Maintenance musings...concerns..(and much rambling!)

LivingtheLeanDream

Hello fellow Mfp'ers

I changed my settings to maintenance about a month ago although I would have to say I have actually been maintaining my goal weight for around 8 months now within 4-5lbs.
(I got to the point where I found my body was at its 'happy weight' and I didn't want to cut my calories any longer.) My stats are good - Under bust 32"/waist 26.5"/hips 35.75", my BMI in the healthy range and my BF 23%. Not bad for a 45 yr old, even if I do say so myself lol.

You'd think I would know by now that all is well, I am not going to gain what I lost etc!!
but...

I have one little concern ...its weight related! what else! LOL

I am finding that my weight fluctuates a LOT. I would have thought by now my body would be used to the foods it gets and the exercise that I do for it to stay much the same!
If I have a packet of crisps/chips or some salted nuts/chinese take away e.g the scale goes up a minimum of 2lbs for the next day or two. Ideally if it would fluctuate between 133 and 135lbs I would be a happy bunny.

WHY DO FLUCTUATIONS IRK ME SO MUCH!!?!!

Weigh ins still cos me angst! Its like I NEED to see the right numbers to feel good about myself and what I've accomplished!! I know I'm not alone in this!
However weighing myself twice weekly is something I want to continue doing so I can monitor my weight and ensure I don't start gaining - I NEVER want to gain ...EVER AGAIN!

How can I be sure/ feel confident that my body will adapt to me eating maintenance calories? And I know that 100-200 cals extra per day will indeed mean that I gain.

Today my scale read 138.6lbs - my lowest weight is 134.4lbs, first recorded that low weight in July 14 and have only seen it a few times since. Mostly I see 135-136lbs. So part of me is worried that I'm slowly gaining!

YET I can see in the mirror that my body has never been in better shape!

I sometimes have to take a second glance of my 'slimness' (is that even a word!) when I pass a mirror! I literally am seeing my shape change before my eyes. (all owing to strength training and being an avid/consistent jogger/runner.

I'm rambling here, but I would love to be one of those folks who's maintaining and finding themselves still losing the odd pound instead of seeing fluctuations that are going up and up!

I have decided to monitor these fluctuations for 1 month. If I am still finding that I'm showing heavier then I'll have to eat at a slight deficit.

I thought I'd found my happy TDEE number! 2000 cals approx to maintain. I lose eating at 1600. I REALLY LIKE THOSE EXTRA 400 cals LOL

Apologies for all the I, I, I's that went on above and a lot of waffling!! :-D

For anyone with similar concerns I'd love to hear your thoughts

kommodevaran

Weight fluctuates naturally. Accept it or go mad. Check out Trendweight (there are others too).

TavistockToad

You've been maintaining a 4-5lb range for the last 8 months... well done!! you're doing it exactly right!!! not sure what the question is?

toolzz

Your weight is like a pendulum - it will always swing back and forth. Weigh once a month.

LivingtheLeanDream

LOL thanks @TavistockToad...I guess I was just thinking aloud, hence me forewarning about my ramble :-D I suppose I wondered if I was actually doing things right.
Maybe weighing once a month is the answer @toolzz

LivingtheLeanDream

I do use a weight tracking app, I record every few days....I think I'm just one of those people who's not great at accepting fluctuations despite knowing the reason for them.

pkw58

Oh! They joys of maintenance! I am tracking my weight in another ap every morning. I am zen with the weight swings. I like tracking calories in and out in MFP... although I am much better about my food calorie logging than activity.

LivingtheLeanDream

@pkw58 'joys' :-D maybe thats how it is for most of us ...we should be happy to be here but its something we still have to work at...sighhhh lol

BZAH10

If you can actually see and appreciate the changes in your own body, then let go of the scale angst! Do you track your measurements? Personally, I am VERY sensitive to sodium, so my water retention can fluctuate wildly sometimes. I use a cloth tape measure and track my measurements every week. It is much more accurate and basically tells me to "calm down!" whenever I see scale numbers I don't like.

farfromthetree

I weigh daily and can easily gain or lose 1-2 pounds in one day. It doesn't phase me. I maintain at around 1700 calories. If I did not weigh in daily it would stress me out...I think I have become desensitized to the scale, and I like seeing how what I ate/drank the day before effects my weight. It also assures me that I am not going to all of the sudden go back up 45 pounds. It's easier to lose 2 then 20!

fivethreeone

Your body is a constantly equilibrating machine with incessant input and output. It would be crazy to expect it to work properly and at the same time keep one aspect completely static! A five pound range held consistent over time is basically the exact definition of maintenance. You're doing it right. Good job!

