7:37 pm - Tues 10.21.2008
Weight Watchers - Maintenance (Wk 1)

My weigh-in this week, the first since making my goal weight (195 lbs), went all right - At this point, the goal has become to maintain my weight loss (meaning I can't gain more than two lbs over the next six weeks), and this week I gained .6 lbs, which puts me at 194.8 lbs.

As I've said in other entries, even though I've made my WW "goal weight", I'm going to endeavor to lose a little more, since two lbs doesn't strike me as much of a "buffer" (I'm no longer a WW member, but I'm not supposed to go over my goal weight as a staff member either).

I'm thinking 190 lbs - It's a reasonable weight for me to maintain, it won't make me look emaciated, and it allows me seven lbs of "fluctuation", which seems pretty do-able.

So for now, I'm still in "weight-loss mode" (.6 lbs gains notwithstanding).

After that, I'll start giving myself more points, then adding or subtracting accordingly, depending on "the tale of the scale".

I imagine "maintenance" will, in a way, be more challenging than the past year of losing weight...because "maintenance" never ends.

But I worked a meeting last week, and the meeting was actually about the challenges of maintenance.

The Leader said that losing weight can be very exciting, as you move closer and closer to your goal, and you realize you're actually going to succeed.

And there can be a corresponding letdown and sense of sadness when you get to your goal weight.

So to not lose that sense of excitement, the pleasure of succeeding at a goal, she makes it an ongoing goal to stay as close to her goal weight as possible every week.

She makes it a game she plays with herself.

I think that's going to be important to my success as well - Not to see what I've done as something I did over the past year, and now it's all done, but something ongoing.

Something I succeeded at, and get to keep succeeding at on a weekly basis.

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