Booo...back on the bus

DX2JX2

I went into maintenance mode in October and have been rock solid for the past 5 months despite quitting smoking and greeting a new baby over past few months. Unfortunately, I've seen a uptick in my trending weight for the past few weeks. It's definitely not a surprise as I've felt myself drift back into some old habits with portion sizes at dinner (justifying splurges as 'exceptions' on the regular), cocktails during the week, and having 'just a few pieces' of chocolate at night.

The gain is pretty small now (only up about 2 pounds in the past month) but it's clearly there and I it's time to get back into gear before the trend gets any worse. On the plus side, I'll be able to lose it in a pretty short period of time without any major changes to my existing routine, other than to regain my focus on mindful eating and portioning (on a separate note, the ability to identify trends pretty quickly and nip problems in the bud is why I really believe in daily weigh-ins).

At first I was kind of annoyed that maintaining requires effort. After the relative deprivation of weight loss, I expected maintenance to be mindless and easy. Clearly this isn't the case.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that many/most people actually do have to think about their weight on the regular. It's not hard or easy or good or bad, it's just something that has to happen. The sooner I can accept this, the sooner I can get on with things and get it done.

So, back on the bus for me. Time to put some new batteries in the food scale and brush off my food log! When I get back into maintenance in a few weeks, at least now I'll know what to expect!

L1zardQueen

Does your bus pick up riders? Not staying vigilant is where a lot of people mess up.

LivingtheLeanDream

Yep maintenance takes as much effort as losing, welcome to my world!

Tblackdogs

I am so good at gaining and losing weight. I could teach a class! But maintaining is another thing altogether. I do find that mfp data and having a goal motivates me so I'm planning to use the same strategies when I'm ready to maintain. I have about five pounds more to lose and then I'm planning to jump on the maintenance train! I'm planning to log every day for a year and not gain or lose more than two or three pounds. I'm hoping that the "year goal" motivates me and helps me get in the swing of "not gaining or losing." It's hard!

h1udd

I find maintaining exceptionally hard. All the time I am trying to lose, I am focused and have a goal, but the second I try to maintain its like I loosen the grip on my resolve and the floodgates swing open and 1000+ kcal meals slip out all over the place, protein bars escape, deserts and snacks become the norm .. and the weight shoots back up.

Basically I am good at suffering ... I am rubbish at being normal !

DX2JX2

h1udd wrote: »

I find maintaining exceptionally hard. All the time I am trying to lose, I am focused and have a goal, but the second I try to maintain its like I loosen the grip on my resolve and the floodgates swing open and 1000+ kcal meals slip out all over the place, protein bars escape, deserts and snacks become the norm .. and the weight shoots back up.

Basically I am good at suffering ... I am rubbish at being normal !

I'm in exactly the same boat. Give me a tough goal and/or something to change/achieve and I'll breeze through it with no problem. Take away that goal and apparently I become an uncontrollable beast! What makes matters worse is that I'm gaining despite the fact that I run 30+ miles per week regularly. This means that I've been eating somthing like 1000 calories per day over maintenance when I stopped thinking about limits!

BTW - my wife said I should keep the weight on and would actually prefer if I put on a couple more. She thinks that I look better with another 5-10 pounds on my frame (and to be honest, I switched to maintenance after losing 5 pounds more than I originally intended to). I'll still be well within the 'normal' BMI range (22) at the higher weight but mentally I feel like I let myself down by putting any weight back on. I'm not sure what I'll do, maybe split the difference and maintain at my current weight.

steveko89

DX2JX2 wrote: »

h1udd wrote: »

I find maintaining exceptionally hard. All the time I am trying to lose, I am focused and have a goal, but the second I try to maintain its like I loosen the grip on my resolve and the floodgates swing open and 1000+ kcal meals slip out all over the place, protein bars escape, deserts and snacks become the norm .. and the weight shoots back up.

Basically I am good at suffering ... I am rubbish at being normal !

I'm in exactly the same boat. Give me a tough goal and/or something to change/achieve and I'll breeze through it with no problem. Take away that goal and apparently I become an uncontrollable beast! What makes matters worse is that I'm gaining despite the fact that I run 30+ miles per week regularly. This means that I've been eating somthing like 1000 calories per day over maintenance when I stopped thinking about limits!

BTW - my wife said I should keep the weight on and would actually prefer if I put on a couple more. She thinks that I look better with another 5-10 pounds on my frame (and to be honest, I switched to maintenance after losing 5 pounds more than I originally intended to). I'll still be well within the 'normal' BMI range (22) at the higher weight but mentally I feel like I let myself down by putting any weight back on. I'm not sure what I'll do, maybe split the difference and maintain at my current weight.

