Why is so little attention given to maintenance?
dashagrr
Posts: 43 Member
Over the years, I have found it easy to lose weight when I set out to do so, but I eventually regain it. I don't want to do this cycle anymore. I know if I could keep the motivation going, I can do this. I think I (and the other maintainers) could use more social support for long term success. This community is great, but even here, the "Goal: Maintaining Weight" is one of the least active boards. I am in several support groups on FB, I tried finding a support group for people that have reached their weight and maintaining, but no avail (maybe I am not using the right keywords? Is anyone aware of one?) There are tons of weight loss groups. Anyway, why there is so little social attention given to the maintenance stage, given how hard it is? Isn't the long term success rate only 5 to 20 %?
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I don't find it as hard as losing. I can eat a lot more.
I still log food and I still step on the body weight scale. For me those two things are non-negotiable. I've been at my maintenance weight for over ten years after losing 70+ pounds. When I stop logging food, I start putting on the weight, so it's just something I'm going to have to continue to do.
I've been on this site for all that time too, except for a few months here and there when I didn't log and/or got burned out on the forums. If I stay plugged in here I tend to keep it a priority. Seeing all these people trying and succeeding is a big factor.
Can you post in other peoples' threads and give help to those who struggle? It's a good way to stay plugged into the process.
I got rid of all my larger sized clothing, too. That is an important thing.32 -
I think there are plenty of active maintainers here. They may not specifically comment in this board, but they comment quite a bit around the different forums.
As for why there aren't a ton of resources out there to help with maintenance? Well mainly because it's not profitable. The weight loss and diet industry doesn't actually win if you succeed and keep your weight off. Rather they make money by having repeat customers. It is more profitable for people to keep losing the same weight over and over again than losing it once and keeping it off.50 -
We are here Read the stickied posts at the top for a start. I agree maintenance is really the most important part of the process 16 -
cmriverside wrote: »I don't find it as hard as losing. I can eat a lot more.
I still log food and I still step on the body weight scale. For me those two things are non-negotiable. I've been at my maintenance weight for over ten years after losing 70+ pounds. When I stop logging food, I start putting on the weight, so it's just something I'm going to have to continue to do.
I've been on this site for all that time too, except for a few months here and there when I didn't log and/or got burned out on the forums. If I stay plugged in here I tend to keep it a priority. Seeing all these people trying and succeeding is a big factor.
Can you post in other peoples' threads and give help to those who struggle? It's a good way to stay plugged into the process.
I got rid of all my larger sized clothing, too. That is an important thing.
I have a question for you. When you say you log, do you weigh and measure everything? I’ve been maintaining for 5 months, and I still weigh everything to the gram. I’d really like to start estimating some things, but I’m not sure it’s a smart idea. I’m just so tired of dragging out that food scale!5 -
cmriverside wrote: »I don't find it as hard as losing. I can eat a lot more.
I still log food and I still step on the body weight scale. For me those two things are non-negotiable. I've been at my maintenance weight for over ten years after losing 70+ pounds. When I stop logging food, I start putting on the weight, so it's just something I'm going to have to continue to do.
I've been on this site for all that time too, except for a few months here and there when I didn't log and/or got burned out on the forums. If I stay plugged in here I tend to keep it a priority. Seeing all these people trying and succeeding is a big factor.
Can you post in other peoples' threads and give help to those who struggle? It's a good way to stay plugged into the process.
I got rid of all my larger sized clothing, too. That is an important thing.
I have a question for you. When you say you log, do you weigh and measure everything? I’ve been maintaining for 5 months, and I still weigh everything to the gram. I’d really like to start estimating some things, but I’m not sure it’s a smart idea. I’m just so tired of dragging out that food scale!
I do use my food scale...I just leave it on the counter.
I don't use it for every single item, like I don't weigh eggs or bread or individual sausages, bacon or things like lettuce, cucumber, celery or other low cal vegetables. For them I estimate. But I do use it for calorie dense things like portioning most raw meat, sauces, butter, peanut butter, cheese, avocado, corn, potatoes, fruit.
I have my favorite meals entered as saved Meals so I can just quickly adjust individual ingredients, like (for instance) I often make a homemade McMuffin and have roasted potato wedges for breakfast but I adjust the meats like bacon, sausage, ham, or the size of the potato or how much cheese I slice off the brick so I just adjust that part after it's added to the FOOD page. Takes just a few seconds. I also use the Recipe function if it's something I make a lot and don't change too much.
