How do you want to eat after you reach maintenance?

lakshva

With people following different diets, giving up fav food, starving and doing everything just to hurry up to the ideal weight, how do you plan to eat after you hit the goal?
Plan of 'I can eat to my content after losing these pounds' is just the vicious cycle?

callsitlikeiseeit

lakshva wrote: »

With people following different diets, giving up fav food, starving and doing everything just to hurry up to the ideal weight, how do you plan to eat after you hit the goal?
Plan of 'I can eat to my content after losing these pounds' is just the vicious cycle?

thats why fads don't work. people don't learn how much to eat to maintain their weight.

me? i will be eating this way for the rest of my life (everything in moderation and exercise)

HutchA12

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

lakshva wrote: »

With people following different diets, giving up fav food, starving and doing everything just to hurry up to the ideal weight, how do you plan to eat after you hit the goal?
Plan of 'I can eat to my content after losing these pounds' is just the vicious cycle?

thats why fads don't work. people don't learn how much to eat to maintain their weight.

me? i will be eating this way for the rest of my life (everything in moderation and exercise)

This is it.

erinc5

I plan on eating pretty much the exact same, just a few tweaks. Adding in more beer and wine. Replacing my froyo with actual ice cream (I like normal sized portions, so I switched to froyo for now). Having 2 slices of pizza instead of just one.

I've tried all the fad diets, giving things up, etc... Just doesn't work for me. I recently switched to eating whatever I want as long as it fits my calories, and I'm gonna continue that for as long as I live. Once I hit maintenance I will just have more calories to play with!

juggernaut1974

lakshva wrote: »

Plan of 'I can eat to my content after losing these pounds' is just the vicious cycle?

Exactly.

Which is why many of us suggest that finding a moderate and balanced approach to weight loss works for so many - it tends to be easier to make it a long-term lifestyle change, instead of just one iteration in a gain/lose/gain yo-yo cycle.

Francl27

Haha yeah. People don't really realize that they won't be able to eat that much more once they switch to maintenance, unless they increase their activity by quite a lot.

Of course now I'm way hungrier than I was when losing too, so I actually have to make better choices as a whole than when I was losing too...

Mexicanbigfoot

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

lakshva wrote: »

With people following different diets, giving up fav food, starving and doing everything just to hurry up to the ideal weight, how do you plan to eat after you hit the goal?
Plan of 'I can eat to my content after losing these pounds' is just the vicious cycle?

thats why fads don't work. people don't learn how much to eat to maintain their weight.

me? i will be eating this way for the rest of my life (everything in moderation and exercise)

+1

AriaRoylance

Coming from a yo-yo dieter the thing I changed in my life when losing weight recently was that instead of huge amounts of nothing but vegetable matter and not learning moderation, I did smaller, more well balanced meals. I believed that when I got to my goal I would have "made the change" to eating that way. It just doesn't come naturally for me. I didn't work out or exercise losing so I lost a lot of muscle which I am not trying to rebuild. What I have found that has is working so far is still measuring/weighing/watching what I eat BUT I am using MFP to monitor that I am don't over eat and (believe it or not) that I don't under eat. I am very new to MFP, I didn't use it losing the weight but I find I need it to learn to maintain! So, I guess I am saying that I still have the "be careful, measure, think before I eat" mentality but I am eating a bit more and adding the exercise and watching to be sure there is no real change in my weight either up or down.

For all I know I will have to measure and weigh the rest of my life! I am 56 and have done the yo-yo thing a few times in my life. I don't ever want to have to do that again. I can't swear I'll have learn to eat without the help of really watching and it may always be a learning process, but that is my goal now after reaching that number goal. I am hoping that goal of building back muscle and eating enough w/out overdoing will be the thing to help me.

Spliner1969

I personally intend to eat more of the things I miss, but I also intend to keep logging and exercising at maintenance. I will keep my macros in order and try to stay on track. Once I hit my goal weight I want to gain a bit of muscle (not too much) so for a while I'll get to add back some calories or more protein but will eventually settle into maintenance, I just don't know what that amount will be yet.

nordlead2005

Eating at maintenance will just mean I can eat 500 extra calories of food every day. Maybe that is a bowl of ice cream, maybe that is a few smaller snacks throughout the day, maybe eating just slightly larger portions for lunch/dinner, who knows.

malibu927

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

lakshva wrote: »

With people following different diets, giving up fav food, starving and doing everything just to hurry up to the ideal weight, how do you plan to eat after you hit the goal?
Plan of 'I can eat to my content after losing these pounds' is just the vicious cycle?

thats why fads don't work. people don't learn how much to eat to maintain their weight.

me? i will be eating this way for the rest of my life (everything in moderation and exercise)

Same

QueenofHearts023

I'm already eating like the thinner me. And losing fine without feeling deprived of anything. So, same way as I'm eating now.

I don't have a specific amount of weight i want to lose... I thought I'd just eat like the thinner me and eventually I'll get there and my body will settle on its own. If I notice I'm losing too much I'll just add in 2 snacks or something.

cwolfman13

I've been in maintenance going on three years and I eat the same as when I was losing weight...primarily a lot of whole, nutrient dense foods that are packed with nutrition and meals prepared from scratch, whole ingredients...and pizza night every now and then or out to my favorite New Mexican place now and then, etc.

cnbbnc

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

lakshva wrote: »

With people following different diets, giving up fav food, starving and doing everything just to hurry up to the ideal weight, how do you plan to eat after you hit the goal?
Plan of 'I can eat to my content after losing these pounds' is just the vicious cycle?

thats why fads don't work. people don't learn how much to eat to maintain their weight.

me? i will be eating this way for the rest of my life (everything in moderation and exercise)

Yup. The downfall of taking drastic measures to drop weight is that sooner or later you will inevitably run out of steam and be left scrambling and wondering what to do next.

