Maintaining. Good or bad?

HvymetalMG

I've reached my goal of 163 3 weeks ago. Since then I've maintained.

But mentally seeing a loss was my reward knowing what I'm doing is working. I know it's crazy but I get upset not seeing any more loss even though I'm maintaining. Im also lifting so I assume I may even see gains?

I'm just trying to get over the mental hurdle of not seeing pounds come off every week.

Any advice. And if it's I'm being nuts. I'll take it.

victoria_1024

I went through the same thing when I started maintenance. I missed seeing the scale go down and it felt discouraging even though my intention was to maintain. I started focusing on more fitness related goals and that helped. Eventually you just get used to the scale not moving and you're just happy it's not going up lol.

JeromeBarry1

Even while losing, your excellent conduct was not always rewarded with losses on the scale. Weight loss is not linear, neither is maintenance. Give yourself a realistic range and permission to exist in that range. For instance, as things like water and waste make havoc of your weight anyway, allow a few pounds fluctuation around 163. Get back into the calorie deficit if you rise above your target range, and have an additional cookie if you fall below it.

1skholloway

I am just entering maintenance and I feel the same way.

crzycatlady1

Yep, had this happen to me as well. The transition period between weight loss and maintenance (both physical and mental), can take a while-it took me around 6 months to get everything sorted out and running smoothly.

Sabine_Stroehm

Make new goals. Fitness goals.

TimothyFish

It is typical for us to be a little let down once we reach our goal. We aren't intended to rest on our laurels. We live for the challenge. Once we've overcome a challenge, we need to go find a new challenge. Turning to fitness challenges is a good transition for people who have reached their goal weight, but it doesn't necessarily have to be that.

livingleanlivingclean

That's why I think maintenance is harder than losing. You're trying to maintain at a weight, you don't get the thrill of seeing numbers change!

Perhaps learn to love seeing the same number for as long as possible?

sijomial

I celebrate when I hit my goals, not in the slightest feeling down or that I've ticked one off them off - getting to goal weight was just one target.
Maintaining at the correct weight is also a goal, just a long term one. Seeing a good weight on the scales is a daily reward.

Do agree with setting new goals/challenges that are connected with fitness and strength. But I also had them when I was losing weight too. Guess I like goals!

Rocknut53

TimothyFish wrote: »

It is typical for us to be a little let down once we reach our goal. We aren't intended to rest on our laurels. We live for the challenge. Once we've overcome a challenge, we need to go find a new challenge. Turning to fitness challenges is a good transition for people who have reached their goal weight, but it doesn't necessarily have to be that.

^^This is what is working for me. I've upped my strength training and am now working towards getting physically and mentally prepared to climb the Grand Teton this summer with my son. After that I hope to continue with mountaineering as that has always been what I love to do, I have just been too heavy for 35 years to do it. Better late than never.

HvymetalMG

If I focus now on getting stronger. Moving up in weights. Should I expect to see my weight go up with increased muscle? I just want to be sure I'm going on right direction with muscle gains and not fat. I really think so much if this is all mental. At least a lot

cwolfman13

Losing weight was only one of my many goals...personally, I enjoy ticking them off the list. When I went to maintenance four years ago, I just ticked it off and moved onto another. Most of my goals revolve around fitness.

HvymetalMG wrote: »

If I focus now on getting stronger. Moving up in weights. Should I expect to see my weight go up with increased muscle? I just want to be sure I'm going on right direction with muscle gains and not fat. I really think so much if this is all mental. At least a lot

Pay attention to your BF%, how you look in the mirror...how clothes are fitting, etc. The scale is only one measure.

sijomial

HvymetalMG wrote: »

If I focus now on getting stronger. Moving up in weights. Should I expect to see my weight go up with increased muscle? I just want to be sure I'm going on right direction with muscle gains and not fat. I really think so much if this is all mental. At least a lot

If you aren't in a calorie surplus your weight won't go up!
You might decide you want to get bigger/heavier but get used to maintenance first would be my advice.

You can add muscle without gaining weight assuming you aren't super lean - also known as recomp.

Gaining strength also happens without gaining any muscle mass, just getting more efficient at using the muscles you already have.

lorrpb

Congrats on reaching maintenance! You have different goals now.. If you're driving to the beach, once you get there, you have to change Directions slightly. Rather than a goal of getting "to" the beach, now you are driving along it, enjoying the rewards of your journey.

