The reality of maintenance...
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I've been maintaining more than four years. I don't ever feel like I'm sacrificing but I'm definitely always aware of the choices I'm making when I eat. I never pass up ice cream I want, but have 1/4 cup. I'll eat one cookie not 3.
I'm 57. I can't eat like I did when I was 20 and still maintain the weight I had when I was 20. My metabolism has changed. That's reality. But it has been so worth it.14 -
findingone wrote: »I don't want to eat like a pig and feel stuffed anymore and then regretting it. I like being thin and healthy and being able to run again. The mental and emotional changes plus the depression that has lifted/lifting... ain't no way in hell I am ever going back. You start loving your body and respect it. Food to me is worth putting the hard work in. I want to eat and be 6'1 185 until I die. I will work my *kitten* off for the lessons I learned.
When you give yourself a weight range to bounce up and down to on maintenance it feels good to eat knowing you worked for it when you are at the low end of said range. God forbid you are hungry and earned your food through exercise. It's like eating the best tasting food everytime. I love my new life. Wish you the best and happiness ☺️
I agree 100%. Love this thread!
I went from 302 lbs to my lowest of 145 lbs.
Gained a bit back over the holidays and going on my honeymoon, so I'm working on getting back to my range of 145-150.. Currently 158.
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This is so true and I was thinking the same thing just this week. The beauty of MFP is that done properly with a focus on CICO and no good or bad foods it is a genuine life changing process. I've lost and maintained 60lb but my brain has changed even more than my body.7
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findingone wrote: »I don't want to eat like a pig and feel stuffed anymore and then regretting it. I like being thin and healthy and being able to run again. The mental and emotional changes plus the depression that has lifted/lifting... ain't no way in hell I am ever going back. You start loving your body and respect it. Food to me is worth putting the hard work in. I want to eat and be 6'1 185 until I die. I will work my *kitten* off for the lessons I learned.
Perfectly said.
I've always been great at losing weight, but could ever keep it off because once I achieved my goal the first thing that would pop into my head was..."so now I have to keep on doing this...forever???" Then I would start a spiral backward until I was fat again. Maintenance is hard, and I'm small so I don't get to eat a whole lot so I know what you're saying. It really makes me think about how much i was eating because now I see that 250 extra calories a day isn't much at all.
Still, I refuse to blow all the progress I've made because I fought too damned hard to get here.... All the cakes and cookies can't compare to feeling better and getting to wear all the cute clothes. LOL!
Whats helped me keep the weight off for a year now has been setting new fitness goals that include keeping my diet in check. Maybe setting a new goal would help you too as someone already mentioned.
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Wonderful thread. Marked as a favourite for regular consultation!!2
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This is a great thread! Thank you lorrpb for posting about it and thanks to all who have commented!
I think I am at maintenance now. I am just not sure. I started at 338lbs three years ago and now I am 134.1. My original goal was 128 but I think that might be unreasonable? Not sure...I am in my BMI range. I still feel like the heaviest person in the room. I am so worried about going back. But I am trying to ease up a little bit- 4 days a week I do maintenance calories and 3 days reduction. 1590 on maintenance and 1200 on reduction days. This makes me feel a little less scared. I count everything and that doesn't bother me- I am okay with doing that for the rest of my life. I just need to figure out the real right amount of calories/exercise combo to maintain. I actually talked with my therapist about this. She lost 100 lbs and has kept it off for more than 10+ years now. She said she has a "drop dead point" where she knows if she gets up to a certain weight, it's time to resume serious reduction and tracking, but other than that she will allow herself to fluctuate 3-4 lbs. I was thinking about trying that. How did you all find your final goal?
Thank you again!14 -
kalchthaleri wrote: »This is a great thread! Thank you lorrpb for posting about it and thanks to all who have commented!
I think I am at maintenance now. I am just not sure. I started at 338lbs three years ago and now I am 134.1. My original goal was 128 but I think that might be unreasonable? Not sure...I am in my BMI range. I still feel like the heaviest person in the room. I am so worried about going back. But I am trying to ease up a little bit- 4 days a week I do maintenance calories and 3 days reduction. 1590 on maintenance and 1200 on reduction days. This makes me feel a little less scared. I count everything and that doesn't bother me- I am okay with doing that for the rest of my life. I just need to figure out the real right amount of calories/exercise combo to maintain. I actually talked with my therapist about this. She lost 100 lbs and has kept it off for more than 10+ years now. She said she has a "drop dead point" where she knows if she gets up to a certain weight, it's time to resume serious reduction and tracking, but other than that she will allow herself to fluctuate 3-4 lbs. I was thinking about trying that. How did you all find your final goal?
Thank you again!
Wow! You are awesome! Your therapist is too, and she is right. Set a maintenance range of about 5 pounds. Your weight will never be just one number. I think most people on maintenance will tell you not to fixate on one number but to have a range.3 -
I originally set my calorie goal based on my ultimate weight goal because I had about 15 pounds to lose. So for me, maintenance is actually exactly the same as loss. A bit depressing at times but it means that I am getting used to eating the way I need to eat forever - from the very start. In other words, I eat what a person who weighs 140 lbs should eat and since I am NOT 140 lbs., my body loses weight. Until I get there. It seems so unfair that as you lose weight, you get to eat less and less. So I've been exercising and monitoring my intake as though I was at my goal and that is easier for me.3
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I've been wondering about something I as read people's posts:
Does anyone know someone who has always been thin / never had a weight problem whom they can ask what they do? Do people who have always been thin even think about these things? Do they weigh themselves (and, if so, how often)? Do they plan ahead for birthdays or dinners out?
