Maintainers - how do you keep your head in the game?

My goal weight is 125. I’m 5’2” and 64. From Halloween through Thanksgiving I basically ate a ton of candy and lots of pies and sweets. I gained 4 pounds and right after Thanksgiving I decided enough was enough, I’d gone a pound over my range, and needed to do what I know I can do.

I slowly have lost a pound and have my mind back in the game. No rush and no panic. No kicking myself for totally derailing for 4 weeks. This is a new tactic for me. So far so good. I’m aiming for 125 to be the middle of my range, the the point I can gain from.

I had a very low point in my life before I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis and chronic migraines (they were undiagnosed because they were atypical at the time). I was also at my heaviest.

The quality of my life has so vastly improved since then, but more than that, the way I lost weight was a process of forming habits. Everything I did then I do now just with more calories. It's just my life now.

I'm gonna say the opposite of what a lot of people on here are saying.....I stopped logging!

Not to say I'm not mindful of what I'm eating but I reached a point where I'm quite familiar with the nutritional content of foods (e.g. choosing a homemade flatbread sandwich (175-200 cal) over a pre-prepared one (some can be 500 cal for the sandwich alone)) so I choose when I can have a seemingly large portion or when a portion is actually much smaller than people think and have an idea of how much I personally need in a day. In a way I guess I mentally log but it's not precise or rigid or accurate.

I have to say I also utilise ready meals. They get a lot of stick (and I hate the amount of plastic packaging) but they have the nutritional info on them so if I've had a massive lunch and want a low cal dinner to contrast then a ready meal is the easiest way for me.

I eat 3 proper meals plus snacks and desserts everyday, I stay within a 5 lb range and weigh myself periodically (not every day or every week. It can vary from twice a week to twice a month) to make sure I'm not ballooning. I would actually like to gain weight in muscle but given how little exercise I'm currently doing, I know any weight gain is pure fat and no muscle!

I just tell myself that I can either live to eat or eat to live. In my case I simply remind myself that the alternative is diabetes and generally poor health. It keeps me on track no matter what.

Unfortunately many people don't do a course correction, as it were, until they are already way off the map!

After 40 years of yo yoing weight and obese at the age of 63 I totally walked away from dieting to lose weight and keeping it off.

After 4 years my health and health markers are better than in years eating in the 2000-3000 range daily. The first year I did drop 50 pounds of weight and have maintained that loss for the past three years.

Getting rid of a lifetime of cravings/pain the first month of my new Way Of Eating I think was key in my case.

Clearly people maintain in many different ways so the key seems to be to find the WOE that gives one the best health with little to no thought being required. Now that I can eat all I want when I get hungry keeps me from thinking about food all of the time when I was dieting to loss weight and always hungry and thinking about FOOD.

Clear and meaningful health outcome goals did it for me but the brain does not refocus overnight so give it time.

I have lost a total of 98 pounds and I have been maintaining since last summer. I'm sure everyone has a different method they use as a motivator. I personally, look at before/after pics (of myself) when I feel and know I'm not sticking to my clean eating and/or locking on my workouts.
I talk to myself (yes, and when alone I talk to my self at loud...LOL) I tell my body that this is a new life style and there is no going back, so it needs to get it together and stick with the program
I go on Instagram to look and follow some people that post their success stories and share their struggles and that tends to work. I also go online to "pretend" I'm shopping for different clothes and swimsuits, I add my favorite items to the cart and when done I just log out...LOL
I take pictures of the meals I prepare for the day... when I feel like not cooking or I find myself reaching out for the wrong foods, I go to my gallery and look at all the meals I have previously cooked and it helps as a reminder that I can do it and therefore there are NO excuses.
I jump on the scale at least twice a month. Seeing an specific number on the scale helps but it is not my main motivator.. now that I'm at "maintenance" stage it is more about fitting in my clothes comfortably. Your clothes are a good indicator if what you are doing is working or not. Lastly, talk/hang with those that have the same goal as you, those who are going to motivate you, give you ideas and push you to move forward!!

Being on Maintenance can be a PITA but it’s better than trying to reach my Goal Weight.

When I lost-100Lb at age 67 in 2015 I made my Goal to not gain back like I did my whole life.

Then I reached GW 3/29/18 I made myself to stay below Goal Weight. Life at Goal is better but it doesn’t solve everything. At age 71 I now weigh half my Starting Weight (376)
so I can be proud of myself.

SW 376 (2013 joined WW)
GW 184 (2018)
CW 178

I don't mean for this to be a downer post but it is definitely a reason to keep your head in the game. We had a coworker drop dead of a heart attack yesterday right at the end of work. She was a dear, wonderful person. She was also technically obese, hypertensive, and had other weight related issues. There is an added health risk associated with being overweight. Yesterday I saw a possible consequence. It's a reality check to what may have been my future had I not taken control of my weight. None of us know the future, but we do know that maintaining a healthy weight lowers our risk of this kind of outcome. Stay the course y'all.

I’m in the 120’s lbs (high 120”s but whatever) I never in my wildest dreams thought I could get back down to this. I love the thought of it and how much energy I have now, the new wardrobe I don’t want to grow out of and how proud my family is of me. Looking at before pics and reading the NSV thread everyday help remind me what I worked so hard for and generally keep me in check. Not to say that there aren’t times when I slip, I just don’t let it get to far before correcting.

I do monthly challenges with a friend to change it up and keep accountable, try to set new goals regularly, even look for a new healthy recipe to try so it stays in the back of your mind to be healthy and make good decisions.