Losing weight vs. maintaining weight, which do you think is harder?

lovetolose20

I've seen on here a few times people saying that maintaining weight is a lot harder to do than losing weight. That's not real reassuring to those of us who are still losing. I've lost 40 pounds and that has been really hard for me. I only have 13 lbs to go, so I'm mentally trying to get prepared for maintaining for life.
I want to hear from those who are maintaining. What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance

queenliz99

Maintaining is easier because I know what my calorie intake is day in and day out. If my weight moves up a little or my clothing feels a little tighter I know I need to eat a little less.

george7527

I'm maintaining and I'm finding it hard. I seem to be more paranoid about not wanting to gaining the lost weight. That's me thought.

sijomial

Maintaining is far more enjoyable for me:

• It's easier to stick to a higher calorie goal than a lower goal.
• Feeling more energetic, training and recovering better.
• More personal satisfaction of meeting my goal (maintaining) than working towards my goal (losing).
• Feeling happy in my own skin.
• I can maintain my weight without food logging but have to log to lose.
• I love food and hate having to eat at a deficit.

snowflake930

Maintaining is harder for me.
The weight coming off and going down clothing sizes was motivating.
Now, I have to keep reminding myself daily to stick with the program. The alternative of going back to old habits and becoming morbidly obese again just can not happen. I do overindulge on occasion, but I have managed to stay within 4 pounds of my goal weight for 2-1/2 years. It is hard for me though.

tahxirez

I hate maintaining... I'm paranoid about gaining, miss my deficit (read:buffer), and find myself eating food I don't need because I don't actually want a deficit. I should also say I'm very new to maintenance so its possible I just haven't hit my stride yet. But as of now...losing is so much easier.

LivingtheLeanDream

I LOVE BEING IN MAINTENANCE

I haven't found it hard at all, been keeping my goal weight for 3+ years.

What happens is a lot of people think once they get to goal they can slacken off, but we still have to keep focused and our eye on the ball, we just get to eat extra calories.

I weigh in daily, always did, I track the data on an app and it keeps me focused on keeping within my goal +/-5lbs.

I also don't have to log my foods any more, that's become intuitive.

I was active while losing weight, I'm still active in maintenance, even more so.

_piaffe

I reached GW in April and still consider myself to be adjusting to maintenance. I find maintenance to be much more complex because it's about adopting lifelong habits. Not all of the habits I formed or strategies I used in deficit translate well (for me) to long-term, lifetime maintenance.

For me, the maintenance challenges have been around:

• goals - i.e. defining new ones. There is something so satisfyingly simple about dropping scale weight and seeing the drop every week. Now I need new goals, because "status quo" is a hard one to wrap my brain around. But what? I'm not the person to pick up a new sport or train for a marathon. Recomposition appeals to me. That's a goal requiring patience and time, though. It's hard when you're goal-oriented and data-obsessed, because it just doesn't happen overnight, in a week or even a month.
  
• scale weight and the maintenance "range". This one is a mindset issue. I'm at a "vanity" GW, and have this maximum weight number stuck in my brain. I'm well within a 2 pound range of it, but I wanted that number to be the upper limit (my fault for not dieting down enough on the fat loss front before upping to maintenance). I am not comfortable bouncing between numbers, even though my brain understands TOM, water retention, fluctuations and the non-static nature of body weight day-to-day, or even hour-to-hour. I realize, of course, that if my goal is recomp, that "upper limit" number is actually meaningless, and I might look better weighing MORE.
  
• maintenance TDEE. I have a fitbit Charge HR and log religiously. But because the last couple of months of purported maintenance have been all over the place, and because I no longer bank calories on a weekly basis or use weekly TDEE, I don't really have good information. I need consistency before I can really see what's going on.
  
• banking calories - i.e. the indulge / deprive approach. This "worked" for me in the fat loss / deficit phase: super restrictive weekdays, and a huge weekend meal. Or so I thought. But as I look back on the data and my progress, it was too close to binge behaviour (for me) and set me back. I didn't lose the weight because of this approach. Rather, I luckily still had a deficit, despite this approach. Doesn't work (for me) in maintenance AT ALL. I think I've figured that piece out now, so my calorie goal at the moment is to stay within TDEE -200 / +200 range, daily. I'm giving that a go.

kirstenb13

I don't find it hard but I also didn't find losing hard after I started tracking everything. It basically is what it is in my opinion - no use to feel upset that I can't shovel food in my mouth anymore like I used to and never will again.
I like exercising a lot more now than I used so that definitely helps and it is easier to see changes without the fat layer so it is doubly encouraging.