With you running that much is it safe to assume you have performance aspirations and/or scheduled races in the near future? You might be surprised how much research suggests "just a few pounds" can effect your running speed/time. A quick google will yield a number of articles written on the subject.

Nmarine1996

I feel you! Maintaining is not as easy as anyone thinks. It's like I got an inch and I'm trying to take a mile!

brightresolve

Thank you for this thread. My yo-yo specialty was giving up in sight of goal because it gets hard that last few pounds. And now I am at my second, lower goal and just beginning to learn to maintain; headed out on a 2 week vacation without access to scales today, nervous, so taking this as inspiration to not stress-eat myself back into the booo place.

brenn24179

Maintaining is a lot harder than losing. I lost 40 lbs, put 20 back on. Did good for 4 years and this year my scales were off 10 lbs, gained 5, then 5 more. Got the flu, then ate everything in sight. Now I got 20 to get off, ugh. Oh well better than 40

CarvedTones

I am new to maintenance (about a month) and finding it difficult. I am still new enough at it to freak out at swings and it is so much harder to be very accurate than fairly accurate, which worked for loss. Trying to lose with a deficit of ~300, you could be off by 100 in either direction and it would still be a deficit and you would be moving in the right direction while you made adjustments. At maintenance, moving in any direction by any amount is wrong as it starts to add up. I am still very slightly in deficit most of the time because I am terrified of gaining and getting back into my old yoyo cycle that ended with me gaining it back. But in those past failures, I tried to just eat "normally/naturally" after losing the weight and did not make such an effort at maintenance. I am pretty committed to not making the same mistake again.

CarlydogsMom

I'm walking to the bus stop contemplating whether or not I want to get on. Meaning...I've slid, I've gained, I know what I need to do, and I'm just dragging my feet (almost literally!) and not doing it. Maybe this will be one of the kicks I'll need to climb onto the first bus that comes along instead of waiting for the next...and the next...

forevermaryb

CarlydogsMom wrote: »

I'm walking to the bus stop contemplating whether or not I want to get on. Meaning...I've slid, I've gained, I know what I need to do, and I'm just dragging my feet (almost literally!) and not doing it. Maybe this will be one of the kicks I'll need to climb onto the first bus that comes along instead of waiting for the next...and the next...

I feel your pain. I hit my goal weight in May 2014 after losing 70 pounds over a year and a half. I maintained within a few pounds for about a year, but then solidly put on 10 pounds (I know exactly how). At 5'9" tall, I couldn't really tell where the 10 pounds went to, so I decided I would keep my new weight for maintenance. I stayed there until the last month or so when along came another 8 pounds (not sure why this time) and I'm feeling the difference in my clothes. This morning, I bit the bullet and entered my new weight on MFP (for a while I thought if I didn't enter it, it wasn't real) and set a goal to lose. MFP gave me 1250 calories per day before exercise calories. I know what I need to do, but part of me feels rather resentful for having to give up some of my indulgences yet again.

ahoy_m8

The part of OP's post that caught me was, "...and greeting a new baby over past few months." OP, how is sleep going in your household? That can have a big impact on hormones governing hunger. Google "sleep, ghrelin, leptin."

Also, 30+miles/week, although maybe vital for your sanity (it is for mine), can stress your body (more cortisol, water retention) on too little sleep.

You seem to have a great attitude about it, and as a long time maintainer, I agree completely. It takes effort. Although sometimes it seems to take more effort than it should, it is not a crazy amount of effort, and feeling great is totally worth the effort.

ETA: Congratulations on the new addition!

KelGen02

CarlydogsMom wrote: »

I'm walking to the bus stop contemplating whether or not I want to get on. Meaning...I've slid, I've gained, I know what I need to do, and I'm just dragging my feet (almost literally!) and not doing it. Maybe this will be one of the kicks I'll need to climb onto the first bus that comes along instead of waiting for the next...and the next...

Its like these words just came out of my mouth... seriously describes my current situation. I just climbed back on the bus after a steady gain over the past 4 months. Not sure why I decided to keep on taking the next bus week after week but here I am, once again kicking myself in the pants.

BeccaLoves2lift

It's good you caught it early. Maintenance is a habit you need to form.

nowine4me

First off, quitting smoking is hard — you did it. That is probably the single best decision you ever made. If it’s just two pounds and there are no issues with breast feeding or whatever, just knock it out quick. Not sure of your stats, but I can drop 1# per week at 1500 without too much suffering. I eat almost entirely whole fruits and vegetables plus beans for these short mini-cuts.

Pastaprincess1978

I am so scared of this happening when I lose my last 6kg - how are you going now, OP?

srosenthal1225

Im back on the bus too..good news for me as soon as I got my structure back, logging food, portion sizes, water, diligent exercise...I feel pretty good...you will be fine.

ladyhusker39

I love this post so much! This is the real nature of maintenance, keeping an eye on your stats and making adjustments as soon as you recognize you're off track makes it so much easier over the long run especially.

