Maintainers! Come and Brag :)

Sparlingo

I'm reaching the last 10 lbs or so of my weight loss, and I'm pondering the task ahead of switching from losing mode to maintaining mode. I hear that it is more difficult, and I'm up for the challenge, but I could use some inspiration. I remember there used to be a thread called "Let's hear it for maintenance!" that I found very encouraging when I first started, but we could use a round 2, I suppose!

So, maintainers, let's hear it!

How long have you been maintaining? What has been your experience -- has this been a difficult transition? What keeps you going?

If you wouldn't mind throwing in your before/afters for posterity, that'd be great, too.

lbdthornton

Yes... please do share

Sparlingo

No maintainers??

TheGymGypsy

I have been maintaining for the past 8 months and it has been a rollercoaster. Ultimately I decided to keep losing 10-15 more pounds because even though I reached my GW I wasn't happy with what I saw and kept picking myself apart. I didn't gain or lose any weight while maintaining, which is the point I guess, but I was very anxious about what I ate since I was so used to being at a calorie deficit.

TheFitHooker

With weight I'm not trying to lose but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if I lost another 5-10 lbs. But my target goal weight was hit about a month ago. 5'1.5 went from 250 lbs down to 120 lbs. I have new goals but not related to weight loss, more on muscle gain and flattening things out, trying to lose fat. I'd like to get down to about 18 % body fat. Right now I'm at 24%.

therunninghippie

I'm 5'8 and 140 lbs. I've been maintaining for about 6 months. I immediately slimmed down more when I switched to maintenance. I love it I love food now.

Keiras_Mom

I'm struggling with maintenance, so I'm interested to see what others have found.

I'm 5'9" and 40 years old. I initially went into maintenance in January, at 165, and continued to lose a little more (switched from JUDDD to 5:2). I stabilized at 155-157. That was working beautifully, and I decided to try TDEE - 15% to maintain. I'm hypothyroid, so I thought that might work well for maintenance, and it did.

A couple of months ago, I decided I wanted to lose a few more pounds. I went back to JUDDD and got down to 148, but my Primary Reynaud's was acting up, so I didn't want to fast anymore. I went to Fat2FitRadio and calculated what TDEE would be at 139, thinking I'd be able to maintain at 148 with those calories. I've been eating that level for under a week and have gained 4 pounds. I was 152.2 this morning. I'm not giving up on it yet, but I'm concerned.

Brummig

I started weight loss journey Sept 2010, lost over 4 stone on Slimming World in under a year. I have happily maintained that, never gaining more than a couple of pounds. Started trying to lose some more to get into 'normal' weight range last Nov, which I did in Jan 2013 making my total weight loss 5 stone. I have maintained quite easily since then, in fact reset my SW target weight to 8 stone 11 - a loss of 5 stone 4. I still go to SW to weigh in regularly - in fact I'm part of the social team there which keeps me accountable. I started using MFP in Nov, and I check in here regularly too. I don't log every day, but do a couple of times a week to keep track of what I'm eating, and encourages me to check calories of new foods I'm introducing. I go to gym regularly and do lots of walking and now a reluctant cyclist. It's not nearly as hard as I thought it would be, but tracking food, at first as Sw syns and then on hear helps me be mindful about my choices - do I want that biscuit now just because its there, or would I sooner have a glass of wine later.

mommy3457

bump

_Waffle_

I'm eating pop tarts for lunch.

Boom!

Songbirdcw

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Before/ After (May). I've been on maintenance since January. I mantained so well up until June or so. Then, I gained like 5-7 lbs. Hubby says it's muscle I've gained from heavy lifting. So I'm not really concerned about the scale. However, I'd still like to lose a bit more fat (haven't calcuated my BF% yet), and I wouldn't vainly mind if the scale went down back 7-10 lbs. I'm really concentrating on getting eating habits back on track. I've been a little liberal (maybe too much) since I've been able to eat more carbs with weight training. Me love carbs! :laugh: However, I haven't had a major problem with maintenance. Not so much on edge with counting cals/tracking, and hopping on and off the scale. Freedom!

EmilyOfTheSun

I am maintaining. However, I eat at a deficit that should give me 0.5 lb per week loss (according to MFP), to balance out my weekend drinking/fooding.

pastryari

I am maintaining. However, I eat at a deficit that should give me 0.5 lb per week loss (according to MFP), to balance out my weekend drinking/fooding.

