What happens when you reach your goal?

I stepped on the scale the other morning and the number I saw left me blinking a little; stepping back off and back on again, just to make sure it settled back into the same digital territory. 130. That's about a 25-lb weight loss since embarking on this weight-loss effort after having my baby back in February. Twelve pounds down since I wrote about being frustrated that the scale seemed stuck at 142 in May.

I got myself down to the low 130's last year before getting pregnant, but before that I hadn't seen the scale read anything below 140 (and often 150) in years.

At 5'5", 130 pounds is a good place for me to be weight-wise. My ongoing exercise mix made up of Turbo Jam, Hip Hop Abs (look, I didn't name these workouts), kickboxing at the gym, jogging, weight training, and yoga (I should clarify that I don't, ha ha, do all of these things on the SAME DAY or anything) has given me all sorts of healthy muscle tone, and while Hollywood standards would surely dictate that I whittle my frame down at least twenty more pounds, I'm not, you know, INSANE. I'm eating better than I ever have, I have tons of energy, and I can wear a size 6 and feel great about it.

So . . . uh, now what?

No, seriously. I have never before reached a point in a weight loss attempt where I started thinking, okay, I think I did it. In the past I've always given up before reaching my goals, and although I was successful last spring I got pregnant so quickly afterwards I didn't have time to figure out what my maintenance plan was.

Now, I'm not saying I look in the mirror and see perfection. God, no. I can nitpick myself to death, fretting about my still-jiggly post-baby belly and my less-than-perky chest and the places here and there that could be more toned and the bulge above my bra clasp and etc, etc, etc.

But that way lies madness. What IS perfection, anyway? And isn't it self-sabotaging to think there even is a finish line when it comes to staying in shape and being healthy? Because if you stop all your good behaviors -- whew, glad to be done with that! Nutter Butters, here I come! -- then eventually you'll be back where you started.

So how to step away from the endless self-criticism and just embrace a lifelong commitment to this New, Healthy Me? How to loosen the restrictions on my diet (assuming I don't want to keep losing weight) without sending my discipline straight down the rabbit hole?

I'm afraid to make changes, even little ones, because I've found what works for me. But if I'm being honest, most of what I've been doing is pursuing an end goal of being thinner. At some point, that has to change . . . doesn't it? Shouldn't the goal shift from reduction to maintenance? Would it help to set fitness goals instead?

Any advice is appreciated. I feel so good about things, and yet so apprehensive at the same time. Everything feels very temporary right now, and I want it to feel permanent.

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