Maintenance Success!

anonymouse37

I am closing in on a weight I thought I'd never see again (58 yrs old). I am realizing that maintenance is going to be as hard as losing, maybe harder. So I am interested in some maintenance success stories! How much did you lose? Where did your weight settle out? How long have you maintained? Tips?

LivingtheLeanDream

There's lots of people maintaining successfully so you'll get loads of answers well done on your weight loss and all the best for keeping it off for good.

I'm in my 6th year of reaching goal (lost 30lbs).

I have +/-5lbs goal range - if it veers too either side for more than a month I rein in my calories again until I get where I prefer to be.

In maintenance its not any different than when losing except we just get more calories, for me that was only about 250 cals more. While I no longer log my meals I am extremely calorie aware of every single thing I eat and mentally keep a tab. It works well for me but lots of people keep tracking their food. I wouldn't hesitate to go back to logging if I needed to. (I refuse to return to being the curvy friend/sister again.)

I weigh in frequently to keep a tab on my weight, it would be easy to just not weigh in but I prefer to catch any weight creep in the bud so I only ever have to lose a few pounds rather than major pounds.

Trending weight apps - help especially as weight can fluctuate so much from day to day normally.
Exercise - its good for the heart/bones/strength but it also means I can eat a bit more too.

J72FIT

My biggest maintenance tip is never let yourself drift higher then 5lbs above your goal weight. I am not referring to 5lbs of water retention and bloat that will go away after a few days. I am talking about being consistently 5lbs above goal weight. Once you see that, diet back down. A lot easier to nip it in the bud earlier than later.