Is maintenance hard for anyone else?

Francl27

I guess I've been maintaining for 6 months now, but does it get easier? I mean, I've been on MFP for 2 years, but I still struggle and there isn't a day that goes by when I'm actually satisfied and don't wish I could eat more (except the days when I go 500 calories over maintenance or something).

I mean, I'm not depriving myself by a long shot and I'm typically not particularly hungry except those few days a month when hormones make me ravenous, but still. I swear it's so much harder when you have a sweet tooth! At least when I crave something salty it keeps me full... chocolate and dessert don't quite cut it. Sure, I'm satisfied with less than I used to, but still... it still takes a pretty substantial amount. And I still binge too much (I still keep a deficit to make up for those days).

I know I'm rambling a lot, I just didn't expect maintenance to be so hard at times!

melimomTARDIS

Yup, maintaining is hard for me sometimes. I chew lot of gum, drink a lot of no calorie beverages.

boatsie77

Over the past 2 years, your main focus has been weight loss, and you've succeeded. Now, in addition to maintenance, try focusing on a new long-term goal. In my case it was training for a marathon (which I just completed)...but it not only needs to be fitness oriented (but it does blend nicely with maintenance), it can also be education (get a degree, learn a language); creative (learn piano, take up oil painting); or career broadening (search for a new job that is different or more challenging).

When your mind and body are engaged in learning new and satisfying activities, they'll have less time to become bored and wallow in thoughts of cravings.

KANGOOJUMPS

nope, how bad do you want it? I want it bad,. I am here only to maintain.

WestCoastJo82

I've been maintaining for a year and a half now, and there are still days that I'm really annoyed I have to pay attention to intake. I do think it's gotten easier over time though. For me, I love beer, so while I still have fun "let's taste every single beer this tap room has" days, this is a much less frequent occurrence than when I was gaining weight. The obvious answer (so I'm going to assume it's been considered and discarded, but I'll still put it out there) is to increase activity levels somehow so you can eat more and feel more satisfied.

sartezalb

The only difference between maintenance and weight loss is that the calorie cap is higher. All of the lessons from before--managing your appetite, staying away from foods that make it hard to stick to your diet, etc.--still apply.

For example, you mentioned that you're "satisfied with less" sweets than before--think about what you did back then to reduce your sweet tooth and keep doing that until you're better able to be satisfied with what you eat.

You probably used a variety of other tricks during your diet phase to stay sane: spacing of meals, sticking to certain foods, avoiding other foods, etc. Those tricks will still work! In fact, they'll be easier to use this time since you're not eating at such a deficit.

Overall, you might be feeling disappointed that maintenance is not a magical period where you can eat exactly as much as your appetite demands. If so, I empathize--I've seen several of my maintenance periods get derailed because of that idea.

But if you think of it more like what you were doing during your diet, except with much more generous limits, then you'll find yourself a lot more satisfied compared to 6 months ago. I just finished a meal where I felt like I was "pigging out," but I only actually used a third of my day's calories. By continuing to live under my past regimen of portion control and food choice, I'm able to stay satisfied with less in my maintenance phase.

jane837

Yes, it's really hard! I don't think it will ever be easy for me, but for I do think that the positive changes have outweighed the negatives, so I keep at it.

There's a great essay called "What I miss from 135lbs ago" on a blog called Can You Stay For Dinner.... http://www.canyoustayfordinner.com/2011/05/09/what-i-miss-from-135lbs-ago-part-1/ It's three parts, all worth reading.

sijomial

When I set my goals for this year weight wasn't a factor at all - it's a given now so yes I suppose it does get easier and becomes a habit but haven't really found it hard at any stage. Far, far more pleasant than losing weight as I like my food!

I did deliberately try and make my weight loss phase as close to how I intended to maintain as possible though - nothing excluded, just calorie control.

Trusting the numbers helps a lot, which comes over time - makes you much more relaxed about temporary fluctuations, holidays etc. Means you are able to relax the iron grip some people seem to try and hold over their weight to the detriment to flexibility and fitting your diet (noun) around your life and not the other way round.

Francl27

jane837 wrote: »

Yes, it's really hard! I don't think it will ever be easy for me, but for I do think that the positive changes have outweighed the negatives, so I keep at it.

There's a great essay called "What I miss from 135lbs ago" on a blog called Can You Stay For Dinner.... http://www.canyoustayfordinner.com/2011/05/09/what-i-miss-from-135lbs-ago-part-1/ It's three parts, all worth reading.

This is great! Thanks!

melimomTARDIS

As I said before, it is hard sometimes, however, I dont wanna go back to how I was feeling/living/etc before the loss, because it was harder living with the heartburn and excess pounds. I'd rather be a little hungry then a lot sick.

