Is maintenance REALLY harder than losing weight?
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I have programmed my brain to get slightly excited over staying within my range.It's also not as inspiring to see the scale stay the same. When it is consistently going down you get excited and motivated to keep going.
I am so happy that my eating habits and expectations have been tweaked to fit my new, smaller body.Harder for me. I still have the appetite I had when I was 30 lbs heavier, but I need to eat 400 calories less than that to maintain.1 -
Maintenance felt easier to me because I didn't have to spend as much time being hungry.4
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It has been harder for me so far. I am having trouble figuring out my maintenance calories. I'm so much more active now I need more calories than I expected to need.3
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Honestly I have no idea.. because every time I try to maintain/recomp I always end up veering away from it with other goals, so I guess, yes, for me it is more difficult. But.. I think I am finally going to attempt and stick to it after this last bulk/cut cycle.. we'll see.2
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The difference between losing and maintaining for me has been more like adding 250 cals, not 500-600. It's an Apple and a tbs of peanut butter. Do yourself a favor and keep logging for a bit. I can tell you from experience, it's easier to lose 20# once and keep it off than to lose 5 or 10 over and over and over.11
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I have been in maintenance for 1.5 years (after losing 50+ lbs over 6 months). I don't find maintenance that hard. It's definitely not as rewarding but have found a good balance on intake and activity level. I still splurge now and then. I keep my weight to a 3-5lb range.1
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kommodevaran wrote: »
I have programmed my brain to get slightly excited over staying within my range.It's also not as inspiring to see the scale stay the same. When it is consistently going down you get excited and motivated to keep going.
I am so happy that my eating habits and expectations have been tweaked to fit my new, smaller body.Harder for me. I still have the appetite I had when I was 30 lbs heavier, but I need to eat 400 calories less than that to maintain.
wow good for you2 -
I've been at maintenance for almost two years and my own experience is that losing weight was easier. This was mainly due to me being better motivated and focused. Now I'm maintaining I often fail to log and this usually results in me hitting the cakes and cookies. I admit that I don't have the greatest self-discipline.2
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I think it's hard if you're planning on going back to the type of diet and lifestyle you had before and expect to keep the weight off. I overhauled so much during the process that I can't imagine going back to what I used to eat, how little I moved and my general outlook on life. After 31 months of maintenance I'm falling into the 'it's different' camp, it's certainly not harder (for me). Everyone has different journeys though.....
I wish you the best of luck
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I find it slightly more difficult to maintain than lose, but I struggle comparing the two. It seems that all the support out there from media to facebook groups to MFP (but less so), is all focused on LOSING, but when you've lost and you've made it, it becomes a lonelier game. It's just you, your head and your body.
I focused on different goals instead of the scale - some fitness goals but also health ones (cholesterol and blood pressure).9 -
Its harder to keep going when everything stays the same. Its also really depressing to come back from a holiday a few lbs heavier and think "oh no, the bad old days are back! (but not as depressing as sticking to a restricted calorie level on holiday
). I rarely step on the scale, instead I measure every couple of weeks and if things creep up then I am much stricter until everything is back under control. Unless you wear really tight clothes ALL the time, it takes a good inch all round before clothes start telling you that you've been naughty - or in my case about 3-4lb. 4 -
My issue with maintenance was complacency. I lost over 55lbs but then while in maintenance I had some really sudden life stress, got complacent about my eating (read: ate a lot of Haribo) and gained 12lbs in a couple of months. I've lost that weight now and a bit more and I'm much more aware of how aware I need to be about my eating. If I start slipping I have to reign it in.
So ultimately it depends on the person how hard maintenance will be. There are those who will never have to watch themselves, those who keep an eye on things and those of us who are hypervigilant. Only you know which one you will need to be.8 -
I really really really really really like to eat so maintenance was easier for me5
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My maintenance is only 250 calories more than losing so much harder for me. It feels like I'll just be on a restricted diet forever. Agree it's easier when you're active.6
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I am liking maintenance more. I really only got maybe 200-250 extra calories over the tail end of my loss phase, but I can deal with that however I want. So, if I want to have carrot cake after dinner (we made one recently, almost 8000 calories, stored in the freezer and I get to eat 1/16 maybe once a week), I will do an Insanity workout and a T25 workout instead of my usual kickboxing workout. Or if dinner is some 200 calorie soup (which I will know because we usually make dinner three times a week and eat leftovers the next day), maybe I will do something easier, like Urban Rebounding. So I feel there is more flexibility with maintenance.1
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I'm only into week 3 and it's not been difficult so much as I've had to think about it more so it feels more consuming.0
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dopeysmelly wrote: »I find it slightly more difficult to maintain than lose, but I struggle comparing the two. It seems that all the support out there from media to facebook groups to MFP (but less so), is all focused on LOSING, but when you've lost and you've made it, it becomes a lonelier game. It's just you, your head and your body.
I focused on different goals instead of the scale - some fitness goals but also health ones (cholesterol and blood pressure).
Totally relate to the "lonely" feeling. When losing I felt much more part of the community, especially as MFP focuses much more on shedding the weight. Would help with motivation if MFP automatically recognized maintenance achievements (I think I deserve one for hitting two years without gaining back the kilos).19 -
Some updates to MFP for maintainers would be nice, you're right. Like the "pounds lost" thing - on my fitbit app the scale graphic has changed to a little arc of about 10 pounds and my weight is a little dot in the middle. The "pounds lost" thing here on MFP and the angry red numbers when over calories aren't super helpful for the maintenance mindset.9
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I've already responded to this, but I'm going to add because I see a lot of "it's lonely" comments.
