What is the best thing about being in maintenance?

I'm not there yet but the thing I look forward to the most is lifting not on a deficit.

Staying awesome! :drinker:

I was on maintenance for about 9 months and I felt I had a lot more options in my life that didn't have food as a issue with it. Now I've decided to lose 5 more pounds to reduce my body fat percentage and I set up my daily food goal to lose a half-pound a week - I think that's a result of maintenance as well because I'm not so frantic about my weight loss goal.

I haven't hit maitenance calories yet but I am working my way there.

So far since I hit maitenance what I have found is the following:

My lifts are better
I have more room for "fun" food...for example this weekend my nephews party...subway and drinks were no issue.
I am getting in more "carbs" ie starches..I ate them before but they were limited.


However my food choices haven't changed nor have the quantities. So that does leave more room for things like ice cream, popcorn, beer etc.

Eating more obviously. But also, just being comfortable in my own skin.

dresses:)

Knowing when I pull those pants out of the closet, they will fit! Oh and defiantly more food.

I had forgotten how pleasant it felt to be looked at. And just feeling GOOD again.

BEER

Eating more, and knowing that I won't have to get rid of any more clothes because they are too big. I can now shop and know I will be able to keep the item of clothing for a long time!

Eating more! Although it was a little tough to get used to at first, it's great to be able to eat more!

Looking/feeling better than I did in high school/college. Back then I was normal size but I had the skinny fat thing going on. I wasn't overly active back then so feels really good to say I'm at the best shape of my life as I get closer to 40! I'm doing things I never could imagine like regular push-ups, pull-ups and power walking 5+ miles straight and still not be overly sore or tired. I'm still pushing myself to reach new goals such as power walking further and faster and to get stronger everyday.

Great hair, nails and skin. Since I'm eating healthier consistently my hair and nails grows really fast and are strong and healthy and my skin has a nice glow it to.

More clothing options! Being a tall plus-sized woman was no fun for me especially since I had to settle for clothes. Now it's nice to be able to walk into any store pull cute clothes or lingerie off the rack and have things look great on me.

Feeling comfortable. This ties into my point above a little, but it's nice not to have to worry about back fat showing through my shirts or having a muffin top when wearing skinny jeans.

I'm so happy to be here and I'm working hard to stay here!

Definitely the 'more food' thing.

It's so do-able! As long as I continue to eat a healthy diet, watch portion sizes, and exercise 90% of the time, the other 10% of the time (restaurant meals out, dinners with friends, ice cream trips) will not and cannot derail my train. As long as I check-in periodically that I still am my now smaller size/weight. it's all good!

doing it this way - you will keep it off. Great Job!

I wouldn't know...hahah! I'm horrible.

Having other people try MFP or some other weight loss method because they've seen you lose successfully and keep it off.

Congrats! That has to be incredibly rewarding. When people stop chasing the diet de jour and start looking into sensible, healthy ways to lose weight because they want to emulate your success, real progress begins.