This feels weird

JaysFan82 · February 2023

I hit my weight loss goal this past Thursday. I went from 388.6 to 235. Took me a little over 11 months. It's all I thought about. I wanted this sooooo badly. I got back into running which I NEVER thought was possible. I'm now training to run my first 5km race in 16 years. I'm up to 5.5 km a day (the days I run)

It just feels so strange that the constant grind is over with. I had my first cheat meal (if that's what you want to call it) in a year yesterday.

I'm now going over my diet finding ways to add healthy calories to my day. So weird.

I'm glad I have the 5kms to be working towards to fight off the feelings of "now what", because I can see how people slip. I don't want to get "too comfortable"

Anyways, I just wanted to get this off my chest. Thanks!

ninerbuff · February 2023

Don't fall into the trap of "I reached goal and now I can relax" mode. I can't tell you how many times I have clients come back who reach goal, only to come back to me to get back on weight loss after gaining 10 or more pounds back.
Set a new physical goal. Whether it be fitness, gaining muscle, running a 10K, etc. Having a goal will usually keep you on track.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

JaysFan82 · February 2023

That's what happened to me when I started putting all the weight back on 14 years ago when I stopped doing races

Exercise felt like I was just going through the motions and I gradually stopped all together and started my bad habits again

AnnPT77 · February 2023

Congratulations, that's a big win!

Yup, now you have a new challenge: Long term sustainable habits, without the reward-hit of scale drops. It's not anything like impossible, but it's for sure different.

There's some good stuff from long termers in the Most Helpful Posts section, and in other threads here, in case you haven't read around in this area much. It helped me.

Best wishes for continuing success in maintenance!

JaysFan82 · February 2023

Thank you both so much!

mtaratoot · February 2023

Congratulations on making it to maintenance!

As pointed out above, the "constant grind" is far from over. It's just starting a new chapter. Many people find maintaining weight loss as hard or even HARDER than losing. You still have to balance energy in and out, but you don't get the mental reward of a number going down. You have to find joy in the status quo - you have to be happy about gaining and losing the same three to six pounds over and over and over again.

The good news is you can do it! You might have some struggles again, but if you keep an eye on your progress, you can stop it before it gets out of control. My "recent" struggle actually lasted two years. I gained, but then kept it constant at the higher weight until finally bringing it back down. If I can do it, anyone can.

And mostly, congratulations for closing that chapter on the story of your journey. I look forward to celebrating your continued successes and commiserating when you have the hopefully few and far between little struggles.

88olds · February 2023

I lost the last 35-40 lbs of 100 by joining Weight Watchers. WW is really just calorie counting in disguise.

I went to the meetings. What I found there was very disturbing. Every week there were people showing up at the meeting and saying-I’m back. Then they would go on to explain how they had lost a bunch of weight on WW back when only to gain it all back. Usually with some extra lbs thrown in. It scared me. I wasn’t sure I could summon the emotional energy to lose a significant amount the second time.

As a result when I made goal, the only thing I did was slowly add more food. We didn’t count calories in WW, we counted WW points. So all I did was add more points to my plan until I quit losing weight. I kept my food diary going just like before. I did that for 5 years before I found I could go long periods without tracking and not gain. Or not gain much. But this- I have a red line that if crossed, I start tracking again. It has always worked. I’ve been maintaining since 2006. And this too- even when not tracking I generally know how many calories I’m eating. My food scale is out on the kitchen counter and I use it every day.

And by the way I don’t call it cheating. The only way to “cheat” is to quit doing your plan. Adding more food is just adjusting to circumstances. Even making mistakes that put us over our number isn’t cheating to me. Those are either errors or problems to be solved. Cheating if we are calling it that is really just quitting. Like throwing up our hands, eating a large pizza and saying we will start over tomorrow, but really starting over next month.

There really is no finish line in this. Good luck.

And this- I recall a bit of an identity crisis making goal weight. Sorta like this- I was a fat guy, then I was a fat guy trying to lose weight. But if that’s all over with, who am I now? But like I said, I found that things weren’t really that different except maybe for one thing. At one point I was exercising to lose weight. Somehow that switched around to now I maintain my weight to support my fitness plan. Weight is just one aspect of health and fitness.

hikinggal11 · April 2023

At one point I was exercising to lose weight. Somehow that switched around to now I maintain my weight to support my fitness plan. Weight is just one aspect of health and fitness.[/quote]

hikinggal11 · April 2023

I loved your insight weight just being one part of your heath and fitness goals. I will keep this idea with me!

This feels weird

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