Friday, October 17, 2014

Maintenance is....hard???

Recently I have gotten into many a discussion about what life is like in weight loss maintenance mode. Most people I know in this phase will say it is hard, maybe even harder than the losing part. And I agree with that.

Kind of.

I don’t know.
Don’t throw things at me.
Maintenance is hard….ish.
I mean once you enter maintenance you lose all your cheerleaders. Long gone are the days where I would post my weekly weight loss only to receive tons of positive feedback. Or the days where I would post about a weight gain and still receive tons of positive feedback. People love the weight loss story- the triumphs and setbacks, the struggles and the victories. It’s great to watch for so many reasons. It’s why people love the Biggest Loser and reading weight loss stories in magazines. It’s fascinating and motivating.
But then you hit your ‘goal weight’, the finish line is crossed, and then….nothing new to report. I mean then it just becomes ‘normal life’ and that is quite boring, in comparison. I mean really, I am not sure how anyone not of blood relation to me can stand reading this blog. Trust me, I try to write about topics that are important to me and I try to make my posts meaningful but that is easier said than done. And instead I end up writing fluff, short updates on training or my day to day life and I know that is not everyone’s cup of tea. Some days it isn’t even mine…
My point is this that after goal, you lose your niche, your story and in my case you lose direction. I started out as a weight loss blogger and then I lost the weight, what else is there left to talk about. I can talk about my life but that seems boring.
That is how I would describe maintenance. Not hard but boring.
You see, for me, maintenance involves a few different things
-being active (which I love)
-eating really great meals (most days) based around a whole foods plant based diet (which I also love)
-creating balance (which in turn keeps me happy and I love that)
Yes, doing these things does take a little extra time and effort. I have to meal plan and schedule out my workouts/training sessions/running plan. I have to make sure I wash all my gym clothes and pack up my lunch. But that stuff, that’s kind of just normal life. Boring and normal.
I find that in this phase I often forget what hard really was. And to me, my present life, isn’t it. Yeah, I would definitely say that maintenance is less glamorous than weight loss mode but hard?
Hard was weighing almost 300 pounds. And nothing will ever come close to that. Not weight loss, not maintenance. Hard was not being able to do anything, or at least anything easily. Hard was being in pain all of the time. Hard was humiliation from feeling judged, criticized. Hard was feeling that people were literally disgusted by you. Hard was not having control and watching your life spiral into nothingness all because of your weight. That was hard. Unbelievably hard.
In comparison, everything since that first day of my weight loss story back in February 2011 has been easy/easier. And I need to remember that. I chose that life back then and that life sucked. I choose this life now and it is freaking awesome. So my question is then…what the heck is so hard about awesome???
Remember that, Dacia!
Love and hugs,
Dacia
xoxoxox

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