Maintenance Anxiety- Can Anyone Relate?
Replies
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I've definitely bookmarked this thread. As I have lost weight I have seen my activity also shoot up somewhat and also the intensity I can handle. I'm going to start some crossfit (which I NEVER thought I could do) and have actually added some running (another omg am I really trying this). One of the other nurses I work with found that she kept losing past her goal wt and was told to eat more or exercise less so she's trying to find that happy medium after focusing so long on losing as well. Now she runs 5ks and teaches zumba so her activity level has definitely gone way up from before as well.2
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WinoGelato wrote: »middlehaitch wrote: »There has been a whole load of great advice here....
Keep tracking and logging. Some people feel lost when they are not looking for the number on the scale to drop and get discouraged. Make yourself a new goal -keeping the scale within a 5 or 10 lbs range.
Add your maintenance calories 50-100 at a time and see how this affects your body. You will get a little water weight gain and a little more food being digested, so yes transitory weight gain will happen. It is not fat!
If you haven't been already, really start seeing the size of your portions. This can help with having confidence that what you are eating is correct for you on those days you decide logging can't be as accurate as you would like.
Log for as long as you need to. You may decide it is the rest of your life, you may decide you can just weigh your food but don't need to log it any more, you may find after a time in maintenance that you can go by just weighing yourself and adjusting your intake to reflect your weight. (Keep track of TOM).
Learning how to maintain is as varied as learning how to lose. It takes time and there can be a few hiccups along the way. Don't get discouraged, get back on track.
I have been maintaining for over 6 years with a 5 lbs range that I have only been under or over a handful of times.
Once I reached by goal I continued logging for a few months, then slowly found I really didn't need to anymore. I would weigh my food, but enter it at the end of the day just to see how I had done. Once I was consistent in going by portion sizes and my body weight I stopped logging. Now I will log for a few weeks in a year just to check my portions, or adjust my calories if I have changed my exercise routines.
You have built all your good habits while you were losing. Maintenance is putting them into practice.
Cheers, h.
Just quoting all this great advice for emphasis...
To add my own story, I've been in maintenance for about 18 months officially. Prior to actually changing my status to "maintain" I had hit a plateau a little below my original goal weight of 125, and kind of slacked a little in my focus so I settled in at 123. I bounced around a bit but never really got below that number, so I decided to officially "maintain" that as my new weight. I didn't really raise my calories much (I think I added 100) since I wasn't really losing anymore anyway.
The funny thing was, knowing that I didn't have a buffer anymore, that I was actually "In Maintenance" made me much more diligent about eating up to my TDEE (from my FitBit) but not going over. It made me purposefully bank calories during the week when I knew I had events planned on the weekend (whereas before I sometimes did, but not always, since I knew I had deficit calories built into my goal). Anyway... the weight started to shift again, and after about 6 months I had lost 5 more pounds. So now I really feel much more comfortable that I can maintain this weight (currently fluctuating b/w 117-120), that I know what my maintenance calories are (2100-2200), and that I know how to stay on track long term not freak out about small short term changes. If things get outside of that comfort range (probably above 122), I would put myself back on a deficit until I get back down to this range. I keep myself motivated with new goals around total steps, trying to fit in more strength training, etc.
Good luck everybody - maintenance is something to be enjoyed, not something to be anxious about - but it takes time to get comfortable with it. Just not too comfortable...
Ok, this story above is me! However, I got bored and restless in maintenance and decided to set a new goal - be able to do chin-up/pull-ups unassisted. I have always had poor upper body strength so I decided to recomp and just become overall stronger. I totally freaked as some pounds slowly came back on me BUT my clothes still fit the same so I knew I was gaining muscle.
Maintenance is somewhat of a mind game. Instead of putting my settings at maintenance mode, I kept the setting for losing 0.5 pounds a week. I discovered that if I kept that and just ate all my exercise calories and tried to "zero" out what MFP tells me, I was still covered in terms of any logging slip-ups and even the inflammation weight I carried ... total mind game but it works for me.4 -
It's definitely true that the calorie range for maintenance seems pretty close with the range I was eating at the end of my weight loss... I've only added about 100-150 calories per day and am holding steady. I think that will probably be my daily standard, but I have to consider days when I might ear more or less, due to holidays and other special circumstances. I've heard people say that they follow and 80/20 rule (80% on the plan, 20% off) but that seems like too much for me. Maybe I should go for the 95/05 rule.
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rhtexasgal wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »middlehaitch wrote: »There has been a whole load of great advice here....
Keep tracking and logging. Some people feel lost when they are not looking for the number on the scale to drop and get discouraged. Make yourself a new goal -keeping the scale within a 5 or 10 lbs range.
Add your maintenance calories 50-100 at a time and see how this affects your body. You will get a little water weight gain and a little more food being digested, so yes transitory weight gain will happen. It is not fat!
If you haven't been already, really start seeing the size of your portions. This can help with having confidence that what you are eating is correct for you on those days you decide logging can't be as accurate as you would like.
Log for as long as you need to. You may decide it is the rest of your life, you may decide you can just weigh your food but don't need to log it any more, you may find after a time in maintenance that you can go by just weighing yourself and adjusting your intake to reflect your weight. (Keep track of TOM).
Learning how to maintain is as varied as learning how to lose. It takes time and there can be a few hiccups along the way. Don't get discouraged, get back on track.
I have been maintaining for over 6 years with a 5 lbs range that I have only been under or over a handful of times.
Once I reached by goal I continued logging for a few months, then slowly found I really didn't need to anymore. I would weigh my food, but enter it at the end of the day just to see how I had done. Once I was consistent in going by portion sizes and my body weight I stopped logging. Now I will log for a few weeks in a year just to check my portions, or adjust my calories if I have changed my exercise routines.
