Can I add my little bit? Or am I too late?
I haven't had the experience of trying to maintain that CP and MLM have, but I am now very close to target myself, and so I'm doing lots of thinking too.
I'm not scared of target. Not really.
I have fears about being able to maintain my new weight, yes, but I'm not scared of target itself: I'm longing for it.
But I am scared of the upcoming identity crisis which I expect will hit as soon as those SW scales show the magic number.
Who will I be?
I do have a small difference of opinion from CP & MLM actually (may I be shot down in flames!). Because for some of what they say, you don't actually have to be at target.
I can already buy clothes from "normal" shops. I already have so much more energy. I'm already well slim enough to take part in any activities I choose.
So I don't think that in the world of slimming (as opposed to Slimming World) there's an easy, obvious and single division between Fat People and Target People. Clearly there are lots of gradations in between.
What I mean is, if you suddenly stopped losing, half a stone short of what you have in your head as your target, you wouldn't be "The Fat One" any more, and you wouldn't be at Target. But you'd still have the identity crisis that you're afraid of. So it's not target itself that you fear. Is it?
You don't necessarily have to wait until you're at target to stop thinking of yourself as "The Fat One", and you may go through many re-definitions of yourself as you slim down.
In my case, I was always "The Fat Bird". A lot bigger than any of the people around, me, and taking refuge in humour, self-depredation, and all the other tools that we have.
But I stopped being that a while back. In everyone else's eyes, at least.
Then I became "The One Who's Losing All The Weight". Because once I reached the point of being determined to lose it, I really haven't looked back, and among the people I know (many of whom start diets and give up on them on a regular basis - just like we all used to do) the weight loss has been astounding. Even in Group, actually.
So that's 2 major definitions of myself that will then be gone.
Who / what will I be, then?
I'm not going to have a category any more. And I can't see that I'm suddenly going to get an influx of the kind of self esteem that's going to make me outgoing, sociable, popular...
I'm never going to be outstandingly slim, to be defined by that. (Phew.)
But nor am I (Ever Again!!!) going to be outstandingly fat.
I really don't know who I'll be, any more. And that identity crisis is what really scares me. Because it would be so much easier to go to (or go back to) one of the extremes, so that I've got a pigeon hole for myself again. But for my own health, both physical and mental, I have no intention of doing that.
Though the alternative is terrifying!
I hope it's not going to be long before I find out.
I hope the self sabotage doesn't step in and get in my way.
I hope I can concentrate on the massive advantages of what I've achieved, rather than this teeny down-side.
But who knows?