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The Finish Line Isn’t Really The End — but not in the way you might think

Did you ever notice how after you’ve managed to shed a few pounds, you hit the point where you think to yourself “Okay… so I’m going to eat like this for the rest of my life?” In those moments there’s not a rush of euphoria or accomplishment or an immense sense of pride, but rather a sheer exhaustion. A boredom.

And an almost unbearable ache for what it was like to be 17, and you could eat an entire bag of chips in one go and wake up and somehow you’d look exactly the same.

I’ve been there for sure, and I suspect you probably have as well. A lot of people set out on a path to a diet with the goal of dropping weight and/or fitting into a certain pair of jeans, and fixate on that ever-elusive finish line. What is usually omitted, is the fact that the real story is the journey that happens after the finish line. You get to the goal weight, then you fit into those 10kg that you’d wanted to lose jeans.

Then, in that moment you realize that if you return to the previous patterns you’ll undo it all, and the feeling creeps in, “If I’d known that this would mean I was to be restricted like this forever, would I have even bothered in the first place?”

This is not a failure on your part, this is an identification transformation, one where your external mind is changing at a rate faster than your internal mind. My journey to finding what works has not always been a smooth one! There are plateaus, there are days where nothing I do appears to be making any difference no matter how hard I push, and currently my world is in a state of major change — I am transitioning from full-time at-home mom to working mom building a career remotely.

While I’m extremely conscientious about what I eat, working life unfortunately takes priority over gym-time, leaving me stressed and deprived of sleep. In these moments, I can’t help but fall prey to the seductive pangs of “I wish I could just eat what I want and have what I looked like before!” These feelings are entirely valid, but the problem is your body said “no.”

Here’s what opened my eyes.

Every time that I’d been tempted to retreat back into my old patterns of eating anything and everything, skipping my workout routine, and going without enough sleep… my body had had an immediate reaction, not one that was gradual. First it would be the onset of a nightly cough starting around 10pm until about midnight, then again between 3am to 4am with a chest fullness. I’d find my acid reflux creeping up whenever I let down my guard and excess weight gained faster than it could be lost. It was undeniably apparent; I had found a new normal, and I was no longer willing to regress to my previous — far less healthy — norm.

Psychologically speaking, this process is known as inverse hedonic adaptation.

Typical hedonic adaptation causes the brain to adapt to your new surroundings and default you back into a comfort pattern. When, however, your body has spent an extended period of time living at a healthier, more vibrant state, your brain begins to reject that old one, not out of fear, but from remembering and preferring the more optimized one. This is often what’s hardest for us to grasp but it’s been the most important lesson I’ve learned in my health journey: the truly “successful” diet is one that brings about changes to your lifestyle and habits that make going back simply… undesirable.

This is not about fear of weight gain, it is about an innate biological wisdom of your operating system saying “this is better, we don’t want to downgrade.” I’m not suggesting you are restricted to a life of disciplined starvation. I skip workouts more times than I attend them, and on occasion, I will eat an entire cake!

My weight is not precisely where I’d ultimately like it to be.

However, the framework around it has been changed and fundamentally altered. The second I start to veer off course, my body is the one screaming loudest. This isn’t deprivation, it’s the triumph of transformation!

You’re in the Boring Phase (or Feeling Stuck):

“Boring” indicates that you’ve integrated a habit long enough that it no longer feels novel.

Feeling “stuck” on the scale is rarely a sign of failure.

It might simply mean that your body needs more time to integrate, especially during periods of stress, lack of sleep, or life transitions. Success is not defined by what the scale indicates, but by how much better your body feels today compared to how it felt a year ago. Every little inch, every little step forward counts.

You’re Never “Done” — and That Should Feel Liberating

Health should not be a destination but an ongoing journey. It should not feel intimidating, but immensely liberating. There’s no single “finish line” to sprint towards or “Finally!” moment to reach.

It’s today’s choices, today’s dialogue with your body, that speak the truest truth — more than any number on the scale.

Written by Ari Ayu Astiti — Psychology Graduate & Wellness Content Writer These tips are based on personal experience and the author’s psychology background. For specific medical conditions, please consult a health professional.