When to start maintaining?

123juliaj123

Might sound odd but can I ask advice please. I have lost 3 stones and am now in the healthy range BMI and while I know I could lose more weight and look trimmer Im not sure I should?

Thing is I am not sure when to stop reducing and start maintaining?

Im aware that at my age 53 my skin will not zap back into place as it did so if I keep reducing I am going to get more saggy skin and wrinkles.

I know it sounds a bit daft but Im also a bit scared to stop dieting as I have been, for fear of putting it back on. I have got used to eating this way and find it scary that I will have to change and perhaps lose the control I have now
Any help would be much appreciated
Thanks Julia

sijomial

Why don't you maintain for 3 months and then reassess?
What you do now doesn't have to be forever. You are right that in our 50's it takes longer for our skin to catch up with our weight loss. So maintain and give it a chance!

"Scared to stop dieting" is pretty worrying. You have to eat a surplus of roughly 147,000 calories to regain the weight lost. That's not going to happen suddenly!
As you are worried about the loss of control then simply regard maintaining the same as your weight loss phase - simply a different (and higher obviously) calorie goal to adhere to.

Give yourself time, what feels new and scary becomes the norm over time.

Francl27

Depends. Do you feel comfortable the way you are? You can always start transitioning to maintenance by just increasing your calories by 100 every week.

123juliaj123

Thanks for this, it sounds silly but I hadnt considered that my skin may be able to tighten up at all now, my skins not awful but its not great either

I am working on my muscle tone etc now, but I dont know if this will make much difference to the way my body looks and feels? I just bought a bike to help with this but I think my upper body could do with help too?

Its hard to believe that I can eat that many calories before I gain weight..need to get my head around that one.

I like the idea of a kind of maintain for three months and see how it feels - bit less scarey too that way
thanks again

Annie_01

OP I still have anywhere from 20-40lbs left to lose. After I get the next 20lbs off I plan on increasing my calories about 50 a week until I get to only 1/2lb deficit. The last 20lbs I will just lose really slow but I am okay with that.

Maybe just try adding a few back at a time until you feel comfortable with maintaining instead of losing.

123juliaj123

annie that sounds sensible however Im a bit worried as I have managed the weight loss by being a complete control freak over what I eat and I feel that I will have to stop doing that, and Im not sure if I have an inbetween mindset .. I know it sounds odd but Im genuinely worried

Annie_01

No...not odd...I actually think this happens quite often after long term weight loss. For so long we concentrate on the scale going down. Then we wake up one morning and our goal is for it to stay in one spot. I think that transition can be overwhelming. That is why I am going to try and slow my weight loss down for the last 20lbs. Hopefully it won't be such a hard transition to maintenance.

Why don't you go to the Maintenance Forum and ask some of those that have been through this already. I am sure that there are those that have had similar feelings as you. Maybe they can give you some tips on how to get past this "fear" stage.

Good luck!

123juliaj123

thanks annie I will do that tomorrow morning .. I hope Im not so unusual and can get some feedback from others who have done it, I do want to lose a few more pounds before I start to maintain anyway its just that I am actually getting more nervous as I get closer which I know sounds a bit bonkers lol

bioklutz

Your profile states you started about 8 months ago. Have you ever taken a calorie deficit break during those 8 months? If not maybe now is the time to do so!

This is an interesting read:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/

123juliaj123

I have only taken a one day break when I went to a wedding and looking at this link it needs to be for 2 weeks so I have never done that. I have pretty much decided to reach the next goal I had set myself which is 4lbs more off and then I will try to move to maintaining for 4 weeks and then see how it feels, though I think if I start gaining more than a couple of pounds I may well want to return to the diet in a hurry

sijomial

123juliaj123 wrote: »

I have only taken a one day break when I went to a wedding and looking at this link it needs to be for 2 weeks so I have never done that. I have pretty much decided to reach the next goal I had set myself which is 4lbs more off and then I will try to move to maintaining for 4 weeks and then see how it feels, though I think if I start gaining more than a couple of pounds I may well want to return to the diet in a hurry

Be very careful about the bolded statement.
When switching to maintenance you may get a temporary jump in weight (weight not fat) from replenishing glycogen stores and the water that accompanies the glycogen. Also you will naturally have daily, weekly, monthly weight fluctuations to take into account - it's really important to allow for these with a weight range not a single weight point.

