How Do You Keep Your Maintenance Mojo?

roma49

I've been AWOL from MFP for a while ~ this maintenance lifestyle is harder than I thought, I was beginning to slip into old emotional eating habits (PUDDINGS are not the answer) I even fell down the rabbit hole of believing that I deserve extra treats as I'd done all the hard work of loosing weight. Heck I will not go backwards so I'm back to logging and getting my act together to get back into the right mindset.
How do you keep your maintenance mojo?

baconslave

I think you've already answered that by what you've resumed doing.
Coming back here.
I never left. I have to track always. I don't have reliable satiety cues. I can keep eating long past my maintenance cals before finally feeling full. I did have the issue of getting sabotaged on the weekend with calorie bombs, so I adjusted how much I eat during the week (eating a bit less) to offset the nonsense perpetrated by the weekend unpredictability. Unfortunately, I lent my food scale to a family so they could do a science fair project and during that time, I couldn't eyeball worth *kitten* and regained some weight. So I'm struggling to get that bit off. Relosing weight SUCKS and takes forever. It's best to just stay on track than have to come back to doing the weight loss do-si-do again. Ugh.

erickirb

A couple of things that work for some people: set an athletic goal (run a race, pb time, or pb on lifts) or an aesthetic goal, use the mirror as inspiration.

rainbow198

Many things keep me going:

- I log on here everyday. I have an awesome fit tribe which really helps.

- Working towards and reaching new fitness goals and also trying new sports and activities.

- Shopping for new clothes and workout gear.

- Trying on my clothes from last year and seeing that it still fits!

- Having natural energy and doing things that I haven't been able to do in the past such as walking for 10 miles on the weekend and not getting sore or tired makes me feel so darn proud of myself.

I just don't want to go back to where I started from. I have work to stay in maintenance everyday and it's worth it.

Sharon_C

Maintenance to me is no different than losing. I still weigh and log my food. I still weigh myself daily. I just get more calories per day

jan110144

I hear you! Maintenance has been an interesting journey for me. I think part of the problem is that I started it thinking 'no big deal ... I got this'. I expected it to be easy, particularly since my eating and exercising during the loss phase was something I thought I could easily maintain forever. Lessons learned so far ...

1. I have to eat at maintenance. Eating too little, leaves me vulnerable to a binge. I was hard for me to eat above my 'losing' level at first, but it's getting better.
2. I still can't eat 'trigger' foods. Perhaps one day I will be able to integrate them in moderation. So far, no go.
3. Based on a suggestion from an MFP friend, I have simplified the CICO concept. I target my TDEE number daily (2000) and no longer try to adjust for exercise. So far this is working well and has made the daily tracking a bit less complex.

The other really challenging aspect for me is finding new, meaningful goals that keep me focused. I loved seeing the numbers on the scale go down and I loved having to buy new clothes when the old ones became too loose. Harder now since the number on the scale staying the same is just not that exciting and I can't afford any more new clothes for awhile!!

I am sure I have more lessons ahead of me.

Kudos for coming back and getting back on track. Stay here with us ... together we all have a better chance of success. And, thank you for sharing. It is always helpful to know others are finding this challenging too!

Tolstolobik

jan110144 wrote: »

I hear you!

1. I have to eat close to maintenance. Eating too little, leaves me vulnerable to a binge.
3. I target my TDEE number daily and no longer try to adjust for exercise. So far this is working well and has made the daily tracking a bit less complex.

This^.

snuff15ee

I meal prep breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for the entire week every Sunday afternoon (it takes me about 3-4 hours depending on what I prepare). I plan to eat at my TDEE on training days M-F, and I knock off about 200 calories on my non-training days. I used data from my initial 30 pound weight loss to calculate my actual TDEE. Planning out a week's worth of meals and plugging them into MFP ahead of time and I changed the way I think about food. I try to view it only as fuel for my workouts. This may sound ridiculous, but I'm a car guy so I think of it as putting low octane fuel in a performance engine; I'm not going to do it.

elisa123gal

I've spent the last year working at maintenance ...and I think it will take me another six months to really nail it. It would be nice to just stay the same weight ..poof! My goal is to keep reducing my regains to what I think is acceptable for me..and that would be two to three pounds. Having to lose 5 to 8 pounds does get old. I just keep working at examining my habits and the patterns of regaining ... and I'm getting better. I personally don't want to think of it as being on a diet forever.. I want to learn how to balance my life.

but..the good news is.. you are not putting all the weigh back on..neither am I... and that's what is important.

