I don't know how to do this

Pastaprincess1978

Howdy all - I'm just coming off some great weight loss success - 11kg down over 3 months through fastidious logging and exercise. I have a BMI of 21 and have hit 2 goals and within 3 lb of my third, which I may or may not get to, but I'm happy with the 58.5kg at 169 cm I have attained- I'm 40 and female.

Maintenance scares me for 2 reasons:

I am about to have a fairly big lifestyle change. I'm finishing up 2 years working in China with my family and we are all moving back to Australia in 2 weeks. Scary right? Exciting too. As if this isn't enough, I will be returning to my high-pace, high-stress job. Shorter hours than my current position (marginally) but the kind of job that every day is different, some days may be desk days others I"ll be on my feet. It probably isn't sedentary completely (like my current job) but the thing is I have been able to do a leisurely lunchtime swim every day here - no chance of that at home. So, there's that. I will be able to join the local gym though and aim for 4 sessions a week of classes (maybe 1 cardio, 1 yoga and 2 lifting style classes). that's 45 mins 4 times a week. Alternate days I'll aim for a 20 run or walk.

Secondly, I have lost weight before and re-gained not directly after I had my kids, but after I returned to work full time and got lazy. Didn't prioritise myself and eat well. Ok, so I have to do that now - and being in China has forced me to learn basic healthy cooking skills (ok well I already knew these, but it forced me to use them with basic ingredients rather than easy cook stuff).

I am kind of answering my own questions here - but has anyone else been there? Like with maintenance?

Thanks!

fiddletime

Pastaprincess1978 wrote: »

Howdy all - I'm just coming off some great weight loss success - 11kg down over 3 months through fastidious logging and exercise

You know what and how to do this. You know that less exercise means you get to eat a little fewer calories. Maintenance is what you do for the next 30-50 years after you spent a few months or years losing the weight. Spend a lot of time reading these boards.

For most of us, it’s the same fastidious logging and exercise, without the bonus of watching the scale drop. That can make it hard. I’ve spent the last 4 1/2 years on here working on mastering maintenance, as I can usually lose the weight, but keeping it off......

Pastaprincess1978

Thanks @fiddletime (btw do you play viola or violin? - my daughter plays viola) I think you hit the nail on the head 'without the bonus of watching the scale drop'. I know what to do - I need the motivation to keep doing it!

cheryldumais

I agree with @fiddletime. It doesn't change alot from what you've been doing. Maintenance is harder and easier than I expected. Harder in the sense that it isn't mindless where I can just eat and not worry about calories anymore and easier in the sense that I learned alot over the 2 years it took me to get to my goal. I ended up with less calories than expected for maintenance so that kind of sucks but I have been doing this so long that I am motivated to keep it up. Take your time and just add calories back slowly to see where you settle. I weigh weekly and adjust my eating according to where I am. If I see a slight increase I cut back if I'm the same nothing changes and if I lose .... Well I would celebrate, lol

I still log my food daily. I have to so I can keep track and ensure I'm not slipping back into old habits. I don't weigh everything I consume anymore unless I see the number on the scale going up but I do log and am very careful about what I eat. Every once in a while I have a little extra to reward myself then I watch carefully for the next few days. It's a dance that you have to figure out. Keep coming to the boards. There are lots of folks who have been here much longer than I have and they know what they're doing. You'll be fine don't worry.

kimny72

Pastaprincess1978 wrote: »

Thanks @fiddletime (btw do you play viola or violin? - my daughter plays viola) I think you hit the nail on the head 'without the bonus of watching the scale drop'. I know what to do - I need the motivation to keep doing it!

Here's a little secret of success - motivation is useless. No one stays "motivated" forever. Hopefully, while losing weight you created healthy habits and learned how to eat appropriately to hit your calorie goal. If you didn't, that kind of sucks, but then you're going to have to do it now.

If you need structure, keep logging. Keep your goal to be hitting that number in your log. Maybe eventually you'll be able to stop logging, maybe not, but at least for now it's a great anchor. Keep learning from your log - the days you do well, the days you eat like a 12 year old boy locked in a convenience store. Keep monitoring the scale, just now you are looking for a number inside your maintenance window, rather than a number lower than last week.

Good luck!

fiddletime

129 is my GW. I occasionally go down to 128 or 127-yay! More often I creep or bound up to 132-nooo! By 133 I’m in “this is it” mode and work my way back to 129. My original GW was 125 but I just “stopped losing” (ie, didn’t want to put anymore work in) so after 8 months decided I’d make it officially 129. To me “maintenance” is constantly relosing the weight I’ve regained. My goal has been to only fluctuate 3 pounds or so. I’m 5’2”, 63 yo, and maintenance is 1340 calories, not counting exercise calories.

Violin

COGypsy

Pastaprincess1978 wrote: »

I know what to do - I need the motivation to keep doing it!

For me, doing it IS the motivation! I have a fast-paced career, family obligations and just generally a jam-packed schedule. Staying on top of the details gives me a routine for taking care of the necessities of life and clears my mind so that I can perform at the level I need to in the other areas of my life. For example, I meal plan and prep on the weekends--I don't think about meals again for a week. I don't spend half an hour of the precious little unstructured time in my day staring into the fridge wondering what I should have for dinner or pack in my lunch tomorrow. Likewise, I (roughly) plan out the outfits I want to wear so that it's faster to pack my gym bag for the morning.

To be sure, pretty much none of that is anything I feel like doing with my Sunday afternoons, but the difference in my stress level compared to the weeks where I don't get my meals and stuff ready makes the time investment completely worth it.

AnnPT77

Pastaprincess1978 wrote: »

Howdy all - I'm just coming off some great weight loss success - 11kg down over 3 months through fastidious logging and exercise. I have a BMI of 21 and have hit 2 goals and within 3 lb of my third, which I may or may not get to, but I'm happy with the 58.5kg at 169 cm I have attained- I'm 40 and female.

Maintenance scares me for 2 reasons:

I am about to have a fairly big lifestyle change. I'm finishing up 2 years working in China with my family and we are all moving back to Australia in 2 weeks. Scary right? Exciting too.

<snip by reply-er>

In once sense, this could be a bit of an opportunity. Most of us finish the weight loss phase, and are in the same life we've always lived, just with less food and possibly more exercise (I know I'm oversimplifying, but please bear with me.). Backsliding to an old, comfy, dysfunctional place can be kind of easy.

You have a new template to step into. It will take an extra-large effort up from to groove in a healthy routine at the same time you're juggling all those other life changes, for sure. But you also don't have a pre-grooved-in pattern to resist. It's sort of a blank slate. If you can use what you've learned while losing to set up some new and positive habits, they can become just how you live from now on.

I'm not trying to tell you there are no extra challenges from so much change; that would be silly. But I'm trying to add the idea that there may also be extra opportunities.

Best wishes for a great oucome!