The Dieter's Corner

What's the best way to maintain my weight now that I'm at goal?

Here at your weight loss goal, the challenges and excitement of starting a weight loss diet, staying on it, and losing weight you want to lose are over. This doesn't mean that there are no more challenges. If you've dieted before, you realize that there is now the challenge of weight control—keeping off the weight that you lost.

Here is a tool that you will be able to rely on to help you maintain your weight loss success—living a good life. Living a good life gives you the rewards you need to sustain yourself, so you don't need to turn back to your old behaviors that prevented you from losing weight in the first place.

There are lots of ways to lead a good life. Two defining ingredients of a good life are pleasure and mastery. Everyone has their own sense of what is pleasing to them and what challenges they'd like to master.

Try this. List the following:

• 5 important pleasures that make your life fulfilling now
• 5 important pleasures that will make your life fulfilling in the future
• Do the same for 5 important challenges now and 5 in the future

After you make your list of pleasures and challenges, see how you rate each one on a 10 point scale from 0 to 10. Rate each item on your list for pleasure and for mastery. For pleasure, make 10 equal to the most pleasurable thing possible and 0 equal to something that is not at all pleasurable. For mastery, make 10 equal to the most mastery possible and 0 equal to no mastery at all.

You may discover from this exercise that your experiences are not in balance—nor should they be. Pleasurable experiences are not necessarily equal in pleasure. Mastery experiences are not necessarily equal in mastery and accomplishment. When you total up your mastery and pleasure scores, you may find that you define living the good life for yourself more in one way than the other. Living a good life for yourself is like finding your own truth. It is your way of maintaining your weight by feeling fulfilled.

Other women would love to hear what you have to say. Please share your answer by emailing it to newsletter@mariaslastdiet.com.

© Maria's Last Diet. Maria's Last Diet is an online weight loss support website for women. At Maria's Last Diet, you'll find the tools to fix the thoughts, feelings, and automatic habits that fight against you when you diet. Because it's never just about the food. Visit www.mariaslastdiet.com for more diet tips and weight loss motivation.

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