MyChocolateDiet

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

Hello fellow Mfp'ers

I have actually been maintaining my goal weight for around 8 months now within 4-5lbs.

This is the only part that matters...and you said it yourself. Which means you know it and the rest is just noise. Focus only on this.

Patttience

"If I have a packet of crisps/chips or some salted nuts/chinese take away e.g the scale goes up a minimum of 2lbs for the next day or two. Ideally if it would fluctuate between 133 and 135lbs I would be a happy bunny."

I"m surprised! You have lost all the weight and been in maintenance for 8 months and you still don't know what causes weight fluctuations! and going by most of the responses above, you are far from being alone.

I have come to the conclusion that most dieters are just not very bright. Perhaps obesity and falling off the wagon after three days is caused by a lack of intelligence.

So now for the answer in this particular case: SALT! In particular a lot of salt!

But salt is not fat and salt does not become fat directly. So why fret about it. Fretting behaviour: weighing monthly.

You can weigh daily or weekly and the regular ups and downs of the scale are no cause at all to worry. Not even if you have a binge one night.

You all need to increase your understanding of how the body works because clearly most people trying to lose weight, haven't a freaking clue.

start here:
nutrition wonderland .com read articles seratonin, insulin, leptin, fibre
watch this show on you tube: Catalyst - gut reaction
what this series The Men who made us fat and the men who made us thin
both the above on your tube
read this books:
a recent high school text book on the human physiology
a recent text book on nutrition published by a reputable source
this book:
The don't go hungry diet by Dr Amanda Sainsbury Salis
Good Calorie Bad Calorie by Gary Taubes or if you find that too demanding, read a range of stuff on a similar subject, i.e. the myths around fat and low fat.
learn more about ghrelin and leptin. Understand the role of hormones in weight gain and loss.
Consider the argument in the show on exercise by Michael Mosley on you tube.
learn about the structure and function of the body.
read everything with an open mind but don't be naive. Read things critically.

Patttience

you might also read In Defence of Food
the end of Overeating
Judith Beck on the psychology of weight gain - a CBT approach.
Learn more about psychological aspects of weight gain and weight loss.

anyway educate yourself if you want to keep this weight off forever.

bstetson1

Congratulations on your weight loss and eight months of maintenance! You should be very proud of your accomplishment, I hope to do as well as you maintaining my loss.

I understand what you are saying about wishing the scale would occasionally fluctuate down a couple of pounds rather than up a couple of pounds. I can have a day where I eat a little more than I should and experience a gain. Eat less than I should and nothing happens.

fivethreeone

Patttience wrote: »

"If I have a packet of crisps/chips or some salted nuts/chinese take away e.g the scale goes up a minimum of 2lbs for the next day or two. Ideally if it would fluctuate between 133 and 135lbs I would be a happy bunny."

I"m surprised! You have lost all the weight and been in maintenance for 8 months and you still don't know what causes weight fluctuations! and going by most of the responses above, you are far from being alone.

I have come to the conclusion that most dieters are just not very bright. Perhaps obesity and falling off the wagon after three days is caused by a lack of intelligence.

So now for the answer in this particular case: SALT! In particular a lot of salt!

But salt is not fat and salt does not become fat directly. So why fret about it. Fretting behaviour: weighing monthly.

You can weigh daily or weekly and the regular ups and downs of the scale are no cause at all to worry. Not even if you have a binge one night.