Hornsby

I didn't do anything that I didn't continue doing after I got to maintenance so it hasn't been that difficult. The only thing that is different is that I eat more.

SuggaD

boatsie77 wrote: »

Over the past 2 years, your main focus has been weight loss, and you've succeeded. Now, in addition to maintenance, try focusing on a new long-term goal. In my case it was training for a marathon (which I just completed)...but it not only needs to be fitness oriented (but it does blend nicely with maintenance), it can also be education (get a degree, learn a language); creative (learn piano, take up oil painting); or career broadening (search for a new job that is different or more challenging).

When your mind and body are engaged in learning new and satisfying activities, they'll have less time to become bored and wallow in thoughts of cravings.

This!

brenn24179

are you kidding, why do 90% gain their weight back? It takes work but like the others it is worth it, love wearing my clothes. I was such a glutton and still want to be. I have to say enough, stop to myself all the time. I eat plenty, I am just greedy. Same way with money, cant spend what I want.

SuggaD

I generally don't find it that hard. But I'm also so active that I can get away with overeating often enough. I find it hardest when I try stress over calories and macros as I have been doing recently.

Francl27

brenn24179 wrote: »

are you kidding, why do 90% gain their weight back? It takes work but like the others it is worth it, love wearing my clothes. I was such a glutton and still want to be. I have to say enough, stop to myself all the time. I eat plenty, I am just greedy. Same way with money, cant spend what I want.

So true!

I haven't changed the way I eat at all... I just eat a bit more.

scrittrice

I found it fairly easy in the fall--in fact, I continued to lose a little weight when I was trying to maintain. But winter is definitely harder. I like to eat a lot, and I don't mind working out to do so, but indoor exercise is so boring to me.

Bry_Fitness70

Maintaining is where everyone strives to be, but isn't pleasant on a lot of levels. People aren't as impressed to hear "I weigh the same as I did last year" when you can look at pics of people that just lost 100lbs. You look the same, so no one is going to tell you that you look thinner / better. You've been exercising for awhile and maybe your routine is getting boring and you want to do something different, but are a little tentative to change things if what you currently do is working.

But these are just minor annoyances - you have reached your goals, are in a great place where a vast majority of people on this site wish to be, and you aren't in a position where you have to suffer very much in terms of restricting calories consumed. I eat back most of my calories, and this has been tremendously helpful in keeping my morale up during times when I get sick of being disciplined and need to gorge a little!

Francl27

bw_conway wrote: »

I eat back most of my calories, and this has been tremendously helpful in keeping my morale up during times when I get sick of being disciplined and need to gorge a little!

Well you can't technically maintain without eating back your exercise calories anyway...

earth_echo

Maintenance, from my experience, isn't about being full or even satisfied after a meal. It's about being in a state of not being hungry. Any more than that is almost always going to be too much food.

snowflake930

I think maintaining is harder than losing the weight was. It has been almost 15 months on maintenance for me. My goal now is to be one of the very small percent of people that keep the weight off. It helps me to still have goals and helps me keep focused. I know I will have to continue logging and monitoring for the rest of my life. I have to keep reminding myself how much better I feel physically, and how great it is to be a normal sized person, after being morbidly obese for most of my adult life. As for most people, I do not want to ever go back. This is a pretty powerful incentive to keep going, at least it is for me.

Francl27

earth_echo wrote: »

Maintenance, from my experience, isn't about being full or even satisfied after a meal. It's about being in a state of not being hungry. Any more than that is almost always going to be too much food.

Yeah but most days I get hungry at one point or another. I guess I should just learn to balance my days so I stop overeating on some days and being hungry on others... spread out my treats more I guess.

scrittrice

earth_echo wrote: »

It's about being in a state of not being hungry.

My new mantra. Also, great profile pic.

icrushit

I'm not maintaining (yet), but found creating any sort of deficit or consistency impossible for the last month or two.

Way I see it, I had a few options. One was to sub some of the carbs in my intake for protein and especially fat, to fill me. The other was to reverse diet and stair-step up my calorie intake level over a few months to bring up the amount of calories I maintained on.

The last, and unexpectedly effective option I ended up doing (at least for the last week), has been intermittent fasting, where I eat only between 12- 8pm each day, and eat only two big meals in that window, one at around 12/ 1pm, and a second at around 7/ 8pm. Oddly its been surprisingly effective, and has gotten me back on track.

Anyway, no one option suits everyone, but perhaps you might find something useful above from my own experiences

sbtam

I was just thinking about this very same issue. I still long for the days when I wasn't counting calories and just eating whatever and whenever I wanted. Unfortunately, when I hit my mid-forties, my metabolism slowed and I gained some weight.

