Anxious about staying in maintenance long term

Addictead

I'm not alone in this right? I have the knowledge for how to maintain because I've been doing a routine of a few weeks on a deficit a few weeks at maintenance for the last oh...10 pounds. As a practice round for maintaining, and that'll be exactly how I deal with creep up in weight too. It's just something about thinking about being around the same for a very long time that seems somehow nerve wracking, What if I have a really high day or three in a row? Have I failed if I do gain weight? Will I need to be obsessive about everything I eat or can I somewhat let it go? Those kind of thoughts really get to me and have been weighing heavily the last few days

mstheglitch

I'm rather new to maintenance as I just reached my one month mark. It is a daunting thought: I'm going to have to calorie watch for ever? The thing is, I've done this weight loss before and once I reached my goal weight .. I stopped paying so much attention. And then, six months later, I'm right back where I started from.

I have set myself up with the thought that I want to maintain at around 123 lbs. If I rise up to 125, I will be strict on my calories again. If I drop to 122 or lower, I up my calories a bit and maybe give myself a treat to bring my weight back up again. I work four ten hour days on my feet so during the week, I go above the recommended calories on here.

My recommendation is set up a 'too low' and a 'too high' mark that feels right to you. Be reasonable, give yourself a few treats here and there and generally enjoy your hard earned success.

sijomial

"What if I have a really high day or three in a row?"
Or even longer, such as when you go on holiday/vacation. You simply have to balance that out with lower days spread out over whatever timescale suits you.

"Have I failed if I do gain weight? "
To a degree. Failure is part of life, it's how you react to it that matters - don't be beaten by it or beat yourself up over it. Have a plan and follow it through. Learn from mistakes and failures.
(Repeated failure is a strikingly common aspect of self-made multi-millionaires!)

"Will I need to be obsessive about everything I eat or can I somewhat let it go? "
No. But maybe at first and then maintenance starts (hopefully!) to be the new normal as the weeks and months pass.
How you maintain at first when it's fresh and new probably won't be how you have to, or want to, maintain long term. I haven't logged my food for ages. You can experiment but maybe keep that for the future?

"Those kind of thoughts really get to me and have been weighing heavily the last few days."
The word "anxious" isn't a happy state and no way to live your life - suggest you work on reducing your stress level way down the scale from anxious to vigilant. Take it out of the realm of emotions and into the realm of logical thought - mathematics instead of feelings. CICO worked to gain and then lose weight, it will work to maintain weight too.

RovP6

Nutritional periodisation can be a good way of keeping your metabolism busy and avoiding that weight creep as your metabolism creates new set points for your TDEE. In that respect, cycling between a deficit and maintenance every few weeks is a good approach. However, your metabolism will adapt to a deficit after about 3 or 4 days before your brain says "hey, you're not giving me enough energy so I'm going to start slowing things down a bit". You then end up in a cycle of increasing the deficit to see weight loss. The concept of refeed days either weekly or fortnightly can stop that process and satisfy your brain that there is energy coming. Refeed days whilst in a deficit have a couple of obvious benefits. A one day refeed can help adherence by allowing you to indulge a bit. a 2 day refeed is good for rebalancing hormones. Don't think you've failed because you gain weight, just think of it as your metabolism adapting and do something that takes advantage of that adaption. Generally speaking, if you're energy balance is off and you take in too much, your metabolism will respond and start to make you move more eg more fidgeting etc. If you follow this guy on IG or FB he posts loads of great content on how the metabolism works and how to lose weight and keep it off. https://facebook.com/jadeteta/photos/a.416245125226033/1217514571765747/?type=3&theater

Hope that helps.

cheryldumais

I've been in maintenance about a year and a half and am doing fine. You will too. The big thing is to lose the weight slowly so that your "normal" changes. You can never go back to the way you used to eat so taking your time to lose helps your body and mind to adapt. I was nervous too when I first got close to goal and now it is just second nature. Take your time to lose and adapt your behavior from what it used to be. This morning on the way to work I passed a McDonalds and thought about how long it had been since I'd had breakfast there. We used to stop all the time yet I don't feel cheated at all. This doesn't mean I can never have it again but it becomes a rarity instead of my usual. I still log my calories daily and it makes me feel better because I know I'm on track. I weigh weekly whether I've had a good week or not. I did hit over my range once but I cut back and got the extra couple of pounds off quickly. Hang in there it does get easier.

