The panic of the first day of maintenance

Domane1963

I reached my target a fortnight ago and I spent a couple of days telling everyone that my journey was over. It took a while for it to dawn on me that only the first leg of my journey is over and that my continuing one will be as I strive to maintain. Some days are a battle of the sugar and starch demons and some I sail through, eating under my target calories. My body is now used to smaller portions and I truly enjoy the new healthy eating regime that I'd never adopted before.

The euphoria I get from my newly-discovered love of running 5km plus FAR exceeds the high I'd get from stuffing a doughnut - and the subsequent hatred of myself for being so weak.

My brain hasn't caught down yet and I still sit down to my meal thinking "Is that all?" yet when I have eaten it all I now feel surprisingly full and realise that I don't need any more. I still hold up a pair of size 8 (UK) jeans and look at the bum and think "No WAY will they ever fit my ample derriere" and then they slide effortlessly into place. It is going to take me a while to adjust and I'm just going to take it a day at a time. I'm a lifer now and I'm fairly confident that as time passes, things will get easier and I won't feel the blind panic that switching to maintenance has brought on. I read again and again that huge percentages of dieters fail to keep the weight off.... indeed I have BEEN a yo-yo dieter, but I never changed my food intake and lifestyle like I have this time around. I won't take my eye off the ball. Ever. I'm going to need to be vigilant, I accept that.

Skrib69

I know what you mean by maintenance being scary. I have been slowly tapering for the past 4 months and think I have hit the spot. My weight is reasonably steady and I still weigh once a week. Like others, I have my lines in the sand that have been mentioned, and for the most part it seems to be working! Having done this once before, I have no intention of not being in the 5% that maintain it!! Good luck on your journey's end!

arlenem1974

I don't eat clean by any means I have managed to lose 65 lbs. on this site since Sept 2012. I don't plan on changing my eating habits when I go into maintenance. I will continue to log but I wont go crazy if I eat a little more or less then mfp tells me.

pkw58

No panic for me. I just kept logging and set new goals for fitness. However, I did panic when the scale moves up a pound or two. 16 months into maintenance, I am ok with the scale moving up and down a few pounds. I just keep logging.