Week 16 Weigh-in (getting real with maintenance)

This week was my first week of maintenance, and I was very happy with the scale this morning:

Wearing socks is easier than covering my tattoo ;)

I was 132.5, which means I am actually down half a pound from last week and below my goal weight! I'm not going to continue posting my body fat or waist measurements anymore, because I don't expect them to change much. Of course, I certainly hope that my weight doesn't change too much either, but we'll see about that ;)

I really had a hard time deciding whether to continue posting Wednesday Weigh-ins. On one hand, they can be helpful to have some accountability; but on the other hand, I feel like I'm walking on a very short leash. I feel like now that I'm here (at goal) I have to stay here; it would be hard to post a weight that is over goal, even if it's just a normal fluctuation. I fully expect some of my weigh-ins to be over my actual goal weight of 133, but I don't want to feel bad about myself when I post that to my blog. If I can keep my weight at or under 135, I'll be thrilled.

The hardest part of weighing in publicly is not letting the thought of a weigh-in affect the way I eat. I want to stay consistent with my eating habits, rather than eating lightly or lower-sodium foods the day before my weigh-in. I would like to treat every day as if I'm NOT weighing in the next morning, if that makes sense.

I know to expect a gain here and there, but as long as it doesn't continue to climb each week, there is no reason to panic. (I think that's the biggest key here--if I see two or three gains in a row for my weigh-ins, then clearly, something has to change. But a gain, then a loss, then a gain, etc. is normal and expected.)

My average daily calories this week was 1,597. Despite hitting maintenance, I didn't deliberately try to eat more calories or do anything differently. I just continued to eat how I have been all along. I do feel like I have more wiggle room, though, if something was to come up. If I have a second high calorie day that week, or I want to have a little extra something here or there, I have the room to do that, since I'm just trying to maintain my weight from now on. (It actually wouldn't hurt to drop a few more pounds for my 10K training--I think I was 130 when I ran my PR).

Being in maintenance mode feels kind of odd (in a good way, of course). I love that I feel like I can take a breather, and not expect to see the scale continue to go down. And that I can be happy when my weight stays the same as the week before! I still have a hard time believing that I'm actually HERE (in maintenance), though. When I look at my smallest jeans, I automatically think, "I can't wait to wear those again!" but then I remember--"Oh, wait, I CAN wear those now. I'm within a few pounds of being the smallest I've ever been as an adult!"

Being at maintenance means that I can go through all of my clothes, and get rid of anything that is either too big or too small, or I just don't like the way it fits. The size that I am now is (hopefully) the size I'll be in a month, or six months, or a year. My whole life, I've had clothes that are too small, clothes that are too big, and clothes that I just hope to wear one day... but now, I can narrow it down to JUST the wearable clothes. It feels strange! Haha.

Anyway, I am obviously thrilled to be in maintenance mode again. Hopefully I can learn from the mistakes I made last time! (If I ever write about trying to eat "intuitively" and stop counting calories, someone hit me over the head, please. Haha, you know where that always leads!). I'm actually really excited to see what 2016 has in store for me--I'm injury-free and at my goal weight :)