It would be interesting to see responses from people in their 30s, 40s, etc -- both men and women.
I can't think who to ask ... But I wonder about people who just seem to naturally maintain -- though they probably do not think of it that way at all. Anyone up for a research project?
Anyone know? 1 -
razorwoman wrote: »I originally set my calorie goal based on my ultimate weight goal because I had about 15 pounds to lose. So for me, maintenance is actually exactly the same as loss. A bit depressing at times but it means that I am getting used to eating the way I need to eat forever - from the very start. In other words, I eat what a person who weighs 140 lbs should eat and since I am NOT 140 lbs., my body loses weight. Until I get there. It seems so unfair that as you lose weight, you get to eat less and less. So I've been exercising and monitoring my intake as though I was at my goal and that is easier for me.
I understand how you feel. I just try to think of it as a person who weighs 140 pounds does not need to eat like a person who weighs 200 pounds. It isn't that I don't get to eat that much , but that my body doesn't need to eat that much. It helps me to look at it that way. And honestly I feel really good eating the amounts I eat. I think that is because I allow myself to eat whatever I want as long as it fits my goals. I have found what keeps me satisfied and I don't really want things that will leave me hungry at the end of the day so much. And now that I am in maintenance I know that if I do overindulge one day I can get right back on track the next day no harm done. I just don't let the overindulgence become the norm like it was before.11 -
After eating smaller portions for a while, my stomach just can't handle a full size restaurant meal. I notice that I get full much faster now. I guess that's a really good thing!8
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youdoyou2016 wrote: »I've been wondering about something I as read people's posts:
Does anyone know someone who has always been thin / never had a weight problem whom they can ask what they do? Do people who have always been thin even think about these things? Do they weigh themselves (and, if so, how often)? Do they plan ahead for birthdays or dinners out?
It would be interesting to see responses from people in their 30s, 40s, etc -- both men and women.
I can't think who to ask ... But I wonder about people who just seem to naturally maintain -- though they probably do not think of it that way at all. Anyone up for a research project? Anyone know?
Most of my friends and family are "naturally lean"...for most of my life I was "naturally lean" until I became a desk jockey by day and couch potato by night.
Things we all have in common?
We all exercise regularly to some extent or another...our best couple friends are both personal trainers and own their own gym and belong to cycling teams and get a crazy amount of activity in...my best buddy is into yoga and walking...my mom is a once upon a time triathlete who enjoys dancing and golf these days...my sister is an avid runner and does a couple marathons every year...my wife is also an avid runner and does a 1/2 marathon pretty much every year...I'm an avid cycling enthusiast and do a couple of endurance events every year and also enjoy the weight room...some of my friends also have active jobs. In summary, we move.
We watch little t.v. Family time together tends to be an activity that involves getting up and out of the house and moving...it might be an afternoon at the zoo or playing in the park or having a picnic in the mountains, or just throwing around the football in the backyard, with a movie night thrown in there for good measure.
We cook a lot and going out for meals is more of an occasion...my family has pizza day on most Saturdays and that's basically the extent of our eating out unless the wife and I are going for a date night which we try to do a couple times per month. Deserts aren't regular menu items at home...maybe once or twice per week. We all enjoy eating well for the most part.
I don't know about anyone else, but I step on the scale pretty regularly but it's not something I focus on too much. Basically I went back to the way I used to live my life and from there it's been pretty easy.8 -
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Have nothing to add,but have so enjoyed this thread.There is a lot to read over & think about.This might be one of the better threads on MFP,so much info & help.Thanks for sharing.3
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Ditto. My appetite when I was 128 was the same as when I was almost 180. This will be a lifelong battle for me.7 -
Ditto. My appetite when I was 128 was the same as when I was almost 180. This will be a lifelong battle for me.
Same here. Granted, I'm twice your age so I don't have to fight as long
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Same. Not everyone learns? achieves? that "so full on so little" feeling. I'm basically living on "not hungry" and only on my IDGAF days am I "satisfied".7 -
This is why a large percentage of people gain all the weight back and more. They think "I'm going to go on a diet and I'm going to lose all this weight my goal is: X". A few people manage to do just that. But they think that once they get to X they've accomplished the task. Life returns to normal, right? No, wrong. In reality you should never say "I'm going on a diet to get to X goal". You should say "I'm changing my eating to be healthy, and it needs to be sustainable for life". There's no end date. I had am internal "poor me" tantrum a couple of years ago when it occurred to me I had to "be on a diet" for the rest of my life. How bu!!*kitten* unfair is that? But I gradually learned that lean healthy people just don't eat like I used to. That it's not "being on a diet" it's eating like a normal person and not like someone with an eating disorder.19
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I'm not at maintenance yet, , have 30 more to go, but I will never go back to eating like I used to. I hated feeling full & sluggish. I feel great, have more energy & sleep better. I love feeling good and am actually eating more variety & alot more often than before.2
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This is a great topic. I had lost about 95#, and I am up about 40 from my lowest. I would be happy to lose 20-30. I, too, had mindset that I would never go back to old habits, yet slowly those habits returned. I became more comfortable with my new look, and looking back would allow some indulgences, which became more frequent. I stopped tracking. Then life gets in the way. I just rejoined weight watchers as their meetings really helped me during my weight loss. I a, determined to get extra weight off. I agree this is a lifelong learning experience. 4
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