Moving Toward Maintenance

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swim777
swim777 Posts: 599 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Trying to lose a few more lbs below my original goal and struggling to stay motivated. I've finally switched over to losing a half pound weekly just to help me stay the course. I'm struggling with Easter break and eating out a little more than usual. I know this may take longer but I really feel like I need a change after dieting since February last year. Any thoughts? I'm 5'3, 129 lbs, 61 years old. Hoping to get down to at least 126.

Replies

  • cnbbnc
    cnbbnc Posts: 1,267 Member
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    The only advice I can give is if you're having a difficult time right now you could always just eat at maintenance until you're ready and able to attack those last few pounds. Sometimes a break is definitely in order, especially if we've been at it for a while.....

    Congratulations on your progress! :smiley:
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
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    Stop thinking of it as "dieting" and start thinking of what habits are maintainable and sustainable over the long term.

    Take a look at what you've become accustomed to over the last year, and what habits/ meals/ behaviors are easy and comfortable for you now versus those that still feel like self-punishment.
  • veggiecanner
    veggiecanner Posts: 137 Member
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    I started to go on maintenace 10 pounds ahead of time. I was trying to get to 135. But I kept loosing weight even with adding 100 calories a day every week. It's been a month and I am only 500 calories more than my diet calories. I was at 147 a month ago. this morning I weighed 141. So I'm going to keep adding the 100 calories for a few more weeks. It has been nice after eating only 1200 calorie since sept.
  • Dootzy1
    Dootzy1 Posts: 2,164 Member
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    When I read this, I had concerns about your focus on a goal number. I give myself a 4 pound range, because that takes regular fluctuations into account. I am far from perfect, but the mental stress of staying on a single number can derail my efforts. So, when I am inching upward, I can forgive myself and take care of it.
  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Dootzy1 wrote: »
    When I read this, I had concerns about your focus on a goal number. I give myself a 4 pound range, because that takes regular fluctuations into account. I am far from perfect, but the mental stress of staying on a single number can derail my efforts. So, when I am inching upward, I can forgive myself and take care of it.

    This. I have a 10lb maintenance range (120s). Our weight fluctuates day to day due to things that have nothing to do with actual weight gain (hormones, digestion timing, sodium intake, illness etc etc).

    If you're burned out right now it's probably time to just take a maintenance break and adjust your calories up. Then, after a few weeks/months you can always go back into a short period of weight loss to lose a few extra pounds if you're still feeling like you want to. It took me around 6 months to fully transition into maintenance and along the way I lost around 15 more pounds below my original goal weight. This is the time to just play around with the numbers and make some adjustments with trial and error :)
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    Most people have a maintenance range of about 5 lbs or so that they comfortably maintain within. Maybe you are within that range now and your zone would be 125-130?

    For what it's worth, I'm 5'2 and 41. I started at 153 with a goal weight of 125. I lost the weight in about a year but went a little lower, so I thought, "cool, maybe my goal is 120!". But I stalled out at around 121 and could never lose that last pound, and was so frustrated. I finally resigned myself to the fact that maintenance is a range and mine seemed to be 120-125 with a midpoint of 123. I changed all my settings back in August to maintain on both MFP and FitBit, gave myself about 150 extra calories, and committed to maintenance. Well, ironically, the weight suddenly started shifting again, and now I have weighed in at 118 for the last 6 weeks or so.

    For me I think acknowledging I was in maintenance, plus knowing I didn't have a calorie buffer made me focus on staying within my goal. Sometimes I think the change in mindset, especially when we have a bit of diet fatigue, actually helps us achieve our goals.

    Good luck!
  • swim777
    swim777 Posts: 599 Member
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Most people have a maintenance range of about 5 lbs or so that they comfortably maintain within. Maybe you are within that range now and your zone would be 125-130?

