Maintenance and my story

O.K, Here are my thoughts on maintenance so far. I am within 1 pound of my weight last year, which is about when I reached my goal weight, so I basically have stayed the same this past year.
I know a lot of people say maintenance is harder than the actual losing, and I am sure this whole process is different for everyone, but for me it has not really been much different.
I think a lot of people think when you get to your goal, it is all over. I have seen so many people get to their goal weight, leave and are back a year later gaining everything they lost back plus more. That will not be me. I know if I leave or go back to my old ways, the same thing will happen to me.
In the beginning, I had no interest or knowledge in diets. I knew I needed one, but did not interest me. I was happy with my biscuits in the morning, cheese steaks for lunch, Reese cups in the afternoon and baked ziti and garlic rolls for dinner and maybe ice cream for dessert. Then I had a stroke, gained 50 pounds getting up to 282 pounds, and knew I needed to do something before I had another stroke.
So a friend told me about Myfitnesspal, I glanced at it, started playing with it, thought it was kind of fun and trying to stay within my calories it said I was allowed, and there I went. A challenge to stay within my calories. I love challenges. Then I got a fitbit and tried for 1,000 steps, then 5,000, then 10,000 a day, oh another challenge. Let me beat the day before. I started losing weight and having fun. Then I met a lot of you, talking to people all over the world, more motivation. 1 ½ years later, lost 132 pounds, at my goal and still motivated. Now the supposed hard part. MAINTENANCE!!

I started off thinking now what? Eat more so I stop losing and hold my weight where it is? Eat the same and walk less to stay the same? Eat a little more and walk a little less to balance it out? I started out walking the same as I know there are other benefits to walking and up my calories a little, thinking this is cool, more calories. I like maintenance, I was happy with the calories was eating all along, so this is great! I continued logging to make sure I was doing ok. I continued talking to friends on here. The weeks passed, doing ok, the months passed, still ok and now its about a year, and still fine. The reason I think I have done ok, is because I learned so much in the last 2 ½ years on here. I learned about what I need to do to keep things in balance. Things I never knew or cared about before. I learned how easy it is to add a pound and how hard it is to take a pound off. I learned if I want to be bad, work to burn the calories first and use the food I want as a reward. I learned what it feels like to feel normal in social places like airplanes, ball games, movies, restaurants or malls. So for me maintenance has been pretty easy. I now know how much I can eat, how much exercise I need, the motivation I get from all of you, the desire to not feeling the way I did when I started, It is all about knowledge and desire. Before I had neither and once I started, I quickly had the desire and from everyone on here, I obtained the knowledge. So when you reach your goal, just remember, it is not the end! It is something to celebrate that you reached your goal for sure, and it is time to take what you have learned during your journey to stay at that weight....Is it easy, no, is it rewarding, oh yes!!! Will it be a struggle for me forever? No, because I now know enough to never let myself to be in that position again….As hard as the journey may be, is as rewarding knowing you accomplished something and are better physically and mentally for your friends, your family, and most of all, YOURSELF!!

Marty

P.S. - sorry so long but hopefully this can help someone. Fell free to contact me any time if you would just like to talk!!