Not exact about it, but this is pretty much what I do. I eat lower cal during the week to balance out for the weekend or when I go out.

maddymama

I've been maintaining for two years come August. Overall, I've been at my goal weight the whole time, with a few drops of 5 lbs and a few gains of 5 lbs. Once you adjust to the new level, it's not too bad.
I will suggest not going into maintenance all at once. When I got to my goal weight, I slowly added in a few hundred extra calories a day to see how my body would respond. I realized that to maintain I would need to eat around 200 calories more than I did with losing weight, but not at the 300 calories MFP set me at. It might have been me not measuring my food accurately, but that is what worked for me.

SJVZEE

Lost the majority of my 50lbs with JUDDD (alternate day IF) and started transitioning to maintenance in March. I've been all over the place since then lol. Have tried several different versions of IF, a three month experiment with primal eating, which I decided wasn't the healthiest fit for me, cutting out wheat, adding wheat back and now cutting back on dairy, and now I'm experimenting with a whole foods, plant based diet. I have a huge family tree of cancers so I'm on a quest to find the best diet to stack the odds in my favor

Also, in the midst of all the craziness I've lost 10 pounds more then my goal weight, started exercising for the first time in my life and I'm now training for my first 5k Maintenance certainly hasn't been boring lol.

cwolfman13

I'm maintaining...though as others have said, I'm still at a very small deficit to make up for too much beer on the weekends. Personally, I don't think it's hard at all. I am very fitness oriented and that hasn't changed since I went to maintenance...in fact, I'm training harder than ever because I now have the calories (energy) to do so. I lift more, I run faster and further...I cycle, I swim, I run races, etc. I keep telling myself to eat a bit smaller (or to cut out the beer) to drop a few more BF points, but then my training sucks...maybe in the off-season.

It's only harder if you stop doing the things you were doing. The only difference between maintenance and losing should be caloric intake...if all else remains equal, it's really easy to maintain. The whole reason I got fat in the first place was that I stopped training all together about 15 years ago but kept eating like I was an athlete.

JDHINAZ

Great thread! Keep 'em comin!

BinaryPulsar

I'm on maintenance. I'm not sure how to classify for how long. I've pretty much always maintained my weight. Up until I got pregnant, then obviously I gained some weight. The first time I didn't think or worry about it. I just ate well and was active and lost the weight. Then I got pregnant again and paid a little closer attention, so I would gain less weight. I gained 10 pounds less. So, after giving birth I was 10 or 15 pounds heavier than my usual weight. So, I got very serious about my fitness. I was back to being super fit around 7 months postpartum. And I maintained and continued working on that for a while. Then I slowly started to slack off a little. I ate more sweets, moved less. Over the course of a couple years my weight crept back to around a 5 or 10 pound gain. I know that's not a lot, but it was noticeable to me (like those photos of a pound of fat: I had one of those stuck on the side of each thigh). So, I realized that I needed to develop a sustainable approach to my fitness because I am not in my 20's anymore. So, I joined the gym again and lost some extra pounds fairly quickly. Then I joined mfp a year ago, and that was very helpful. This was when I learned that I could consistently manage calories and macros and vitamins/minerals. And I learned lots of good info and resources about effective strength training.

So, it's been a year on mfp. I weigh the same as when I joined, maybe 2-3 pounds less. Obviously weight can fluctuate between a 5 pound range. My eating and activity level can still fluctuate. But, I am consistent about continuing to be active and strength train, and counting the calories and protein. I have more defined muscles again (like when I was younger), and my clothing sizes are smaller.

So, sometimes I eat more. Then if I gain a couple pounds, I eat a little less for a little while and get committed with the strength training. But, I always stick within my maintenance range.

The_Enginerd

I've been maintaining since November 2011, so 20 months in at this point. It was easy in terms of eating because I got to eat more and more enjoyable food. It was difficult in the fact you don't have much to look forward to anymore and you have to make a mental switch in how you approach your goals.

The first year, I didn't do anything different except eat more and get to know my normal weight fluctuations and TDEE. But with no goal in mind it was becoming a bit of a chore.

For 2013, I have set some new fitness goals and the eating goals tie into that. I am currently bulking and getting serious about my weight training to gain strength and muscle mass. I'll then go through a cut to decrease my body fat, with the goal of being the same weight with less body fat. I have taken up running and have done a couple of mud runs and a 10k so far this year.

ETA: I use the weekly average for my calorie goal. Some days are lower, some higher, depending on whether I go out to eat or am celebrating something.