Set a 5 lb maintenance range. If you stay within that range, "what you're doing is working". If you get above the top end of the range, resume eating at a 250 cal deficit until you're back to mid range. If you get to the bottom of the range, add about 200 cals per day til you get back to mid range. Keeping that number in the range is your reward, rather than seeing a lower number.

kommodevaran

It's not crazy! Not getting the reward from seeing a loss, is actually a major reason why people regain! You just have to reframe - good of you to reach out.

I set my goal weight to a range of 6 pounds. I weigh myself every day, and plan my meals, and that makes it easier to make good choices that day. That's all I focus on. Instead of a goal of 1 pound less than last week, I have a goal of weighing the same as I did one month ago. Whenever I get close to the top of my range, I cut back on "extras". It's a kind of micro-yoyo-dieting, no stress, I know how to do it, and I can do it without the drama of "real" dieting. Just weight management as a normal part of a normal everyday life. I really like it.

b3achy

LOL, I just wrote a blog post this morning about this specific mental challenge. I've been essentially in maintenance for 2 months now, though last month I experienced a delayed whoosh, so while starting maintenance I was still seeing losses. This month is a different story as I've been maintaining at the same weight for my last 3-4 record weigh ins. But honestly, I'm still WANTING to see losses even though I KNOW I'm maintaining and not really trying to lose anymore.

One of the things I think also affects this is because we got so many accolades and words of encouragement when the app would post a loss to our news feed - it was a mini-reward for our personal success when others recognized that success. It's nice when friends notice and provide encouragement. However, the app is currently structured to only do this while losing; it's not providing that mini-reward for those trying to gain or maintain. I think that is part of the mental challenge - you hit your initial goal, and no longer are you seeing the same level of encouragement with your new goal of maintenance, even though maintaining can be even tougher than losing. So, I also made a recommendation/suggestion they provide some sort of news feed post for those that are trying to gain (whether because of being underweight or doing a bulk) and for those attempting to maintain (and after reading the comments here, I added to maybe include a counter for how many days the person has stayed within the maintenance range as additional motivation to have that number grow). Feel free to post any additional comments for the suggestion related to your experience too if you are so inclined.

Per maintenance, I think another part of the challenge is it doesn't feel like progress if we are staying the same weight. We are missing that feeling of progress like we had when we were either trying to lose or gain (depending on the goal).

I have other goals for fitness and nutrition, etc. but I don't find them as tangible (yet) as I did for trying to reach what I know is an arbitrary number on the scale. I get that it doesn't make sense, but I have to admit that I feel the same way as the OP now that I've started maintenance. And I will admit that it's a mental hurdle that I still need to overcome.

victoria_1024

^^This is true! I lost 90 lbs so I was used to getting comments along the way from other people... in real life but also on the app from mfp friends. Once you hit maintenance, some of that external motivation stops. People who know me now basically just know me at this weight. Every once in a while I see somebody that I haven't seen since before the weight loss but that's rare. So the motivation to maintain definitely has to be more internal. It's a shift.

STEVE142142

Agree with the other posters as far as resetting your goal. I always tell people you have to be selfish about this you can't do this for your kids or significant others for it to work it has to be about you period by that goal being about you all your other goals that involve your friends and family will take care of themselves

The reason this worked is you had a very selfish goal that took priority in your life. By by having that goal it was a target for you to hit and it drove you and for your own personal reasons you decided I'm going to hit it. now that you hit the goal have to reset and find another goal. It's like anything else you want to strive to make yourself better.

As far as myself my goal now is to maintain and I have some physical athletic goals that I want to reach that's what drives me.

nikkit321

Join the monthly maintainers check-in thread (March is: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10520954/maintainers-weekly-check-in-march-2017#latest). A lot of us miss the encouragement of loss, and this thread helps provide accountability, support, and cheers for maintenance.

b3achy

nikkit321 wrote: »

Join the monthly maintainers check-in thread (March is: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10520954/maintainers-weekly-check-in-march-2017#latest). A lot of us miss the encouragement of loss, and this thread helps provide accountability, support, and cheers for maintenance.

Thanks for posting this. Not a 100% sure I'm ready to post my maintenance info yet, as I am still trying to figure out my final calorie goal for maintenance (so I'm still losing a bit more), but I've bookmarked the thread and plan to lurk this and future threads until I'm ready to post there. Great idea for motivation in the maintenance phase!!

sgt1372

Late to this thread but FWIW what I did when I started maintenance was just reset my goal to maintaining my weight at 160 w/in 5# (+/- 2.5#) which I've been able to do for the past 4 months and consider a personal accomplishment.