245k vs 5.3k

londoneye

Anyone else find it striking that the "general weight loss" board has over 245 thousand messages and here at maintenance there are just over 5 thousand?

I guess it's testament to the high regain rate among losers, but I really wish there was a more active community of folks here sharing maintenance tips and support!

sijomial

Or maybe they successfully lose with MFP get to maintenance and don't need it any more?
A lot of people don't need to count calories to maintain (I don't).
A lot of people don't have any interest in fitness (I do).

But yes there is a high failure/regain rate which is sad. There's also a huge number who give up without ever getting to the sunlit uplands of maintenance which is maybe even more sad as it reinforces the feeling that it's too hard and therefore pointless to try.

kommodevaran

Maintenenace is so mundane compared to dieting.
People who have figured things out (for themselves) don't tend to ask so many questions about it.
There is a separate Success board - how many posts does it have?

cmriverside

The "Maintaining" subforum is a forum after-thought too.

This site began in 2005. There was no Maintaining subforum until (I think) 2011, or maybe even 2014...so all the new posts and threads in this section are since then.

Plus, lots of people just use the forums when they need it...some of us have more time on our hands than others.

SummerSkier

I have noticed that before. Personally I am pretty durn good at losing weight. Unfortunately, I have done it a lot. This time I began with the idea to focus on maintaining which is a completely different ballgame, so I have been reading and involved in this side of the house a lot more. This helped me to NOT end my last loss in a binge but to gradually ease into more calories. First time for that. I think the stickies are really good but it seems like a lot of folks do not take the time when they hit maintenance to read them. So we get a lot of the same conversations over and over. I like that some of longer time maintainers are gentle and helpful on those threads with them also. Very kind welcome imo. I also think the monthly thread is a great idea for that first year to have a sort of support group here. One thing I know is that I do "need" it because based on my history, when I pretend I don't, eventually I end up back in the general weight loss category again. LOL. Knowing I am not the only one sticking it out here is very helpful as well.

signedSummermaintaining10monthsandcounting

cmriverside

cmriverside wrote: »

The "Maintaining" subforum is a forum after-thought too.

This site began in 2005. There was no Maintaining subforum until (I think) 2011, or maybe even 2014...so all the new posts and threads in this section are since then.

Plus, lots of people just use the forums when they need it...some of us have more time on our hands than others.

Quoting myself again...it's all about me.

I looked at the index and this subforum started in August of 2013.

fiddletime

There also seem to be a lot of posts in the general boards by many different people- once or twice. Here, we don’t get as much panicked questions about eating too much for dinner last night, etc. Every day in the motivation folder I see quite a few of those.

nowine4me

I love this forum and love seeing familiar names year after year. And the advice from this group is solid and rooted in experience.

Y’all are way better than the yahoo ACV-keto-IF’r who’s on day 3.

psychod787

nowine4me wrote: »

I love this forum and love seeing familiar names year after year. And the advice from this group is solid and rooted in experience.

Y’all are way better than the yahoo ACV-keto-IF’r who’s on day 3.

Well.... i hit one year maintenance tomorrow. This forum has definitely helped a lot. I like to hear people's stories and idea's. They give me some hope. The relapse rate is very high. To see this many people make it is awesome. Allows me to also see that many still struggle and I am not alone.

kami3006

psychod787 wrote: »

nowine4me wrote: »

I love this forum and love seeing familiar names year after year. And the advice from this group is solid and rooted in experience.

Y’all are way better than the yahoo ACV-keto-IF’r who’s on day 3.

Well.... i hit one year maintenance tomorrow. This forum has definitely helped a lot. I like to hear people's stories and idea's. They give me some hope. The relapse rate is very high. To see this many people make it is awesome. Allows me to also see that many still struggle and I am not alone.

Congrats on your year of maintenance! Here's to many many more!

mk2fit

Maintenance is a tricky place. It does seem to take some of us a while to get the hang of it. No kudos for staying the same weight. A lot of us call maintenance and continue to lose, some have trouble not gaining, BUT we all find that balance eventually. Well some of us do.
MFP is mostly for people losing hence the threads for that. I have been on maintenance for pushing 3 years, don't log anymore, but have made some good friends here and really don't want to leave.
Yep, I like the lack of panic over an extra snack, too.

kommodevaran

psychod787 wrote: »

nowine4me wrote: »

I love this forum and love seeing familiar names year after year. And the advice from this group is solid and rooted in experience.

Y’all are way better than the yahoo ACV-keto-IF’r who’s on day 3.

Well.... i hit one year maintenance tomorrow. This forum has definitely helped a lot. I like to hear people's stories and idea's. They give me some hope. The relapse rate is very high. To see this many people make it is awesome. Allows me to also see that many still struggle and I am not alone.

I believe that people who feel that they struggle, lose. So I refuse to call weight management a struggle. But it's indeed reassuring to see that others also meet challenges, and inspiring to read how they handle them. To me hoping is giving up control, and I am certain that I am in control of my own eating and moving.

londoneye

nowine4me wrote: »

I love this forum and love seeing familiar names year after year. And the advice from this group is solid and rooted in experience.

Y’all are way better than the yahoo ACV-keto-IF’r who’s on day 3.

Completely agree! It's a haven of sanity for me

Live_life_well

Most of us reach maintenance, stop tracking, and then panick and rejoin once we have gained back a bunch. Then back to losing weight.

kommodevaran

Dieting is exciting, you feel like you're doing something, are part of something, a greater cause. Maintenance is doing the same things, but staying the same weight, without getting admiring or envious looks and comments; you still have to eat and move "as if" you're losing weight! So unless you've changed your habits and mindset, and embraced the ordinary and the daily life, you can become addicted to dieting. And what if all your friends are fat, and you don't want to look different from your coworkers, you won't have the struggle in common anymore, noone to discuss diets and recipes with. So when you reach goal weight, you're not just fed up with your diet, you need to get another "fix".

LivingtheLeanDream

kommodevaran wrote: »

Dieting is exciting, you feel like you're doing something, are part of something, a greater cause. Maintenance is doing the same things, but staying the same weight, without getting admiring or envious looks and comments;".

So well put!

apullum

I think it's mostly just that if you're reached maintenance, you've probably figured out the answers to questions people post on the other boards. We need other things to talk about over here. Maybe a maintainers book club?

hesn92

Probably because there isn't much to talk about

lorrpb

By the time you get to Maintenance , you know what you're doing and don't have to ask the same question every day. Hence, fewer posts!