What Do YOU consider maintenance?

icemom011

My range is 5 lbs, I prefer to stay at the low end of it, but during holidays and my kids visits home it tends to go towards top end. I track my weight daily, and pay attention to weight trend. Staying within the range, reasonable exercise, fitness goals, keeping my food intake in check, keeping snacking in check, those are parts that produce relatively happy and worry free maintenance for me.

ttippie2000

I enjoy knocking out some kind of new P.R. every week or so. The idea of working towards being faster, stronger, quicker, more efficient works for me. The idea of maintaining a static weight as a goal does not. Here are some sample P.R.'s to give you the idea:

Run distance
Swim distance
Bike distance
MTB distance
Run 1 mile time
Run 400 meters time
Run 10k time
Run 1/2 marathon time
V02 max
2 minute power output Bike
Swim 100 meter time
Sprint triathlon time
Olympic triathlon time
15 rep max squat
1 rep max squat
Heart rate at lactate threshold
Power to weight ratio (bike and run)
Time to climb a specific test hill on bike
2 minute pushup AMRAP
Max pullups (w/o stopping)
1 rep max deadlift
1 rep max bench press
Max RPM in a bicycle sprint
Win a bicycle race

ChelleDee07

Looks like I am with the majority in the 5 lb range. I have been in maintenance since Sept of last year after losing more than 100 lbs in 8 months and just started working toward another loss.

It seems that 2 lbs might be too small to gauge properly... especially for females with the way our weight fluctuates. However, we are all different you will need to find what works best for you.

paperpudding

1.5,kg either side of my target weight. So a total range of about 6 lb.

ladybug4233

I reached my goal weight at the beginning of the summer. I was hoping to maintain within 5 pounds of that. My goal being at the top of that. However, having my daughter home and taking vacations and not working out like I would like I have been steady at 3-4 pounds over my goal weight which I am okay with for the summer. All of my new clothes still fit great and I like the way I look. I know that in a week my "normal" schedule will be back and I will be closer to the bottom number.

sgt1372

My maintenance rsnge on the up side is only 2#.

I've allowed my weight on the down side drop as much as 8# from 160 (my GW) down to 152 because I didn't mind the addtional loss. My redline on the down side is 150 but I haven't gotten there yet.

I'm currently at 153, up 1# from my low if 152 snd I know why. Already adjusting things to prevent any further increase to stay w/in the 2# up side range.

WinoGelato

My maintenance number is 118 +/- 2 lbs so a four pound range, roughly... but I’m hanging just above 120 this summer with vacations and a more relaxed attitude. I’m ok with it.

If you’re within 5 lbs of goal, is your rate of loss set at 0.5 lb/week so that you are at a 250 cal deficit? That way you can start to slowly taper into eating at maintenance, and some people continue to lose even when upping their cals.

ceiswyn

I’m going to need a range of 5lb on the up side just to allow for TOM water retention. I suspect that ultimately I’m going to be working within a range of +7/-2 to allow for a ‘real’ range of +-2.

(And I am currently working on a spreadsheet that will correct my scale weight for position in the menstrual cycle, assuming that the lowest weight I have for four days in the follicular phase is as inaccurate as the highest weight I have at the start of my period.)

ACanadian22

I set my goal weight for the top end of the bmi scale. I am getting very close. How did you decide where you sit on the maintance scale?

CarvedTones

ACanadian22 wrote: »

I set my goal weight for the top end of the bmi scale. I am getting very close. How did you decide where you sit on the maintance scale?

Like you, top of the normal/healthy BMI was a good bench mark for me. I set my range so the top is 4 pounds below a BMI of 24.9. I don't ever want to go back over; not even for a day on a spike. A range that is above and below goal never worked for me. I always starting pushing it about how far above is acceptable. So I had to make it zero.

AnnPT77

ACanadian22 wrote: »

I set my goal weight for the top end of the bmi scale. I am getting very close. How did you decide where you sit on the maintance scale?

After my initial provisional goal arrived, and wasn't "it", I thought about how I'd know I was at my real-but-numerically-undefined goal, and had some criteria in mind. Because my deficit was intentionally tiny at that point, so loss very slow, I had time to reflect.

Then literally, I woke up one morning, and thought "this is it".

emawbey

+/- 2kg

collectingblues

Within 3 percent gain of baseline.

Squish815

I aim for around 48-52kg. I tend to stay around 50. The range gives me some room to account for normal fluctuations but if I get close to 52 I know I'm eating too much. If I get close to 48, I know I need to eat more.

atkhorses

fit_chickx wrote: »

aimeetu wrote: »

How far from your goal weigh do you get before you consider it not maintenance? As a reformed WW member I have a 2 lb fluctuation in my head but I feel like that is too little - I can gain 2lbs from PMS!! Also I am 5 lbs from "goal weight" but I am worried when I get to the magic number I won't have anything to strive for anymore. Help!

Changing your focus from weight loss to maintaining takes time to settle into. Its finding balance so you don't obsess about the scale. Maintaining can be chasing the same five to ten pounds up and down the scale.

After weight loss, I realized I needed fitness goals to keep me motivated. Hope you find what keeps you balanced and striving for your best self.

Fit_chickx, after weight loss, did you gain a pound or two when you started fitness? I'm struggling with that now--trying to maintain while weight training and walking 3 miles/day. Thanks

paperpudding

ACanadian22 wrote: »

I set my goal weight for the top end of the bmi scale. I am getting very close. How did you decide where you sit on the maintance scale?

I set myself a target if losing 10 kg which puts me at a maitenance goal weight of 62 kg, a BMI of 23.

Well within healthy range and I considered myself healthy there, at 50 plus years old - I wasn't trying to be thin, just to be healthy.

teranga79

My maintenance range is 132 to 138 (max.), but I prefer to stay no more than 136. I weigh daily and can easily range 3 or 4 lbs just from water weight, food in transit, etc. so I feel more comfortable with a bigger range - if I only had 2lbs I'd be in a panic most days!

nowine4me

If my jeans fit I’m maintaining. If not, I cut back a bit. Seriously, if I go one pound over the top of my range it’s the difference between slipping on my fave jeans, or having to lay on the bed to zip them (complete with muffin top).

ahoy_m8

Long time maintainer, here. Maintaining takes effort for me. Sometimes more effort than it seems like it should, but it is worth the effort to me. When I slack, my weight creeps up. Never down. There are times when I totally slack and that's ok--it's life! But like nowine4me, I'm pretty motivated to do something about it if my pants get tight.

Maintenance for me is perpetually re-gaining and re-losing the last 5 pounds, and I'm happy with that!

SabAteNine

My goal was 125.5 lbs (57 kg).
I have gotten as low as 121, slowly, over two months of figuring out my maintenance limit while increasing activity. Now I am around 123.5 and that's a good spot. I suppose anything over 126 would make me a little antsy, unless I know it's from planned slow bulking, which is on the agenda. It's hard to reconcile that with the idea of „staying put” in a range.
I weigh in daily because I am curious. But I suppose numbers aside, the only true relevance is the one of measurements. If they stay the same, or go down, I will be a happy woman regardless of the scale - even BECAUSE the scale goes up. It means body recomp is working and more muscle is happening. Which is good.