Now clearly, the fear of gaining all my weight back in six months or less is making me quite uncomfortable. (Is that even possible? Probably not, but I worry nonetheless.) And I know that when I get into "future thinking" and leave the serenity that comes with living in the "now," I get into trouble. Up goes the anxiety and this concept of fear I refer to. This I need to watch, and really concentrate on how I am feeling physically and emotionally today. Today I am now 9 lbs. to goal (weighed in at 159 lbs. yesterday). Today I am at peace, actually like myself and my body, and I have numerous family members and friends loving me, supporting me, and praising me for what I have done. And today I know more about weight maintenance than I ever have before, thanks to the clinic, research I have done/am doing, and the things my Optifast friends are sharing with me. I'm not flying blind here. Knowledge is indeed power.
What I am thinking about this morning is what may work best for me to start is to have a set plan of eating a few specific things on a daily basis. By this I mean every day I will have, for the most part, the same thing. I am only talking about doing this for a few weeks here, but knowing myself, I cannot just plunge into full-tilt creativity right off the bat. Performing different calorie calculations and following "exchange" charts every day is a little bit over-whelming for me. I like things straight-forward and simple. (Let me put a caveat to all this that I do not have the formal transition materials yet -- these are just thoughts I am having.)
I also like the "safety" of the Optifast products and schedule, and if I have a set daily menu initially, I can follow along this path. Some people might get very bored with something like this and ultimately throw in the towel, but I work the opposite way. Having, say, yogurt every day is not hard for me. Having a 1/2 tuna fish sandwich, an apple and some wheat thins for lunch every day is very doable. I have to take this very, very slow. I also need to keep in close contact with the clinic. Weigh-ins are free, and consultations with the dietitians are about $35 a visit. I think what may work best for me is to go every two weeks and talk to someone. Really more to get emotional support, a pep talk about sticking with my exercise routine, and to keep myself "accountable" to my maintenance program.
I have heard of some people signing up with Weight Watchers after completing the Optifast program, so that's an option for you too. Whatever route you decide to take, I think some sort of support, at least in my case, is important and necessary when you reach goal and complete the program. If I'm left to my own "devices" I can get into trouble. And like I mentioned in a previous post, a five pound gain can happen so quickly, then it's 10 pounds and 15 lbs. and then it's off to the races and you're right back into obesity. I am going to do everything in my power to try and avoid that.
I'm not harboring any illusions that maintenance is going to easy. As you know, I was thinking about it a long, long time ago, when I was full fast and still had a ways to go in my program. Heck, I think I was thinking about it before I started the program. I take those liquid diet "failure" statistics pretty seriously. This has been a long, long journey, a hard journey sometimes, and it's not over. It will never be truly over.
So today I am going to try extra-hard to stay in the "now" and enjoy what unfolds. I don't know everything the day has in store for me, but that's okay. I do know it's freezing outside and I'll be bundling up when I go out! Have a wonderful day everyone. Always remember: One Day At A Time.
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