Curiosity - maintaing your goal weight or dream size

tynapea3
tynapea3 Posts: 37 Member
edited November 15 in Health and Weight Loss
After reaching your goal weight or size , whats the best way to maintain it ? Isnt it easy to fall back into old habits ?

Replies

  • tynapea3
    tynapea3 Posts: 37 Member
    ashliedelgado wrote: »
    Figure out what your TDEE is, eat that. The same way you lost the weight, just a little more food.

    Okay but would you still have to keep.the same same amount of exercise?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Part of this process should be developing new habits and a new normal...I don't do anything differently in maintenance than I do losing save for eat a handful more calories...my overall diet remains pretty much the same...exercise is the same, etc.
  • jessiferrrb
    jessiferrrb Posts: 1,758 Member
    once you figure out what your maintenance calories are you should continue to factor in your exercise as you do when losing. that's going to affect your CO (calories out) in your CICO equation. the same principles apply in maintaining as in losing.
  • ashliedelgado
    ashliedelgado Posts: 814 Member
    edited January 2017
    No, not if you didn't want to. Being active will help you keep the weight from coming back on.

    For me, I'm 5'4", and my goal is 145. At my current age, a sedentary activity level would mean that I can eat around 1720 and maintain without exercise.

    You would just need to figure out your numbers, and eat accordingly.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    tynapea3 wrote: »
    ashliedelgado wrote: »
    Figure out what your TDEE is, eat that. The same way you lost the weight, just a little more food.

    Okay but would you still have to keep.the same same amount of exercise?

    More or less exercise is going to change your CO. I exercise regularly for fitness...the mentality that exercise is for weight loss is a falacy. My exercise varies throughout the year depending on whether I'm training for an event or just maintaining a base...I adjust my diet accordingly (except for October - December when my activity level drops significantly and I put on about 8-10 Lbs every year)
  • tynapea3
    tynapea3 Posts: 37 Member
    So if someone was to drastically lose weight in a a couple months or so , 9 times out of 10 would it automatically come back quickly or would they be able to maintain it from coming back...from the key points you all have mentioned above ?
  • angel7472
    angel7472 Posts: 317 Member
    If you do things drastically there is a good chance that you'll put the weight back on again. This is from experience. I like to eat so therefore for me to personally maintain I need to exercise on a regular basis and eat a set amount on a daily basis. Otherwise I WILL gain. But in theory everything is CICO. As long as calories in is equal to calories out you should be able to maintain.
  • NEOHgirl
    NEOHgirl Posts: 237 Member
    It never automatically comes back quickly. Both getting to and maintaining a healthy weight are a permanent process; there really isn't an end to it. Usually if someone gains it back, it's because they get complacent and stop doing what lost them the weight in the first place. They start slacking with tracking and measuring/weighing their food. They start loosening up on their food choices, because hey, more calories now, forgetting that they get an extra 300-500 per day, not an extra 1000 per day. If you lose the weight, and during maintenance actually keep doing the things that got you to goal weight, you shouldn't gain it back.
  • cfritchley26
    cfritchley26 Posts: 47 Member
    tynapea3 wrote: »
    So if someone was to drastically lose weight in a a couple months or so , 9 times out of 10 would it automatically come back quickly or would they be able to maintain it from coming back...from the key points you all have mentioned above ?

    As someone who has lost a lot of weight in a short time frame in the past, it is not something I would recommend. It came back, and when it did it came back pretty fast & with friends (more weight than I lost). I had deprived myself for so long that when I feel off the wagon I fell hard...on either end I had a very unhealthy relationship with food.

    Now I am learning to look at it as a lifestyle change...and for a healthy future, not just a number on a scale. It's how I feel I can sustain that for a lifetime.
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
    Once you learn your maintenance calories (it will ebb and flow, but it's mostly according to your height and gender), then you just manage it like a checkbook. If you spend more than maintenance one day, you have to save a little another day. If you go way over (easy to do) it takes more than a day to make up for it. People who lose their awareness of food intake (easy to do) will rebound. I know many who have rebounded, and in fact most people do, until they want to keep it bad enough that they stop the yo-yo's and make the little cycles tighter and tighter. Maintaining will have some fluctuations, like maybe a little up over the holidays, and a little knuckling down in January, etc.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Part of this process should be developing new habits and a new normal...I don't do anything differently in maintenance than I do losing save for eat a handful more calories...my overall diet remains pretty much the same...exercise is the same, etc.

    Agree with this.
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    edited January 2017
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Part of this process should be developing new habits and a new normal...I don't do anything differently in maintenance than I do losing save for eat a handful more calories...my overall diet remains pretty much the same...exercise is the same, etc.

