Maintainance: can everone do it ? and how ?

bobby5112

Over the years I have known dozens of people who had a successful weight loss 'project' in their adult life, but I only know of 1 or 2 that kept the weight off. 15 years ago I lost weight over 6 months prepping for a competitive summer sport but it didn't last.

In this "Maintenance" discussion board there are good suggestions on the mechanics of maintenance, but little said about discipline of maintaining those good practices. ie. sticking with it long term.

Personally my focus on all my optional interests have been episodic. I undertake an interest or a project for a few weeks or a few months and then I am on to something else. Over the last 5 months I lost 40 pounds, back to my high school track team weight. Now that I have done that I am already tempted to replace the "weight loss project" with something else. The pleasant distraction of something like a week long trip with friends puts me at risk of losing focus on weight maintenance forever . . my mental focus tends to move on to new interests.

Discipline, eating-habits etc are just words that describe behavior. Hearing the words, thinking those words don't make it happen. Ok, maybe saying "just do it" will solve the problem of long term focus

I know that some people exhibit discipline about eating for a life time. My 100 pound wife eats like a bird unless there is a special occasion when she eats like everyone else. I have no idea how to get there. Keeping Oatmeal-Raisin cookies out of the house is a good start. I gave away all of my fat cloths to charities that ask for cloths.

Any good ideas on the mental challenge of keeping the weight off ? Can good eating habits really become a habit for everyone ?

ndj1979

figure out maintenance calories
eat to that number
continue to weigh/log/measure all food
continue to do some form of exercise...

ana3067

ndj1979 wrote: »

figure out maintenance calories
eat to that number
continue to weigh/log/measure all food
continue to do some form of exercise...

Or really, only the first 3 are required. If exercise is omitted then one just needs to figure out one's new estimated maintenance needs (now lower), eat that for a while and monitor.

I mean this is like asking "how do people lose/gain weight, can everyone do it?" Like, yeah of course everyone can. And there are plenty of people who naturally maintain their weight without tracking (some who've used MFP can successfully maintain without tracking as wel, although I'd assume it's not as successful for them).

I've been able to stick to eating at a deficit for over 5 months. It's not hard. Pretty sure I can stick to eating maintenance, and thus more food, comfortably once I reach my goals lol. I will say though that it must be harder for people who do not log their food or track calories in any way, because there is much less control. When I first lost weight years ago it was without any knowledge of my intake, only lots of exercise. So I of course gained it all back when I stopped exercising regularly and kept eating the same and then eating even more.

BigGuy47

bobby5112 wrote: »

little said about discipline of maintaining those good practices. .

Discipline comes from within. People can offer up all kinds of encouragement or advice, but you have to tap into your self discipline to keep it going. It's on you.

gothchiq

You have to keep measuring and logging. Think about it like brushing your teeth and showering. You don't do that as a hobby then quit, you must do it for the rest of your life.

jim180155

bobby5112 wrote: »

In this "Maintenance" discussion board there are good suggestions on the mechanics of maintenance, but little said about discipline of maintaining those good practices. ie. sticking with it long term.

Personally my focus on all my optional interests have been episodic. I undertake an interest or a project for a few weeks or a few months and then I am on to something else. Over the last 5 months I lost 40 pounds, back to my high school track team weight. Now that I have done that I am already tempted to replace the "weight loss project" with something else. The pleasant distraction of something like a week long trip with friends puts me at risk of losing focus on weight maintenance forever . . my mental focus tends to move on to new interests.

I'm kind of the same way. I stayed motivated through the challenge of losing weight, but a month or two after maintaining I felt my interest starting to slip. Maintenance is relatively easy and maintenance is boring. So I decided not to maintain. I am now trying to add more muscle, strength, and endurance. I'm also trying to shed the last bit of expendable fat.

It's every bit as interesting as losing weight was, probably more so.

hill8570

One of my MFP friends had an interesting observation today -- the difference between maintaining and gaining 10 pounds over a year is about 90 calories a day. To me, that means you gotta be keep an eye on the scale (or other measurements, if you prefer) -- I don't care how diligent you are about weighing and measuring, your margin of error is bigger than that.

bobby5112

Refocusing on a fitness program as you suggest sounds like a good plan. Turns out I am doing the same thing trying to rebuild strength and endurance. So far it has been easy to couple that goal with an ongoing weigh maintenance program.

tzdani

gothchiq wrote: »

You have to keep measuring and logging. Think about it like brushing your teeth and showering. You don't do that as a hobby then quit, you must do it for the rest of your life.

I'd rather exercise for the rest of my life than log... it's less of a chore! Logging has made me miserable. I lost the first 45 lbs without it, albeit a little slower, and let's face it... it's not like we're going to forget that a single Reese's peanut butter cup is 110 calories... My personal plan is to "cut back" on logging. My food might stay warm that way.

jim180155

Once I got past the initial learning curve, I've never found logging to be much trouble. The only time I don't want to log now is when I want to eat something and not acknowledge that I'm eating it. Like pizza. I really shouldn't eat any more than one or two slices of pizza, but it's pizza, and there's no way four or five slices are going to fit into my daily allowance. When I'm around pizza I wish I'd never heard of logging calories.

