Nervous about reaching goal weight

mbuzalski

I began this MFP journey after I had already committed to losing weight and before Turbo Jam/Fire. I love MFP and owe so much to its accountability. For me, that is a must. I will be a member to come for a very long time, but I'm nervous.

I am not to my goal weight, but I am closer than I have ever been. I have had friends who loose the weight, get to their goal and then it all comes piling back again. As of this morning, I have about 4 pounds to go. What will happen to me??

I know I will continue to log in and workout (I love Turbo Fire). I don't want to get too comfortable and go back the other way.

I would love to hear from those who are currently maintaining or who have the same fears as me.

Thanks for any advice.

lil_pulp

I get it. A few years back, when I was nearing my goal weight, I kind of freaked out and gained back like 10 pounds. With the help of my therapist, I figured out that it had to do with the fact that being overweight had always been part of my identity as well as my role in the family (I was "the fat one" of the 4 kids). I'm still working on this as I continue on with my weight loss, but am slowly adjusting to feeling comfortable being closer to "normal" weight. Feel free to add me as a friend!
-LP

Edit: Upon re-reading your post, maybe your concern has more to do with slacking off once you're at goal...I think as long as you weigh yourself weekly and keep reminders of your motivations and "old body" around, you'll do ok. And you'll always (hopefully) have MFP when things get rough!

emadigan

I am in the same boat. I am also within 4 pounds of my goal weight! And I'm not quite sure what to do once I reach it. Try for more? Work hard at maintaining? How hard is it to maintain?

I've been working on losing weight for approximately 9 months. So it will be strange to not be losing anymore.

I'm terrified of gaining it back. And I don't want to be logging on to MFP forever, you know?

I also look forward to seeing people's responses.

millerll

I reached my goal weight last September. Then I took a good long look at myself and decided I wanted to get my body fat down a little lower, so now I've lost 8 more pounds. I still weigh in regularly, and I still log everything. Once my BF is where I want it, I'm going to try to actually gain some muscle. Yikes! That will take some serious self-control to not freak out when the scale starts to creep up. As long as I keep a good record of my BF, I'm confident I'm not putting fat back on.

Meanwhile, to keep myself sane, I've set some other fitness goals to work on so I don't obsess over food so much. I signed up for a twice-weekly outdoor "boot camp" style class, and I love it! New exercises, and I burn 400 calories in an hour. I was getting bored of the elliptical, so this helps keep it fresh. I've also gotten back into a powerlifting training program, which I used to do regularly many years ago. Again, just something new to work towards.

For now, I'm enjoying clothes shopping and appreciative glances from strangers! Totally worth it! Good luck!

significance

My plan s not to keep logging obsessively once I'm at my goal weight, but to keep exercising restraint and keep weighing myself daily. Any day that I'm over my goal weight in the morning, I will log what I eat that day (with a weight-loss calorie target). That way, I should never get more than a pound or so over. It just remains to be seen whether I stick to this!

__Jackie__

I lost about 70lbs, (5 years ago). I did it through exercise and a healthy diet. I found it was pretty easy to maintain my weight once I got to my goal. I stopped going to the gym, and just watched what I ate and I didn't gain anything back.

However, over the past 2 years I have put almost 15lbs back on because I got lazy and rediscovered my love of pizza and red wine.

You really have to change the way you think about food, going back to old habits certainly will allow the weight to creep back on.

mbuzalski

Thank you for everything. Sometimes it helps just knowing that you are not alone.

Plumpqt

My plan is not to look at this as a diet but as a way of life. I will keep making healthy nutritional choices and stay active. I think that is the only way to look at this because anything else implies stopping once a goal is reached. The real goal should be to continue the awesome changes you have made now for life.