Maintenance - not always as easy as it sounds

Well, I think I finally figured out what was making me so uncomfortable about my journey lately.  I am in maintenance.  Not that I can't lose anymore weight - but I don't need to lose more.  That is a weird place to be.  I cannot ever remember a time in my life when I didn't need to lose weight.  I was so happy when my primary doctor and my plastic surgeon both told me that they didn't want me losing more weight.  They said a couple of pounds would be fine but no more than that.  I am now supposed to focus on building muscle and strengthening my core for my PS next summer.  

But now it's finally sinking in that I don't really need to lose weight.  I step on the scale and still feel like a failure when it doesn't show lower because my brain has been programmed all my life to think "you have to lose weight".  I have maintained in a 5 pound range that my doctor is happy with for 6 months now.  I should be enjoying it.  But instead, my brain tells me to cut back, exercise more, etc.  I am by no means complaining.  This is a great place to be.  I just wanted to share what has been on my mind so if anyone else out there i****ting maintenance and still feeling "failure", you will know that you are not alone.  Just as we reprogrammed part of our brain after surgery, when you hit a new stage, you still have some relearning and reprogramming to do.

I am doing better this week, now that I realized what the problem was.  I still need to eat better and keep my exercise up but I need to learn to not obsess as much on the "losing" part.  I need to focus on the feeling healthy and well part now.

Dee,  maintenance is HARD, it's been the hardest part of the journey for me.  Even before the almost 12 lb regain I always felt like something was missing, like "ok what's next?".  I don't know what others have experienced in their journey, but I have felt somewhat lost at times because it's "back to normal living, as normal as we can be".  And, the excitement is gone, the WOW moments almost disappear or you have to work really hard to realize one. 

I've even wondered if the regain mentally has been a thought process for me to see if I can do it again......strange things go through my mind.  Denial of regain comes fairly easily too  IF we don'****ch it. 

I know, for me, the B2B and logging is so very important.  I don't believe I'll ever come to a point were I won't have to log; even if I slack off periodically unless I 'see it' I don't necessary 'own up' to what I've been eating.

Congrats on reaching your goals and working your tool.  Get your body in the best possible shape before you proceed with plastics, it really makes the surgeon have a better pallet to work with.

Congratulations!  Maintenance is what I fear the most. Maintaining the weight I've lost is what I have failed so miserably at all these years. So many of us say it..."I can always lose the weight I just can't keep it off."  Yet once we lose our weight after surgery, that's the very things we have to do! Yes, we'll have our little tool, hopefully new habits and a mental awareness we never had before BUT it's still in my brain I still have to keep it off and I never have!

I've been trying (and dreading) to decide if my body is done...   What I would like to add, is just slighly slacking can cause my scale to jump 3+ lbs. in a matter of days... I find that amazing!

So, I'm rededicating back to the basics - I would really like to lose another 15 lbs. which would give me 5 lbs. to goal and a 10 lb swing for regain.   I think it's possible and will ramp up working out and tracking foods.  I've slacked off both recently (not stopped, but not consistent either).

Someone told me regarding maintainence - stay of top of your weight, weigh once a week and if you see a 2 lb. difference attack it.  Otherwise, 2 becomes 5, which becomes 10 and then denial really sets in...

Good luck!