You have built all your good habits while you were losing. Maintenance is putting them into practice.
Cheers, h.
Just quoting all this great advice for emphasis...
To add my own story, I've been in maintenance for about 18 months officially. Prior to actually changing my status to "maintain" I had hit a plateau a little below my original goal weight of 125, and kind of slacked a little in my focus so I settled in at 123. I bounced around a bit but never really got below that number, so I decided to officially "maintain" that as my new weight. I didn't really raise my calories much (I think I added 100) since I wasn't really losing anymore anyway.
The funny thing was, knowing that I didn't have a buffer anymore, that I was actually "In Maintenance" made me much more diligent about eating up to my TDEE (from my FitBit) but not going over. It made me purposefully bank calories during the week when I knew I had events planned on the weekend (whereas before I sometimes did, but not always, since I knew I had deficit calories built into my goal). Anyway... the weight started to shift again, and after about 6 months I had lost 5 more pounds. So now I really feel much more comfortable that I can maintain this weight (currently fluctuating b/w 117-120), that I know what my maintenance calories are (2100-2200), and that I know how to stay on track long term not freak out about small short term changes. If things get outside of that comfort range (probably above 122), I would put myself back on a deficit until I get back down to this range. I keep myself motivated with new goals around total steps, trying to fit in more strength training, etc.
Good luck everybody - maintenance is something to be enjoyed, not something to be anxious about - but it takes time to get comfortable with it. Just not too comfortable...
Ok, this story above is me! However, I got bored and restless in maintenance and decided to set a new goal - be able to do chin-up/pull-ups unassisted. I have always had poor upper body strength so I decided to recomp and just become overall stronger. I totally freaked as some pounds slowly came back on me BUT my clothes still fit the same so I knew I was gaining muscle.
Maintenance is somewhat of a mind game. Instead of putting my settings at maintenance mode, I kept the setting for losing 0.5 pounds a week. I discovered that if I kept that and just ate all my exercise calories and tried to "zero" out what MFP tells me, I was still covered in terms of any logging slip-ups and even the inflammation weight I carried ... total mind game but it works for me.
Yes my MFP "net" goal is still a little below what my MFP Maintenance estimate would be (1750 compared to 1850) but I eat back all my FitBit calories so I tend to consume anywhere from 1900-2300 depending on the day. It is my own little "buffer" for logging inaccuracies (I don't weigh my food) and weeks where I am less active than normal. It has worked for me so far!1 -
I am so envious of some of the maintenance calorie amounts! Mine is about 1400.4
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I never got anxious. I hit my goal weight a bunch of years ago and just kept at it. 1,400 calories and about the same amount of exercise each day. I went down 5 or 6 pounds in the summer and back up again in the winter. I stuck to 1,400 and should have but got sloppy and now i have learned my lesson!! I'm getting back there!2
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I've only been maintaining for 4 months [lost 51lbs]. I just keep doing what I did when losing i.e. weighing and logging but with another 200 calories a day. I've had the odd days when I've gone quite a bit over but make sure I revert to plan the very next day. So far so good and my weekly weigh in shows I'm maintaining my goal weight. I knew when I started to lose weight that maintenance was the key so my mind set has always been that getting to goal was just the beginning.....but it's so worth it!2
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If you are not already using one, getting a weight trending app might help ease the anxiety about the weight "suddenly" sneaking back on and watching the results of variations in your routine (eating more calories, eating more salt, drinking less water, etc). The trend line shows which direction your weight is heading over time, giving you an early alert if you are heading too far/too fast in one direction or the other.2
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misscamp26 wrote: »Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to offer your words of wisdom and support. I have absolutely accepted the belief that these lifestyle changes are permanent and I'll always be committed to healthy eating and daily exercise. I expected that I'd work hard for the rest of my life, and that's ok. I know how to do that and I thrive on the challenge. What I didn't expect, and what's been so difficult for me, is the overwhelming fear. I knew I'd maintain my healthy lifestyle but I wasn't prepared to be so fearful of weight gain. I'm willing to do the work, I just wish I could do it without the endless doubts and anxieties. Maybe it's just a question of time, so that I can learn to trust myself. In any case, it is so helpful to know that others can relate and that I'm not the only one struggling with it.
The fear actually subsides over time. I had that same issue at first. I couldn't enjoy my weight loss because I was so afraid of regaining. That lasted a few months and it passed. I think yours will pass too once you realize that even when you have slip ups, you can bounce back and continue on your journey.5 -
Before I started recomp, I was maintaining my weight within a 3-4 pound range for about 1.5 years. I would weigh once a week at the gym in the early a.m. If I kept up the good work, staying within my range, I celebrated with a donut that morning. I will have to say that for the most part, I had a donut most weeks It was easier then to maintain but it is a little tougher now during recomp because my body seems to LOVE retaining water while it battles inflammation from hard workout ... As long as I can still zip my pants and not split any seams, I am good! 1
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I think that your anxiety is normal. I certainly experienced it when I started maintenance 2 plus years ago. But if you have taught yourself good eating and exercise habits, have faith that you can do this. They should have become natural to you, and make maintenance easier than you would think.
I would also say that a little remaining anxiety is not bad. But just a little. You need to enjoy your life. It is never good to get too comfortable and to totally forget that your newer, more fit, and thinner body hides a former heavier one. That is what setting yourself a weight range and a scream weight is all about. When you see that scream weight (the one you don't want to go above), you work at a deficit until you are back within range. Don't panic at the scale; just correct what you need to, and move on.3
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