I don't know if I just lucked out or what, but over the years (including the time I lost and maintenance years), I've met folks at the gym and out on the road and on group rides, etc and have substantially expanded my circle of friends who are all about nutrition and fitness. It really helps having people around you that are into what you're into.
Unfortunately, I have had some friends more or less fall by the wayside because they don't understand that I'm not really into going to the bar on Sunday to drink for 12 hours while watching football...I'd much rather get some riders together for a nice group ride and then pop into one of our many micro-breweries to pop a couple tops after a good 40 miler. It really helps to have people around you who are as passionate about these things as you are...15 -
Those are interesting points about losing the excitement of numbers changing on the scale. And actually it's discouraging on something like Happy Scale when it gives me red numbers and shows pounds gained, yet I'm fully under my maintenance goal that I gave it. (I wish it let you put a range and it would stay "green" as long as you're within it so I wouldn't feel like I've failed if I gain a lb ... just all those normal fluctuations.) I know that's silly. Maybe I just need to see if there's a better weight tracking graph that is more maintenance-geared.
Another thought for those struggling with motivation over time or wanting more community with fellow maintainers is to try one of the DietBet maintainer challenges. That could be a good way to keep it fun and motivating since you have to maintain over the course of a year or you lose $$ (or you win $$ if you make your goal)!3 -
macchiatto wrote: »Those are interesting points about losing the excitement of numbers changing on the scale. And actually it's discouraging on something like Happy Scale when it gives me red numbers and shows pounds gained, yet I'm fully under my maintenance goal that I gave it. (I wish it let you put a range and it would stay "green" as long as you're within it so I wouldn't feel like I've failed if I gain a lb ... just all those normal fluctuations.) I know that's silly. Maybe I just need to see if there's a better weight tracking graph that is more maintenance-geared.
Another thought for those struggling with motivation over time or wanting more community with fellow maintainers is to try one of the DietBet maintainer challenges. That could be a good way to keep it fun and motivating since you have to maintain over the course of a year or you lose $$ (or you win $$ if you make your goal)!
https://trendweight.com
but it's web based. It uses Fitbit sync for the weight, so weight can be entered through the fitbit app, but to check your trend you would need to open a web page. It's also not flexible with the smoothing days, but I still find it very useful.2 -
When I was losing the thought of maintenance seemed hard because you don't have that deficit that corrects all problems. And yes, I do find myself eating stuff I wouldn't have eaten while losing weight. But the interesting thing is that I don't think about it as much as I thought I would. I've been burning so many calories that if I ate what I feel like I should be eating I would lose weight. I thought it would be the other way around.2
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As long as you have realistic expectations going into maintenance, I don't think it's harder. If someone thinks they can go back to eating the way they were or that they'll be able eat a lot more calories, then that person will be very disappointed or unsuccessful in maintenance.
There are times when I miss eating out at restaurants almost every weekend and eating a bunch of junk, but when I really think about it, my new found fitness abilities, health, and happiness with my physical appearance far outweigh the temporary satisfaction of a tasty but unhealthy meal. (Btw, when I go on vacations, that's my cheat time.)
It took me about 4.5 months to reach my goal weight. By then, eating healthy and exercising were my new habits and routine so I just adjusted my calories to maintenance in MFP, and kept doing what I was already doing. Easy peasy pumpkin pie. I've been in maintenance for over 1 year now.6 -
Sometimes it's hard for me to make the initial cut in calories to lose, but after a couple of weeks losing is easy. Usually all I need to do is stop eating out more than once a week and stop taking candy from the candy bowl at work. I had an eating disorder when I was in my early 20's so increasing calories is always psychologically difficult for me (even though I've had normal eating habits for 17 years). I start to worry that I am eating too much and I don't have the reinforcement of losing weight to keep me focused (that damn candy jar will be the death of me). Maintenance is easier for me when I stick to a routine and pre-track for the week (leaving some wiggle room for spontaneity) because I feel in control and know I am eating what I need to be healthy. I also suffer less food related decision fatigue. Maintenance gets really stressful when I travel, life gets stressful, or when I forget to pre-plan my meals and I often remind myself I can always hit the reset button tomorrow and get back on track. I also have expensive taste in clothes so gaining enough to need a bigger size is enough motivation to snap me back into line
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If maintenance were easy, no one would be overweight.12
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why do so many gain their weight back? Because it takes a lot of discipline. Being fat is hard, eating different is hard, you have to pick your hard, yes both are hard but I don't like being fat. Never ending have to be cautious all your life, dirn it.4
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I was one of those who called maintenance and lost another 15 pounds. Things settled down and now as long as I keep up the exercise, I can pretty much eat what I want. It may take you a while to find your "me weight" and stay there. Don't worry, you'll get there. Look for the Maintainers Weekly Check-in April 2017 thread for some support. The leader (?) changes the name each month. Nice folks and good thoughts.4
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I was one of those who called maintenance and lost another 15 pounds. Things settled down and now as long as I keep up the exercise, I can pretty much eat what I want. It may take you a while to find your "me weight" and stay there. Don't worry, you'll get there. Look for the Maintainers Weekly Check-in April 2017 thread for some support. The leader (?) changes the name each month. Nice folks and good thoughts.
I've never gained excess fat when I was exercising. Theoretically, it should be possible, but that hasn't been my experience.1 -
The problem I have with maintenance is pretty much the same one I have with losing weight ... I don't preplan my menus, follow recipes, have set time to eat .... I just kind of go with whatever is around, quickly cooked up, strikes my fancy ... and therefore the calorie itake escalates or drops daily ... being consistent takes more thought and preparation than I give it. Therefore, that's a part of losing weight that I am learning how to handle and I give myself a practice maintenance session every 5-6 weeks of 'dieting'.3
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