I'm an avid weight loser. Help...

valskeete

I have no problem getting to my goal, whether takes a few months or or almost a year . I honestly, don't know how to maintain. If I'm not losing, I'm gaining. I think I tire myself out being so strict with my diet and an avid gym goer, I don't know what to do when I get there. I need a healthy balance.

tulips_and_tea

Balance is tough to find and maintain sometimes. Once you hit your goal and get to the maintenance phase can you maybe change your mindset of "Done! I made it. End of the road."? Because it really isn't at all. Perhaps if you can NOT see it as an end-point and just keep doing what you're doing but modify SLIGHTLY that might help.

Example: during your strict phases, if you go to the gym 5 or 6 days a week, then in maintenance go 4 or 5, or do shorter workouts. Same with food: whatever your strict calorie goal is, just add 50 or 100 cals. at a time for a few weeks until you find that balance.

The only other thing I'll add is that maintenance does not equal doing the same thing for life. For me, maintenance always requires small adjustments to my diet and workouts according to my life and health at the time.

nxd10

Maybe you're thinking about the wrong goal. The goal is to maintain a healthy weight forever, not to get to your goal weight.

You obviously have the discipline. Once you're at goal, you just need to do the same thing you were doing before but with extra calories. It's not hard. It just requires persistence. It really is a lifestyle. It might also help you if you weren't 'so strict'. I always logged and always hit my goals when I was losing. But I ate what I wanted, just learned to really enjoy everything I ate and stop eating things I didn't. And I ate smaller portions. If you do that, you're never feeling 'deprived' so adding extra calories to maintain just makes it easier and you just keep on keeping on.

mymodernbabylon

The other thing to think about is having a goal RANGE. Otherwise you are just gaining and losing in your mind versus staying in that range.

valskeete

A goal "range" is a helpful statement. I've been making it lifestyle for about 9 months now. I'm not trying to lose; just healthier with diet and exercise choices. I haven't been killing myself. I was trying too hard and burning myself out before. It's been working.
I guess I'm a goal nut. I created one that I may never attain (8-pack) but I still aim for, gradually.
Thanks for all your input.

LittleTikiBirdy

I'm in the same boat. I lost 15 or so kilograms and got to my goal weight then relaxed and started eating more and working out harder and gained back those last 3kg that were the hardest to lose. I had a six pack going on there too. So disappointed. And its so hard to get back o track again after seeing such a difference in my gym workouts. *sigh* but such is life?

MommyL2015

I am afraid that is what will happen to me. I have gotten so good at losing weight, that I won't know how to maintain properly and I do know that once I reach my goal, I don't want to lose more. I don't mind gaining a little bit here and there because I know what to do to take it off. It's inevitable that I'll gain a pound or two here and there due to holidays and such, but I don't want to remain in a cycle of lose-gain-lose forever either.

I have a range to maintain from five pounds below my ultimate goal to five pounds above. I think I'll be okay with those numbers and that much wiggle room.

valskeete

It's definitely hard to get back on track @LittleTikiBirdy and I refuse to have to do it again. The older you get, the more you realize you can't do it for the rest of your life.
@MommyL2015 That wiggle room is 10 lbs. That's a ton for me. I'll have to learn what works for me. Baby steps...

M30834134

I've been there too and it took me two times to realize that the losing part is not all of the journey - just the beginning of it. The journey is a healthier life - and that has no end date. Once I realized that, everything became so much easier to understand and handle. The realization that I cannot go back to "eating as before" because that "eating as before" got me overweight (twice) was the turning point for me. That realization prompted me to make changes - changes that I can live with and sustain.

I guess we do what we set out to do - diet to lose weight (but then what?) or to change for life. The victory is in your head - set your mind right and the rest is just a matter of time.

elisa123gal

I am opposite… I am in the weight loss phase..but I see myself at goal..because isn't it really the same? Only you're at a steady weight range? You get on the scale everyday..if you're a bit heavier..you watch what you eat closer..maybe exercise ten minutes extra? If your weight is a little less. .you can eat a little more..exercise a little less.. so on and so forth.
I think you should weigh yourself every day..that might be the trick to getting your mind to realize it takes the same amount of work/focus/priority to maintain as it does to lose.

HamsterManV2

You can always go on bulk and cut cycles. Bulk to gain strength and/or muscle, cut to reveal aesthetic body. Bodybuilders do this all the time, and other athletes who have to make weight classes (or me who wants to gain strength but not be a fat slob )

Play with the ranges too. You can do a slow bulk and fast cut (for me that's +250 cal bulking, -500 cal cutting), or visa versa so you half the time doing what you don't like/double the time doing the thing you do like.

Edit: Also on bulks, I can add more volume to my lifting. On a cut, I keep the same intensity (weight of my lifts) but I reduce my volume (do less sets). I try to maintain the lifts so that I keep the strength of a heavier me at a lighter weight (so I am stronger bodyweight-to-lifts wise).

valskeete

I use my clothes as my weight loss/weight gain measuring tool; frankly, the scale freaks me out.
I used to be a fitness competitor, so I'm familiar with bulking/cutting. I cut 6/week (Keto) and do Refeed days once a week. I guess I'm on the right track because tend to that anyway in terms of maintaining, workout less/more eat less/more, anyway.
You guys reconfirmed what I already do. I'm just a stress-ball. TY

clh72569

I have used the goal range. I went under my goal 5 lbs so I can maintain within my goal. However, when I know I will be on vacation with no exercise or thanksgiving I will go under 10 lbs because 5 lbs is not enough wiggle room for me.