It is hard to maintain but I don't want to lose all the work I put in losing weight over the last year so I keep on counting calories and trying to exercise. I try to allow a 'cheat' day here and there and let myself go out to enjoy a meal without counting calories...too much. lol

If I'm craving something I hold off on it as long as possible, sometimes hours, sometimes days, and sometimes the cravings go away. Sometimes that craving gets replaced by a craving for something else, but hey, its not a perfect system.

Those are just thing that help get me through the day and I think a lot of previous posters had great tips.

Tea_Mistress

Now I know everyone's different so don't bite my head off at this
I've been maintaining a big loss for a while now, first off with mfp for a year (barely felt satisfied most of the time like yourself) , and since the new year began I stopped counting. It's made SUCH a huge difference to my mindset.
When I'm counting I constantly think of food and never feel like I've had enough, it's such a mind game.
Obviously in an ideal world we would automatically know how much we can eat without gaining weight, but for people who have a history of overeating (such as I) it's just not the case. So I HAVE created certain guidelines for myself that have allowed me to not worry about how much I eat ( cause I still have a huge appetite, always will )...

I personally have found that limiting my added sugars most days of the week really keeps my hunger and cravings in check, but I still eat as much 'healthy' (yeah yeah not a real thing whatever) food as I like throughout the week and have a treat on Friday or Saturday which is generally some sweet alcohol . I know it's not popular around here to not have a doughnut every other day 'cause you can' but this is just what's made life a lot easier for me.

Also, weigh yourself less frequently...if you are

Aviva92

I found it surprisingly easy this time. been maintaining for almost 2 years. I don't count calories anymore unless the scale goes up a little. I weigh myself every day. Feel like that's key for me.

totaldetermination

perhaps Intermittent fasting would work for you ?

pkw58

i have to say, maintenance is easy. getting 10000 steps and doing my Barre3 /yoga every day, easy. Lifting weights on a regular basis...which I KNOW would improve my fitness 1000%, utter don't wanna. Beyond light dumbbells in my Barre3 rotation, don't wanna. Quit after 6 sessions of PT because I just hate it. So I would say I have to just be happy with what I can do, and want to do.

Francl27

totaldetermination wrote: »

perhaps Intermittent fasting would work for you ?

People always suggest this but considering I eat most of my calories in the morning because I'm just so hungry, yeah I don't see that happening at all. And on days I end up with an early dinner because of it... nope, still hungry at 7pm. Can't win.

pkw58 wrote: »

i have to say, maintenance is easy. getting 10000 steps and doing my Barre3 /yoga every day, easy. Lifting weights on a regular basis...which I KNOW would improve my fitness 1000%, utter don't wanna. Beyond light dumbbells in my Barre3 rotation, don't wanna. Quit after 6 sessions of PT because I just hate it. So I would say I have to just be happy with what I can do, and want to do.

Haha, same here. I loathe lifting. Seriously, I'd rather do laundry, to give you an idea. Still make myself do 15 minutes 3x a week but BLEH. Walking 45 minutes? No problem. Go figure.

bioklutz

For my chocolate cravings I buy nestle dark chocolate chips. I weigh out about 100 calories worth. I don't eat them. I let them melt in my mouth - one at a time. I concentrate on what it tastes like. It usually takes about 20 minutes to finish. By the time the last chip is gone I usually have satisfied my flavor craving. I know other people by chocolate bars, and do that with a square or two. My preference is the little chips because takes longer to consume.

I agree with sartezalb - What tricks worked when you were eating at a deficit? Think about how you were successful at loosing weight.

You mention eating at a deficit to make up for binges. Maybe you need to have a planned high calorie meal every week?

Francl27

The difference with when I was eating at a deficit is just that I'm much hungrier now. So it's so much harder to stick to it. I used to be able to have 200-300 calorie treats in my day easily when I was eating 1700 calories, now even when I aim for 1900 (still a 300ish deficit, I think), it's a struggle when I do. It's not like my weight is unreasonably low either, heck I could stand to lose 8 more pounds! Just can't imagine what hell it would be to maintain that.

I'm fine with chocolate, I have 53 calories mini bars that are very satisfying. Honestly my cravings are typically manageable except when I get hungry from PMS. I swear hormonal hunger has been so much worse since I lost weight too...

I'm trying to increase my calories to keep a smaller deficit, that might help with the binges (although to be fair... 90% of my binges are because I'm hungry anyway). Maybe one day I'll actually figure it out...

Someone mentioned increasing my activity level - I've done that. But my workouts seem to suffer as a whole, so I'm not sure it's really helping in the end? Plus Winter makes it hard, I'm naturally more active in the Spring or Fall when it's nicer out. A bit harder to go out for a walk when it's a mess outside and 25 degrees, especially as I'm always cold (still had a fantastic 12 mile walk in NYC last week with 20 degrees, but it was sunny at least, lol!).