Weight-loss is Over *NOW WHAT!?*

[dwwise83]

Hello All-

I am hoping to gather some information about an upcoming (and very exciting) event - reaching my goal weight.

While the prospect of getting to my goal weight is thrilling, it is also very scary, and I want to be fully prepared for when the day arrives. I've made a life change and I know that the road doesn't end when the scale reads a magic number.

Here are my stats:
-26 years old, male
-Currently 180 pounds, going down to 160 pounds (started at 242)
-5 feet 7 1/2 inches tall
-Carry most of my fat is lower stomach, lower back, and chest

I am aiming for 160 pounds because this is what I weighed in college, and I remember being very lean and healthy. Hopefully it will be the same once I get there again, lol.

When I get to my goal of 160 I would like to increase my calories and protein intake, increase my lifting schedule (which is very low right now), and decrease my cardio (which is very high right now).

Doing all of this scares the CRAP out of me. I've always been trying to lose weight, so the thought of gaining 5-10 pounds of muscle frightens me. What if I do it wrong and gain 5-10 pounds of fat.

So, I guess what I'm asking is: how do I swich from *fat lose mode* to *maintenance/muscle gain mode*. What do I do? Will it be an all-at-once transition? Should I incorporate different items over time? I just have no idea. I think I could write a book about weight loss, but when it comes to everything else I am freakin' clueless!

Also, another question. I assume I will still have a medium body fat % once I get to my goal weight. Will I still be losing those last pounds of body fat if I increase my protein/calories/lifting?

 

[Derrick]

Hmm. Well, I personally wouldn't worry too much about that yet. All I can say is think about other types of fitness challenges you may have. Maybe you have always wanted to try some kind of martial arts or maybe just do 100 pushups in a row or who knows what. There are all kinds of challenges we can give ourselves. Gaining muscle would certainly be another kind of challenge. Maybe you should just worry about reaching your goal first and then go from there. Maybe your plans change between now and then. Maybe you really get into the running thing and want to work towards a marathon? Who knows. The possibilites are endless now that you realize anything is possible in life, right?

 

[lorainne]

Agree with Derrick. Your case is not too worrisome. Continue with workouts. And progressively add challenges so that the focus goes to defining muscles and not simply losing fat from your lower torso.

 

[dwwise83]

Hmm. Well, I personally wouldn't worry too much about that yet. All I can say is think about other types of fitness challenges you may have. Maybe you have always wanted to try some kind of martial arts or maybe just do 100 pushups in a row or who knows what. There are all kinds of challenges we can give ourselves. Gaining muscle would certainly be another kind of challenge. Maybe you should just worry about reaching your goal first and then go from there. Maybe your plans change between now and then. Maybe you really get into the running thing and want to work towards a marathon? Who knows. The possibilites are endless now that you realize anything is possible in life, right?

Agree with Derrick. Your case is not too worrisome. Continue with workouts. And progressively add challenges so that the focus goes to defining muscles and not simply losing fat from your lower torso.

Thanks guys. I guess the worry for me comes from this: I'm a planner. Very type A. to-do lists galore. etc...

Without a detailed plan I tend to get side tracked and stray from my goal. My plan for weight-loss has always been well defined; but when it comes to maintenance and body progression I'm lost.

I'm now 15ish pounds away from my goal, and I really don't even know if my goal is my goal. Ya know? What if I get to 160 and still don't look the way I see in my mind? Do I stay in diet mode and keep losing? Or, do I start increasing healthy calories and let the last few pounds of fat come off due to exercise and weight training?

I've gained the weight back before, I don't want that to happen again. I know that it won't, because I've done SOOO much better this time - but I am still nervous. I don't want to fail at this... again!

I need someone to give me advice about what to do when I'm no longer fat and no longer losing weight. For the last 6 years I've done nothing but worry about my weight... what do I do when this feeling is gone?

 

[Emiko]

Hi dwwise83,

Maintenance was a big issue for me as well. Here is what I think is going on with you, please tell me where I'm wrong . . . you are a very disciplined person, probably a high achieving individual and you can "will" yourself to lose weight, especially if you turn it into a project. Once your project is completed, you must rely on your M.O. to carry you through, the problem arises when you realize you haven't changed your M.O. Somewhere in the back of your mind you still think of yourself as an overweight individual who has lost some weight, rather than a healthy fit individual who has released excess weight and continues to become healthier and fitter. This subtle adjustment to your thinking may seem inconsequential, but it really has a huge impact on how you see yourself and how you respond in the world. To depersonalize the example somewhat (unless you smoke), think of someone who is trying to quit smoking and they do quit but think of themselves as a smoker who hasn't smoked for a few months, rather than thinking of themselves as a non-smoker. It's very different. It's a mental paradigm shift.

So good news! You can make a project out of maintaining your weight What it entails is mental, not physical. First, I invite you to really think about what it is you expect your ideal weight will give you, specifically, I encourage you to find and "feel" (in your body) the feeling that thinking about your ideal weight gives you. You will notice right away that's it isn't really the weight number on the scale or the muscles you truly want, what you really want is the feeling that you believe having those things will give you. What do you do with that? Feel the yummy feeling often. When you do that, you will notice you move in the world differently, you make different choices, choices that are aligned with the kind of body you imagine you want for yourself (as long as it's a positive feeling you get from thinking that thought). You feel pretty darn good, too, without having to alter a thing.

So many of us approach weight loss like caterpillars wanting to be (lean, gorgeous) butterflies, but what ends up happening is we become skinny caterpillars who worry about gaining weight back or maintaining it. We don't really change fundamentally. To truly become butterflies, we must drop the clingy, worried caterpillar mentality and adopt the beautiful butterfly mentality. The ONLY way that happens is by changing your belief system (and I'm not talking about switching religions . . .) from a worried caterpillar into a relaxed butterfly. There are a number of tools available to help you do this (they're free, too!). My faves are and . They are mind-blowingly awesome, but you have to be willing to face your fears, and question your limiting beliefs. One set of beliefs I would hone in on right off the bat are your fears of failure and what you make being overweight mean to you. Once you are able to get right with your thoughts, maintenance is really effortless. I rarely ever think about my weight anymore (I've maintained my weight for well over a year now -even through an injury where I couldn't exercise for 2 months), and on the rare occasion a thought pops up about it, I have the tools to dissolve them immediately. It totally rocks.

If you are willing, I would be happy to help you locate and tackle one of these limiting beliefs here on the forum to give you an idea of how powerful just questioning your thoughts can be.

Since you operate well withe plans, this would be your detailed plan for the rest of your life. I do this "mental hygiene" work daily myself, sometimes on the fly as a crappy thought occurs to me, sometimes formally by pounding it out on my laptop. I always find relief afterwards.