Maintaining Weight Loss

Losing weight can be very exciting. Sure, it involves a bit of sacrifice. But dropping those pounds, no matter how many, and watching your clothes begin to fit better, or get roomier, and watching your muscles peek out from where they have been hiding, all this is pretty freaking awesome stuff. And witnessing your body performing better in all kinds of situations: running faster or farther or with less discomfort, executing more push-up's or pull-up's or squats, climbing a set of stairs without becoming winded. Great stuff! Or looking in the mirror and really liking what you see. WOW! All of these scenarios describe positive changes that can keep a person very motivated while losing weight.

But what happens once those pounds have been shed? Now comes the hard part.

The excitement dies down. People stop complimenting you because now you look the same from week to week. And although the weight loss has stopped, the diet and the exercise MUST continue, unless you wish to see the pounds creep back on. What motivates you from this point forward?

Well, of course, all the reasons to lose weight in the first place still exist. You need to maintain your healthy weight in order to keep your blood pressure low, or fit into your jeans, or stay off your various medications. But maintaining your weight loss demands the same amount of discipline and commitment as the initial weight loss, and this time there is NO END in sight. You will need to continue your diet, perhaps with tiny modifications, for the rest of your life. If you slip up and chow down a dozen doughnuts, or skip your workouts, you will very quickly see the numbers on the scale climb. So what is a newly skinny guy or gal to do?

I believe that maintaining your weight loss demands a whole new relationship with food. There was a reason that you overate and gained all that weight to begin with. And if that reason, or reasons, still exists after you have lost weight, what is going to stop you from returning to food for comfort, for love, for friendship, for numbing of the pain? Hopefully, you will make the effort to discover many different ways to soothe yourself, to befriend yourself, to ease the pain you feel. Junk foods like cake, cookies, candy, and ice cream offer a quick, cheap, and easy way to change your mood. Just like a beer or a bottle of whiskey, a cigarette, a joint, or a pill. All these substances can change the way you feel, can alter your brain chemistry, instantly. But they all carry a heavy price. They all can end up damaging your health. And causing a backlash of guilt and more bad feelings to medicate.

Instead of falling back into your old habits, the habits that made you gain that weight in the first place, try something new. Instead of using cupcakes or corndogs to make you feel loved, call a friend or family member on the phone. Have a conversation. Take your dog for a long walk. Find a buddy who will go running with you. Discover a new author who inspires you. Take up knitting, sewing, ceramics, crochet, yoga, tango, or contra dancing. Write some poetry or a rap. Trade massages with your partner. Read through some seed catalogues and plan your garden for next spring. Scrub the floor or clean the windows. (Okay, that last one was ridiculous.) Find what works for you.

Food is going to be in your life forever. You can't stop eating the way an alcoholic can give up booze. You have to learn to relate to food as a way to nourish your body and not as a way to feed every other human need. Feed your actual hunger with healthy, whole foods and then stop. Sure, you will make a few mistakes along the way. We all do. But if you catch yourself quickly, and remind yourself of everything that is at stake, no permanent damage will be done. Keep in mind that there are MANY others in the same boat with you. Find support if you need it. We're all in this together!