Congratulations--you're nearing maintenance phase! Now what?

sartezalb

For those nearing the end of your weight loss plan: congratulations! As someone who went through the same not too long ago, I wanted to share some lessons I've learned in "maintenance"--hopefully you'll have an easier time!

First of all, my story
After hitting 185 lbs and seeing a few side effects (clothes not fitting, losing endurance, nasty gut, becoming "clinically overweight"), I began eating at a large calorie deficit. Over the next 100 days, I shed about 30 lbs; in the 140 days since then, I have gained about 10 back. By some standards, that is "not bad", but I want to reverse that--I've learned some of the following in the meantime:

Just because you're good at dieting now doesn't mean you'll be good at dieting later.
As my weight crept up, I told myself that I could just weight cut as before. If I could calorie restrict to lose 30 lbs, surely I could do the same to lose 2 or 3? But as you might guess, that never happened--what went wrong?

Looking back, my first weight cut came in two phases. The first was driven by an initial urge for change (my suits didn't fit, the stairs were getting harder to climb). That urge allowed me to overcome my initial pain over calorie cutting. The second phase was after that initial sense of urgency had passed--but I was used to calorie cutting by then, and had few problems continuing.

However, I feel a lot less urgency now: I'm at a healthy weight, my clothes all fit, and people compliment me on my progress all the time. Frankly, I just don't have as much drive as I did back in the day. And without an initial sense of urgency, I can't get "used to" calorie cutting again--so of course, the diet never really sticks. Ten pounds later, I recognize that cutting calories is not as psychologically realistic option as it was a few months ago.

The point is: recognize that the initial drive to cut calories may not be possible once you're at your desired weight. Be very careful about assuming that you can just "lose it like you once did."

Just because you're good at dieting doesn't mean you'll be naturally good at maintenance eating.
It's tempting to view maintenance eating as a "relaxed" form of calorie restriction. By the numbers, this makes sense. However, it did lead to a dangerous complacency: the idea that I could eat without being as conscious of my diet as before. After dieting for so long, surely my natural sense of appetite would be closer to a healthy maintenance level?

That didn't happen, obviously.

First of all, there may be biological reasons. It's looking increasingly like your body tends to "remember" its last heaviest weight; until it forgets that set point (which may take years, if ever), it regards any lesser mass as a "state of deprivation." Therefore, your sense of appetite and satiety will tend towards more to that heavier weight rather than your new, more desirable weight. It's no coincidence that most people end up regaining the weight they lost. In short: just "letting off the brakes" once you stop dieting will likely get you back to your old weight.

Secondly, maintenance eating is a skill in itself. You need to negotiate a different set of meal times, satiety, limits, etc. It's not just a matter of "being less strict with yourself": maintenance calories are just as much a limit just as deficit calories; and just as with deficit calories, you need to find the right combination of food type/quantity/timing that works to keep you functional and consistent.

The point is: do not underestimate the maintenance phase! It has its own set of demands that must be respected.

Know that you're in it for the long-haul.
As you're nearing the finish line, you'll want to congratulate yourself--and that's natural! Deficit eating requires you to overcome a lot of habits, social pressures, and biological signals, and it's not something to be trivialized.

Once you're done celebrating though, you'll need to focus yourself: you're in this for the long haul. As I mentioned earlier, your body will not adjust your appetite to fit your new weight--be mindful that there are biological pressures to undo your gains.

Furthermore, just look around you; see how the pounds creep up as people enter their 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond. Many of my seniors carry around a little more gut. More and more of my friends pack on the pounds as the years go on. Our society and our bodies are primed to put weight on, and given the percentage of overweight/obese persons around the world, it's a gamble to "hope" that you won't be part of that statistic.

Be mindful and conscious of what you put into your body, no matter how well off you are--don't leave it to chance.

P.S. So what am I doing now?
As I've indicated, deficit eating is not really something I want to do again. What I AM motivated to do, however, is learn to eat in a sustainable way--at maintenance calories. That said, I'd like to shed those ten pounds, so I'm also going to move onto exercising more consistently.

In other words, I've transitioned from an emergency measure (deficit eating) to two sustainable ones (maintenance eating, more exercise). That's not a half-bad place to be, but it did require some thought--and hopefully, I've helped you think a bit on your plan going forward.

beemerphile1

Thanks for sharing. I have ten pounds to go on my first phase of weight loss and then plan to eat maintenance for the summer. In the fall if all goes according to plan I will go after the remaining 20 pounds.

It is a great concern of mine how the transition will go. I want to relax a little, let my skin catch up to my weight loss, and enjoy the summer. However I dread the thought of losing any of the progress I have made so far.

At first it was all about losing weight but now I give a lot of thought to the maintenance issue.

mathandcats

Did you continue logging/calorie counting in maintenance?

sartezalb

I unfortunately got a bit lax--which also helps explain the weight gain. Keep those habits!

Another important point on logging: it may be helpful to slowly ramp up your daily goals so that you can find your true maintenance level. MFP's original recommendation for me was, I think, a little high.

deniztuzu2

sartezalb wrote: »

Secondly, maintenance eating is a skill in itself. You need to negotiate a different set of meal times, satiety, limits, etc. It's not just a matter of "being less strict with yourself": maintenance calories are just as much a limit just as deficit calories; and just as with deficit calories, you need to find the right combination of food type/quantity/timing that works to keep you functional and consistent.

How does meal timing come into play?

sartezalb

For me, meal timing is largely a matter of psychology--how much do I have to eat/at what times to feel satisfied throughout the day?

When I was going through deficit eating, I found that many tiny meals throughout the day generally kept me the most sane. At maintenance calories, I found that I had to reconsider what kind of eating schedule was practical to cover my needs while avoiding the temptation of overeating--still figuring that out!

You'll of course find a lot of discussion about whether it's better to stick to small meals or to practice intermittent fasting or everything in between, but bottom line is: whatever you choose is something you have to be able to stick to and be comfortable with.