My first real "mistake" in maintenance

Addictead

I've been maintaining 130-135-ish for almost 2 years now, Had my ups and downs but has been surprisingly easy in the end. Then late Oct hit, I stopped really paying attention to my eating as much. One icecream bar turned into icecream bars every night, The morning coffee with milk turned into coffee with creamer. Little things like that. I was already on my higher end of maintenance at that point but I just ignored it. Dec 1st decided to weigh for the first time in a while 138. Overweight BMI again. Ugh! Thankfully I caught onto it before it became 30+lbs again. I've been eating at a fairly high deficit for the last 5 days and I have lost about 3 pounds of presumably water weight(and a little fat) so I'm technically in my "okay" zone again but I think I'm going to try to plug the holes where I know I started messing up instead of trying to keep a sizeable deficit. I really don't want to feel like I'm on a "diet" again, I just want to maintain with a few little tweaks so hopefully over time I'll shave off a few pounds to my low range again.

Sorry for my "woe is me" rant

charmmeth

Good for you for catching it comparatively quickly! I let mine creep up to the top of "overweight" before I took action. Your way is much better!

Addictead

charmmeth wrote: »

Good for you for catching it comparatively quickly! I let mine creep up to the top of "overweight" before I took action. Your way is much better!

I've done that before, and vowed I'd never lose more than 10 pounds at one go again! I think maintaining on the high end of BMI also gets my butt into gear sooner as well since I toe the "normal to overweight" line sooner (But I have my reasons for being this weight, It's all good!)

ggeise14

Yes, great job of catching it now! Finding your way and what works and doesn't for you, is the key I think. So many slippery slopes to navigate.

LivingtheLeanDream

ah its easy to slip into old habits, but at least you know what was causing the weight creep and have taken action.

SnifterPug

The thing is that when you've tracked and monitored for so long you do know in the back of your mind if you are slipping, and what the long term result will be if you don't rein it back. The important thing is to do this in time, which you've done, so well done! It's very easy to bury one's head in the sand and then not dare to get on the scales and then eat treats to cheer oneself up and then...

AnnPT77

Good self-insight, excellent self-honesty. Well done!

SummerSkier

I don't think you made a mistake here at all. The mistake I see is when a person realizes they are outside their high end and says to themselves "oh dang, well I will pick up again after Xmas, or in Jan, or after this event or etc etc.." The right thing is taking immediate action which you did before it became insurmountable.

spiriteagle99

I've always hated weighing myself, and in the past I would avoid it as much as possible. I tended to get depressed if my weight was up and too happy to eat more if my weight was down a bit. I would especially avoid it when I KNEW that I had been eating too much. I didn't want the confirmation. So the pounds would pile on until I was back to where I had been before I lost the weight.

This time around I decided I am not avoiding the scale. I've maintained for several years by weighing myself a few times every week. No excuses. It helps that my husband weighs himself every day, so we compare notes.

mylittlerainbow

I don't hear whining. I hear frustration ("I thought I was done with having to lose weight!") and I see a person who should be proud. The vast majority of people cannot keep the weight off that they worked so hard to lose. You are weighing in and making yourself accountable before you get so far off that you just give up. I find that admirable. Having a range you can live with and taking immediate steps when you get outside that range are how you will stay where you want to be for the rest of your life.

briscogun

SummerSkier wrote: »

I don't think you made a mistake here at all. The mistake I see is when a person realizes they are outside their high end and says to themselves "oh dang, well I will pick up again after Xmas, or in Jan, or after this event or etc etc.." The right thing is taking immediate action which you did before it became insurmountable.

Sorry but when I read this all I could hear was Bob Ross...