Those 3+ years maintaining

1fitwong

Curious for those who have been maintaining 3 years or more....what sustainable lifestyle changes have you incorporated? Logging, exercise, meals, rest etc...Do they take discipline or have they become more of a habit? And how has this particular change worked for you to help overcome past struggles to lose or maintain. Thanks!

kommodevaran

I have maintained a healthy weight for 3 years, 4 months. I don't track food in my food diary anymore, but I plan my meals in a spreadsheet, and don't delete, so it acts like a log. I eat regular meals, balanced and varied meals I look forward to, no snacks, and aim to have only planned treats. I weigh myself every morning, and use the weight trend to decide size and frequency of treats. I don't do much exercise just to exercise, but I walk, dance and play. I aim to go to bed before midnight The things I do have become habits, but I still need discipline to stick to them. I am much more flexible and relaxed, and at the same time more vigilant, now, this means that I'm caring for myself, getting my needs and wants more in line, so I don't feel the resentment and urge to rebel, like I used to, which always lead to "falling off the wagon" and feeling miserable. There is no wagon. It's just days followed my more days. AKA life.

rainbow198

Consistency, having variety and not being hard on myself helped me to reach my goal (80+ pounds gone and 7 dress sizes lost). I'm in my 5th year of maintaining a 10 pound range.

Here are some of the things I do that helps me maintain my weight:

- Getting in a workout first thing in the morning.
- Planning my meals and workout for the next day the night before.
- Not cutting foods out, but being aware of my calories intake and portion control.
- Keeping a journal where I keep tabs on my food intake, exercise, measurements, weight and any notes for the day.
- Food prepping on Sundays (I do things like boil eggs, make protein bars and veggie burgers etc., not the meal in the container thing).
- Proper, good quality sleep.
- I eat good-sized balanced meals and cut out all snacking (which got me into trouble).
- I'm always trying new recipes, workouts and activities and keep making new fitness goals.
- I move as much as I can during the day. Park further and walk. I run around with my puppy/take him out on walk several times a day. Do bodyweight exercises while watching TV. Take short breaks while working and do 5 - 10 mins. of exercise. All of this really adds up.

Lastly, I just keep going. I'm very proud of myself and I love the way I look and feel, but I still continue to keep working at it everyday.

It took time for all of this to come together and some things were quite challenging, but again I just kept going. Once I kept doing the above day in and day out it became a habit. And now it's my new normal.

Good luck!

swim777

kommodevaran wrote: »

I have maintained a healthy weight for 3 years, 4 months. I don't track food in my food diary anymore, but I plan my meals in a spreadsheet, and don't delete, so it acts like a log. I eat regular meals, balanced and varied meals I look forward to, no snacks, and aim to have only planned treats. I weigh myself every morning, and use the weight trend to decide size and frequency of treats. I don't do much exercise just to exercise, but I walk, dance and play. I aim to go to bed before midnight The things I do have become habits, but I still need discipline to stick to them. I am much more flexible and relaxed, and at the same time more vigilant, now, this means that I'm caring for myself, getting my needs and wants more in line, so I don't feel the resentment and urge to rebel, like I used to, which always lead to "falling off the wagon" and feeling miserable. There is no wagon. It's just days followed my more days. AKA life.

Hmmmm I want to be you when I “grow up!”

cwolfman13

Going on 5 years for me.

I'm probably a bit different from a lot of people. I never struggled with weight and have been lean and fit most of my life. I was a competitive athlete growing up and through high school and then the military and remained a pretty active person through college.

I put 40 - 50 Lbs on over the course of 8 years when I graduated university and took a desk job and my activity plummeted.

I've never had a very bad diet and have always enjoyed healthy eating...I eat more veggies now than I used to and I eat out less and we cook most meals from home. Typically Friday evening is our go out for dinner or get pizza night and usually a Saturday or Sunday lunch out...otherwise we're usually in the kitchen.

The biggest thing for me though is just being active. In terms of "does it take discipline"...IDK...I don't really think about it. I enjoy being an active guy. I'm not all crazy with my exercise...I walk my dog in the morning and I cycle 3x per week...at the moment around 30-40 miles per week and lift a couple times per week. I also like doing some rock climbing here and there and hiking.

Most of my exercise is as much recreation and hobby as it is exercise...so, I don't really have to will myself to go do stuff most of the time...and usually if I'm feeling that I do it means I should just take the day off.

LivingtheLeanDream

I'm 4 years and 9 month's in maintenance.

Consistency is still paramount for eating, exercising.

Frequent weigh ins keeps my eye on the ball.

I always worked out 5 to 6 days a week. I still do.

I no longer log my food but I'm a creature of habit - better eating habits/ watching portion sizes stuck and is now normal.

I still think in calories. My friends think it's amusing that they can mention any food item and I'll know the calories automatically . I still weigh up if certain foods are worth it or not.

I love that it's relatively easy to maintain my weight.

