Maintenance is boring, let's have fun.

MinimalistShoeAddict

Looking for friends with no problems maintaining weight or exercising regularly. Logging every day for years can get boring.

Please share ideas for challenges to keep things interesting (eating competitions, barefoot snow runs, obstacle course races with blindfolds, etc). The crazier the better! Bonus points for ideas that combine eating with exercise (for doughnut races, beer miles, etc).

leapyearcin

I hit maintenance a couple weeks ago, then had surgery, with activity restrictions (no working out) for 2 weeks! I'm plotting my return to regular workouts, mwah ha ha... Challenge ideas: One friend quit drinking, so we hike least 30-45 min. then get ice cream. Other friends & I run the stadium steps at a nearby university, then grab a beer after. Not sure if this works, buy how about a "Burn to Earn" challenge? 60 min. of steady state cardio or 45 min. interval/HIIT to earn a tasty adult beverage or dessert?

nxd10

I've been maintaining four years. I weigh every morning, look at the scale and feel really happy I'm still in the zone. That's my rush - just like it was when I was losing weight. But I get it every day.

But I moved on in my life. I have lots more fun things to do than worrying about calories. Find another hobby. Weight maintenance is like brushing your teeth.

sijomial

Maintenance is great!
I don't find being fit, strong and healthy at all boring.

If you want to combine exercise with eating then try Audax cycling events, my mate describes them as "long distance eating events held in beautiful countryside". http://www.aukweb.net/home/

Here's my calorie summary from my longest riding day.....
Totals 4,855 (645g carbs 92g fat 206g protein)
Your Daily Goal 6,502
Remaining 1,647

*You've earned 4,502 extra calories from exercise today

RoxieDawn

It sounds like maybe the exercise or challenges in certain areas or aspects have become boring or mundane? Logging for years, means you have adapted good habits and strategies to maintain. Look for ways to enhance the areas as needed..

I love maintaining.. I set new goals all the time. A small example is I sign up for running races, for example I did a "Glow in the Dark" run not too long ago. I placed in that race in my age group and that was quite rewarding.

Each time I exercise more, I get to eat more. etc.. etc.. I am always about eating more, but I also love the personal challenges in order to do that.

LivingtheLeanDream

I don't find maintenance boring either.

It's been pretty effortless as my eating and exercise habits have changed for good - almost 4 yrs at maintenance...and a year since I stopped Iogging meals. smiley: oh and I love being fit and strong

Hope you find what you're looking for...boredom is never ideal.

Machka9

As soon as I had lost the weight, I turned my focus back to training for long distance cycling events (randonneuring/audax) ... and doing them.

While I was losing weight I did some shorter events ... 100 km, 160 km ... to start building up. Then my first long distance event was a 200 km randonnee at the end of January 2016. We followed that with a 300 km at Easter, another 200 km right in the middle of winter in June, and a 400 km in August. We hoped to do a 600 km as well, but that fell apart when I came down with a mystery illness which lasted for some time. Nevertheless, we did give it a go and ended up cycling 390 km of the 600 km. And of course there were a lot of training rides to prepare for those.

My husband and I love cycling ... it's how we met and it's what we do. We've been doing audax/randonneuring events since about 2001, and met during the Paris-Brest-Paris in France in 2003.

And the great thing about doing all this cycling is that I can eat more. In fact, the day before an event or long training ride, the day of, and a couple days after, I just eat whatever I want and don't log.


But as nxd10 says, "But I moved on in my life. I have lots more fun things to do than worrying about calories. Find another hobby. Weight maintenance is like brushing your teeth."

I also weigh myself every day so I know if I need to start logging for a week or two, and pay more attention to what I'm eating ... but otherwise, my life is full of a lot of other things.

I work full-time, go to university part-time, and train for the long distance events as mentioned above. I also dabble in photography, my husband and I travel quite a bit, and this weekend, in addition to cycling a 100 km event, I've been putting up Christmas decorations ... and kind of half dancing (I don't dance well) around the house to Christmas music.

MinimalistShoeAddict

nxd10 wrote: »

I've been maintaining four years. I weigh every morning, look at the scale and feel really happy I'm still in the zone. That's my rush - just like it was when I was losing weight. But I get it every day.

But I moved on in my life. I have lots more fun things to do than worrying about calories. Find another hobby. Weight maintenance is like brushing your teeth.

Thank you! The brushing teeth analogy fits perfectly.

Maintenance is not difficult but I do wish out was now fun.

I definitely do have other hobbies!

There are several suggestions above that I like. Thanks everyone!