I just write stuff down on a piece of paper while I'm preparing it and work it into the FOOD page later.11 -
I did the maintenance thing for 3-4 months with success. I built an Excel spreadsheet with all of my precise logged calories for the 5+ months I had been cutting, my estimated calories burned during exercise, and daily weight. Once I had a several months of data I was able to calculate my TDEE. Once I knew my TDEE I found it easy to maintain. I had been weighing food for so long during my cutting phase it was initially tough to finally "cut the cord" and step away from the scale, but I managed. I still log it in MFP so I have a record, but I guess the weights. I just try to make my plate look 40% protein, 40% fibrous carbs, and 20% starchy carbs and I stop eating once I'm satiated. If you are eating clean and exercising consistently you aren't going to start rapidly packing on fat. People fail at maintenance because they fall back into their old habits and start eat junk/processed food and sitting on the couch for 8+ hours a day.
I'm now attempting a lean bulk (eating 3500+ calories/day) so I'm back to counting calories, but once i reach my goal to gain 10 pounds I'll go back to my TLAR method. (That looks about right).7 -
Because losing weight is "sexy". Maintenance is a job!21
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I’ve been maintaining for about 3 yrs but it’s simply more interesting to hang out in the other forums. Keeps my head in the game.12
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@dashagrr
I have wondered the same!
My hunch is that maintenance requires different solutions for each of us. One might use exercise, another eating less during the week & more on the weekend, etc.
I’d be happy to start a group with you to supports folks as they strategize & do mini-experiments to see what works best for them.
Let me know if that interests you.
💕Maddie11 -
Many of us who stick around answering people's questions are in fact in maintenance and will sometimes mention what we're doing in those responses. And I think the Most Helpful Posts thread pinned to the top of the maintenance forum is super helpful.
Personally, maintenance looks pretty much like when I was losing weight, and imho more people would succeed in maintenance if they made a concerted effort to lose the weight the same way they intend to maintain. I'm coming up soon on a 2000 day logging streak, I tend to eyeball or measure rather than weigh portions a little more than I used to but no one who knows me well could tell you when I stopped trying to lose and switched to maintenance.20 -
Yeah maintenance can be quite hard. I tend to get a bit too lax with my eyeballing and end up slowly gaining weight. So I make sure I still weigh in (not every day, but like, once a week) and use the clothes-o-meter to see if things are getting a bit tight.
But as soon as I notice that I am a little bit fluffier than I want to be, I just spend a couple of weeks logging and drop again back to the "OK" range.
I find it very easy to overeat, so maintenance is a struggle. I'd love to get to a point where I don't need to log anymore, but yeah... the foods. they call me.20 -
Weight loss may seem more exciting, like a countdown to being finished. Maybe there's a way to make maintenance goals more exciting by making shorter goals- like maintaining 1 year- and then celebrating the milestone. I hope I'm on here maintaining someday
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Maintenance can be dull because it’s just life carrying on. I was a yo yo dieter in my twenties. Life took over and then I had a child and gained a lot which I then could not lose. My health was not the priority until my daughter went to school. Then after a 40 pound loss I had a light bulb moment. I realised I could not maintain a healthy weight and eat like an idiot. If I eat like an idiot, I regain. And I always want to eat more than I can. For me maintenance is about saying no to second portions and yummy high cal foods most of the time. Not all of the time though cos sometimes you gotta have a bit of fun. That’s why it’s a bit dull. And also why I don’t post much here. But I read others posts a lot and they have helped, so thanks to those of you who do post.16
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I have to say I check in with the maintaining weight board just as regularly as the other ones. I'm also in long term maintenance and actively participate in all the forums, as others have said its the maintainers that can shed light on a lot of questions in the other boards. There are the maintenance groups on here which people are active in - I've found that also a great help to me personally. Maybe you just haven't found the 'group' for you yet 5
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It is a bizarre scenario isn't it, especially when you consider that maintenance calories should be where you spend the majority of your time. General recommendation is to spend 1-1.5 times as long in a maintenance period as you spend in a deficit. I think many people regain weight when moving from a deficit to maintenenace because they think "wahay, diet over" and go wild, adding too many calories too quickly post deficit. Unless your metabolism is super adaptive most people can get away with adding may 10-15% onto their deficit calories when transitioning to maintenance. Instead, people whack an immediate 500 calories per day on and their metabolism can't cope. Remember that when you're in a deficit your body is effectvely in a state where it is looking to store any available calories for future use, just in case you decide to restrict again. Adding, at most, a couple of hundred calories will allow your metabolism to start adapting to a new set point without storing excessive fat for later use.