I started maintenance two weeks ago, and I'm pretty much eating just the same (I enjoyed what I was eating so no biggie) but just adding on an extra couple snacks or slightly larger portion of something at mealtimes. If I go out to eat I have more wiggle room with calories which is nice. Food still has to fit my daily goal though, so....maintenance is just the same as you're doing now, only with a higher daily allotment.

jemhh

I have maintained (on purpose) for various periods throughout my weight loss. When I do that, I eat very similarly to how I eat when I am trying to lose weight. There are pretty small differences, such as eating toast with my eggs in the morning, which gives me another 220 calories or so, and maybe one extra dessert per week.

Meganthedogmom

If I want to keep the weight off, I need to eat this way forever.

spzjlb

I consider myself to be maintaining and I still have my goal set to lose 0.5 lbs per week...I am just much lazier about logging. I watch my scale like a hawk and adjust rapidly when it creeps up. On the other hand, I never ate poorly, I just ate too much. There was never anything that I didn't eat while losing.

williams969

I eat pretty much the same types of things now as I do in maintenance. Just a little less, with a few low calorie tweaks. I'll probably eat a little more cheese or an extra egg, plus an extra tortilla or slice of bread or two daily, and that should about bring my intake to maintenance.

ilex70

Hoping to find something like an 80/20 balance, 80% the same as now and 20% eating just what I want. IOW adding in some so called cheat meals or cheat days.

melonaulait

I eat whatever I want and I never would've imagined how much I've enjoyed tracking the kinds of foods I eat. It's an exciting aspect in itself.

Maybe some things that I have had to cut out are too much ice cream and big bags of potato chips. Not that I had those on the regular anyway, but they are something that I can't always give in to. But anything else I'll let myself have anytime!

Lounmoun

I didn't change my diet to lose weight so I'll eat whatever I want that fits my maintenance calories I guess.

Need2Exerc1se

I plan to eat a balanced healthy diet.

Carlos_421

500 more calories of just like I do now.

mkakids

How do i want to eat? I WANT to eat whatever i want, whenever i want.

How will i actually eat? I'll continue to log and eat whatever i want as long as it fits into my calorie goals.

lemurcat12

I've been maintaining over most of the last year, and I'm eating like I was before, just adjusting the calories. Or more precisely I did initially adjust the calories, but I've only been logging off and on for the past several months, while continuing to pay attention to what I eat and portion size.

WinoGelato

lakshva wrote: »

With people following different diets, giving up fav food, starving and doing everything just to hurry up to the ideal weight, how do you plan to eat after you hit the goal?
Plan of 'I can eat to my content after losing these pounds' is just the vicious cycle?

Your first sentence is the crux of the problem. If people follow a specific named diet, give up their favorite foods, try to cut calories too aggressively, and try to rush the weight loss - it can make transitioning into maintenance difficult and usually results in gaining the weight back.

By making small changes that can be sustained forever (smaller portions, more nutrient dense foods, leaving treats as a smaller portion of the total consumption, more exercise, etc) then people have far fewer challenges keeping the weight off.

I didn't give up any of the foods/drinks I love when I was losing, and am successfully maintaining now. In fact, I probably eat more food now than I did BEFORE I lost weight because I am far more active than my previous sedentary lifestyle.

bwogilvie

I gained weight on a healthy diet: lots of home-cooked foods made from scratch, plenty of vegetables, moderate amounts of red meat, eating out just a couple times a month. I was just eating more of it than my activity level justified. When I decided I needed to lose weight, I just ate less at breakfast and lunch, and made time to be more active.

Now that I'm at maintenance, I'm eating just what I was while losing, except a bit more. I intend to keep eating this way the rest of my life, and go back to a deficit if my weight (more precisely, exponentially smoothed moving average weight) gets more than 2 pounds over my goal. I continue to be more active than I was when gaining, which means that like @WinoGelato, I might be eating more than I was then!

KBmoments

Francl27 wrote: »

Haha yeah. People don't really realize that they won't be able to eat that much more once they switch to maintenance, unless they increase their activity by quite a lot.

Of course now I'm way hungrier than I was when losing too, so I actually have to make better choices as a whole than when I was losing too...

Great point! My maintenance is really only around 300 cals extra...That's like a nice bowl of icecream extra. Damn! Didn't learn that the 1st time around...This time when I hit maintenance, I have to realize i can' t go hog wild on food.

100df

Francl27 wrote: »

Haha yeah. People don't really realize that they won't be able to eat that much more once they switch to maintenance, unless they increase their activity by quite a lot.

Very glad I know that. Maintenance is not going to be that much different than I eat now. A few more calories to play with is the only difference. When I say a few, I mean 200-250 more. I doubt very much that I will have more than that. Especially if I get as small as I want to be.

cthakkar1985

On the day I hit my goal weight, I'll visit an all-you-can-eat buffet to celebrate, probably a pizza joint. The next day, I'll go back to normal tracking my calories/macros and eating at maintenance.

KateTii

Eat exactly how I am right now, but adding more food back in until I am eating at maintenance. I am a firm believer in picking a "diet" that you can stick to and just eat more/less depending if you are trying to lose weight, trying to gain weight or trying to maintain.