Trying to stop the long term cycle and maintain

SummerSkier

So, looking for hints from long term maintainers who were previously yo yo ers over the years. I am 59 and have been up and down the same 20 pounds probably 10-20 times since I was 16. Of course each cycle, it gets a little more variable, and it's a little more difficult to start. My plan is to track a lot of data and of course set a danger threshold. But I have done that before and just wrung my hands at it and put one or two days together or even a week and then crashed.

This time I plan to continue to log and weigh daily and of course keep up my activity and track TDEE with a slow calorie increase. I understand I have to make this a lifestyle vs a diet and I feel a ton healthier and actually eat a lot more variety when I log but it's REALLY difficult to change. sigh.

Maybe it will help if my new GOAL becomes to maintain for 6 months or a year or something like that. I feel almost like an addict in some ways. I don't think I will ever be able to be "normal" and just trust that over time I won't bounce again. Sometimes I wonder if I regain the weight because psychologically it feels really good to lose it again and be successful?

I have made some good friends here so am also hoping that keeping a "support" group of sorts will help, but deep in my brain I know that it's all up to me..

Any other ideas?

Summer (the most successful dieter on earth it seems like)

MelanieCN77

Logging is where it's at, though I did ease up on the weighing, now I do it once a week or so. My goal is maintain a year with my current regime and reassess. I've had a vacation at home and a good two week sickness and am still on track, 6 months now.

Maxxitt

I found that keeping a regular date with the scale was pretty important, and then choosing a small deficit when I went over my range. The times I have stopped weighing myself regularly, I have put on more weight than I could tell by "looking."