Hornsby

Since I didn't do anything while losing weight that I don't do in maintenance, it literally is "just eat more" for me.

SCoil123

I think they are both challenging for different reasons. Losing weight requires a lot of changes that can be difficult to adjust to when building a new lifestyle. It also requires a lot of patience, which I often lack. Maintaining can be difficult because there is the worry for some of not gaining back after achieving their goal, this adds stress which can be bad for weight. It's also a challenge for some, Me, to make adjustments as needed around lifestyle changes to maintain and not gain. I lost 86lb back in 2012 and maintained easily for a few years then joined this site after gaining around 30lb back last year due to relationship and work changes that dramatically altered my lifestyle. I didn't adjust my work outs or eating around these other changes.

cnbbnc

I personally don't find maintenance any harder than getting the weight off was. BUT....I think the big difference is when you deficit you're continually awarded with seeing the scale change. Once you hit maintenance that goes away, which can be a letdown for some. The other thing that can make it seem more difficult is that maintenance is the point where you have to commit to all the changes you've made thus far being for life. It isn't just "work hard" until the weight is off and then it's party time again.

Maintenance is great though. It's only as hard as one makes it. Same with losing the weight.

Keladelphia

I just hit a year of maintenance. For the first couple of months it was more challenging but maintaining became easier for me once I stopped being paranoid about gaining a couple of pounds. If I notice the scale goes up a couple of pounds I just throw in a deficit for a week or two and i'm back at a number I like. Nothing really changed for me other than being able to eat more calories which is obviously a good thing.

Noreenmarie1234

I liked losing better. At least with losing I knew I wouldn't gain. Losing if I wanted to eat a bit more it was like oh well I guess I just won't lose as much this week, but in maintenance its like if you eat more you will gain. I also sometimes am not motivated to exercise but have to anyways because I want to eat more. For me it is a lot like losing except losing I got that gratification seeing the scale go down and knowing I was making progress you know. I am always super paranoid I am burning less some days or am losing muscle if I don't exercise as much.

ARGriffy

What is the definition of hard? is it mentally battling with your body image? or is it physically checking what goes in your mouth? For me, it's the first.

I'm at 2 years of maintenance now, and i've not logged for months. It was a battle for me, losing was easy, i knew what i was doing, i knew how many calories to eat, i had gratification from scale move. sitting at maintenance had no goals, no gratification, no fun. i hate to say it but i've only gained happiness in my body after loosing about 5 lbs more in the last 5 months, not through anything in particular but through finding a sport i love. Now, it's the easiest thing in the world. no logging, weigh once a week or so, use my clothes as a guide.

TitaniaEcks

Losing is harder for me, by far. Here's why:

1) Restricting calories to a degree that would cause weight loss requires constant vigilance. I'd obsess over every little calorie I eat, every carb, the time of day I eat, the temperature of my food...

2) Not losing weight fast enough, not feeling pretty yet, not being able to drink that beer or eat that slice of cake, etc., are all discouraging factors that make the goal seem so far away and unattainable that sometimes I'd just feel overwhelmed, give up and binge.

3) By the time I reached my goal and went into maintenance, I had already had a good long time to develop new eating/drinking habits and figure out what works for me. Staying at maintenance is second nature as long as I'm just the tiniest bit mindful. Three pounds up, three pounds down, no big deal; I just reduce or increase my food intake for a couple of weeks to get back to goal. No need for daily weigh-ins and calculators.

4) Feeling pretty helps. Keeps me with a positive attitude. I find it easier to be gung-ho about losing 3 pounds than 30 (see #2).

tamaraworrall

Maintaining is so much harder than loosing the weight. I've always said this and now I know it to be true as I'm trying to maintain

bennettinfinity

Hornsby wrote: »

Since I didn't do anything while losing weight that I don't do in maintenance, it literally is "just eat more" for me.

^^ This... For me, they both require the same amount of diligence and discipline - I need to track activities and food just as closely in maintenance as I did in the loss phase.

YMMV

Francl27

Maintaining is harder for me because I'm hungrier. Losing was cake.

lovetolose20

It's interesting how different maintaining and losing is for everyone.
I really appreciate all of you for taking the time to respond. Thanks!!

macchiatto

I've had different experiences at different times. Right now maintaining is hard. I've been trying since March but the scale keeps creeping back up and now I'm back in weight loss mode. (Trying to get back to the bottom of my maintenance range so I have a little wiggle room rather than being right at the top so I keep going over.)