New at Maintaining...

homegrown_hometown_girl

I have dropped nearly 70lbs and need to start maintaining instead of losing. Any tips will help. TIA

riffraff2112

Keep logging. Many people fall into the trap that they have this thing mastered and once they stop logging they fall back into bad patterns of behavior. Maintenance can be easy, but some people are only good at losing or gaining...they lose their edge when they have 'arrived'.

briscogun

Congrats on the loss!

Yeah this is the part that always trips me up, transitioning from losing to maintenance. It's just such a weird psychological change for me. I can lose easy, and I get that reward when I step on the scale, and I see movement/momentum, but maintenance is just... staying still? Kind of?

First, your weight is going to fluctuate still. All over the place sometimes. Its ok, you have to just understand that going in.

Second, you are going to get to eat more! Yay! Some people add calories slowly, others calculate maintenance calories and pop right up there. No right or wrong way. This time around I kinda starting transitioning to maintenance as I got closer to goal weight. I still dropped a few pounds figuring out my maintenance levels. It's still kind of a work in progress, but some days I eat more and the scale will go up a hair. Some days I eat less and it will go back down a hair. Lately, on weekends I'll go out and have a splurge (or two!) and then eat a bit under maintenance for a few days. It evens out in the end.

Third, I would definitely recommend logging the same as if you were trying to lose. It's the only way to keep a handle on things. After a while can you skip a day or two or a meal or two? Sure. For some people that works fine. For others it doesn't. You just have to find a system that works for you. For me (right now) its being good on my calories in a good 5 days a week and then having a splurge once or twice a week. That's how I "balance" my calories. Even though my logging might be off when I'm eating out or having some drinks, I weigh every day and track it so I can make adjustments and stay in my range.

Welcome to maintenance! Enjoy the new chapter!

homegrown_hometown_girl

Thanks! I have slowly transitioning to a new way. I workout 5 days a week and break on the weekend. I still try to eat the same in the weekend. But im excited to learn new ways .

ChelleDee07

curvylicious_xoxoxo wrote: »

Thanks! I have slowly transitioning to a new way. I workout 5 days a week and break on the weekend. I still try to eat the same in the weekend. But im excited to learn new ways .

THIS. This is how I have sustained my loss for almost 3 years now. I loss 100 lbs from January 11th to September 15th of 2017. Once I reached goal (100 lb loss) I started taking my weekends off. I wouldn't gorge myself, but I ate more freely, no weighing or logging any meals & usually avoiding the scales to weigh myself. First thing Monday morning.. I weigh myself and get right back to my healthier choices. This method has basically kept me in a weight loss mode of sorts as when I weigh frist thing Monday morning my weight has usually shifted up some but it is right back in my 'comfort zone' by Wednesday/Thursday. From Sept 2017, I would take off most every weekend until COVID. Since we were home more, I found myself staying the course even over the weekends here and there. I have taken extended time off (the latest being 9 consecutive days - August 1st through 9th while we were camping at the lake). Yeah, my weight shifted up some, but no more than it does over a weekend. We relaxed a lot, but managed to get right much swimming, some walking and a little biking in which obviously helped. I think there will always be a fear of 'going back', but it has decreased a little over time. I made lifestyle changes and I know for a fact that is how I have managed to keep the weight off (and even loss more).

Congrats on your loss!! Best of luck with finding the balance now that you've reached your goal and give yourself time to test the waters and find what exactly that means for you as an individual.

GBO323

All the above....and...borrowed from my WW Days:

When getting to goal, have two weight goals. One is your absolute Target Weight number, the other is your Goal Maintenance Zone of +/-5 pounds. This accounts for those fluctuations that occur (Water, Sodium, Monthly Cycle, Food in the tubes, etc). It's freedom because life happens, yet we have the tools to work ourselves back to Zone.

This has saved me endlessly from focusing on ONE NUMBER and having a range I'm ok with. Again, Life Happens and our bodes aren't absolutes. Sometimes they do their own thing.

We work hard to get healthy, so why spend our maintenance season to freak out if we're .2 over Target Weight? No fun in that.

Congrats and onward!

homegrown_hometown_girl

ChelleDee07 wrote: »

curvylicious_xoxoxo wrote: »

Thanks! I have slowly transitioning to a new way. I workout 5 days a week and break on the weekend. I still try to eat the same in the weekend. But im excited to learn new ways .

THIS. This is how I have sustained my loss for almost 3 years now. I loss 100 lbs from January 11th to September 15th of 2017. Once I reached goal (100 lb loss) I started taking my weekends off. I wouldn't gorge myself, but I ate more freely, no weighing or logging any meals & usually avoiding the scales to weigh myself. First thing Monday morning.. I weigh myself and get right back to my healthier choices. This method has basically kept me in a weight loss mode of sorts as when I weigh frist thing Monday morning my weight has usually shifted up some but it is right back in my 'comfort zone' by Wednesday/Thursday. From Sept 2017, I would take off most every weekend until COVID. Since we were home more, I found myself staying the course even over the weekends here and there. I have taken extended time off (the latest being 9 consecutive days - August 1st through 9th while we were camping at the lake). Yeah, my weight shifted up some, but no more than it does over a weekend. We relaxed a lot, but managed to get right much swimming, some walking and a little biking in which obviously helped. I think there will always be a fear of 'going back', but it has decreased a little over time. I made lifestyle changes and I know for a fact that is how I have managed to keep the weight off (and even loss more).

Congrats on your loss!! Best of luck with finding the balance now that you've reached your goal and give yourself time to test the waters and find what exactly that means for you as an individual.

Thanks, for thw advice and support. Congrats on your weight loss as well

homegrown_hometown_girl

GBO323 wrote: »

All the above....and...borrowed from my WW Days:

When getting to goal, have two weight goals. One is your absolute Target Weight number, the other is your Goal Maintenance Zone of +/-5 pounds. This accounts for those fluctuations that occur (Water, Sodium, Monthly Cycle, Food in the tubes, etc). It's freedom because life happens, yet we have the tools to work ourselves back to Zone.

This has saved me endlessly from focusing on ONE NUMBER and having a range I'm ok with. Again, Life Happens and our bodes aren't absolutes. Sometimes they do their own thing.

We work hard to get healthy, so why spend our maintenance season to freak out if we're .2 over Target Weight? No fun in that.

Congrats and onward!

Thanks! I definitely understand the 'window' weight fluctuations. Thanks for the advice

hunnahs26

Awesome job! (:

homegrown_hometown_girl

hunnahs26 wrote: »

Awesome job! (:

Thank you ☺