First week on maintenance

[wisewoman50]

My first WI since reaching goal and I'm down another .8#. That puts me a couple of pounds below goal, which will probably be a good thing for the next few weeks. I'm traveling to California for a month, and will probably be doing my WI at different times of the day, so a little leeway below goal should help. That's both the upside and the downside of an early morning WI -- if I ever go to a different meeting, it is later in the day and I almost always weigh more than I would in the morning. Not something that really bothers me, since it all evens out in the long run, but sometime annoying nonetheless.

The first week on maintenance was interesting -- a learning experience, as we say in my family. (Usually in the form of "Oh no, not another learning experience!" ) Breaking out of the "losing weight" mindset and establishing a "maintaining" mindset does take some rethinking, I suppose. I'm really pretty happy with my weight right now, though since I've been on Core I've felt that as long as I keep eating with care and attention I will probably stabalize at a good weight for me and be able to maintain it. We'll see how that theory plays out in reality.

Last Sunday we had a big party, and I used a lot of points, but nowhere near all of my WPAs. I found that a lot of my menu was easily made Core, and all of the food was a big hit, so everyone was happy. The enchiladas were most definitely not Core, but most of the other dishes were with only a few modifications, so I enjoyed the enchiladas without fretting. I've been enjoying how easy it is for me to go back to eating all Core foods the day after someting like that -- I don't seem to have the temptations to keep eating high-points/non-Core foods most of the time, so I can enjoy them when I do.

A lot of people asked this morning what changes I've made now that I'm on maintenance, and I honestly can't think of many yet. I've switched to low-fat milk from skim, but nothing else major yet. I am journaling just to see what, if any, changes might lead to a gain while I'm on maintenance, but so far it doesn't feel all that different.

Thanks to everyone here for the inspiration and ideas.

-Sandra

[jmmoon]

Sandra---sounds like you've had a great maintenance week! You're right that weighing in at other times of the day will produce varying results, but hang in there. Will you get to do your lifetime WI back at your regular meeting? That's the only number that counts!

Keep up the great work!

[wisewoman50]

Yes, I'll be back in town for my final maintenance WI. As you say, that's the one that really matters.

I had really hoped to be through with this and at lifetime before this trip, but life has a way of working at its own pace, not ours.

I'm actually not feeling particularly stressed about it--I'm looking forward to this trip, and I don't think I'll have any trouble staying close to my goal for the duration. The scale number doesn't tend to upset me too much, probably because it has never really betrayed me, and because I know this is a long-term, not a short-term, journey.

Part of the trip I will be visiting good friends who are doing Atkins, so that should be interesting.

[jmmoon]

Hah! you can show them by example how freely you eat and lose vs the Atkins restrictions. ;D

You'll do fine---keep focused---perhaps journaling would help?