2011 Resolution met & exceeded. For 2012 I resolve....

tofeelwell

Hi All,

Tomorrow I will begin my second year on MFP! I began with the resolution to lose 20# by May and I did! Not only that but I ultimately reached 27-28# and the need to avoid being too thin, switching fully to maintenance by July.

It had been over 20 years since I last saw these numbers on a scale. I dropped two sizes in pants too. One thing I did was to get rid of all of my fat clothes. It's taking me some time to rebuild my wardrobe, working with my budget, but it is so much fun!!! On the health side, my blood test results were great. Yay!

MFP kept me focused and reinforced my weight-loss discipline. It also gave me experience and tools I can use for life. But as MFP is designed for loss and not maintanence, I had to be a little creative in finding out how it could help me maintain.

> By manually adjusting my calorie target multiple times over several months, I was able to find my daily maintenance target.
> By weighing weekly and using eating disciplines I learned while dieting (and before MFP), I was able to skip recording every meal or every day. If I sensed a weight gain pattern, I made myself record foods once again for a week or so, reinforcing the disciplines and learning more about new foods that had come my way.
> Whenever I cooked a new dish from scratch, I entered it in MFP to use it to define portion size by using calorie and nutrition values.
> I switched my fitness routines to maintenance modes i.e. using basic good health standards to define my weekly goals for cardio and strength. After all, my goal is not to be a swimsuit model. It is to be trim and healthy for the rest of my life. Notably, basic fitness routines do not burn as many calories, a factor to recognize in maintenance!

I return to MFP again today to trim the 3-4# that a month of holiday food and missed exercise sessions gave me. I can see Nov/Dec will be a annual challenge. But the celebration is that I am confident that I can lose those pounts, not something I could have said a year ago. MFP will be my January friend!

I have resolved that my key 2012 fitness adjustment will be a focus on balance. Of all my physical attribures, balance is the weakest. By this time next year, I resolve to be as confident about knowing how to improve and maintain balance as I am about being able to trim back a few pounds. My new Bosu exercise ball and its equilibrium DVD are where I start.

And, of course, I resolve to be able to say, a year from now, that I will be celebrating a full year of successful mainteance.

Best to you all...whatever your goals may be.