You all need to increase your understanding of how the body works because clearly most people trying to lose weight, haven't a freaking clue.

start here:
nutrition wonderland .com read articles seratonin, insulin, leptin, fibre
watch this show on you tube: Catalyst - gut reaction
what this series The Men who made us fat and the men who made us thin
both the above on your tube
read this books:
a recent high school text book on the human physiology
a recent text book on nutrition published by a reputable source
this book:
The don't go hungry diet by Dr Amanda Sainsbury Salis
Good Calorie Bad Calorie by Gary Taubes or if you find that too demanding, read a range of stuff on a similar subject, i.e. the myths around fat and low fat.
learn more about ghrelin and leptin. Understand the role of hormones in weight gain and loss.
Consider the argument in the show on exercise by Michael Mosley on you tube.
learn about the structure and function of the body.
read everything with an open mind but don't be naive. Read things critically.

Salt is not necessarily the answer. Salt in this particular case is attached to carbohydrate, which is hydrophilic. Eating extra carbs without salt would also cause a water weight gain.

LivingtheLeanDream

Thank you all for your comments, not that I agree with the thought that a lot of us dieters are dim! I read up on anything I can get my hands on and I will check out the links/books mentioned. I do understand about glycogen stores...salt, retaining water etc even though I'm not much of a science buff.
I guess I was mostly having a rant and letting off steam in my post.
I am doing fine, 8 months maintaining is not to be sniffed at ☺ as some have kindly pointed out so i'll just keep doing what works for me.

LivingtheLeanDream

bstetson1 wrote: »

Congratulations on your weight loss and eight months of maintenance! You should be very proud of your accomplishment, I hope to do as well as you maintaining my loss.

I understand what you are saying about wishing the scale would occasionally fluctuate down a couple of pounds rather than up a couple of pounds. I can have a day where I eat a little more than I should and experience a gain. Eat less than I should and nothing happens.

That's me! You're same as me lol

cwolfman13

weight fluctuations have nothing to do with whether or not you're used to some certain food or whatever...you have all kinds of stuff going on all of the time that are going to make your weight fluctuate...this stuff goes far beyond whether you had some crisps with salt or whatever.

At the very basic level you have continuously varying amounts of waist in your system at any given time. You also have any number of things contributing to water retention and release as well as your glycogen stores. Those are just the basics...but there's a lot more going on then that.

Patttience

Clearly none of you know anything about salt! Salt is the most obvious and in this case most likely of all possibilities for the cause in overnight weight gain.

Those who routinely eat takeaways would not notice these fluctuations as much because they live in a state of constant overdose on salt.

Those who eat salty foods only on occasions will notice significant increases in weight overnight and an equally dramatic loss in the following day or two. This is quite easy to demonstrate. You should look up the concept of osmosis and try to understand how this process works in your body.

That said, i was not suggesting that there were no other causes of overnight weight gain but when someone lists chinese takeaway, chips and salted nuts as the triggering foods and talks about significant overnight gains, the answer is unequivocally salt.

If someone told me they'd been eating low carb for a few weeks and then ate carb foods for a day, or even had a big carb meal, i'd know the most likely explanation for the overnight weight gain was carbs.

If someone said they'd just killed themselves in the gym for 2 hours or walked 50 miles in a day, i'd know that the explanation was highly likely to be inflammation caused by over exercise. And if they did a heavy work out after having not exercise for a year or more then i'd know it was the same explanation.

If someone reported weight gain in relation to their menstrual cycle, you'd know that was at least part of the explanation.

And on it goes.

People can often see the triggers but do not seem to think about finding out about how the triggers work to causes fluctuations on the scales. Its time people looked a bit deeper into the fundamental workings of the body because by and large the majority of people are super ignorant about their own bodies. And not being interested in science does not help. You even meet people with problems who refuse to read but don't stop whinging and demanding answers from others. They just want other people to do all the work for them. Science is not perfect but its the source of the best explanations we've got for understanding the world. People who ignore science remain ignorant about pretty much everything of any importance effecting their lives. Everyone should know and understand the scientific method. Its not that hard.

And yes i understand its a minefield of misinformation out there. That's why people need to educate themselves about basic scientific method so that they can read a bit more critically and discern the good information from bad. Look up wikipedia on "scientific method". Know something about Karl Popper who was a major scientific philosopher of last century. There is no acceptable excuse for the ignorance of adults who've grown up in undeprived households in the western world. If you went to school you should know this basic stuff about science and be able to discern between rubbish and not rubbish on the internet.