The other aspect is the fact that maintenance feels like it's not a goal and people like to have something to aim for. Aiming to stay where you are is not a suitably motivating goal for many so for them it feels wrong.
I've been pretty much maintaining for the last 3 years and am happy to be here.10 -
Bump0
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I would say because about 10 % of the world's population carries their ideal weight - and therefore is on "maintenance". The rest is just about starving to death or........ (which includes me!) 3
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I've been maintaining for about 2.5 years. I've had some small gains and drops over that time. Feel free to add me for support.
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I lost baby weight from my first using MFP, and then maintained for a couple of years, got pregnant again, and then I lost baby weight from my second baby (just turned 1) using MFP. I typically still log most days, but am not as strict during maintenance, and work in treats. I weigh myself regularly to keep an eye on things, and if I swing more than a few pounds up, which is normal fluctuation for me, then I buckle down for a couple of weeks and log more strictly. I also am a runner, so I found an exercise that I enjoy and do regularly. It's just a matter of finding what combination works for you, your lifestyle, and your body. There are things that I used to do like binge drink and eat while watching college football in my 20's that are no longer in my lifestyle, but I think moderation is important for me, because cookies. 5
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I'm going to question the premise, a little.
Another term (synonym) for "maintenance" is "living a healthy life". There are quite a few books, blogs, and other resources about living a healthy life.
In my personal life, the support group for that is other healthy-eating active people. I meet them at the gym, the rowing club, activity-oriented events, even farmers markets.
Some of those people were once obese, like me. Some have always been at a healthy weight. Either way, we're all striving for pretty much the same things, now. (IME, many of the always-healthy-weight people struggle with the same things as us formerly-fat, they just have more practice and confidence at it. But it seems common for formerly-fat people to think it's all just magically automatic for the always-thin. Maybe it is, for some, dunno.)
But I guess living a healthy life is also a low percentage of success activity, so maybe it's still an issue.
Regardless, it's IMO still important to keep reading and thinking about good-health strategies, and to associate with other healthy, active people (whether they were previously fat, or not).
Like others have said, I rarely post in the Maintaining Weight forum, unless to answer a question. I mostly post in the other areas, attempting to help newer folks.
I don't really know what I would post here, so I mostly don't.
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Maintenance is where the rubber really meets the road. It takes true grit. @dashagrr Maintenance stats are slim-pickins when it comes down to the 2 year mark. The 5 year mark is an even greater prognostication for long term weight stability.4
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Been more or less maintaining for 3 years. The podcast “Half Size Me” pays a lot of attention to us!
And I like the way @AnnPT77 is thinking!
Thanks!
Your post made me realize I should've done my full disclosure: I lost about 50 pounds at age 59-60, so I'm now 63 and heading into year 4 of maintenance of a healthy weight (5'5", mid-130s). I'd been obese for several decades (most of my adult life), and also quite active athlectically for about a dozen years while still obese at steady weight (mostly on-water & machine rowing, including competing). From rowing and other active stuff, I was lucky to have built-in group of more healthy-weight friends and active overweight/obese friends, part of my "support group", even way before losing any weight. 8 -
Over the years, I have found it easy to lose weight when I set out to do so, but I eventually regain it. I don't want to do this cycle anymore. I know if I could keep the motivation going, I can do this. I think I (and the other maintainers) could use more social support for long term success. This community is great, but even here, the "Goal: Maintaining Weight" is one of the least active boards. I am in several support groups on FB, I tried finding a support group for people that have reached their weight and maintaining, but no avail (maybe I am not using the right keywords? Is anyone aware of one?) There are tons of weight loss groups. Anyway, why there is so little social attention given to the maintenance stage, given how hard it is? Isn't the long term success rate only 5 to 20 %?
I've been maintaining more or less for about 6.5 years. There are a few things going on here...for one, there are a number of maintainers here, but far less than individuals trying to lose weight. I don't really follow any particular board...I'm pretty much on "recent posts" and post on those.
Beyond that, the vast majority of people who go into maintenance leave the app/site in pretty short order...because weight loss was their purpose, and that is over. Maintaining weight isn't nearly as "exciting" or "sexy" as losing weight. Most people fail at maintenance because they don't really view it as a "thing"...everything is about losing weight...people eat to lose weight...people exercise to lose weight...people fail to realize the only difference between maintenance and losing weight is a handful of calories.