In general I love being lean and strong so much that I'm happy to do what it takes to keep right where I am

kommodevaran

swim777 wrote: »

kommodevaran wrote: »

I have maintained a healthy weight for 3 years, 4 months. I don't track food in my food diary anymore, but I plan my meals in a spreadsheet, and don't delete, so it acts like a log. I eat regular meals, balanced and varied meals I look forward to, no snacks, and aim to have only planned treats. I weigh myself every morning, and use the weight trend to decide size and frequency of treats. I don't do much exercise just to exercise, but I walk, dance and play. I aim to go to bed before midnight The things I do have become habits, but I still need discipline to stick to them. I am much more flexible and relaxed, and at the same time more vigilant, now, this means that I'm caring for myself, getting my needs and wants more in line, so I don't feel the resentment and urge to rebel, like I used to, which always lead to "falling off the wagon" and feeling miserable. There is no wagon. It's just days followed my more days. AKA life.

Hmmmm I want to be you when I “grow up!”

Well - last night "3+ years" would have been a more befitting desciption, when my #¤%& dishwasher wouldn't let me fill it with the things I needed to wash. "Let's equip this thing with room at both sides!", said idiot designer. "I hate you!", I said. Ok, cried.

dailyzey

rainbow198 wrote: »

Consistency, having variety and not being hard on myself helped me to reach my goal (80+ pounds gone and 7 dress sizes lost). I'm in my 5th year of maintaining a 10 pound range.

Here are some of the things I do that helps me maintain my weight:

- Getting in a workout first thing in the morning.
- Planning my meals and workout for the next day the night before.
- Not cutting foods out, but being aware of my calories intake and portion control.
- Keeping a journal where I keep tabs on my food intake, exercise, measurements, weight and any notes for the day.
- Food prepping on Sundays (I do things like boil eggs, make protein bars and veggie burgers etc., not the meal in the container thing).
- Proper, good quality sleep.
- I eat good-sized balanced meals and cut out all snacking (which got me into trouble).
- I'm always trying new recipes, workouts and activities and keep making new fitness goals.
- I move as much as I can during the day. Park further and walk. I run around with my puppy/take him out on walk several times a day. Do bodyweight exercises while watching TV. Take short breaks while working and do 5 - 10 mins. of exercise. All of this really adds up.

Lastly, I just keep going. I'm very proud of myself and I love the way I look and feel, but I still continue to keep working at it everyday.

It took time for all of this to come together and some things were quite challenging, but again I just kept going. Once I kept doing the above day in and day out it became a habit. And now it's my new normal.

Good luck!

This is amazing. Kudos to you. Thanks for sharing

1fitwong

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Seems it’s a mix of things you all enjoy mixed with a bit of purposeful intention. A recipe for sustainable success...I love that!

sijomial

I guess I'm a bit of an oddity in that I didn't make any "lifestyle changes" to lose my weight. I just dieted for a while to lose the excess weight I carried around for 20 years - I did find losing a struggle as I really like my food. My diet (verb) was temporary, food logging was temporary.
Maintenance is normal for me even when overweight, my weight gain was a sudden jump rather than a slow creep upwards which is perhaps unusual.

It does take some vigilance and discipline as my hunger has always been higher than my needs for all my adult life - greedy would be an alternative description!

My lifestyle has changed and that has an impact on my calorie allowance (I cycle a lot, I'm far more active now I've retired from a desk job.....) but my essentials of tracking my weight trend and making some conscious decisions around volume of food are still the same.

jenilla1

7 years this summer! It's a habit to me now, so it doesn't take too much discipline. It's not a struggle or a challenge. It's pretty much just the way I live - it's not very emotional - the mindset is very matter-of-fact.

I do still log regularly, but I don't have to be super strict. It doesn't take much time and effort, and it works, so I keep it up. I also check my weight now and then so I can catch potential problems early and get right back on track.

I do love to keep setting and working on goals, though. Now that it's not really about weight anymore, I have fitness goals to keep me interested instead. I highly recommend setting additional health/fitness goals even after you hit maintenance. It gives you continued purpose and motivation!

I'm not a big person, so my sedentary maintenance calories are low enough (about 1550) that I need to choose mostly nutritious foods if I want all my macros to work out right. If I want to lay around and be lazy, I simply don't get to eat as much as if I'm active.

So if I want to eat extra treats (I love to bake and I love pasta) I have to exercise to earn them. Since I love food, but I also love being a healthy weight, I pretty much choose to be physically active on a daily basis so I can eat more of the fun stuff and still maintain my awesomeness. I actually like that I'm "forced" to be so active, because it not only earns me all the treats I want, it keeps me fit and energetic, too! I shouldn't say forced, though. It's really more of a choice. I'm in charge. I could CHOOSE to do less activity and eat fewer treats. But instead I CHOOSE fun (not boring or painful) physical activities and then I eat cake!

I've not had any problems maintaining so far, so I expect to be just as successful 7 years from now, too.

1fitwong

Congrats to all on maintaining your success! Appreciate all of your great insights! Hear ya, noted and applying .

You are right about fitness goals...they have certainly been more fun and motivating than any maddening scale goals.