Taking a Break - Maintenance

Well, I have been dieting continuously for almost 6 months. Now some people think I'm not supposed to refer to this as a 'diet.' It's supposed to be called a lifestyle change; a permanent alteration to my habits in the direction of lifelong health and weight control.

Well, the truth is these lifelong habits are currently being used to lose weight. When I finally reach my goal weight, I will continue these habits. The difference is that I won't be counting calories and exercising in order to lose weight. I will be doing those things in order to maintain my weight and stay healthy forever. That will be my permanent 'maintenance diet'. In the meantime, though, I am still on a 'weight loss diet'. I use the word 'diet' here to signify my eating and health habits...not in the sense that this is a fad.

With all of that being said...I am a little tired. A weight loss diet puts stress on the body - mentally and physically. The body likes to have things stay the same. It likes steadiness and consistency. When we are losing weight, we are constantly forcing it to change. We force it to work a little harder. So, after six months of this, I decided to step back a little bit and do a little bit of maintenance. I am still counting calories and staying active (although, I will be honest and say that my exercise has dwindled a bit, but my foot injury and bad weather are to blame for this) but I am eating at my maintenance level of calories and I have not attempted to lose weight for a few weeks.

I figured this would be a nice way to let my body get used to my current healthy weight (127 lbs, thank you very much!) before I attempt to tackle the final 10-15 pounds.

How is it going so far?

Pretty well. I have stayed steady at this weight for nearly 4 weeks now. My injured foot has healed nicely and I am about ready to resume next week with increase my exercise to my previous level and consuming the calories needed to lose my 1 pound a week again.

In essence, I basically spent the past few weeks practicing what I will be doing forever...keeping my calorie intake at the level my body needs to maintain my current weight. Of course, if I had been more active these past 3 weeks, I would have been able to eat a lot more (because the more we exercise, the more we can - and should - eat!) But, I am glad I took it easy on the activity because I was really overworking my foot injury and possibly heading towards some long-term problems. (That's what I get for running with the wrong type of sneaker!)

In any case, I just thought I'd share my experience on 'maintenance dieting' and how I fared in my attempt to take a break from 'weight loss dieting.' Honestly, calorie counting has changed how I will eat forever. It just makes the most sense to me...calories in, calories out (for the most part.) It's not an exact science, so it always require tweaking, but I'm obviously doing something right because I have lost nearly 40 pounds this way. Wish me luck for the final 15!