19 - 22 years old I was this weight (But not as small ) I had never been "fat" until I late 22 years old. It's easier for me to maintain this than to face that thing in the mirror ever again.

Heh, heh!

Yep, it's true that our bodies do change over time. Even if we manage to maintain the exact same weight range our entire lives, our body fat shifts, our bones shift, etc. so that our shape can actually change. And having children can mean the kiss of death for some women when it comes to weight and shape (speaking from experience).

That's one reason I love doing yoga as I feel it's helping me to maintain what I've accomplished so far and regain the shape I once had--as far as it's possible to do that. Too bad I didn't find yoga 20 years ago!

The main thing is feeling good about what I am doing to help my body be strong, flexible, healthy and balanced.

In 1950 my playing weight for college football was 210 pounds before practice and 200 pounds after practice. In High School Senior year 197 pounds. I realize that was the perfect weight for me but after grauation, marriage and traveling salesman while still eating training table amounts I eventually shot up to 260 pounds and lousy health. I bounced back and forth four times with unrealisic diets such fasting, vegie, low fat, you name it. But now I have the thing that works and I feel great. Atkin's made my life mucho better and I have reclaimed my original body back at 205 and heading for 200. I do keep to the law of the atkin's way with L C, exercise, and supplements.

I have been this weight before but I can't quite remember when. I imagine it was sometime in my twenties. My initial goal was 54kg and I achieved that ages ago and really not that long after I started Atkins (I had already lost a few kilos doing low fat). That was the weight I was before I became pregnant at almost 37 years with my first child. A second child followed fairly quickly after that and my academic prospects came to a full stop.

After maintaining at 54kg for well over a year I decided to go lower and aim for 50kg which I have more than achieved. I am also just 6 months away from gaining my masters degree with double majors.

Way to go Trisha! I will be turning 40 this coming year and I feel great. I know a lot of women who act as if getting older means the end of certain things or a finality that certain dreams need to be let go.

I am feeling like the world is opening up even wider than before and there is so much I want to do and so much possible that it's hard to choose which dreams to follow. With the kids getting a bit more independent as they get older, I feel like the world is opening up again.

You are never to old, eh?

Take care,
Bobbie

Thanks Bobbie! We are certainly never too old to realise new (and old) dreams. I am sure you will enjoy your forties. It has been my best decade so far - I turned 47 last month!

Now my girls are 8 and a quarter, and 9 and a half I too feel I can concentrate more and more on what I want out of life instead of totally catering to their needs. My husband is also taking over the main parenting role more and more, and that gives me more freedom to follow my new career.

By the way, you have been a terrific inspiration to me in this low carb journey! Thankyou!!