Life after reaching your weight loss goal.

Mateo1985
Mateo1985 Posts: 153
edited September 24 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello there guys,

Just wanted to ask what you guys do after or will do when you reach your weight loss goal? I mean obviously no one plans to get back to their former eating habbits because that's what got us to wanna lose weight in the first place. But still...
After 5 months and 35 pounds lost my eating habbits have changed automatically but you know how sometimes you just wanna have something that you know is against your goal. Like a beer with friends, or a cheesecake, or what ever the case may be. What do you guys do in those situations? Obviously everyone wants to maintain their new weight so how do you guys go about enjoying things like that after all the hard work put in?

Thanks.

Replies

  • ajbeans
    ajbeans Posts: 2,857 Member
    I have a feeling I'll still be logging and tracking. It makes it easier for me to eat the right balance of things rather than living on toast. But by then, since I'll no longer be trying to lose, my daily calorie goal will be a bit higher, so that will be nice. And I won't deprive myself of a treat now and then -- but I don't deprive myself now.
  • papastu
    papastu Posts: 737 Member
    I think i'll keep tracking on here because I lost 3 Stone doing Weight watchers but then it crept back on, this is more of a change of eating habits for me rather than a fad

    Stu
  • NoMoreThickyMickey
    NoMoreThickyMickey Posts: 73 Member
    I have a really long way to go until I reach my goal but once I do hit it, I want to continue to log in my calories and exercise. MFP does make it easier for me to see my progress and I like that my numbers are going down.... Not only that I love the encouragement and I love be supportive to all my MFP friends. MFP is like Facebook for me. I'm on here more than I am on that website.
  • taiyola
    taiyola Posts: 964 Member
    Persue my career even more!

    In regards to food, I would put money on me still logging in and keeping track of what I eat. Like someone else said, I don't deprive myself now, and I wont do then, either. :wink:
  • LindaSueBakk
    LindaSueBakk Posts: 145 Member
    You can still enjoy a beer or a piece of cheesecake (probably share the cheesecake with someone to halve the calories! ;-)). You just can't drink a couple of beers every night or eat cheesecake every week. I'm still about 15 pounds from my goal. Wednesdays I don't track calories or exercise, but try to just stay on track. Saturdays I track calories but not exercise. I think most of us have to wean ourselves from logging at some point. But I do have a MFP friend who hit her goal a few months ago and still checks in with everyone several times a week. I plan on being here for years - love my friends too much to lose touch!!!
  • ltlemermaid
    ltlemermaid Posts: 637 Member
    Once I reach my goal, I still plan on tracking my calories and what I eat/drink to make sure I am maintaining the weight. Even now I have the occasional beer/drink and food I know is not good for me--but its not every day or every meal so I am ok with it. You can't avoid eating out completely especially when friends are involved all the time.
  • arskaji
    arskaji Posts: 2 Member
    In December 2008, I weighed about 300lbs. Being a 6'2" male meant that yeah, I was definitely fat. I grew up in an environment that used food as a crutch ("oh, what a horrible day, time for cake" or something similar) and being a listless kiddidn't help.

    Due to a nasty breakup and some personal revelations, I managed to drop about 90lbs of that fat over the next year, at my lowest being about 205. I bulked up quite a bit as well, as I was on a vigorous strength regimen.

    Then I was injured, and more nasty breakups (though my sex life was dramatically improved, as you can imagine), and I slowly gained 70 of those pounds back (of which I've lost seven in the last couple weeks, thanks to this site).

    What's the moral of this story? Please keep tracking your calories and weight after achieving your goals. It is really easy to slip back into old habits and undo all of the good you did for yourself.
  • Wakx
    Wakx Posts: 105 Member
    Hi Mateo,

    As they say, it's not the destination but the journey that counts. Once you reach destination, surely you deserve a big piece of cheese cake. Only then to set a new goal.

    Starting with 81kg, and now 35 pounds less, there's not much left from you anyway ;) Congratulations by the way. Perhaps it's an idea to start shaping up with weight lifting? Or, otherwise, take a break from the weight issue and decide to read three really good books.

    As for myself, I have set myself a target for a physical exercise that requires me to lose another 5 (best) or 10 (worst case) kilos. By the time I reach that, I think might go a bit easier on myself again.
  • ace175
    ace175 Posts: 518 Member
    bump
  • scagneti
    scagneti Posts: 707 Member
    I'm within 15 pounds of my goal so I'm thinking about how to spend the time I won't be focused on losing. I'm not depriving myself at all (haven't really been even eating that "clean") so I know that I could live the rest of my life eating the same way. I'm LOVING exercising so I'll be keeping that up and it'll be nice enough to consistantly walk to and from work (public transit sucks) so I'll likely be looking at around 2200 calories a day to maintain my 128-130 lbs. That's ample space for a beer or sweet here or there!
  • Mateo1985
    Mateo1985 Posts: 153
    Thanks a lot for the imput guys. Lots of valuable information. I was on 1200 calories for a while there. Around 3-4 months. I'm now slowly increasing my calorie intake by 100 calories every two weeks. I'll keep on monitoring my weight. Once I reach 2000 calories a day I'll start weight lifting as well. So that way there should be some place for that cheesecake once in a while lol

    Thanks a lot guys!!!
  • daddyratty
    daddyratty Posts: 305 Member
    You already have some good ideas. I think monitoring your fitness and weight levels are key, and making gradual changes instead of just blowing off a day or a week, etc.

    Yesterday, for example, I had 131 calories left, and my wife and I wanted to enjoy a couple shows, so I knew I had just enough to enjoy the last couple squares of chocolate she'd gotten me for V-Day and a dark beer to go with it. The two combined were 245 calories. I wasn't too worried about going 114 calories over for the day, but I'll just keep this in mind over the next two days or so that I should end up ~70 under each day to make up for it.

    You still are in charge. You can still go out for dessert or a drink or whatever, but maybe get the dessert and cut it in half (or even thirds or fourths!). Get one drink instead of 2 or 3. These little changes can make a world of difference, and if you're conscientious of what you're doing, you can self-adjust your calorie limits over the following 2-3 days to make up for it. Just so long as you don't keep "borrowing" future days' calories.

    Or, if you go over a certain calorie amount, add a little bit to your next workout. I don't know what others think about this, but I've gone back 1 day (no more than 1) to add in exercise if it would put me back under my calorie limit. Right now running/walking burn calories fairly quickly for me, as I'm 276 pounds. I get about 150 calories per mile walked, and over 200 per mile jogged right now. So, for instance, if I run 3 miles, and it burns 600 calories, and I was 200 calories over yesterday, I'd put in 10 minutes or so of jogging on yesterday's log, and the other 25 minutes on today's. Again, though, I don't think this would be justified if it were 2 or more days distant.
  • Mateo1985
    Mateo1985 Posts: 153
    Thanks a lot!!!
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