Tips on Maintenance

Tracy430

I have been overweight/ borderline obese for most of my life. I am in my early 40's and over the past year and a half I have lost 40 lbs. thanks to a plant based diet. I am no longer overweight. My goal is to lose 10 more lbs. I have lost weight before and gained it back. I am good at losing weight and quite successful at it. I am not good at maintaining. It is intimidating and it scares me. Is maintaining simply gaining and relosing the same 5 lbs for the rest of your life? That I can do. I hope this makes sense. Like I said, I know how to lose and if I allowed myself gaining would be easy. Tips on maintenance? I should be at my goal weight in 3 months and I am scared.

brenn24179

Don't quit weighing. I had 40 lbs off for 5 years and last year slacked up on weighing and gained 25 lbs back but good news is I got it off this year but wish I had of logged and weighed.

hmkiesel

keep logging your food! That's what always does it for me. If I stick with my logging and not get lazy, I don't gain weight. Good luck!

rosiorama

I’ve been yoyoing for most of my life - gaining and losing the same 20 pounds more or less over and over.

Two years ago I got to my happy weight and maintained it for a year by exercising and watching my calories and weighing myself regularly. And then life got tough and I let it slip. I had it in my head that as I let my weight slide back up I’d be okay until I got to five pounds over my happy range. Well. I let it get to 8 before I actually worked on getting back down. I couldn’t bring myself to get back on track sooner.

My aim from now on is to keep up with weighing and (mostly) logging, and staying within that five pound range. It works, until life crashes around my ears - if that happens again, I hope I can get it back on track sooner.

TavistockToad

Tracy430 wrote: »

I have been overweight/ borderline obese for most of my life. I am in my early 40's and over the past year and a half I have lost 40 lbs. thanks to a plant based diet. I am no longer overweight. My goal is to lose 10 more lbs. I have lost weight before and gained it back. I am good at losing weight and quite successful at it. I am not good at maintaining. It is intimidating and it scares me. Is maintaining simply gaining and relosing the same 5 lbs for the rest of your life? That I can do. I hope this makes sense. Like I said, I know how to lose and if I allowed myself gaining would be easy. Tips on maintenance? I should be at my goal weight in 3 months and I am scared.

Yep, that's pretty much it!

If you've lost weight successfully with MFP then you should have a pretty good idea of your numbers and how much extra you can eat.

Enjoy the extra food!

sijomial

Some people maintain within a narrow range all year round, I prefer to maintain within a 7lb range over the course of a year (heavier in winter, lighter in summer typically)

As I have never accidentally lost weight my range is really a "best weight" at the bottom end for big cycle events, an acceptable or normal weight in the middle and an intervention weight at the top that triggers action to head off a rising trend.
That intervention doesn't have to be drastic, it can just be making lower calorie food choices, skipping breakfast, reducing snacks. I never go into full "diet mode".

I monitor my weight daily to keep a track on my trends but I no longer need to log food but I probably wouldn't advise that until you are settled in your maintenance range. I'm a mindful eater not an intuitive eater.
Overall it's not a big commitment in time or effort, a few seconds to weigh in the morning and thinking to myself if I'm eating to my needs or over-eating to my wants.

Dilvish

try to remember that you need to change habits, not diet. Calorie restriction by itself is usually the cause of regaining weight.
Plant based diets are a great way to drop weight but unless you plan on maintaining that type of diet for life, the pounds will return.
Maintaining a healthy weight requires the same discipline and you need to add exercise if you haven't already.

Most of us figure once we have reached a goal weight we can simply stop our healthy eating and exercise. It doesn't work that way, especially as you get older.

Lifestyle change is important, not just cutting back the calories. It's a slow process but eventually it becomes the new "habit".

Tracy430

I do plan to stick with plant based eating. I like to eat alot so it works for me. I guess I was just looking forward to the day when I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. I just hoped that my body would naturally maintain my desired weight. Does anyone else ever tire of thinking of food and weight and body image?

nowine4me

Tracy - imo, you stand a better chance of keeping weight off with a WFPB lifestyle and by doing the same things you did to lose. Once you hit goal, add in a little more fruit, nuts, seeds, etc. Stay far away from the vegan junk food and you’ll do great. No need to be scared, just stay on top of it.

It’s been nearly 3 years for me with mixed success and that “day” you mention hasn’t come. But I’ve made peace with that.

elisa123gal

It is personal for each person. You say you don't mind losing the same five pounds over and over again. So..set a five pound limit before you go back on reduction. boom.. you have your plan.

Me? I hit a wall.. done with gaining and losing over and over..even in small amounts. I don't want to ride the yo you the rest of my life. So, my approach is to never diet again. haha..no kidding.. just don't want to do it all the time..rather just not gain and not diet again.

Dgil1975

I think the fact that your eating whole food plant based may help, and most of the well known doctors that a poplar in the plant based community claim you do not need to count the calories. I’m newer to that lifestyle, so I feel comfort in counting calories as it helps me understand the density of calories in my new diet, as it is significantly different on food intake(bigger portions). I’m working towards my goal weight of 190, and since I went plant based the feelings of hunger associated with eating at a deficit are gone, the fact that I will have about 3000 calories a day to eat in maintenance will mean I have to up the more calorie dense foods such as nuts, seeds to ensure I hit that target.

I agree with others, in that logging and weighing are most likely things that we should all keep doing to avoid falling back to our previous weights.

hypocacculus

Yes, you will have to keep an eye on yourself for the rest of your life. This is the curse of modern living and our cushty life styles. But, as long as you've established a healthy diet and reasonably active lifestyle, you don't have to calorie count every day - just keep an eye on your weight and rein yourself in if it starts to creep up.

missmince

I became a vegetarian 30 years ago and haven't been overweight since. However, I was just learning to cook after moving out from home, so I was starting fresh. And there wasn't so much food on menus and packaged unhealthy stuff for vegetarians back then, so I had to pick out and learn recipes to make myself. I'm in the habit of making my own food, and looking at labels. That helps, and so does walking a lot. I do some strength training, but I don't think that affected weight tremendously. Vegetarian can be high calorie, but I have gastric problems and have to avoid lots of foods. I really don't know if staying "healthier" or underweight over the years without calorie counting can be attributed to vegetarianism. A lot of cheese, oils, bread and pasta, plus sweets, have left my vegetarian, not vegan, niece overweight. She hates vegetables, and doesn't eat them. I do, plus I don't keep lots of sweets in the house. I can make a lot of high calorie vegan foods but mostly those hurt my stomach. My favorite vegen cookbook of late is Appetite for Reduction, because it has nutritional information, is easy, and tastes good even if you're not on a diet. I like Susan Voisan's Fatfreevegan site for recipes, with lots of suggestions from readers in the comments section. Probably you should keep logging in for the sake of nutrition and keeping track of what you like, but maybe intuitive eating will be enough relatively soon. If calorie dense foods are what you choose, I wouldn't count on it.

The same advice that other people get for maintenance still apply. The National Weight Control Registry of long term weight loss shows that weighing at least weekly plus daily exercise are characteristics of most of their participants. It's a large group of people, so I think it's more compelling than a lot of the new, smaller studies out there.

Good luck and I hope you stay with it. Vegetarians can have so much variety, so enjoy trying new things.