What is your tips for maintaining weight after weightloss?
EpilepsyWarrior
Posts: 56 Member
Im coming close to my goal weight. Its been a lot easier then expected. Almost to good to be true.
Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone has any tips maintaining weight. I dont think of my weight loss as a diet and love my new eatting and workout habits. So is it just about eatting a bit more calories and still excercising? Because that seems to simple since many people have a hard time with this.
Thanks in advance, Kay.
Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone has any tips maintaining weight. I dont think of my weight loss as a diet and love my new eatting and workout habits. So is it just about eatting a bit more calories and still excercising? Because that seems to simple since many people have a hard time with this.
Thanks in advance, Kay.
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Replies
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You're on the right track mindset-wise. The people who struggle with this often only view weight loss through the lens of something they have to do temporarily, then once they cross their finish line (if they even get there) they revert to what they used to do... which is how they got fat in the first place.9
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EpilepsyWarrior wrote: »Im coming close to my goal weight. Its been a lot easier then expected. Almost to good to be true.
Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone has any tips maintaining weight. I dont think of my weight loss as a diet and love my new eatting and workout habits. So is it just about eatting a bit more calories and still excercising? Because that seems to simple since many people have a hard time with this.
Thanks in advance, Kay.
Yeah...pretty much. People struggle with this because they go back to old eating habits...stop exercising (because that must only be for weight loss). The difference between losing weight and maintaining weight is whatever the difference in calories is between losing and maintaining. That's pretty much it. I eat the same and exercise the same in maintenance or losing weight...except a get a handful more calories in maintenance...basically a couple of extra snacks or something.5 -
Try to change the least amount possible re your activity and way of eating other than bringing your caloric balance to where it needs to be for maintenance.
There is a chance that once you start eating more and loosening up a bit that you will experience "everything tastes so good" cues and "how about if I take it a little bit easier today" when it comes to activity and exercise. Or: "maybe a bite or two more of this".
Not sure how large/long of a weight loss you've had. Based on your screen name there is a chance you've gone lower carb or keto. Remember that the large decreases and increases of water weight when you reduce or increase your body's carbohydrate stores are NOT fat level decreases or increases. And the "weight" you are trying to manage is fat reserves--water weight is largely irrelevant for most of us. So don't panic and give up if you experience water weight swings.
The thing is that the first 6 months of maintenance are where most people start regaining. The next largest batch regains within the 1 to 2 year mark. Once people make it to 5 years... that's when the odds change to just about even to retain a large (>10% of initial body weight) weight loss.
The tools you've developed during weight loss and the permanent changes you've made to your everyday living are what you will have to use to continue maintaining month in / month out till any hormonally induced reaction to your weight loss dissipates over time.
As long as you're willing to remain involved and manage your weight, you're ahead of the game!7 -
EpilepsyWarrior wrote: »So is it just about eatting a bit more calories and still excercising? Because that seems to simple since many people have a hard time with this.
In a nutshell yes!
I'd add enjoying your food and your exercise are major factors in making maintenance easier. Even more so than dieting to lose weight actively and thoughtfully making the process easy is often neglected.
You might find that how you maintain initially (in terms of tools you use) may well change over time as maintaining becomes the new normal. Your plan will need to change and adapt over the rest of your lifetime as your circumstances and goals change.
Sure you have seen posts from people that lost a lot, regained a lot and have to start all over again - I'd strongly suggest keeping on monitoring your weight long term (whatever frequency suits you) but set hard but reasonable limits that actually trigger action.
If you are a goal-oriented person setting some new non-weight related goals can help replace the feelgood factor of seeing your weight come down.4 -
Yes.....................continue to monitor your calories. It's when you DON'T that weight regain happens. And for many, it's so subtle. Adding a few extra fries or eating that extra serving may not seem that big but if continuous it's easy to over consume again..
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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I agree with you about being 'easy' to an extent, but maintaining has different challenges. I am real good at losing, and gaining. It kind of comes with a bit of an all or nothing attitude. Everyday I think about what I will eat, when I will exercise, etc. In maintenance, these things can disappear quickly because you need different goals and it is real easy to get comfortable and lose those rituals and hobbies.
My suggestion is to allow yourself a 'window' for weight and never stop weighing yourself. When you reach the upper end of that window....you need to recommit and ensure your plan is working or needs adjusting. When I have failed in the past it is because I stopped journaling and tracking my weight. That will not happen again!
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I've lost 145 lb since 2007 and regained 30 of that, 20 very slowly & gradually over the 8 years since hitting my goal and 10 during COVID.
I am still proud of the 115 lb that I have kept off. But I know exactly how I've regained and that is getting lazy and/or cocky, weighing myself less often (I was a daily weigh-in person for years) and drinking my calories.
Also, snacking. Everyone is different and some excel with mini-meals/snacks included, but I maintained well by doing 3 major meals and zero snacks. I can see how it's relaxed my "standards" and allowed me to gain. I am getting back on track for sure...but I feel like it's easy to relax your habits and revert to bad/old ones w/o realizing it.