I also love how you don't make the classic excuse of "life got in the way..." I hate that phrase so much. Life is always going on. But you acknowledge that you've had a lot going on and clearly recognize that it's just the nature of being alive.

I would love to see this post in the "Success Stories" section. I think it would be inspiring to others who focus only on losing weight and don't give a moments thought to actually keeping the weight off.

Thank you for posting this.

psychod787

ladyhusker39 wrote: »

I love this post so much! This is the real nature of maintenance, keeping an eye on your stats and making adjustments as soon as you recognize you're off track makes it so much easier over the long run especially.

I also love how you don't make the classic excuse of "life got in the way..." I hate that phrase so much. Life is always going on. But you acknowledge that you've had a lot going on and clearly recognize that it's just the nature of being alive.

I would love to see this post in the "Success Stories" section. I think it would be inspiring to others who focus only on losing weight and don't give a moments thought to actually keeping the weight off.

Thank you for posting this.

I second this. When I started my insane weight loss, I had no idea about maintenance!

fiddletime

This time I seemed to stop losing at 129 when my goal was 125 (5’ 2”). Now, 8 months later, I’m still at 129 (+/- 2#). But I never changed any settings. I found if I was in weight loss mode most of the time, I could absorb the slips that come with family, friends, holidays, and socializing. The last time I hit my goal I’d started regaining because “I’d made it” after a few months and stopped even logging onto mfp. This time I’m just doing what I did before, with less logging on routine days.

jrwms714

Great post, OP. I am back on the bus, too. And although it's only a few pounds, whenever it hits this number, after 3 years of maintenance, I know what to do. Maintenance has been fairly easy for me ... not much different than losing, just more calories to play with. But maintenance should really be called "vigilance". As soon as we stop doing whatever helped to make us succeed (logging, weighing, trending apps, whatever work for the individual), we slide down that slippery slope. At least, that's true for me. And catching it at 2 lbs. over my range is better than catching it at 20 or 40. Maintenance is vigilance, and that's my contribution to this really great conversation.

swim777

fiddletime wrote: »

This time I seemed to stop losing at 129 when my goal was 125 (5’ 2”). Now, 8 months later, I’m still at 129 (+/- 2#). But I never changed any settings. I found if I was in weight loss mode most of the time, I could absorb the slips that come with family, friends, holidays, and socializing. The last time I hit my goal I’d started regaining because “I’d made it” after a few months and stopped even logging onto mfp. This time I’m just doing what I did before, with less logging on routine days

This actually sounds like the best plan for me too! Maintenance was just too tough

ridiculous59

I like that word: vigilance. I'm going to keep that in mind. I reached my goal weight but wasn't happy with my shape. I'd done a bit of strength training while losing, but wasn't consistant with it so decided that was an area that needed more focus. Over several months I gained 3 pounds but was okay with it because I could see more muscle definition. But now, on top of that, I have an extra 5 pounds of "winter fluff". Yesterday I decided that enough was enough and it needed to be dealt with. And then today I read this thread. Its good to know I'm not the only one struggling.

CarlydogsMom

forevermaryb wrote: »

CarlydogsMom wrote: »

I'm walking to the bus stop contemplating whether or not I want to get on. Meaning...I've slid, I've gained, I know what I need to do, and I'm just dragging my feet (almost literally!) and not doing it. Maybe this will be one of the kicks I'll need to climb onto the first bus that comes along instead of waiting for the next...and the next...

I feel your pain. I hit my goal weight in May 2014 after losing 70 pounds over a year and a half. I maintained within a few pounds for about a year, but then solidly put on 10 pounds (I know exactly how). At 5'9" tall, I couldn't really tell where the 10 pounds went to, so I decided I would keep my new weight for maintenance. I stayed there until the last month or so when along came another 8 pounds (not sure why this time) and I'm feeling the difference in my clothes. This morning, I bit the bullet and entered my new weight on MFP (for a while I thought if I didn't enter it, it wasn't real) and set a goal to lose. MFP gave me 1250 calories per day before exercise calories. I know what I need to do, but part of me feels rather resentful for having to give up some of my indulgences yet again.

@forevermaryb yup yup yup...I'm RIGHT BEHIND YOU....I have almost the exact same stats: lost 70, maintained, I've put back on about 15-20 (I haven't even weighed myself in 3 months, so guessing), and I'm 5'10". I give you great kudos for ENTERING YOUR NEW WEIGHT, and think that is something I'm going to do first thing tomorrow morning (breakfast is in me and I'm away from my house and scale until this evening). That is a YUUUUUGE step, it really gets you mentally, doesn't it? THANK YOU for posting!

and @KelGen02, you got this. Let's do it!

