I never have time at the end of my day to post more than yes x 3. I do have time at the beginning for my day to reflect and share though.

First, the business end: April 16 and 17 I neglected to check in, but yes x 3 for those days!

I’ve recently adjusted my target rate of loss. I had been losing around 1.5 lbs a week. It was going fine, not feeling difficult because I’m training for a half marathon so getting in plenty of exercise calories these days. On long run days, it’s easy to get enough calories to bank for a rainy day (I make sure to use them the next day or two).

But now that I’m about 20 lbs from goal, I’ve raised my target calories. This has been an adjustment, as it has actually made me more hungry. I know that’s common.

I’ve still stayed within my calories each day (a couple of times of banking one day and using the next), and my only pass so far was when I didn’t log everything (it was a party food situation, so lots of bites. I tried my best to remember them all and guesstimate, but I counted that day as a pass).

As luck would have it, after 2 weeks of raising my calories (I’m still at a deficit that should have me losing between .5 and 1 lb/ week, I’m up 2 lbs. But I’m trying not to fret and to wait for things to even out. I think it’s more related to my menstrual cycle than anything else.

I’m enjoying the Accountability Challenge! I think it will help me with Easter weekend visiting family!

Yes x 2 + No x 1 (exercise short again today).

Busy work day because went out with family to see "Life of Brian". 40 years on, its still good (and funny). First time my daughter had seen it and loved it. Especially the graffiti part where "it say's 'Romans go Home' : ' No it doesn't' ". It reminded her of language lessons and learning German.

Easter weekend. Lunch with friends tomorrow, but I hope to both walk and fly in the morning before going out.


@BMcC9. Having been in maintenance for a while. I found it a whole different challenge to losing weight.

Losing weight the focus is on eating right and activity to show movement in the scale. The first three months of maintenance IS THE SAME AMOUNT OF WORK, but without the scale movement (and the occasional comment of how good you look and "have you lost weight"... etc...)

Those first three months is finding that equilibrium and how to keep it without bouncing up or down. It is hard work. There is the lingering "I need to eat less" and "This will blow my budget", "I have not done enough exercise", etc. You will still look in the mirror and still see things you want to improve. Spending time working on your perception of yourself during maintenance is a necessity.

After three months it starts to become routine and you get used to how you are. Your habits and preferences are usually settled and things start to happen largely on auto-pilot. After those three months, I found I still needed to keep track of things (like weight and eating) so that I would not wind up in a slow drift back into my previous habits of a lifetime.

The longer you are in maintenance, the less you drift.

The hardest bit to understand is that being at goal weight, YOU ARE STILL THE SAME PERSON!!

If you were insecure before losing weight, you will still be insecure once it's lost. If you worried about your looks, you still will be. If you were shy, you will remain shy.

If you saw yourself as "fat" you will still see yourself as "fat" (even though you are not). This is why most need to spend time correcting their personal perceptions once hitting goal. It's one thing to see the number on the scale. It's a totally different thing to believe it and feel like it.

(Over a year after reaching beyond my initial goals I STILL struggle with this one. I have days I "perceive" myself as overweight even though I am bordering on "underweight" for my height and build. I have to forgive myself for days like today when I didn't get out and walk (even though I did my regular 130 push-ups) ).

The big change at goal is that you will be A LOT healthier and able to do more. You get sick less often. You have "bad days" less often. You ache less. THESE are worth the effort. (best example is my recent tonsillitis - it used to take me 5 days of rest to get back to 90+%, this time it took 2 days).

Over time, you will become more in-tune with your body's needs for food, activity and sleep. You feel it more when you are not at your best. You also feel when the body wants more food. Just be sure to give it GOOD food. You have worked hard to get yourself in shape, do the simple stuff you learned along the way to keep it there .

MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »

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I know I’ll be more motivated to maintain if I feel I am truly lean.
...

@MadisonMolly2017. As you may read from above. You WILL be truly lean WELL before you FEEL you are truly lean.

Make the decision to maintenance from body fat measurements, not weight (and definitely not on how you feel). For female, if you have properly measured body fat BELOW 22%, you should be in full maintenance unless a competitive athlete. (male this cutoff is round 15%).

Yes x 3. Swimming! In my last pregnancy, I went swimming 1-2 times a week throughout. So far this time all I've managed is my daughter's weekly swimming lesson where I go in too but don't really swim myself as such. Anyway, today a lovely family member had my daughter while I managed to make it for a swim by myself which I'd been really looking forward to...and the baby/my body hated it! My bump went hard and hurt and I had to try different strokes and eventually gave in. Ah well, never mind! Ha they're even kicking me like crazy as I type this as if in protest! I'll stick to walking and yoga for now.