BZAH10

gothchiq wrote: »

You have to keep measuring and logging. Think about it like brushing your teeth and showering. You don't do that as a hobby then quit, you must do it for the rest of your life.

Exactly. Or, not necessarily measuring and logging, but keeping track and staying under your calorie limit.
Also, I think "maintenance" is associated with "monotony" but I've maintained my weight for years but have drastically changed my goals as time goes by. By keeping goals fresh the little things like logging and measuring don't take center focus.

BigGuy47

gothchiq wrote: »

...you must do it for the rest of your life.

It's not a MUST situation for everyone. It depends on the individual.
I've seen posts in this forum from users that have maintained for well over a decade without logging.

Now the whole brushing teeth and bathing thing... ...yeah, that's something you want to do on a daily basis.

gmallan

Have a maintenance range (i.e. a weight range that you are happy within) and just know that when maintaining sometimes you'll be on the lower end and sometimes you'll be on the higher end (like after a week away with friends or a holiday). Track until you know your maintenance calories and roughly what that eqautes to in real terms (what you can eat day-to-day and week-to-week) and then stop tracking if you want to. With this approach you'll also need some kind of method of knowing when you're reaching your upper limit so you can reign things in for a bit (maybe track again for a little while). For me when certain pieces of clothing start to get tight I know it's time for a mini 'diet'.

My point is that if you make maintenance as intuitive as possible it can be sustainable long term. Of course it's going to be a lot easier if you've built good habbits while losing and haven't lost through a quick fix fad diet.

I think that's probably why a lot of people re-gain. They don't view it as a life long issue. They want to lose the weight as quick as possible so that they can go back to the way they were eating before when in reality we know it won't work because the way they were eating before was the reason they were overweight in the first place

cwolfman13

Here's what a lot of people go wrong...they lose a bunch of weight and they think they are done...in reality, they're just beginning. You don't stop paying attention just because you've reached some arbitrary number on the scale. In reality, you've only arrived at the starting line of the actual race that you were (or should have been) training for. Unfortunately, people go through all this "training" and never actually run the real race...in their minds, they're done...it's over with...back to the good old days and the good old ways. That'll never work in a million years.

If you look at the people who've had success, they've all made significant changes in the way they live their lives...and I'm not talking about logging a diary...I'm talking about making nutrition and eating well and regular exercise and developing other healthy habits that you take into perpetuity. You have to get out of the mindset that you're going to only be doing this for X amount of time and then you'll be done...because really, you're never done.

brenn24179

you cant spend too much or you get in debt, same way with eating, eat too much and you get fat, calories in, calories out

noexcusesjustresults2014

ndj1979 wrote: »

figure out maintenance calories
eat to that number
continue to weigh/log/measure all food
continue to do some form of exercise...

+1

kristidem

Maintenance is tough, no doubt about it. For me, I have to plan and plan and plan and log. Plan a few major dinners for the week, plan what to buy, buy it all, and execute. I eat almost the same breakfast weekdays, which I don't mind and never feel in a rut. Plan for lunches: bring to work 3-4 days and buy out 1-2 days at the cafeteria or elsewhere. And log it all. I've regained up to 10 pounds a couple times since reaching my goal weight 5 years ago and have reduced it back down each time. I refuse to buy bigger clothes (tossed them all when I lost the weight originally) so as I start squeezing in to clothes I buckle down and lose it again over many weeks. It's a cycle of maintain - gain - lose. Most of the time my gain is a few pounds, which isn't too bad to reduce again (but damn it's so easy to go up 3 pounds in one "bad" week). And it's ok, I enjoy junk food sometimes or eat way too much of something. I'm human.

bobby5112

gothchiq wrote: »

You have to keep measuring and logging. Think about it like brushing your teeth and showering. You don't do that as a hobby then quit, you must do it for the rest of your life.

A novel way to think about it.

sun_fish

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Here's what a lot of people go wrong...they lose a bunch of weight and they think they are done...in reality, they're just beginning. You don't stop paying attention just because you've reached some arbitrary number on the scale. In reality, you've only arrived at the starting line of the actual race that you were (or should have been) training for. Unfortunately, people go through all this "training" and never actually run the real race...in their minds, they're done...it's over with...back to the good old days and the good old ways. That'll never work in a million years.

If you look at the people who've had success, they've all made significant changes in the way they live their lives...and I'm not talking about logging a diary...I'm talking about making nutrition and eating well and regular exercise and developing other healthy habits that you take into perpetuity. You have to get out of the mindset that you're going to only be doing this for X amount of time and then you'll be done...because really, you're never done.

This says it all.

SherryTeach

I've been maintaining for two years and yes, I still log all my food and exercise. It works for me, takes very little time and keeps me accountable. But more than that, I have completely changed my relationship to food. I spend more time on food preparation, I batch cook, I always have good and healthy food available to me so that I am not tempted to make poor choices. And I always save room for treats and special occasions. That's how I think of it as a lifestyle change.

Jim_1000

gmallan wrote: »

My point is that if you make maintenance as intuitive as possible it can be sustainable long term. Of course it's going to be a lot easier if you've built good habbits while losing and haven't lost through a quick fix fad diet.

That is great advice, one example might be using portion control. Half your plate is greens, 1/4 meat, 1/4 carb or something along those lines. Then you should never have to log and maintenance would be easier once that's instilled as a habit.