Unhappy maintainers are often the ones that over-react to blips in weight that are out of proportion to calorie intake, constantly jumping from maintenance back to deficit and causing themselves a load of unnecessary stress. You don't want to be in dieting mode for the rest of your life!

A suggestion:
Aim to lose that last 4lbs really slowly by tapering off your deficit. A soft landing to maintenance rather than a switch. That way you should avoid a weight bounce and gain confidence in your eventual maintenance calories.

LivingtheLeanDream

sijomial wrote: »

123juliaj123 wrote: »

I have only taken a one day break when I went to a wedding and looking at this link it needs to be for 2 weeks so I have never done that. I have pretty much decided to reach the next goal I had set myself which is 4lbs more off and then I will try to move to maintaining for 4 weeks and then see how it feels, though I think if I start gaining more than a couple of pounds I may well want to return to the diet in a hurry

Be very careful about the bolded statement.
When switching to maintenance you may get a temporary jump in weight (weight not fat) from replenishing glycogen stores and the water that accompanies the glycogen. Also you will naturally have daily, weekly, monthly weight fluctuations to take into account - it's really important to allow for these with a weight range not a single weight point.

Unhappy maintainers are often the ones that over-react to blips in weight that are out of proportion to calorie intake, constantly jumping from maintenance back to deficit and causing themselves a load of unnecessary stress. You don't want to be in dieting mode for the rest of your life!

A suggestion:
Aim to lose that last 4lbs really slowly by tapering off your deficit. A soft landing to maintenance rather than a switch. That way you should avoid a weight bounce and gain confidence in your eventual maintenance calories.

@Si knows what's what
Up those calories just a little and eat at slight deficit to lose those last few pounds.
Some great comments already so I don't feel I need to add anything.

kyrannosaurus

I have lost 60lbs. My doctor is happy with my weight, within a healthy BMI and my "skinny clothes" all fit.

I have decided to take 6 weeks or so to maintain before switching back to a deficit to lose the last 10-15lbs or so. My body image hasn't quite caught up with my change in shape yet so I think giving myself some time to adjust seems sensible. So far I've been maintaining for 2 weeks (still logging everyday) and it has been great.

I have a very "all or nothing" personality type, so learning how to focus my goals on maintaining is hopefully going to help me figure out how to keep the weight off in the long term (in the past I have lost weight, then immediately stopped logging and started gaining it back).

hyg99

I hit my target weight, struggled with maintaining concept so as described tapered to my lower target weight. I work to + / - 3 lbs of target for last 10 months. My stress is a fear of regaining, I still calorie count as much now as before, is that a bad thing? equally everything I do is habit, I don't feel restricted.

Good luck.

123juliaj123

This is all really helpful so thankyou everyone ..plenty to think about here, I am just back from holiday which is why I didnt reply sooner.

nxd10

I was 54 when I hit my goal weight (what I weighed when I left college, which was also my recommended weight). Then I lowered my deficit to 250 calories to see what happened. I maintained at that for a year then my weight started dropping so I went to a 0 calorie deficit and have maintained since.

And my skin came back just fine - it just took around 6 months. No sags.

123juliaj123

Thanks so much for this nxd it gives me hope that I wont be quite so saggy in the future
I have already noticed that I am tightning up in some places lol so I just hope it will continue.
Pleased to see that you are doing so well with your maintaining..I started maintaining yesterday and immediately paniced and jumped back on the reducing again today when I seemed to gain weight overnight...I do know its just water weight but it freeked me out so I will hold on to the diet for another couple of weeks til my hormones settle and I feel a bit more confident ..No sags would be brilliant .. so pleased for you!

20yearsyounger

Just know that all your thoughts are natural. I thought about some of the same things when I started maintaining 9 months ago. It took time to work itself out.

123juliaj123

20yearsyounger wrote: »

Just know that all your thoughts are natural. I thought about some of the same things when I started maintaining 9 months ago. It took time to work itself out.

thanks I had a try at easing back and going into maitainance but it didnt really work due to my scales deciding to go wrong almost as soon as I went on to eating a few more cals ... scared the heck out of me so I am now back on my reducing diet

I feel ok about that as I am in the middle of the healthy BMI range anyway so more weight off is no bad thing and I have time to get my head around upping my cals in the next few months