Reached my goal, and now what?

[bonjogon]

I should be happy! I didn't have much to lose in the first place, and reached my goal weight and body fat percentage recently. I took up runnning in June - something I never thought I would enjoy, and went from barely able to jog for a minute, to running three miles every other day. My body has vastly improved, no more muffin top, etc...but I feel let down and now can see how people start to back slide with regard to having motivation to ....well...maintain. 

I found myself eating lots of Halloween candy today, and thinking that I don't want to get too thin after all. I feel like I might set myself up to gain some weight back so that I can panic and have a goal to work on. Ridiculous, I know. 

[lyro]

You do have a goal to work on.  I think maintaining is much harder than losing, so consider it a challenge.  At least it was for me...twice.  Now I'm on the journey again; this time with Fitbit and I know when I get there again my real challenge will begin!  Good luck to you!

[smhermione]

I'm struggling with maintaining right now too.  I finished losing weight back in June and am worried especially with the holidays coming that I will revert back to my old habits.  I had gotten a bit lazy on logging my food because "I don't need to lose anymore" that I reached the top of my threshold I set for myself.  This week I'm getting back to my food logging so that I have to be honest with myself.  This truly is a challenge and one I think is a continuing battle so that I don't lose all of the progress I've made.  Keep in there!

[TCG]

I've got 10 more pounds to go to reach my goal, then maintaing the weight is going to be a challenge specially with the holidays coming. I've asked my trainer to give me homework to do, set up a few exercises I can do at home during the holidays. I log all my food and I am staying within my caloric intake but the goodies are tempting. I got rid of all the halloween candy the next morning, there are donation places that send it overseas to troops. I've really enjoyed my Fitbit and hope to continue using it for a long period of time.

[SteveH]

It does seem quite common for people to reach their goal and say "that's it, job done" when, in reality, the job is never done. As others have stated, maintaining weight can be hard and is no less important. I believe the trick is to keep monitoring your weight and fitness so you can avoid the all-too-easy slide into old, bad habits.

I reached my goal 11 months ago and have managed to maintain my weight since then. I weigh myself regularly and allow myself to go 2 pounds under or over my target weight before I take measures. I continue to use fitbit and myfitnesspal to track activity and food (both amount and quality) and believe that having this data to hand makes weight maintenance possible. I'm sure I wouldn't go more than a few weeks without monitoring before the weight started to pile on again.

Good luck!

[Matt-T · Accepted solution]

Congrats on meeting your goals!   You should definitely be happy!  You have gone through the hardest part now have fun with it.  Maybe this mindset will help you as it did me.  More often than not I meet people who are trying to "get fit" and then revert back to old ways.  Dont get fit,  be fit.  this is more than a manipulation of vocabulary. It is a mental commitment.  To get fit implies that one day i will get there and then i am done, which then leads back to where you started in the first place or worse. Then the horred cycle begins and it is not a healthy one.  You should always be thinking of new goals to meet.  There is no ok i am done now.  To be truely honest "it" should never end. Think long term and consistancy, and then reward youself once a week. Purposefully setting yourself up to gain weight to give yourself a goal is rediculous and i hope that you are not serious.  Maybe it is time to start working on your diet to support your new active lifestyle, the end result should not be what the scale says but what the mirror says back to you.  I hope that this helps and that you continue to meet your goals!

[LewWagner]

Bonjogon,

First off, kudos on reaching your desired weight and fitness goals.  I reached mine back in August and have maintained the same fitness and dietary practices that got me to my goal.

Now you have to gear up for the long haul, maintaining your new life style.  I still track my food intake and nutrition values along with recording all my exercising so that I can compare calorie intake with burn.  Over the couple of months I've been maintaining I have been just below my desired weight.

[carl669]

i agree with the above posters.  maintenance is a goal in itself.  i've also found setting small goals for my workouts helps.  for example, a month ago, i set a goal of doing a one-arm pull-up.  i achieved that yesterday.  so, i've set a goal for 2 within the next couple weeks.  there's always something else to shoot for.  

now, if i can just reach that goal of raking up the millions of leaves in the yard...

[bonjogon]

Thanks everyone for the support. I was hesitant to publish my post because I felt a bit like a whiner.  I very much appreciate the collective words of wisdom. 

[GoldaT]

You've done great --- be proud of your accomplishment.  Notice you have a potential walking companion (dog) ---- take advantage and keep walking, jogging and looking after yourself.  Cheers.  All the best of the season and happy steppin' in the New Year. Golda T.

[SunsetRunner]

I wouldn't purposely put weight on just so that you could lose it again, as it could spiral out of control

keeping at the chosen weight is a challenge in itself, watching what you eat, exercising etc

[bonjogon]

Thanks! Oh...the holidays have brought forth just the challenge I needed. Plus my dog (Lucy) gained- gasp- 8 pounds in three months. So, extra incentive to move. 

[bonjogon]

Oh, I know.  I'm at a better place now. I decided I just needed a different kind of motivation/goal and decided to up my running game. Now I just have to find my misplaced fitbit and actually chart my progress more diligently. 

[HelenaFitbit]

Great progress @bonjogon ! It's a great idea to up your running game 

If you can't find your Fitbit, let me know and I'll be glad to help 

Happy holidays!

[SunsetRunner]

@bonjogon 

At some point made a switch and was determined to loose weight, that's been a few years ago. Meanwhile when getting back to a healthier weight, getting further to not just fit into those trousers again but being in a healthier weight / body fat range.

By changing food habits bit by bit, eating healthier,.. those food habits took over the older habits from back then, the body craves those foods instead, not wanting to eat something when there's food in sight but only when getting hungry.

Sorta can tell that when the inner body feels satisfied (but not overfull), don't desire to eat more. Eating smaller portions throughout the day (became a habit to), and getting back more in tune with the body. If looking at food but not hungry, there's a inner voice of saying that don't fancy to eat more, and being not in the mood to eat more to then..

Yet, since a while, having let go of logging food (on and off a few times), 'cause noticing when eating instinctively, would have eaten around the total calories allowed, a bit under, a bit over, a few hundred calories under..

Now trying to let go of food logging completely, it's scary to let go and trusting the bodies wisdom for what it truly wants instead of the mind.

Don't want to gain weight, not loose either (ok, having a few % less body fat would be nice), however don't want to get in a vicious circle: oh I gained x kg, that has to go off immediately, or loosing more (need to put back some weight)..

Personally not wanting to gain / diet / loose weight / back on.. but let the body naturally do that on it's own by providing the food it desires and trusting the process.

Planning doing more exercise now, make a little bit more changes in food habits, still weighing / logging exercises but being free in food choices trying to honoring the internal hunger cues..

* Felt comfortably satisfied after dinner, wanted some whine, drank just a half glass for the taste instead of a full glass, realizing not actual needing a full glass after all (cutting back on calories naturally?)

Have a wonderful christmas