So for what its worth, here's a few other tips that i've picked up over my year of reading. I advise reading widely if you are unsure about any of the following assertions. Google using the word criticism when you are trying to get to the truth.

dismiss all the hype about coconut oil. It may or may not be good for you, but the coconut oil that is tested in scientific labs is not the same oil you are being sold to put on your foods.

Olive oil is the most healthy/affordable cooking oil and cooking with it won't hurt you. It is not advised to deep fry foods in olive oil as this is potentially harmful. Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil and other nut oils are the only ones we should be eating on a regular basis because oils made from other industrial processes have been corrupted by the processes. Olive margarine is not the good oil i've just advocated above. Its margarine.

There is no such thing as a superfood.

It is not healthy to live on processed foods. these foods have less nutrition than fresh undulated whole foods.

Low fat food turn out to be an unhealthy solution to weightloss

Exercise for health not for weight loss.

Dietary supplements are unnecessary for people who can access fresh food and who don't have special health problems causing their doctors to advise otherwise.

You cannot expect to live a long and healthy life as a slim person if you live on protein shakes and energy bars to the neglect of fruit and vegetables and other whole foods.

Fruit juice diets are a gimmick

There is no such thing as liver detoxification. Its a marketing fallacy.

Sweating from exercise does nothing for you. It does not clear out toxins. You only lose salt and water. The body is capable of excreting waste without sweating.

The food Industry is in the business of making money from you. the food industry does not care about your health or your weight. They will say and do anything to get your money. In fact people who are trying to make a change to a healthy lifestyle should boycott all fast food producers as a matter of principle and protest against the damage they've done to you and the population for decades.

You should support the government for legislation to reign in the excesses of the food industry.

If you want to treat yourself, go out to a good restaurant where qualified chefs are cooking whole foods. Or cook something special yourself. Have a party with friends where you all go out of your way to cook up a storm.

Frozen dinners and diet foods are not healthy and will not help you lose weight in the long run.

You need to learn to cook.

You need to learn how to make food taste good with out all the bottled sauces, and processed canned stuff.

You need to appreciate the value of fresh fruit and vegetables and aspire to eat more of them more often.

Food with added sugar even if its yoghurt is not a health food despite what it says on the packet.

Is there added cream in your greek yoghurt. Is that a good idea when you want to lose weight? I suggest its not a great idea. In Australia almost all yoghurt on the shelves that is not low fat yoghurt, now has added cream. I don't know if that's the case in america but you should be reading the labels and understand where calories are sneaked in for the purpose of adding flavour and getting your money.

the best and most healthy yoghurt has no added cream or sugar and is made from whole milk. If you don't like it that's because it hasn't been strained and its cheaper quality product.

Bacon is not a health food even if you are on a low carb diet.

Most vegetarian processed foods are not healthy foods.

there seems to be a problem with soy, so why would you resort to drinking soy milk.

Almond milk and rice milk is not milk.


Egg yolks do not cause high cholesterol and they are note the cause of your fatness. And eating egg white omelettes is not going to make dieting easier unless you simply do not like egg yolks.

Gluten is not a health risk unless you have an intolerance for it and as far as i'm aware has no impact on weight gain. However i understand that gluten free foods often have more calories than gluten foods. You cannot guess whether gluten is the cause of your health or troubles. You need to get properly tested.

you cannot change your metabolism by the eating different foods.

Hypothyoidism is not the reason you are fat. At worst it may have contributed to extra weight but it is not the cause of you being fat. And when its properly treated, will not prevent you from losing weight or make it hard. If you are struggling to lose weight when you doing everything right, then there is another explanation, mostly like insulin resistance which in the massive majority of people, is the result of from years and years of overeating.

If you do like to eat fruit and vegetables, you have a serious health problem.

If you are not willing to learn how to cook and feed yourself healthy food, you will probably always be fat.

Alcohol has calories. You need to cut down and control your intake if you want to manage your weight.

Cigarette smoking are not a healthy solution to obesity.

Choose to severely cut down on your refined sugar intake is not a form of deprivation. the human species does not need to eat refined sugar at all. And if you just make a switch to honey, maple syrup or other sweets, your fat problems will remain.

If you do not eat enough calories to meet your daily energy needs, you will be hungry.

If you cut your calories severely in order to lose weight fast, you will probably fail.

If you are not willing to make significant permanent changes to your diet for the long term, you will probably fail to keep the weight off.

