Support

I joined an online diet support group (free) which included a forum for discussions, a personal blog and weight tracker for each member, and the ability to give and receive comments on each others blogs.

All members do not use the same weight loss method, but all have the same goals.

This was and is extremely helpful as the members are very supportive of each other. I doubt I would have progressed as well if I had not been in this group during the last 3 months of my weight loss diet.

I am on maintenance and am staying in the group as this is much more challenging than taking the weight off to begin with.  I plan to remain a member of the group indefinitely.

Maintenance

My plans to maintain my healthy weight are to continue counting calories but at a maintenance level with reasonable treats or meals out.  Holidays will require using my own judgement.  Jeans or trousers getting tight in the waist are a good indicator that I'm overdoing it!

Workouts will continue but with one more day of rest per week than before.  I will rejoin the gym after my birthday and plan to go 3 days a week and use the resistance equipment and a few of the cardio machines.  Since I have my own set of dumbbells I will use those at home.  Two days a week I will workout in my home gym or go hiking or bicycling or power walking.

My goals now are to maintain my size (weight will change with muscle gain), build more muscle, toning.

I have a scale which measures fat, muscle and a range of other stats.  Waist size is also a good indicator of progress or maintenance when weight itself is not the best indicator.