MeadowRae

Alafairolaff wrote: »

I'm not alone in this right? I have the knowledge for how to maintain because I've been doing a routine of a few weeks on a deficit a few weeks at maintenance for the last oh...10 pounds. As a practice round for maintaining, and that'll be exactly how I deal with creep up in weight too. It's just something about thinking about being around the same for a very long time that seems somehow nerve wracking, What if I have a really high day or three in a row? Have I failed if I do gain weight? Will I need to be obsessive about everything I eat or can I somewhat let it go? Those kind of thoughts really get to me and have been weighing heavily the last few days

To some extent weight fluctuations are normal, even for those who have never been obese. I have been maintaining for a while and gained some "winter fluff" but I know what I am doing and know that I can lose these ten pounds again. It took a long time to lose weight, and it takes a while to gain weight. Even if you gain a little back you're not going to be obese again overnight or even over a month.

garystrickland357

I've been in maintenance for about six months and I have maintained within a couple of pounds. I've recently experienced a minor injury that is restricting my exercise - and I had a holiday weekend. I monitor my weight and I've seen the scale creep up to my "action weight". It's not a big deal. I changed my setting back to lose .5 lb a week. I'll watch my eating until I'm back down where I want to be. I'm not panicked - I just know I need to deal with it.
The scale doesn't frighten me anymore. It gives me data that I use to make decisions. I know the behaviors that lead to weight loss - I lost 80 pounds. I just have to tighten logging and pay attention.

whmscll

When I lost 27 pounds a few years ago using MFP my whole way of thinking about food changed. Food fuels my body and what I eat has a direct impact on my health. I look at food, especially sweets and junk food, and know I am free to eat if I want to, but do I REALLY want to? Is it worth it? Sometimes it absolutely is, and yum. Other times I’ll choose something else. It’s like what I’ve learned to do clothes shopping. I tell myself I can buy absolutely whatever I want, regardless of the cost, but I have to really LOVE it. Do I love it enough to spend whatever is on the price tag? When I give myself this freedom, I find I make better choices. (I did gain about a third of that 27 pounds back so I am here to lose it and do a bit of recomping).

fiddletime

The biggest thing for me is that over the years in maintenance I’ve had big slips. Like, 2 months of no logging for various reasons. And, I always gain about 3-4 pounds a month. Rather than gaining 30 pounds, I finally kick myself and get back to logging and lose the weight. I think of it as a mini-yo-yo. You’ll have to see how you do, but if you slip, and even go past your upper limit weight, don’t panic. You know how to lose and better to lose a little than a lot!

lorrpb

Yes you have to pay attention to your food. No you can’t just let it go and think everything will turn out ok. The trick is finding the right balance for you between “obsessing“ and “not caring,”

DonM46

I've been on maintenance since November of 2011.
Just got home from a week's vacation, during which time I gained 4 pounds.
No big deal; I lost about 40 in eleven months, so what's 4 piddling pounds -- nothing!
So, I trim back 100 calories a day for a while, and I'll be good.
You can do the same.
Have a little faith in yourself.
Simple.

brenn24179

you have to be cautious, last year I kept eating a little more, going over 600-800 calories most days and not weighing and 10 pounds was on me. I got it off but learned a lesson, catch it sooner and weigh daily.

WinoGelato

Read through the threads in the maintaining weight forum and you’ll see a common theme in that the people who are successful long term continue to monitor their CICO and their weight. Not everyone continues to log as religiously using a food scale as they did when losing, but you often see posts from people saying they started putting weight back on and it’s because they weren’t being as diligent about logging.

Understanding that maintenance is a range, both in calories and in weight - is also important. Many have a 3-5 lb maintenance range that they fluctuate within. I too have found that I can eat within a 200 cal range of my estimated TDEE and not see a steady change, but much more than that for prolonged periods can have an effect.

I also highly recommend a FitBit or something that measures not only activity but total calorie burn - mine gives me great data about my energy expenditure and when I do see the scale sneaking up I compare what I’ve been logging in MFP with my FitBit burn and I can usually pinpoint the issue. I also like having that daily idea of my TDEE knowing that’s really the top end of what I can consume without repercussions.

Lastly, a lot of people find that they get bored or burned out in maintenance without the excitement of seeing the scale drop, so it’s advisable to continue to set goals - fitness or otherwise to keep yourself motivated.

Good luck and enjoy the extra cals!