This is not my first weight loss rodeo. I have yo-yo’d from as low as the 120’s all the way up to 211 pounds. I reached goal weight a few years ago, gained it back rapidly, and have gotten close again before gaining it all again, several times.
Something I have noticed that is different this time around: no one is mentioning my weight loss. Before, when I had lost 20 pounds or so, my boss and co-workers complimented me on losing weight. I’ve lost 46 pounds now, and no one has said anything. Not a peep.
The only person who has complimented my weight loss is my boyfriend. I think I know why. No one else expects me to keep it off. They’ve seen me drop weight before, then *blink*, get fat again seemingly overnight. So they have seen this before, already think they know what to expect, and are just waiting for me to puff up like a blowfish again.
Except it’s not going to happen. Not this time. Sure, I’ve said that before, but I feel different this time. It is harder this time to lose the weight, so I know that gaining it back will be a huge mistake and taking a risk that I may never lose it again.
I also have a plan for maintenance, which I never bothered to do before. I am stealing an idea from Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS), a weight loss group I used to belong to. When someone reaches goal weight, they then have a weight range they must stay in. If they weigh in over that range, they are on probation and have a limited time to get back into the goal weight range. So I’m going to set a goal weight range, probably around 132-137, and keep weighing in each week to make sure I am staying in that range. If I drift above it, I will give myself two weeks, tops, to get back into my goal weight range.
And then there are people like Psycho, who were tickled pink that I gained the weight back, and are smugly waiting for me to gain it back again. Someone commented to me that in the past, when I have lost weight, Psycho has frantically tried to keep up by losing weight too. This time she has not. I assume, again, it’s because she is just waiting for me to fall apart and get fat again.
It bothers me that so many people don’t believe I can do this. But I believe I can. And I will. It will be fun proving them wrong, and proving to myself what I can do.
Sweat & Sparkle 