2 years of maintenance - 130+ pounds lost

I feel the exact same way as you! I'm not on a diet I'm making healthier choices. I can eat and drink anything I want I just don't have to eat massive amounts of it. Thanks so much for posting all of this and congratulations. I'm at 279 down from 303 very early in my weight loss I still have a 100 more pounds to lose. Thanks for the encouragement.

Thank you. I love the sense of joy in your journey - very inspiring!!

Thank you for sharing this. It's everything I needed to hear. I'm so glad you didn't need to "go off a diet". It's really all about changing habits. THANK YOU!

Thank you for sharing this. I have to go back and read them again and take notes. Lots of good information. Thank u so much!

OK. You said it all.. Can I give you a hug ? You are so generous. I don,t know what else to say. You inspire me. See you in a year

You are amazing and should be very proud of yourself. Everything you said makes sense and thank you for taking the time to write it all down and share with others needing inspiration and hope that change is possible!

"My advice to you is to start living like the person you want to be and let the rest fall into place.

In other words, don't do anything to lose weight that you don't want to do forever. I'm not here to cast judgment on low carb, low fat, Paleo, etc - fine. If it works for you, that's fantastic.

But you don't need to go on a macronutrient-banning fad diet in order to lose weight. I'm living proof. The way I ate and exercised was so sustainable that I wasn't excited to "go off my diet" once I reached goal weight. There was nothing to go off of, and the weight loss phase was not miserable. I ate plenty, moved the right amount, and felt so amazing I didn't want to go back to my old ways. All I did was eat a little more to erase my deficit.

And that's it. The transition to maintenance was seamless. And frankly, I found it pretty easy.

It's okay to like food.

I see it here a lot. The idea that only weak people need a "cheat" day and that food is fuel and nothing more and that we need to break our emotional connection to it in order to lose weight."

THAT and love yourself at any size. Excellent read, the best I have found in MFP so far. And well explained why this is it. I have to say it does click in different people differently, and that is ok, figuring out by yourself , not Oprah, not weight watchers, nobody, but yourself, what works sustainable for the rest of your life.

Thanks Shannon. You still around?

Hi, you may not know this, but you wrote this for me! Thank-you!

Amazing!!

You're a great writer!

Amazing post, thank you so so much

Thanks for bumping this. What a fabulous post/article. So beautifully written, I could hear you as I read it. I too lived in Minnesota (loved it). Now in Cambridge, England - bit different outside but the same issues inside. I spent years thinking I couldn't eat this, that or the other. I now have a much better relationship with food, eating truffles last night but logging them and still under my goal due to exercise. I exercise for three reasons; first is for mental well being, second is for the joy of being able to move under my own steam and feel free and the third is so that I can eat something delicious without feeling I have to deprive myself! Please add me as a friend

fitoverfortymom wrote: »

This post should be required reading for every new MFP member.

Agreed. This is one of the first posts I read when I first joined and it was really so motiviational. It made everything so clear and it was a joy to read.

Congrats on your loss- you deserve all the best - great tips here for many ppl to read, adapt and use!