DX2JX2

I'm on day three of limited calories and am actually kind of enjoying it.

I forgot how good it feels to achieve my calorie targets and the rush that comes from seeing a lower number on the scale (in this case, I know the lower weight is just a combination of water and meal timing, but still...).

I've decided to eat to a 300 calorie daily deficit and to not eat back my running calories as standard practice during the loss phase. This should work out to an average weekly deficit of about 4000 calories. That's admittedly a little high but I'm accounting for the fact that I have two birthday dinners in the next two weeks and will likely allow myself a few liberties along the way. In practice, my weekly deficit will probably be closer to 2500-3000 or so. Still, I should be able to lose the weight in about 2 weeks.

When I get back into maintenance, I plan on just eating back my exercise calories. I'll run a 2000 weekly deficit as a matter of course to allow for the occasional weekly splurge. Best case, this will result in a very slow loss rate that can be easily adjusted over time. Worst case, I have some runway to allow for slips and can alter my daily calorie totals to account for my exercise levels.

Good luck to everyone!

juliemargaretkim

I'm "back on the bus" but instead of "boo" how about a "yay!" -- I spent decades (just re-reading some old lists/journal entries I've kept throughout the years -- they ALL start with "lose 30 lbs") trying -- and yet, for some unknown reason, in 2016, something clicked. I was approaching 60, and I suppose that was it, yet it doesn't feel like that was all it was -- I usually credit MFP for giving me the bus -- but I caught the ride -- and every damn time I need it, I know where to catch it, so YAY! I am 5'3", currently at 128, but had a low of 120. Weight when I started in 2016 was 152, but it HAS been as high as 198... so I KNOW I can maintain this -- yes, vigilance is the word! I was 130-132 over the holidays, and YAY -- because of MFP I know I can get back to 120. Also, I've got muscles and, thanks to power yoga, abs! This is real, and it's hard, and I don't want to lose those 30 (or more) lbs. again, so YAY for THIS BUS!!

jrwms714

juliemargaretkim wrote: »

I'm "back on the bus" but instead of "boo" how about a "yay!" -- I spent decades (just re-reading some old lists/journal entries I've kept throughout the years -- they ALL start with "lose 30 lbs") trying -- and yet, for some unknown reason, in 2016, something clicked. I was approaching 60, and I suppose that was it, yet it doesn't feel like that was all it was -- I usually credit MFP for giving me the bus -- but I caught the ride -- and every damn time I need it, I know where to catch it, so YAY! I am 5'3", currently at 128, but had a low of 120. Weight when I started in 2016 was 152, but it HAS been as high as 198... so I KNOW I can maintain this -- yes, vigilance is the word! I was 130-132 over the holidays, and YAY -- because of MFP I know I can get back to 120. Also, I've got muscles and, thanks to power yoga, abs! This is real, and it's hard, and I don't want to lose those 30 (or more) lbs. again, so YAY for THIS BUS!!

Totally agree with this. The bus is the tool we have learned and it's a great ride!

ridiculous59

DX2JX2 wrote: »

I'm on day three of limited calories and am actually kind of enjoying it.

I forgot how good it feels to achieve my calorie targets and the rush that comes from seeing a lower number on the scale (in this case, I know the lower weight is just a combination of water and meal timing, but still...).

I've decided to eat to a 300 calorie daily deficit and to not eat back my running calories as standard practice during the loss phase. This should work out to an average weekly deficit of about 4000 calories. That's admittedly a little high but I'm accounting for the fact that I have two birthday dinners in the next two weeks and will likely allow myself a few liberties along the way. In practice, my weekly deficit will probably be closer to 2500-3000 or so. Still, I should be able to lose the weight in about 2 weeks.

When I get back into maintenance, I plan on just eating back my exercise calories. I'll run a 2000 weekly deficit as a matter of course to allow for the occasional weekly splurge. Best case, this will result in a very slow loss rate that can be easily adjusted over time. Worst case, I have some runway to allow for slips and can alter my daily calorie totals to account for my exercise levels.

Good luck to everyone!

I think my problem in maintenance was that I lost my plan. So this week I made one, much like yours. And as part of that plan, I started C210K this week. I hate the treadmill so have done no running since November, just gym time, x-country skiing, and snowshoeing. It feels good to start something new and have a new challenge (I've only run 5k before). Maybe, for me, that's what was missing in maintenance??

I've worked too darn hard losing 90 pounds to let it creep back through lazy habits!!

DX2JX2

ridiculous59 wrote: »

I've worked too darn hard losing 90 pounds to let it creep back through lazy habits!!

Absolutely yes. I think this is why messing up maintenance is so mentally frustrating. The really hard part is technically over! All we have to do to maintain is to keep up some bare semblance of control! It's not even hard, it just requires attention.