Why is so little attention given to maintenance?

AnnPT77

TarryTaffy wrote: »

No way to track it on MFP, but I wonder how many reach their goals, remain around for a few months longer while beginning maintenance, then leave once it's habit? So, there could be a very high maintenance %, but we'll never know on the forum.

Theoretically, sure.

But research - lots of it, and decent quality - suggests that the overwhelming long-term result (from any/all weight loss methods) is regain.

And there are consistently enough "back again" type posts in MFP's "Getting Started" forums to suggest that calorie counting with MFP isn't dramatically different. Even in the maintenance part of the forum, people talk about various challenges, including beating back regain.

Complacency is an enemy. Stopping MFP or stopping calorie counting isn't a sure sign of complacency . . . but it makes complacency just that small bit easier.

Signed,

Heading into year 5 of maintenance, still hanging around, logging

P.S. Not trying to say maintenance is all that hard, either. But your question sounds soooo sanguine about it.

steveko89

I agree with Ann, it's not that hard if properly attempted. Personally, I think there are too many people (MFP users and others) who enter weight loss as a temporary condition and go back to the status quo (which led them to be overweight in the first place) without any meaningful changes to their default habits and lifestyle, despite their best intentions.

AnnPT77

I’m going to risk speculating a little bit, going back closer to the OP question.

I think there are lots of paths to weight loss that can work. Some will work better for some people, others better for others . . . but “motivation” can power people through things that aren’t a perfect fit, sometimes, during weight loss: You know it's temporarily, there are those motivating scale drops, and so forth.

Maintenance? I suspect most of us can’t permanently “will power” our way through a routine that isn’t pleasant, practical, fitted to our individual life habits and preferences, and so forth.

This puts a premium on honest self-assessment and self-understanding. Maintenance, I’d speculate, becomes easier when we honestly consider our strengths and limitations, preferences and needs, and fit the strategy to them. Sometimes I call this “gaming my personality”.

I’ll put myself up as a case study, in year 4+ of maintenance.

In the last 3ish months, a period that includes my birthday and the holidays, I’ve weighed everything from 132.4 to 141.5, and points mostly between. I’ve exercised from zero to 654 calories in a day. I’ve walked from 1,079 to 10,249 steps per day (not exercise, just steps), with no central tendency to my average: I don’t generally try to get steps, I just walk when I want/need to, doing other stuff.

On Thanksgiving and Christmas, I ate all the foods and drank all the drinks, didn’t log them. On some other days in there, I had super-indulgences, such as a meal that included a grownup-girl-sized craft IPA, a full order of deep-fried mushrooms with boatloads of catsup (and a little ranch), black-bean tacos plus chips, guac, sour cream . . . not the only thing I ate that day, either. (That isn’t the only big indulgence, BTW, just one example.) Calories per day (gross) probably ranged from 1500-ish (rare) to 5000 or more (also rare).

I’m seriously all over the map with eating, activity, sleep, and more. Am I saying this is a good thing? No.

No sane person would suggest another person approach maintaining a healthy weight in this way. Even I wouldn’t suggest it.

What I’m saying is that at age 64, I know myself pretty well.

I’m hedonistic, and bad at self-denial or self-discipline. I wallow happily in self-indulgence. Overall health is (belatedly, perhaps) important to me. Habits are not my strong suit. I’m logical and analytical; I like science; I’m a data geek, with a pretty good understanding of basic statistics. I’m not very anxious or emotional. I have self confidence (to a fault), and don’t like following other people’s rules. I’m stimulated and energized by variety. I have kind of a short attention span, and poor attention to detail. I have lots of discretionary time (retired).

How some of this applies to how I do maintenance, so far:

* I want the yummy foods, and some indulgent meals, so I calorie bank, and eat them. (hedonism, indulgence, variety)

* I more often choose “the good stuff”, more select items, now that I eat lower quantities, and it keeps me at about the same $$ budget. There’s a small Camembert with truffles in the fridge, where fat Ann might’ve had a big chunk of grocery-store swiss, for example. (hedonism, indulgence)

* I weigh myself every morning when I’m at home, and log in Libra (with smoothing and projection days set much longer than default). (data geek, analytical) Sudden big numbers on the scale don’t distress me at all. (unemotional)

* I stay active in the forums (stimulating, engages attention span)

* I log most days (data geek, analytical), but lose interest on difficult (unusual) ones (lack self discipline). As long as that’s occasional, it works out, and I usually have a rough idea of my calorie “bank balance”. If I don’t, my Libra data will point it out soon enough, even before the trend line bends (more data geek).

* I mostly do exercise that I almost hate to call “exercise”, because it’s fun: I’d do most of it even if it weren’t good for me. (The rest is done mostly to get better at the thing I love, or to beat back unpleasant physical stress effects.) (hedonistic)

I could go on, but I’ll spare you. You get the idea.

Should anyone else do what I do?

In terms of those specific practices, almost certainly not. For some, they’d cause a near nervous breakdown (had someone say something close to that when I posted a Libra chart with wild daily weight swings, but a pretty reasonable trend).

In terms of “know yourself, and tailor your strategies to your idiosyncrasies”? Maybe.

I’d add that IMO the weight loss process is a perfect time to try out different strategies, and see which feel most natural, easy, and sustainable permanently.

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P.S. BTW: Over the 3-month period I talked about, my overall weight trend is slowly, slowly down, by about 2 pounds overall, just as I intend it – despite the holidays and erratic behavior - because I’d like to be just a little bit lighter.