    This. My maintenance plan is pretty similar to what my weight loss plan was-I track my calorie intake and make sure I hit my calorie target (with a focus on weekly totals). I eat pretty similar to what I did during my weight loss phase (which is pretty much everything I like lol), and I didn't exercise during my weight loss phase/don't exercise now, so things are pretty much same old, same old-just with a bit more calories added in now :)
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,630 Member
    I've been slender and active most of my life. So losing weight, and then maintaining it, has been a matter of returning to my normal eating and activity levels.

    I gained weight because my activity level dropped significantly because of health issues and several moves including one from Canada to Australia ... and then there was this 8-month round the world trip my husband and I did ... and let me tell you, there's a lot of great food out there. :grin:

    But things are more stable now ... so my eating and activity has returned to normal. :)

  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,630 Member
    tynapea3 wrote: »
    ashliedelgado wrote: »
    Figure out what your TDEE is, eat that. The same way you lost the weight, just a little more food.

    Okay but would you still have to keep.the same same amount of exercise?

    I do more exercise when I'm slender ... because I can! :)
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    That's why a calorie deficit is the best way to lose weight. You can eat exactly the same as your "old ways," just not in the same amounts. That's also why most diet plans fail-because people don't learn the habits they need to keep the weight off once they lose it
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    tynapea3 wrote: »
    ashliedelgado wrote: »
    Figure out what your TDEE is, eat that. The same way you lost the weight, just a little more food.

    Okay but would you still have to keep.the same same amount of exercise?

    You don't. Just use MFP to track your calories adjusting to your activity level.

    But I've been this weight for 2.5 years and there's a 1000 calorie difference between my lazy and active days, so believe me, I'm not giving up exercise anytime soon, because I love eating.
  • JDixon852019
    JDixon852019 Posts: 312 Member
    I hit my scale weight goal in August. I have been working on maintenance and recently switched over to Marcos and weight lifting to build muscle.

    March-November I will do at least one physical activity for fun (outside of my regular workout routine). I am plan to do 4X 5ks, a 5mile fun run, 10k, join a kickball team, take a Rick climbing class, take an silks class, and try paddle boarding.
  • gradchica27
    gradchica27 Posts: 777 Member
    Many of the successful people I see around here change their goals when they hit maintenance--from weight loss to fitness goals. That's what I do after I lose pregnancy weight--I focus on a fitness goal, like training for a race or trying something new. I'm in maintenance now, focusing on recomp. So I exercise a lot to achieve my new goals, with the side benefit of having a bigger calorie buffer so I can have an occasional treat.
  • Running_and_Coffee
    Running_and_Coffee Posts: 811 Member
    Exercise, tracking food and weighing in weekly are what have kept me close to my desired weight for most of my adult life. If I see I'm up more than 2-3 lbs from my goal, I cut back the following week and after a few weeks I'm back where I wanted to be. But getting passionate about exercise is really what's helped...I like the focus on the fitness goal (running a race or lifting a heavier weight) and it allows me to eat a few more calories without anxiety.
  • cnbbnc
    cnbbnc Posts: 1,267 Member
    There's no magic secret to maintaining. You just carry on as usual, but with a bit more to eat. It's that simple.

    As was already mentioned, once I hit a good weight I switched gears to fitness related goals. Part of those goals rely on a good diet, so that helps keep me on track.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    I don't do much different compared to when I was losing. I still workout daily, I plan my meals ahead of time and I keep a journal.

    Now that I'm maintaining I make fitness goals regularly and I eat more calories so I wouldn't continue losing.

    However, I lost my weight on the slower side (80 pounds in 15 months) so I was able to adjust to making new changes to my life.
  • everher
    everher Posts: 909 Member
    tynapea3 wrote: »
    So if someone was to drastically lose weight in a a couple months or so , 9 times out of 10 would it automatically come back quickly or would they be able to maintain it from coming back...from the key points you all have mentioned above ?

    I think people who drastically lose weight are less likely to maintain the loss because whatever they did to lose the weight so quickly probably isn't sustainable over the long term. Hence the term "crash dieting".
  • andrea4736
    andrea4736 Posts: 211 Member
    Last time I lost weight, I lost it pretty quickly or drastically as some might say. I maintained it for over 2 years. ONLY reason I put it back on was because I got lazy and stopped tracking.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    Our bodies are designed to give us clues that help us maintain our current weight. It is when we ignore the clues and eat to excess that we gain weight. Of course, you can track your calories for if you like, but that gets old after a while. I find it easier to just trust that most of the time I won't overeat, but weigh weekly so that I am aware if excess calories start to accumulate. It's a lot easier to eat at a deficit for a couple of weeks to bring my weight back in line than it is to spend months trying to lose a bunch of pounds. Regular exercise also helps.
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