I also agree with the idea of a "window" for weight riffraff mentioned above. I made the mistake of allowing my window to shift when I reached the upper end. Not a good idea, IMO. I should have been stricter with that window.10 -
I'm new to maintaining. currently am for a little while. what i'd say is this. eat the same way as done for wl. keep them portions controlled. it's not a free for all. after losing all the weight wanted. since i ate at 1,460 most days before. i got an additional 563 calories. which isn't much from the look of it. just a small bit more food with each meal and a extra snack in my day.
i find when eating more food. that isn't processed and less snacks. it is very easy to maintain. i also rarely eat fast food. as i am never ever kept full off of them. no matter what place i go. plus fast food just don't taste good. also don't forget to weigh in every month. weight creep up easily, if it isn't monitored from time to time.3 -
Also think of it as work. Most people here have to work for a living. You do it day in and day out. You get vacations, but sometimes struggle to go back to work after. What if you could just vacation all the time? Well then you'll be SOL when you need money to pay the bills because you didn't work.
Maintenance is the same. You STILL have to work. You can't vacation for long or that weight will return and then you're starting over again. And it MAY BE HARDER than previously.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition 13 -
Have a proper plan, which doesn’t involve the word normal. Most that pile it back on go back to type, have great results then wonder why it goes back on then the eat a more ‘normal’ diet, normal generally means normal to you I.e what you’ve always done (and what got most people me included needing to cut cals in the first place) I spend my maintenance time looking more at carbs - i also track calories but find it hard to over eat with lowish carbs4
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Certainly keep exercising and weighing yourself. If you keep track, your weight won't spiral out of control without you noticing it.
What works for me is eating about 400 cals under my daily needs during the week (as I did when losing). That leaves me all the room I need for parties/dinners/birthdays etc in the weekends. I weigh myself twice a week, Monday and Friday mornings.
Another thing is to immediately go back to your weightless routine if you gain a little more during a vacation/holiday.2 -
Congratulations on approaching your goal weight and good luck!
As for maintenance, experiment a bit and find what works for you. I lost 50kg in 2019 with MFP (hit goal on 4 Jan 2020, yay!) but still have to log everything I eat and weigh myself weekly just to reassure myself that I'm still on top of it. Over-eating was a habit for a long time, and losing weight was a lifestyle change, not a "diet" that could be thrown away afterwards without reverting to old bad habits. I know that I have a slightly addictive personality, and for me the best approach is to continue to log everything and track my weight (I get motivation from the little charts I plot of calorie intake and weight loss, but I'm rather nerdy like that!). Doing that has kept me at my goal weight for 14 months now and I'm not ready to stop yet. I have minor fluctuations of 0.5kg either side of my target weight, but if anything significant happened I like to think that I'd spot it and rectify the situation! Having said that, continuing to monitor everything is right for me but might not be for you – we're all different and approach these things differently as well as having different reasons for needing to be here in the first place.
One tip: make sure you update your MFP profile with your new weight and it'll update your recommended calorie count (something I realised quite late into my journey!).
And one more tip: Maintaining is harder than losing (IMHO) as you no longer have the little boosts from seeing the scales go down or other non-scales victories so try to find other ways of "achieving" something that's related to how you look or feel about yourself and rewarding yourself for it.
P.S. My history: I lost 25kg in the 5 years before I joined MFP but without any sort of structure it was very much a yo-yo of loss and gain, and I needed the discipline of logging everything to stop that happening. I'm aware that it can become an obsession but it doesn't hurt anyone and I find it reassuring so I'll keep going! I'm now half the woman I used to be (literally...heaviest was 150kg, started MFP at 125kg, now 75kg!) and I know this works for me. I eat to my calorie limit every day, taking account of the exercise I do (I don't want to lose any more).5 -
I'm a long way (33 lbs) off maintaining. But my rough plan in my head to to keep what I'm doing now but with a few more calories to play with.
I need to have a 'trip wire' though. I know my tendancy when I'm maintaining will be to ditch the scales and just go back to 'normal', and only realise the damage I've done when I've gained 20 or 30lbs. And by then, it will feel too daunting to do anything about it, and I'll gain another 20 or 30 before I realise I need to take action. And by then I'll have 60+ to re-lose.
My goal is 165. If I get there and can manage it, I'd like to get a little lower, maybe 160. But either way, wherever I decide to maintain, I plan to keep weighing myself. And if I go 5lbs above maintenance two weeks in a row, that's when I know I need to go back to loss mode. And hopefully it will be easier to lose 5lbs than 60+!