Everything in moderation is a principle that sounds good but does not work for a lot of people. It does not work for people who can't control their sweet tooth.

Eating a lot of white carbs (sugar, bread, pasta, rice) can increase your appetite for more and lead to feelings of never being able to stop thinking about food. There are scientific explanations for this. You should look into it if you have experienced this type of appetite.

Parents are responsible for their children's eating behaviours and weight and over all health. If your child is fat, it's largely your fault. If you don't know how to deal with your child's demands for food, you need to seek professional dietary advice from a well trained dietician and if what you try does not work, keep looking til you find someone who can make the difference.

Doctors are not infallible experts on weight gain and weight loss. They are trained to treat and manage medical disorders. Obesity and overweightness has traditionally been considered a medical disorder and they have not been trained in the finer points of nutrition. You need to see a dietician and continue to do you own research.

JustSomeEm

Patttience wrote: »

Clearly none of you know anything about salt! Salt is the most obvious and in this case most likely of all possibilities for the cause in overnight weight gain.

Those who routinely eat takeaways would not notice these fluctuations as much because they live in a state of constant overdose on salt.

Those who eat salty foods only on occasions will notice significant increases in weight overnight and an equally dramatic loss in the following day or two. This is quite easy to demonstrate. You should look up the concept of osmosis and try to understand how this process works in your body.

That said, i was not suggesting that there were no other causes of overnight weight gain but when someone lists chinese takeaway, chips and salted nuts as the triggering foods and talks about significant overnight gains, the answer is unequivocally salt.

If someone told me they'd been eating low carb for a few weeks and then ate carb foods for a day, or even had a big carb meal, i'd know the most likely explanation for the overnight weight gain was carbs.

If someone said they'd just killed themselves in the gym for 2 hours or walked 50 miles in a day, i'd know that the explanation was highly likely to be inflammation caused by over exercise. And if they did a heavy work out after having not exercise for a year or more then i'd know it was the same explanation.

If someone reported weight gain in relation to their menstrual cycle, you'd know that was at least part of the explanation.

And on it goes.

People can often see the triggers but do not seem to think about finding out about how the triggers work to causes fluctuations on the scales. Its time people looked a bit deeper into the fundamental workings of the body because by and large the majority of people are super ignorant about their own bodies. And not being interested in science does not help. You even meet people with problems who refuse to read but don't stop whinging and demanding answers from others. They just want other people to do all the work for them. Science is not perfect but its the source of the best explanations we've got for understanding the world. People who ignore science remain ignorant about pretty much everything of any importance effecting their lives. Everyone should know and understand the scientific method. Its not that hard.

And yes i understand its a minefield of misinformation out there. That's why people need to educate themselves about basic scientific method so that they can read a bit more critically and discern the good information from bad. Look up wikipedia on "scientific method". Know something about Karl Popper who was a major scientific philosopher of last century. There is no acceptable excuse for the ignorance of adults who've grown up in undeprived households in the western world. If you went to school you should know this basic stuff about science and be able to discern between rubbish and not rubbish on the internet.

So for what its worth, here's a few other tips that i've picked up over my year of reading. I advise reading widely if you are unsure about any of the following assertions. Google using the word criticism when you are trying to get to the truth.

dismiss all the hype about coconut oil. It may or may not be good for you, but the coconut oil that is tested in scientific labs is not the same oil you are being sold to put on your foods.

Olive oil is the most healthy/affordable cooking oil and cooking with it won't hurt you. It is not advised to deep fry foods in olive oil as this is potentially harmful. Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil and other nut oils are the only ones we should be eating on a regular basis because oils made from other industrial processes have been corrupted by the processes. Olive margarine is not the good oil i've just advocated above. Its margarine.

There is no such thing as a superfood.

It is not healthy to live on processed foods. these foods have less nutrition than fresh undulated whole foods.

Low fat food turn out to be an unhealthy solution to weightloss

Exercise for health not for weight loss.

Dietary supplements are unnecessary for people who can access fresh food and who don't have special health problems causing their doctors to advise otherwise.

You cannot expect to live a long and healthy life as a slim person if you live on protein shakes and energy bars to the neglect of fruit and vegetables and other whole foods.