    For what it's worth, I'm 5'2 and 41. I started at 153 with a goal weight of 125. I lost the weight in about a year but went a little lower, so I thought, "cool, maybe my goal is 120!". But I stalled out at around 121 and could never lose that last pound, and was so frustrated. I finally resigned myself to the fact that maintenance is a range and mine seemed to be 120-125 with a midpoint of 123. I changed all my settings back in August to maintain on both MFP and FitBit, gave myself about 150 extra calories, and committed to maintenance. Well, ironically, the weight suddenly started shifting again, and now I have weighed in at 118 for the last 6 weeks or so.

    For me I think acknowledging I was in maintenance, plus knowing I didn't have a calorie buffer made me focus on staying within my goal. Sometimes I think the change in mindset, especially when we have a bit of diet fatigue, actually helps us achieve our goals.

    Good luck!

    I think it is diet fatigue. I dropped my goal several times, and managed to pass them, but I have been frustrated with how slow it had become. I'd be perfectly happy maintaining to 130. I think I'm going to try to start adding back calories slowly and continue my other efforts and see what happens. Thanks for the suggestions!!!!
  • swim777
    swim777 Posts: 599 Member
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    ReaderGirl3 wrote: »
    Dootzy1 wrote: »
    When I read this, I had concerns about your focus on a goal number. I give myself a 4 pound range, because that takes regular fluctuations into account. I am far from perfect, but the mental stress of staying on a single number can derail my efforts. So, when I am inching upward, I can forgive myself and take care of it.

    This. I have a 10lb maintenance range (120s). Our weight fluctuates day to day due to things that have nothing to do with actual weight gain (hormones, digestion timing, sodium intake, illness etc etc).

    If you're burned out right now it's probably time to just take a maintenance break and adjust your calories up. Then, after a few weeks/months you can always go back into a short period of weight loss to lose a few extra pounds if you're still feeling like you want to. It took me around 6 months to fully transition into maintenance and along the way I lost around 15 more pounds below my original goal weight. This is the time to just play around with the numbers and make some adjustments with trial and error :)

    Thanks!! It's a little scary to change my thinking to maintenance but I'm really ready to try this next step. I think the "buffer" was my concern so I could get in a range and learn to maintain. I'm assuming you added calories back slowly too?
  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
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    swim777 wrote: »
    ReaderGirl3 wrote: »
    Dootzy1 wrote: »
    When I read this, I had concerns about your focus on a goal number. I give myself a 4 pound range, because that takes regular fluctuations into account. I am far from perfect, but the mental stress of staying on a single number can derail my efforts. So, when I am inching upward, I can forgive myself and take care of it.

    This. I have a 10lb maintenance range (120s). Our weight fluctuates day to day due to things that have nothing to do with actual weight gain (hormones, digestion timing, sodium intake, illness etc etc).

    If you're burned out right now it's probably time to just take a maintenance break and adjust your calories up. Then, after a few weeks/months you can always go back into a short period of weight loss to lose a few extra pounds if you're still feeling like you want to. It took me around 6 months to fully transition into maintenance and along the way I lost around 15 more pounds below my original goal weight. This is the time to just play around with the numbers and make some adjustments with trial and error :)

    Thanks!! It's a little scary to change my thinking to maintenance but I'm really ready to try this next step. I think the "buffer" was my concern so I could get in a range and learn to maintain. I'm assuming you added calories back slowly too?

    I was doing an IF protocol for my weight loss phase (rotating high/low calorie days), so for me I just cut out more of the low days and then finally transitioned to 16:8IF with periodic calorie checks. That worked well for me, for over 2 years (I wasn't logging daily during this point), but this past winter I lost focus and stopped paying attention to portion sizes, stopped my daily weigh-ins etc, and I gained a few pounds back. Back to tracking/portion sizes this week and things are back on track already :)
  • swim777
    swim777 Posts: 599 Member
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    Thanks for all the support. I think I will add back calories slowly and see what happens. Definitely a mind shift after concentrating on losing!


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