Hi everyone! Hope you're all having a great week so far. When I read blog posts from various members of the WLB community, a common recurring theme that stands out to me is the issue of motivation. How do you motivate yourself to stick to your diet, even when there are difficult emotional triggers? That is something difficult in itself, but another common issue is motivating yourself AFTER you lose the weight. Motivating yourself to maintain your weight loss, that is. We're all familiar with the concept of a honeymoon period, and I think we can extend that metaphor to weight loss. Just as it's difficult to keep the initial romantic spark going in a marriage for 20+ years, it's hard to maintain the original energy that propelled your weight loss. So how do keep the initial motivation behind your weight loss going in the long-term? I think one of the answers in changing how you think about. After you lose the weight you've been hoping to lose and reach your goal, it becomes less about having mindset of a dieter, and more about having the mindset of a person committed to leading a healthy lifestyle, if that makes sense. And, as you transition into a person committed to leading a healthy lifestyle, be gentle and fair with yourself. I recently read an article where they used the metaphor of a person walking up a hundred steps. Understandably, this person is tired and steps back down one step. Should they feel awful and forget the whole idea of climbing to the top of the stairs? I would think not. There may be small weight gains (moments in which you step back down from those steps), but you still climbed the 99 steps. And, even if you step back, it's easier to reach the 100th step from a higher step than it is to do so from the very beginning. Perfectionists, go easy on yourself. Strive to eat sensibly and healthily for the majority of the time.