I also plan on eating most of the week like I'm in loss mode. Currently I average a daily calories of 1750 across the week, with less during the week and more at weekends. In maintenance, I plan to do the same but with an average of maybe 2000 or 2100. That should be a little lower than my average TDEE, but even in maintenance I plan to go a little under TDEE to account for errors in tracking or overestimating calories burned from exercise etc.4 -
I"d also advise to remember that as a woman especially, the scale can fluctuate WILDLY due to our hormones, water retention, stress, etc., so to also really focus on how your clothes feel. You can have one pair of pants that is your "test" pants (not leggings), and if they fit the same, you're doing ok.
For me, I am continuing to track everything and remembering that it's a balance over a few days or week, not just one day. That takes some of the stress off of me of having to stay within a certain calorie limit on one day. If I go over on one day, I can adjust the next.
The other tip is just to remain as active as possible. I know people say watching your food intake is the most important and I definitely agree, but the more we can be active throughout the day, the better for our overall health. For me, this just means not sitting for too long, parking further away, etc. while maintaining my current formal exercise routine.
The last piece of advice is to really believe that this is your new weight now, that you're NOT going to return to old habits or your old weight. If that the thought lingers in the back of your mind somewhere that you may slip up and start putting on the pounds, I believe it affects our actions--whether we're conscious of it or not.4 -
I still log-at least loosely, most of the time. I keep an eye on my weight range (within 4 pounds of my stated goal.) Maintenance has been helped (for over a year this time) by participating in one of the group challenges on MFP. It is renewing. It provides those "little boosts" as you are able to do more over time.0
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SouthWestLondon wrote: »I need to have a 'trip wire' though. I know my tendancy when I'm maintaining will be to ditch the scales and just go back to 'normal', and only realise the damage I've done when I've gained 20 or 30lbs. And by then, it will feel too daunting to do anything about it, and I'll gain another 20 or 30 before I realise I need to take action.
This seems very wise. I have come to realise that my "trip wire" has been ca. 88kg, which for me is right at the top of overweight bmi. I don't think I've every been above that weight, but I lost from there to goal and then regained it over a period of several years. I'm pretty much back at goal now (been in my maintenance range since December 2020) and am working now on having the trip wire at 78kg instead of 88kg. It worked this past month: I got to 77.5kg (very top of my current maintenance range) and have now lost back to maintenance. I'd really like to maintain in the lower half of my maintenance range, so am looking to lose another 1-2kg.
Ultimately, my aim is not to log but to be aware of what I'm eating, and also of my weight (I generally weigh in every day). What I have learned is that if my weight starts trending upwards then I know I need to go back to logging.
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Don't think it's a diet. It isn't.
Don't think there's a finish line - there isn't one.
You're going to gain probably an extra 250 calories a day at the end. That's a candy bar.
What you're doing to lose the weight MUST be the habits and life you continue to not regain.7 -
wunderkindking wrote: »Don't think it's a diet. It isn't.
Don't think there's a finish line - there isn't one.
You're going to gain probably an extra 250 calories a day at the end. That's a candy bar.
What you're doing to lose the weight MUST be the habits and life you continue to not regain.
The bold rather an exaggeration although it will be true for some.
I lost weight very differently to how I maintain and I've been maintaining in goal range for years. You will find many long term maintainers who evolve their maintenance plans and techniques over time such as stopping logging or different eating patterns. I'd actually argue people need to think, plan and personalise rather than be locked in by universal rules.
I'm far from unusual in that I went on a deliberate weight loss diet that had a limited duration to achieve its aim and reverted to how I ate before. My previous diet didn't need to change as it was healthy, enjoyable and allowed me to eat the right amount - I just needed to cut calories for a few months to adjust my weight downwards.5 -
The right frame of mind can also really help.
I used to think that a future of weighing and logging everything I eat and regular weigh-ins for the rest of my life as some kind of punishment for being such so fat for so long.
Now I view regular weigh-ins and weighing and logging my food long term as blessings-- actions that are well within my control that are "grounded, grateful, and good" to my body and for my body.7 -
I spent most of my adult life yo-yoing up and down 3, 4, 5 stone. I’ve now successfully maintained a 6 stone (plus) weight for over 6 years. Different things will work for different people, but what’s working for me is logging every day as that keeps me accountable, exercising regularly, regularly reminding myself of how I felt 6 stones and 6 years ago, and 100% avoiding foods which I believe were trigger foods for me. Possibly being flexible too helps. I’ve logged in different ways throughout my maintenance years. Initially I aimed to eat my daily allowance every day. Now I’m a bit more relaxed about that and go for a weekly allowance. This allows me to enjoy some higher calories foods like pizza at the weekend or if I’m out for a meal.1
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I’ve logged in different ways throughout my maintenance years. Initially I aimed to eat my daily allowance every day. Now I’m a bit more relaxed about that and go for a weekly allowance. This allows me to enjoy some higher calories foods like pizza at the weekend or if I’m out for a meal.
Same here. Although I log daily, and try to be roughly in line with my maintenance cals, I use the app to check my weekly average.3 -
THE best advice I ever got off MFP was “Treat maintenance like you still have five pounds to lose”.7
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