MFPers who reached goal weight...

Losing it. Now that I have accomplished my initial goal, there is almost zero chance I will give up this lifestyle and go back to my old behaviors, because I am so happy with my results. Before I could see my results in the mirror and on the scale, I was in greater danger of quitting.

I'll let you know when I get there in a few weeks.....3 pounds to go.

Maintaining has been much harder for me than losing the weight. Like someone else said, this is FOREVER. I will always have to monitor what I eat and record since I have issues with portion control. I could easily see myself slipping back into my bad habits if I don't keep track. Sometimes, it's more than I want to have to think about...

The hardest for me has been to STOP losing weight. Honestly, I know that sounds odd, but transitioning to maintenance - especially when you have had a LONG journey to get to your healthy weight - is HARD!

This is what I'm afraid of....I have 3 pounds to my goal weight, but plan to lose another 3 to have as a 'cushion'. And I hope my mind doesn't play tricks on me and tell me to keep going.

Start transitioning now. I am actually almost 20 pounds past my initial goal weight. When I lost more, I changed my goal so it wouldn't seem like I went WAY past it, but I'm now quite a bit past that second goal, too.
I am strong and healthy, though, and that is what is important (and I would be slightly lighter or a bit heavier than I am now - not a big deal either way). Focus on health, and the scale doesn't really matter.

I don't think updating your goal is a bad thing. I my goal was "lose 35 pounds" which put me basically just in healthy body weight by BMI but once I got there, I could see I still had a lot more fat on me than I wanted, and it wasn't going to be so easy to transition all that flab into muscle. So I updated my goal.

I had always though I was the big boned type, or just naturally big. I guess truth be told I'm still somewhat above average in musculature, but I had been lying to myself about how bad I'd let it become. I don't think our first goal is necessarily the best weight we should really be, so if you reach your goal, and you're still not happy, consider losing more, it's not a bad thing to do. Just be sure to do it safely and in a healthy way. (I talked to my doctor before I decided to lose more weight)

My doctor's advice however, was to plateau into your healthy body weight. So if you're losing 2 pounds a week, and you're looking at yourself and saying to yourself "you know, I really don't need to lose too much more than 10 more pounds", within the next 5 pounds of weight loss, slow down the pace at which you're losing. It's unwise to suddenly dump 1000 calories a day more into your diet. Your metabolism won't be used it it, you won't be used it it, and it's not going to do well for you. Most people who've lost weight, when they go into maintenance, begin to gain weight again. It will take some work to get to your goal in a healthy way with no upswing immediately after, we've got to train our metabolisms down.

Maintaining. This will be for life, as in FOREVER. Until I die. It took me a year to lose 30 pounds but I could see progress and set goals along the way. With maintaining, you lose that "working towards something" feeling, which is why I am setting fitness goals for myself. No one pats you on the back for *not* getting fat, so it is a different mindset than when everyone is cheering you and your loss on. I am still adjusting!

^ Exactly.

It's also trying to figure out the right balance from "relaxing" a bit and from being overly watchful of it all the time. It's hard for me to not have a fear that I'll end up overweight again. It's a legitimate fear. Most people don't understand. It's hard.