Is "maintenance " a BAD thing?

I am so confused.  I have worked so hard, lost the weight, made goal and entered maintenance (a few days ago).  Since then I have been having horrible dreams about being heavy again.  I wake up scared that this is just temporary.  I am afraid to do anything to my meal plan.  I am still losing on my current regimen and have to add a bit to my calories to slow it down.  My initial goal weight was 125 but I think it will be too skinny.  I am looking bony now.

I know this is a good problem...I guess, for the first time in this journey, I feel out of control.  I don't understand it, I thought I would be happy and content.

Ann

I'm about a 1lb from reaching my goal and excited and a bit nervous. I'm not sure how you deal with maintenance, but here are my thoughts.

Because I have always had a goal regarding my body, I think I would feel lost without one. So once I reach my goal weight I am going to focus on inches, buiding up muscle and increasing how long I can run on the treadmill. It will feel GREAT not to say I have to lose X amount of lbs and I still have really great goals that will keep me healthy and naturally keep my weight in control.

I encourage you to take the energy of the fear that this will all go away and use it to energize you to stay motivated, get to know foods (what's healthy, superfoods, good carbs), make fitness goals...really focusing on anything that keeps you healthy. Healthy physically, emotionially and spiritually. And while you are atit enjoy these moments as much as you did your journey!

Yeah for you! Congrats on reaching goal!!!

Thank you Mrs. Floflo!  This is excellent advice!  I did just hire a trainer and she said my body fat percentage is slightly high indicating that I lost muscle in the weight loss process.  I will concentrate on that as my next goal.  As for food, well, adding it goes against everything that my little brain can comprehend.  I have noticed that I am able to eat more at 7 months, and although I do not want to eat til full, perhaps adding a little more veggies and maybe some fruit will help slow the weight loss.

Ann

Yeah! I'm right there with you ... my goal is to add more fruits as well. Go us!

 Love your perspective Mrs Floffo

Thank you!

Ann, this is quite normal and happens to a lot of people. Fear has a way of getting the better of us. When you were working towards your goal you had expectations and something to look forward to. Now that you have made that goal you don't have as many of the SVs to keep you going, keep you positive and keep you motivated. Now the fear creeps in an you create a new goal of not gaining the weight back.

You should definitely do what you need to do to stay healthy and maintain the weight because being underweight is just as dangerous healthwise as obesity. But, it is good to have the mentality that you remember the old body with the weight. I know from yo-yoing in the past that once I reach goal, my mind forgets and acts like I was naturally thin, I would through my new habits out the window and a couple of months later I was heavy or even heavier than before I started the process. So never forget and don't obsess. You worked very hard to get where you are. You deserve all of the good health and good things that you have worked towards. I think we expect to be immediately happy, because of course the weight is what caused all our problems right? But, that isn't the case. Someone always posts on here that half of the battle of obesity is a mental battle. Even though you are now at goal and you have fought the physical battle, the mental battle is a whole other issue.

Good luck, you will do great!

Thank you Tirza T. !!  I really had tunnel vision in this process, with my mantra as "stay the course".  I did not change anything in my eating plan and the weight fell off.  Go**** is like my brain can't live without drama....JUST BE HAPPY BRAIN!!!  

Ann

 Love this

Go**** is like my brain can't live without drama....JUST BE HAPPY BRAIN!!!    

I think it needs to be a slogan for a t-shirt, lol!

I found it a *****allenging mentally to deal with the 180 degree change in going from the losing to the maintenance stage. You have to allow yourself to increase calories/fat/carbs in order to stop losing. However, if you make your adjustments in small increments, it's not as much of a worry as if you just stopped cold turkey. Keep weighing/measuring and logging your intake. Increase 100 calories a day for a week and see how it goes. Make small corrections until you find the happy place where you are maintaining. I generally get 1500-1800 calories and 80-100 carbs (usually 100ish). I still try to get 80 protein and plenty of fluids. Instead of a particular goal weight, I try to stay within a range. Might as well, since it fluctuates daily! I am generally between 134-137 and have been for 7 months. I do have occasional bad days (like at Christmas), but I make it a point to be very cautious the few next days.