Maintenance Survey

Serah87

Bump, soon I will be at my maintenance. :bigsmile:

MurallyAnn

Bump, this is a great survey!

kita_254

1. How long have you been maintaining?
About 2 months
2. Did you adjust your initial goal?
Yes, I'm trying to decrease my BF%
3. Did you begin the transition to maintenance before you actually hit your goal?
Yes, when I was 3pounds from goal I transitioned to maintenance.
4. Did you gradually increase your calories or bump up to maintenance level all at once?
I did a big bump all at once and a few more increases after.
5. How hard or easy has it been to meet your new daily calorie goals?
It's been pretty easy being that my calorie goal is 2200 cals
6. What foods did you add back into your diet to help increase your caloric intake?
I never took anything out. I ate like I was going to eat forever.
7. Have you continued to log all of your food? If so, do you complete your diary each day?
Yes, I still log daily and complete my diary daily
8. How often do you weigh yourself now and how often do you log your weight in MFP?
I weigh once a week and log once a week
9. Do you have a "cushion" or "cap" for weight fluctuation that, when met, spurs you to cut or increase calories?
No, I am mainly concerned with measurements. If I gained 5 pounds and my measurements changed I might reases my calories
10. How did your workout habits change at maintenance level?
Instead of aiming for working out 5 days a week I aim for 3-5 days per week
11. What are your future goals for maintenance/fitness/health/etc?
Decrease my BF% winkle still eating at least 2000 calories per day.
12. Any other tips, experiences, surprises or general comments regarding maintenance you'd like to share?
Don't start out doing anything you can't stick with for the rest of your life.

Danni3ll3

Bump for later

Sabine_Stroehm

I've been maintaining for 11 -12 years.

I I'm 5'6" and originally I aimed for 130 (which was where I'd been in college). Got down to 128, said hey I like this. Immediately went up to 132 and then stayed there.

I didn't count calories to lose. I focused on what I ate, but in a different way. I lost weight. And one day the weight loss just stopped. I was just mindful. I had learned to eat FOOD. I'd learned to fuel my body and the weight came off.

When peri-menopause hit, my weight bumped up to 138 and I said: hmm, time to tweak things. So I made some adjustments and lately I've been holding steady at 135.

When the weight first crept up those 5 LBS I tried counting, but it wasn't a good fit for me, at the time, so I made some conscious changes to how I ate (again), and it seems to be working.

I figure as peri-menopause progresses I'll need to tweak again a few more times.

margaretturk

Bump

margaretturk

1. I have maintained a 25 pound weight loss for one year.
2. My goal and still is my goal is to be at a weight where I feel healthy.
3. I did not transition into maintenance.
4. Because I changed my over all diet and have kept it the same in other words my weight loss diet and maintenance are the same.
5. and 6. Not applicable
7. Now instead of logging all my foods I figure out the calories in my head and add those. If I start to gain over my three pound limit then I start to log the foods individually. I do try to log everyday.
8. I weigh myself everyday and log it once a week on the same day of the week.
9. When I get three pounds over my goal weight I cut back what I eat and log all my foods.
10. Workouts did not change I try to walk 30-45 minutes a day unless I have done some other major exercise like shove-
ling snow or mowing the grass.
11. My goal is to do what it takes to maintain my weight.
12. When I find myself starting to gain I cut down on going out to eat and eating snacks especially at night. On maintenance I do occasionally allow my self bread, white rice, and sugar except when I start to gain then I try to eliminate them. I also read labels for calories and sugar content. Reading labels often times helps me make a better choice.

Thanks for the thread it helps me to make a new commitment to maintaining my weight.

SharonCMach

1. How long have you been maintaining? About 2 weeks

2. Did you adjust your initial goal? Yes, my initial goal was 125, once I got there I changed it to 120.

3. Did you begin the transition to maintenance before you actually hit your goal? No

4. Did you gradually increase your calories or bump up to maintenance level all at once? Gradually increased calories from 1200 to 1550. Maintenance is new to me so I will probably stay around 1550 for awhile and see how it goes.

5. How hard or easy has it been to meet your new daily calorie goals? Easy so far, Im enjoying the extra calories when I need them. Some days I find it hard to reach 1550 just b/c I was so use to eating 1200.

6. What foods did you add back into your diet to help increase your caloric intake? Just eating more of the food that Iv been eating.

7. Have you continued to log all of your food? If so, do you complete your diary each day? Yes, I log all my food everday & I plan on continuing to log it in the future as well. Keeps me accountable for what I put in my mouth. 99% of the time I complete my diary for the day but my main focus is logging my food & staying within my allotted calories for that day.

8. How often do you weigh yourself now and how often do you log your weight in MFP? I weigh myself every 2 to 3 days. I log any changes if over a pound.

9. Do you have a "cushion" or "cap" for weight fluctuation that, when met, spurs you to cut or increase calories? Since I just started maintenance I really haven't dealt with this issue yet. Im thinking anything more than 5 pounds below goal will call for a calorie increase or a 3 pound gain will spur a cut in calories.

10. How did your workout habits change at maintenance level? Nothing changed, I still workout just the same as when I was trying to lose.

11. What are your future goals for maintenance/fitness/health/etc? Just to continue what Im doing now & maintain a healthy lifestyle w/o depriving myself.

12. Any other tips, experiences, surprises or general comments regarding maintenance you'd like to share? Yes, maintenance scares the **** out of me!! To me, losing weight is the easy part, maintenance is hard. I say that b/c I have lost weight many times, but have never maintained it. Im one of those stupid people that start eating normal again & stop exercising after losing the weight. Since finding MFP this year, I now know that exercise is even more important while in maintenance. I will not make my past mistakes again.

waldo56

1. How long have you been maintaining?

About a year and a half, kind of. I hit my goal weight about a year and a half ago and have been bulking/cutting since then.

2. Did you adjust your initial goal?

Yes, many times as I was losing. Once I hit my goal weight I set a new weight/composition goal, which included quite a bit of muscle gain and a bit more fat loss.

3. Did you begin the transition to maintenance before you actually hit your goal?

Yes, I began a slow taper up with a couple pounds to go.

4. Did you gradually increase your calories or bump up to maintenance level all at once?

Gradual increases, biweekly 200 calorie bumps.

5. How hard or easy has it been to meet your new daily calorie goals?

Not hard at all.

6. What foods did you add back into your diet to help increase your caloric intake?

Nothing, because I didn't really eliminate anything.

7. Have you continued to log all of your food? If so, do you complete your diary each day?

Yes. I have only missed a couple days (when traveling) since.

8. How often do you weigh yourself now and how often do you log your weight in MFP?

I weigh myself everyday. Occasionally update MFP, the exercise equations use weight as an input to calculate calorie burn.

9. Do you have a "cushion" or "cap" for weight fluctuation that, when met, spurs you to cut or increase calories?

I've been purposely bulking and cutting since, I've maintained consistent gain and loss rates. If anything I've become a lot more diligent than I was when I was still losing weight.

10. How did your workout habits change at maintenance level?

More strength training, a little less cardio. About the same though.

11. What are your future goals for maintenance/fitness/health/etc?

I have performance goals which require body composition goals to be achievable (more muscle, lower body fat). I'd like to be able to do almost all of the most advanced bodyweight moves.

12. Any other tips, experiences, surprises or general comments regarding maintenance you'd like to share?

Reaching your goal weight is not the end, it is the beginning.