When should I start a maintenance diet?

GloriaBJN

HoneyBadger302 wrote: »

Unless you're weighing yourself on a scientific to the gram scale, it is physically impossible for any body scale on the general market to pick up on the body fat differences of 90 calories. If we take 3500 calroies=1pound, 90 calories is less than 1/2 of 1 ounce. 0.025 pound.

Our bodies are made up of cells, many of these cells can take in water inside their cell walls and store it - or release it - including your fat cells. Water = weight. In fact, the vast majority of cells in our body can hold onto water. Then we add in where things are in the digestive process, and when we weigh ourselves, actual fat is about the last thing you can see on a scale, and that only over time.

I'm about 20 pounds over my ideal weight, and I have seen scale-weight fluctuations of up to 7 pounds, and it is normal to have a ~3 pounds up or down over a week, every week, even when I'm eating the same, working out the same, and every outside factor is as controlled as possible.

From what I'm reading in your responses OP, probably the best way to overcome yo-yo dieting is to gain a much better (scientific) understanding of how your body works, and probably stay off the scale for a good long time since it seems like there is a very unhealthy relationship with that number without understanding (or fully comprehending) what makes up that number.

Eat properly, move more, track your foods, and stay away from the scale. Let your clothes do the talking. Take progress pictures in the same outfit every two weeks (front, side, back).

it seems like you may have a pretty unhealthy relationship with the numbers on the scale, which may be triggering a number of unhealthy and unsustainable responses on your conscious mind. There are a lot of people where the scale really is the worst enemy they have to good, healthy weight loss!

Ha. Thanks for the encouragement. I love my scale. I'm early in the game.

GloriaBJN

nsk1951 wrote: »

@GloriaBJN ... are you feeling a little 'beat up' yet by all the helpful 'advice' your thread has gotten you? I hope you haven't turned black and blue from it all because I do believe it is all meant to be helpful. ... That said ... (personal reflection here) ..
... I can remember back a long time ago when I first started using this site to help me lose weight. ... I honestly thought I knew somethings about how the body worked and about nutrition but have to admit thinking about calories was new to me. In the past, when I wanted to lose weight it was food and quantity of food that I thought about. So, when I started reading all about calories, and macros and all the other stuff available on here, I started to get confused also. And, like you, I found myself trying to relate what I'd just eaten the day before to what I saw on the scale ... and, also like yourself, I found that there just wasn't any reliable or clear picture on it. ...

... Since that long ago time, I have learned much more about how our body actually uses the food we eat and how different foods affect my mood, hunger or satiety, bloating, weight loss over time, and my own relationship with food. I've also learned about how much I generally eat to feel satisfied, what foods I like the best that fit into my 'healthy eating' habits. Most importantly, I've learned that weight loss is not something that happens quickly or is static. ... Also that for me ... It works to take 'maintenance breaks' often because if I don't I tend to lose my motivation to stay away from specific trigger foods that I still struggle to eat very little of. Not so much because of their affect on my weight loss efforts but for they effect they have on things like my fasting glucose measurements, bloat, cravings, overeating on stuff.

Good luck to you ... The only advice I can offer you is to keep trying whatever you can think of that interests you as you find your OWN method of eating to support your goal of weight loss. It will be yours and it will work for you. Never give up.

Thanks nsk. I don't feel beat up at all. There's so much to learn and I asked for the help. Mostly what works for me is eating things I love - in moderation. If I crave something, I find somewhere to slot that in, and if it's a heavy calorie counter I'm careful to portion control and balance that with low calorie filler foods. A food scale is my friend (lol) and I consider not cheating on the true calories of a food to give my best success, but I'm early in the game and likely will tire of it eventually. I largely ignore the macros, but they offer a good guide and often stear me towards my next entry. My off limits food tends to be potato chips. They go down way too easy and don't satisfy unless I get lots.

springlering62

@GloriaBJN welcome to MFP and the boards. May you stick around long enough to absorb, learn and be successful, and, some day, laugh at the cabbage leaf as much as I now laugh and smh at some of the stuff I said and did myself when I first started.

You’re absolutely right. We come into the world of weight loss without a clue, beleiving things we think make common sense, only to have our bubbles burst on the roller coaster ride that follows.

Anyways, thank you for the best snort-laugh Ive enjoyed in ages. And I mean that in utmost sincerity. 😘

PS: your responders here have been among the best of the best. Just sayin’. They all speak from the been there done that pay it forward perspective.

Hugs and success to you!

avatiach

My advice to you would be, take the time to really read through these boards. (Not just this thread, but so many others especially the ones that get "stickied," or put to the top of the topic area, for having really good advice.) There's lots of good advice out there (and some bad), but the best thing I've read is that we each have to figure out what works for us individually--calories in, calories out, but there isn't one way to get there--some people want/need a lot of protein, others a lot of carbs... we need to learn habits to maintain.