Hi everyone
I have posted about my journey a few times before and asked a question a week or two ago about taking the occasional maintenance day as I get closer to my goal weight. So I suppose this question has been on my mind recently.
I had a long, hard think yesterday about what my goals really are. I started at 156lbs in May 2018 and arbitrarily picked 116lbs as my goal weight because I liked the idea of losing 40lbs. I had previously been 105lbs after a very unhealthy diet in my early 20s and I regained that weight super fast because I learned nothing about nutrition and healthy lifestyles while restricting myself so heavily. This time I’ve been slowly working my way down, starting with 1200 calories a day last summer (I wanted to be at a healthy weight for my September wedding, which I was!) and eventually changing to a more sustainable 1350ish for a slower loss.
I’ve lost another 9lbs since Christmas putting my total loss at around 36lbs. Recently I’ve noticed some major differences in how I look and how my clothes fit. I’m now a size S/8UK after being a 12-16UK (large boobs, clothes never fit me right) when I started. Clothes look good on me now!, which is something I’ve never been comfortable saying before. My BMI is in the middle of the healthy range (21.2). I’ve been doing cardio for 300 minutes a week for the past month and I’m loving it and feeling amazing. I’m drinking so much water now and it’s helping every part of me feel more energetic and healthy. I want to introduce strength training in the future, hopefully soon. I’ve learned how to cook tasty, healthy meals and I’ve started meal prepping. I still get tempted by foods I love but I’m much better at eating in moderation to feel satisfied. Everything feels like permanent, positive changes and I feel like I’ve learned so much about myself in the past 11 months.
So I wasn’t really sure why I was trying to reach 116 anymore. Other than being able to say to myself that I lost 40lbs, I started wondering why I didn’t make 120 my new goal. So that’s precisely what I’m going to do. But it’s a mental struggle to admit my goal is no longer weight loss. I’ve never reached this point of ‘stopping’ before (though I don’t look at it as actually stopping, more as a shift in focus) and the fear of not eating at the right maintenance calories and gaining weight back is very real. But part of me is also completely ready to up my calories a couple hundred more a day and really put my focus onto my fitness and reshaping my body. I’ve heard maintenance can be just as hard as weight loss and that it takes a while to find the balance of what your body needs to maintain your weight. So this isn’t the real end of the journey by any means, this is the ‘forever’ part.
Seeing the scale go down is the biggest motivator in the world but there needs to be an end point and I think I’m there now. Maybe in the future I’ll want to lose those extra 4lbs but for now I think I’m actually happy. It’s so strange to admit but I think I actually did it, I achieved what I set out to do. I feel like I love myself now and feel comfortable in my own skin. It’s a weird place to be but I’m really happy to be here. :)
I’d love to hear from others who have stopped losing weight earlier than they anticipated. Did you feel you missed out on the celebratory day when you finally reached your pre-set goal weight? Did you end up maintaining for a while before returning to a calorie deficit to reach your original goal? Let me know! :)
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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2GtgprU
