Am we sometimes too hard on ourselves about weight?

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jrwms714
jrwms714 Posts: 421 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I will be on maintenance for 3 years in October ... it has been relatively easy for me and I usually stay within the range that I set for myself. However, lately I notice that if I go above the weight that I have chosen to maintain, even if it's still within that range, I immediately eat at a deficit to get myself back there. I sometimes wonder if the fear of gaining back the weight contributes to more anxiety than is necessary. I feel like I have done this for a long time, 5 years counting loss on MFP, and that I need to just accept the facts and the scale, eat less if it's over than range for more than a week, and not beat myself up if it's at the top of the range. Anyone else experience this?

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  • skymningen
    skymningen Posts: 532 Member
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    jrwms714 wrote: »
    I sometimes wonder if the fear of gaining back the weight contributes to more anxiety than is necessary.

    Unfortunately, yes.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,974 Member
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    JJS1979 wrote: »
    I do experience this and I dont necessarily think it is a bad thing. I think more often than not people hit their goal weight and then don't step on a scale for 6 months and realize they gained half the weight back. Consistently monitoring and making adjustments is part of the process and lifestyle. Don't stress about it and know that you are doing what you need to do in order to stay at a healthy weight, nothing wrong with that.

    I agree. The reason for the maintenance range is so that we can make adjustments if we go over (or under) the range. There is no need to beat yourself up about it. If you find yourself at the top of the range you just need to eat less (or up your activity) until you are back where you want to be.
  • kokonani
    kokonani Posts: 507 Member
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    I'm at maintenance and the other day I went to an amusement park. So tempted to snack on over priced junk food, but kept it really cool and came out eating a deficit of about 400 cal! Walked for hours throughout the day until my legs were so sore. Next day, weighed myself to see that I gained 1.5lbs! Felt so terrible and confused! I ate way under maintenance, and did so much walking, but gained! It really messed with your confidence..
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
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    kokonani wrote: »
    I'm at maintenance and the other day I went to an amusement park. So tempted to snack on over priced junk food, but kept it really cool and came out eating a deficit of about 400 cal! Walked for hours throughout the day until my legs were so sore. Next day, weighed myself to see that I gained 1.5lbs! Felt so terrible and confused! I ate way under maintenance, and did so much walking, but gained! It really messed with your confidence..
    You can't control what the scale says. All you can control is how many calories you consume. If your calorie intake was on-point, you know that any scale increase isn't fat.

    I concentrate on my day-to-day calorie compliance rather than the day-to-day scale reading. My compliance with my plan is the only thing within my control. I weigh every day and input the weights into a weight trend app. I use both Libra (an Android app) and TrendWeight (through Fitbit). Each weight is just a data point in my science experiment to see how and when my weight varies. I don't get emotionally attached to what the scale says but it took a long time and a lot of practice to get to that point.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,974 Member
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    kokonani wrote: »
    I'm at maintenance and the other day I went to an amusement park. So tempted to snack on over priced junk food, but kept it really cool and came out eating a deficit of about 400 cal! Walked for hours throughout the day until my legs were so sore. Next day, weighed myself to see that I gained 1.5lbs! Felt so terrible and confused! I ate way under maintenance, and did so much walking, but gained! It really messed with your confidence..

    If you were that sore from walking then you would be retaining water for muscle repair. Your weight each day does not necessarily reflect what you did the day before, but over time you will see that if you eat at a deficit your weight trends down and if you eat at a surplus your weight trends up. What it does day to day is irrelevant.
  • jrwms714
    jrwms714 Posts: 421 Member
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    A lot of what people are saying makes sense to me. Maintenance has been an easy 3 years and even losing was not difficult. I made up my mind, eased into it, and stayed the course. I started this post because I was just wondering how hard we maintainers are on ourselves when we get at the upper end of our range and are there for a while. If I am at that range for a week, I eat at a deficit to get down again. I find, as I move along in maintenance, I am less likely to be anxious about this, but what some people have said on here about being hard on yourself in order to maintain also works for me. SO I guess it's a compromise so that life is easy, food is good, weight is stable, and moving on important.
  • Kimblesnbits13
    Kimblesnbits13 Posts: 369 Member
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    I hit maintenance in December and was within the range of 121-124 the whole time until end of may. Summer came with a ton of bbqs, parties, vacation etc...I went over my range and was fluctuating between 125-128. Since I recorded my weighins each day, i noticed how long it took me to gain actual lbs and not water weight. It took about a month and a half month to gain 3-5ish lbs. It made me realize i don't gain real lbs in a couple days, or a week. It does take time. It doesnt scare me anymore to gain water weight and see the scale jump as long as it's not trending up over time like it did may-july. I'm now back to 124ish and will hopefully be back to my low end soon.

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