LivingtheLeanDream

It takes working at staying within my +/-5lbs goal range just the same as it did when I was wanting to lose.
I use a daily trending weight app (Libra for Android/ Happy Scale for iphone). For me its all about staying within that range which keeps me motivated.
I'm 6 years in maintenance which I am proud of. I aint going back to being the curvy sister/friend!

endermako

baconslave wrote: »

I think you've already answered that by what you've resumed doing.
Coming back here.
I never left. I have to track always. I don't have reliable satiety cues. I can keep eating long past my maintenance cals before finally feeling full. I did have the issue of getting sabotaged on the weekend with calorie bombs, so I adjusted how much I eat during the week (eating a bit less) to offset the nonsense perpetrated by the weekend unpredictability. Unfortunately, I lent my food scale to a family so they could do a science fair project and during that time, I couldn't eyeball worth *kitten* and regained some weight. So I'm struggling to get that bit off. Relosing weight SUCKS and takes forever. It's best to just stay on track than have to come back to doing the weight loss do-si-do again. Ugh.

samesies except for the part about someone borrowing my food scale. Ain't nobody taking that from me!

baconslave

firecat1987 wrote: »

baconslave wrote: »

I think you've already answered that by what you've resumed doing.
Coming back here.
I never left. I have to track always. I don't have reliable satiety cues. I can keep eating long past my maintenance cals before finally feeling full. I did have the issue of getting sabotaged on the weekend with calorie bombs, so I adjusted how much I eat during the week (eating a bit less) to offset the nonsense perpetrated by the weekend unpredictability. Unfortunately, I lent my food scale to a family so they could do a science fair project and during that time, I couldn't eyeball worth *kitten* and regained some weight. So I'm struggling to get that bit off. Relosing weight SUCKS and takes forever. It's best to just stay on track than have to come back to doing the weight loss do-si-do again. Ugh.

samesies except for the part about someone borrowing my food scale. Ain't nobody taking that from me!

Yeah. I'm NEVER lending it EVER again. I have a back up scale now.

lporter229

roma49 wrote: »

How do you keep your maintenance mojo?

Making it a habit. I can never go off the rails for too long because I don't even feel like myself anymore at that point. Regular exercise and mindful eating is a part of who I am.

Diatonic12

I talk to myself. I remind myself why I started in the first place, every single day. Pain is the precursor to change. When the pain starts to fade away it's easy to forget and start eating it all back. I can't do that. I crashed and burned the first time by eating it all back in the unconscious mode. Not one single time did my brain stop me while I was eating it all back. Not once did it send UP an alert or flag of any kind. The brain enjoys eating it all back. So I take the bull by the horns every day and show it who's really in charge. My innermost being really does care and doesn't want those painful joints, knees and feet back again. The memory of that pain keeps me going.

rimir74

I am eating my feelings a lot this month but the weight will not be allowed to budge no matter what cause I use MFP to diligently track.

So sure I snack a lot or whatever but tracking allows me to know that though I may feel hungry - I've got enough fuel and calories in me to function normally.

And so it goes everyday. And if not everyday - I only really keep an eye on weekly trends and that is usually manageable.

ChelleDee07

My approach to maintaining is different than most. I weighed 260 lbs in January of 2017. I loss over 100 lbs in 8 months and have been in maintenance since. I take my weekends off (from Friday at lunch through Sunday night) eating more freely, less healthy but without gorging myself. First thing Monday morning I am back to my healthier choices. In a sense, this always has me in 'loss mode' during the week... but it has been a sustainable method for me for almost 2 years now. Typically my weight is up on the scale on Monday mornings, but by Wednesday or Thursday I usually have it right back in my 'comfort zone'. Weight loss and Maintaining are both about moderation.... you just have to find what works for you to keep that balance.

lporter229

ChelleDee07 wrote: »

My approach to maintaining is different than most. I weighed 260 lbs in January of 2017. I loss over 100 lbs in 8 months and have been in maintenance since. I take my weekends off (from Friday at lunch through Sunday night) eating more freely, less healthy but without gorging myself. First thing Monday morning I am back to my healthier choices. In a sense, this always has me in 'loss mode' during the week... but it has been a sustainable method for me for almost 2 years now. Typically my weight is up on the scale on Monday mornings, but by Wednesday or Thursday I usually have it right back in my 'comfort zone'. Weight loss and Maintaining are both about moderation.... you just have to find what works for you to keep that balance.

This is not a bad idea. I think this kind of plan would work for a lot of people if they actually took the time to understand it and were able to execute it properly. Congrats on your weight loss and finding a method of maintenance that works for you!

iuew

i log in every day, keep up my exercise routine, and keep track of my weight and how my clothes are fitting. if i get to the top of my comfortable range, i work to get back down, but it's mostly just a change in food choices at this point. once you're more than a decade into it, you sort of know how to do it and what to expect. i'm concerned that my metabolism might change at some point, but if it does, i'll deal with it.