"How's that Maintenance Life Looking?"

The big question that we never discuss is what happens after you lose all the weight during your weight loss journey. Does it end? Do we now "unapply pressure"? What do we do to keep ourselves motivated?

I am still on my journey to my goal weight chileee, but having lost almost 60 lbs, I find myself wondering what's driving me to keep going. I noticed that it's easier in the beginning of your journey to "body goals", because you're starting from a disadvantaged place. You've got so much to do you attack it , hitting the ground running. Also, you lose a lot of weight in the short amount of time in the beginning of your weight loss crusade, because your body is being introduced to a new routine. But once it slows down or you find yourself reaching your "summer snack body status", how's that maintenance life looking?

I ask myself that question everyday, y'all. My answer is that I try to focus on the different things that drive me to keep pushing. My number one reason for keeping this train moving, is ME, I do this for myself. But on those dry ass gym days when I'm on the stair climber, I'm tired, and I want to get off, I think about the people that can't or won't do this workout I'm doing. Then I take it up to level 13.

I listen to people talk to me about their own weight loss goals and ask me questions about my journey. I use that to keep me going on the days I want to quit--and there are A LOT of those days y'all. But the thing that makes me really get my caboose in gear is fear. I'm terrified. I'm terrified of gaining back all the weight I've lost. I know people in the dusty corners of my Facebook page are waiting for it. Shoot, I'm waiting for it. This IRRATIONAL fear of failure is what scares me into action, but should it though?

I've recently discussed this with one of my accountability partners and she told me, "Even if you gain all the weight back, you still poppin". I then realized that fear can't be what keeps me motivated in continuing with my healthy lifestyle changes. I can't put all my self worth into a number on the scale, I'll drive myself insane. It's still an irrational fear in the back of my mind but instead of it being an X-Large fear, those words of encouragement are making my fear calm the f*** down to S/X-Small. Re-shifting my mental state has honestly been harder than actually losing the weight. That will forever be a battle that I have to fight. Understanding that I am powerful and worthy beyond the scale will be what motivates me to achieve my fitness goals and maintain the weight loss. I have to gut the mind, before I mind the gut.

So, the moral of this blog today is, never allow fear to dictate your life and be your only motivator, even beyond weight loss. Don't be afraid of failure. We are designed to fail, succeed, and go back for an extra helping of failure again. Forming a healthy relationship with food and your body from the inside and letting that behavior translate to your outside is what will make you successful in the long run. You got this!

-V