Fruit juice diets are a gimmick

There is no such thing as liver detoxification. Its a marketing fallacy.

Sweating from exercise does nothing for you. It does not clear out toxins. You only lose salt and water. The body is capable of excreting waste without sweating.

The food Industry is in the business of making money from you. the food industry does not care about your health or your weight. They will say and do anything to get your money. In fact people who are trying to make a change to a healthy lifestyle should boycott all fast food producers as a matter of principle and protest against the damage they've done to you and the population for decades.

You should support the government for legislation to reign in the excesses of the food industry.

If you want to treat yourself, go out to a good restaurant where qualified chefs are cooking whole foods. Or cook something special yourself. Have a party with friends where you all go out of your way to cook up a storm.

Frozen dinners and diet foods are not healthy and will not help you lose weight in the long run.

You need to learn to cook.

You need to learn how to make food taste good with out all the bottled sauces, and processed canned stuff.

You need to appreciate the value of fresh fruit and vegetables and aspire to eat more of them more often.

Food with added sugar even if its yoghurt is not a health food despite what it says on the packet.

Is there added cream in your greek yoghurt. Is that a good idea when you want to lose weight? I suggest its not a great idea. In Australia almost all yoghurt on the shelves that is not low fat yoghurt, now has added cream. I don't know if that's the case in america but you should be reading the labels and understand where calories are sneaked in for the purpose of adding flavour and getting your money.

the best and most healthy yoghurt has no added cream or sugar and is made from whole milk. If you don't like it that's because it hasn't been strained and its cheaper quality product.

Bacon is not a health food even if you are on a low carb diet.

Most vegetarian processed foods are not healthy foods.

there seems to be a problem with soy, so why would you resort to drinking soy milk.

Almond milk and rice milk is not milk.


Egg yolks do not cause high cholesterol and they are note the cause of your fatness. And eating egg white omelettes is not going to make dieting easier unless you simply do not like egg yolks.

Gluten is not a health risk unless you have an intolerance for it and as far as i'm aware has no impact on weight gain. However i understand that gluten free foods often have more calories than gluten foods. You cannot guess whether gluten is the cause of your health or troubles. You need to get properly tested.

you cannot change your metabolism by the eating different foods.

Hypothyoidism is not the reason you are fat. At worst it may have contributed to extra weight but it is not the cause of you being fat. And when its properly treated, will not prevent you from losing weight or make it hard. If you are struggling to lose weight when you doing everything right, then there is another explanation, mostly like insulin resistance which in the massive majority of people, is the result of from years and years of overeating.

If you do like to eat fruit and vegetables, you have a serious health problem.

If you are not willing to learn how to cook and feed yourself healthy food, you will probably always be fat.

Alcohol has calories. You need to cut down and control your intake if you want to manage your weight.

Cigarette smoking are not a healthy solution to obesity.

Choose to severely cut down on your refined sugar intake is not a form of deprivation. the human species does not need to eat refined sugar at all. And if you just make a switch to honey, maple syrup or other sweets, your fat problems will remain.

If you do not eat enough calories to meet your daily energy needs, you will be hungry.

If you cut your calories severely in order to lose weight fast, you will probably fail.

If you are not willing to make significant permanent changes to your diet for the long term, you will probably fail to keep the weight off.

Everything in moderation is a principle that sounds good but does not work for a lot of people. It does not work for people who can't control their sweet tooth.

Eating a lot of white carbs (sugar, bread, pasta, rice) can increase your appetite for more and lead to feelings of never being able to stop thinking about food. There are scientific explanations for this. You should look into it if you have experienced this type of appetite.

Parents are responsible for their children's eating behaviours and weight and over all health. If your child is fat, it's largely your fault. If you don't know how to deal with your child's demands for food, you need to seek professional dietary advice from a well trained dietician and if what you try does not work, keep looking til you find someone who can make the difference.

Doctors are not infallible experts on weight gain and weight loss. They are trained to treat and manage medical disorders. Obesity and overweightness has traditionally been considered a medical disorder and they have not been trained in the finer points of nutrition. You need to see a dietician and continue to do you own research.

Wow, that's a very long post... you certainly have a wealth of information to pass on. Curious, though - are you actually reading the responses of folks who have posted here?