To maintain weight, you have to maintain healthy habits. Exercise has to be about more than just losing weight; people need to realize that exercise is really about overall health and wellness...eating well has to be more about just losing weight, etc. The reality is the the vast majority of people who lose weight see that as the finish line rather than the starting line of the actual race...everything up to maintenance has really just been preparation for the real race.
You're not likely to find a lot of maintenance support because most people who lose weight don't maintain. For myself, it's not about motivation...I developed healthy habits during my weight loss process and realized early on that those things had to stick to maintain. A lot of this is about my health and maintaining my health and that is something that is important to me...it's important to me, so I do the things I need to do to maintain my health...it's far more important to me that some number on the scale and maintaining some certain number. I think focusing on maintenance of a number detracts from what is actually important.
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cwolfman13 wrote: »Over the years, I have found it easy to lose weight when I set out to do so, but I eventually regain it. I don't want to do this cycle anymore. I know if I could keep the motivation going, I can do this. I think I (and the other maintainers) could use more social support for long term success. This community is great, but even here, the "Goal: Maintaining Weight" is one of the least active boards. I am in several support groups on FB, I tried finding a support group for people that have reached their weight and maintaining, but no avail (maybe I am not using the right keywords? Is anyone aware of one?) There are tons of weight loss groups. Anyway, why there is so little social attention given to the maintenance stage, given how hard it is? Isn't the long term success rate only 5 to 20 %?
I've been maintaining more or less for about 6.5 years. There are a few things going on here...for one, there are a number of maintainers here, but far less than individuals trying to lose weight. I don't really follow any particular board...I'm pretty much on "recent posts" and post on those.
Beyond that, the vast majority of people who go into maintenance leave the app/site in pretty short order...because weight loss was their purpose, and that is over. Maintaining weight isn't nearly as "exciting" or "sexy" as losing weight. Most people fail at maintenance because they don't really view it as a "thing"...everything is about losing weight...people eat to lose weight...people exercise to lose weight...people fail to realize the only difference between maintenance and losing weight is a handful of calories.
To maintain weight, you have to maintain healthy habits. Exercise has to be about more than just losing weight; people need to realize that exercise is really about overall health and wellness...eating well has to be more about just losing weight, etc. The reality is the the vast majority of people who lose weight see that as the finish line rather than the starting line of the actual race...everything up to maintenance has really just been preparation for the real race.
You're not likely to find a lot of maintenance support because most people who lose weight don't maintain. For myself, it's not about motivation...I developed healthy habits during my weight loss process and realized early on that those things had to stick to maintain. A lot of this is about my health and maintaining my health and that is something that is important to me...it's important to me, so I do the things I need to do to maintain my health...it's far more important to me that some number on the scale and maintaining some certain number. I think focusing on maintenance of a number detracts from what is actually important.
^^^ This is really excellent: Applause!3 -
I'm on year... 8? of maintenance. I switched from weight loss goals to fitness goals a year after reaching my weight goals. Weight goals support those fitness goals. Over the last couple of years, I'm mostly just focused on living an active and healthy life. I still log my food and exercise and use a food scale at home as a good habit, plus I am a data driven person.
I usually spend the little time I am on here in the Debate forums to see the latest research or discuss interesting subjects, and skim the Food and Nutrition, Fitness and Exercise, or the Goal: Maintaining Weight forums and pop in where is a topic of of interest or where I think I could offer some specific advice.11 -
I think it's because there's not much to say about maintaining other than keep on doing what you were doing....for life. I tend to spend more time on say the gaining weight/building muscle or fitness/exercise forum because even though I'm "maintaining", I'm still trying to gain muscle and have an interest in fitness.9
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mom23mangos wrote: »I think it's because there's not much to say about maintaining other than keep on doing what you were doing....for life. I tend to spend more time on say the gaining weight/building muscle or fitness/exercise forum because even though I'm "maintaining", I'm still trying to gain muscle and have an interest in fitness.
That's a good point too - I'd bet a lot of maintenance discussion goes on in the Exercise & Fitness and the Bodybuilding sections.7 -
Oh my. Was my post really spam!? 🤷♂️🙄2
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cwolfman13 wrote: »The reality is the the vast majority of people who lose weight see that as the finish line rather than the starting line of the actual race...everything up to maintenance has really just been preparation for the real race.
I love this analogy! So true in so many ways.4
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