Egull1's Journal, 31 December 2018

You are doing so well. Maintenance is the tricky piece. So tempting to throw everything to the winds and forget all the hard won learning we did to get there. I will definitely look at reverse diet approach when I get there. I also maintained at 165-170 in my early 40s and couldn't see how I could sustain a lower wt. Another interesting thought I am getting from you! 

Very nice. That is good to know 

Just awesome! Recomping feels so good, doesn't it? Congrats on the continued success. Your 2019 outlook couldn't be better! 

Hi Carol - a while back when in my health and weight loss journey, I once thought the same thing about weight maintenance. When I hit goal, I'll just eat what I want and all will be good, my weight will maintain itself, and I will live happily ever after. Then I learned about the weight regain stats in the U.S. It's both sickening and heart breaking. I had this a-ha moment in my journey and realized that "weight maintenance" is the beginning the middle, and the end. It is indeed the solution to the weight loss problem. If I had known how to maintain my weight when I was 14 years old, these post wouldn't even exist. I've come to find this is the case for many people. So, I started to do some heavy research on weight maintenance. The only book I was able to find was written by my health Coach Heather Robertson "losing with maintenance in mind". She's getting ever more popular, now. lol. One person from this community popped in and said, "since you're so interested in weight maintenance while losing, you might want to listen to Heather's podcasts. She also has a community called Half Size Me. Her whole approach is losing with Maintenance in mind and she's kept her 170 lb weight loss off for 7 years." Since I wasn't able to find much else on maintenance, I jumped on it. After listening to podcasts and later joining the community, what I discovered was mind blowing and completely reframed the journey. Thus, where maintenance breaks, minimums, and sustainable vs. attainable weight ranges came into play. And, a whole slew of other things that help to ensure I am indeed not one of those people who hit their goal and ever entertained the notion of throwing everything to the wind to see if "weight maintenance" takes care of itself. In fact, it feels darn good to say I have a whole work bench full of weight maintenance tools at my disposal for which I am eternally thankful for. I try to put these out to the general public, but everyone's under the inclination, they'll just magically know how to maintain when they hit goal. To date, there's only 2 people on this site I see actively do this. When I took my first maintenance break on here, it was implied I was "spinning my wheels" and/or giving up! LOL. One other person told me they were going worry about maintenance when they hit their goal. I remained quiet and just kept doing this girls thing. That person hit their goal, gained back 15 lbs in a month, panicked and I have not seen them since. All I can say is I am humbly thankful to Heather Robertson, the HSM community, and those podcasts. Maintenance is hard, but at least there are tools and support out there for those that genuinely want to change their relationship with food, and keep the weight off. 

Thank you, Diablo! You've got quite a dang good start yourself! :-) Happy 2019 blessing and joy to you and family as well! 

Thank you, Egull, happy new year to you and your family as well! Maintenance is the hardest part but you are going to kill it. It is said that 95% of people gain back the weight and then some. You have what it takes to be one of the few successful ones. Keep posting your updates, they will keep you motivated and they serve to motivate us all as well! 😊 

Egull I agree with D- you are killing it! Thank you for your great example of maintenance! ❤️🔥 

Thank you Egull. I have cut and pasted your comment so I can go through what you have said at leisure. I will look into the podcasts and / or book. I tend to be a book person. I am interested in the maintenance piece and recognize that doing it as you drop is an interesting idea that I am willing to explore. I did lose 150 pounds about 20 years ago. I did maintain for around 10 years then unfortunately some major stressers occurred and I relaxed on the food front as I turned all my energy and effort in another direction(s) and 'suddenly' (4 years) found myself with 100 pounds to lose again. 

Thank you Kay, and yes I will continue to post as long as these fingers can type - lol. There is no end to this learning. I'll never be at a place where I say "oh - I got this down pat." Besides, life we all know life in general doesn't work that way and we wouldn't want it too. :-) However, all the unknowns and challenges are really blessings in disguise and the journey is sooo much sweeter with beautiful hearts to share it with. :-)