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Please share your number one strategy for maintaining

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Replies

  • kagevf
    kagevf Posts: 509 Member
    I'm a big fan of eating less Mon-Fri and splurging on the weekend. Just focus on your weekly calorie intake


    same here. splurge on weekends, YUM!

    I skip breakfast, part of my IF Sunday to Thursday
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    During the week I eat at a slight deficit and on the weekends I go over. It all evens out and I don't gain weight aside of some temporary water weight (1 - 3 lbs) from excess sodium which goes away in 1 - 3 days depending on what I ate.

    Doing this has made maintaining easy for me and it's sustainable.
  • phytogurl
    phytogurl Posts: 671 Member
    Lots of great info for later....Bump!
  • kagevf
    kagevf Posts: 509 Member
    During the week I eat at a slight deficit and on the weekends I go over. It all evens out and I don't gain weight aside of some temporary water weight (1 - 3 lbs) from excess sodium which goes away in 1 - 3 days depending on what I ate.

    Doing this has made maintaining easy for me and it's sustainable.

    exactly
    no worries on gaining weight!
  • 1968samuel
    1968samuel Posts: 176 Member
    Great info here. Hope to be at the maintaining stage next spring.
  • Danilynn1975
    Danilynn1975 Posts: 294 Member
    I'm about to be flamed, I can feel it coming.

    How I knew I had hit maintenance was I stopped losing weight at all. When I say stopped I mean at that point I weighed everything out on scales, cut out any and all pleasures in life from my coffee ( which made me just an absolute bear to be around in the morning) to bread of any description and all sorts of other little pleasures in life like peanut butter.

    I tried absolutely everything for over 8 months to break that supposed plateau. You name I can guarantee I tried it, up to and including a few things no one here would sanction.

    So, for a year now I have been maintaining whether I wanted to be or not.

    I regained my beloved coffee in the morning, got bread type stuff and peanut butter back into my life.

    I threw out the damn food scale that ruled me everywhere including restaurants and since I measured everything for so long in an endless loop of tears, agony, self hatred, and shame that my body will not go below 155 without totally stopping eating, I can guess very well and have had my hubby measure stuff and my guess is actually on the lower side of what the scale says when he weighed it out.

    I weigh myself every single morning, everyday. I have no particular number, but a range of 155-159 that I absolutely must stay in or away go the pleasures of life, like coffee with real sugar and creamer, until it goes back to that range.

    Here's the flame me part I warned about:

    I do no exercises at all beyond my normal world stuff.
    I have tried every exercise out there. I loathe them all. I hate being sore and feeling like I have the flu 365 days a year from the constant muscle aches. It never went away.

    I must point out, my job entails me bending, stooping, lifting and carrying large pumps and motors. I also walk about 5 miles minimum a day in the course of my job. On weekends and at night the absolute last thing I intend to do is more of what feels like work without pay.

    I'm 38, almost 39. Screw it my body is ruined from an emergency straight up and down C-section and then a side to side C-section scar. Nothing in the gym is gonna fix that. I have had the plastic surgeon consults to find that out, plus what it would take to fix it. I don't have the $ I was quoted for the cheapest surgeon to fix only my stomach, I could buy a brand new Corolla for what it would take to do it.

    I'm strong, I'm healthy, I look great in clothes. I'm also pale and burn easily, even before my kids I never wore a swimsuit, so why would I want to start now.

    I log everything I eat, I always will. I have treats and coffee. I have my daily weigh in of me. As for the maintaining amount. Well it seems to be anywhere from 1450-1650 in calories daily. Anything over and I will gain.

    I could probably eat more if I was willing to feel like I had the flu everyday for the rest of my life by working outside all day and then going to the gym, but it's not a trade off I am willing to make. I still have a life and it does not include that.

    But as for the original goal of 145, 155 is not that far from it. I can shop in any store. Fit in any amusement park ride.

    I'm content. Because once I accepted the maintenance for what it was I allowed myself to buy clothes. Doing that I realized I am happy and achieved what I wanted and am maintaining very well.
  • aarar
    aarar Posts: 684 Member
    Bump for info.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,888 Member
    Being consistent with intake and physical activity. I've done it this way for 30 years and barring any competitions, my weight stays within 10lbs (180lb to 190lb) for about 90% of the year. I do indulge during holidays where I might go up 5lbs, but I can easily lose that in less than a month.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Laura3BB
    Laura3BB Posts: 250 Member
    Will be in maintenance very soon, have read all the comments, very helpful!
    thanks OP too!
  • wickedwendy6
    wickedwendy6 Posts: 117 Member
    I'm a big fan of eating less Mon-Fri and splurging on the weekend. Just focus on your weekly calorie intake

    THIS!!
  • JasmineOravec
    JasmineOravec Posts: 88 Member
    bump
  • QueenofScott
    QueenofScott Posts: 305 Member
    I can't pick just one! I'd say continuing to log, keep up your workouts, AND weigh yourself regularly (I weigh once a week).
  • keenesmom
    keenesmom Posts: 115 Member
    Logging. Everything. Accurately.

    And choosing food you like eating.


    ^THIS! People look at me like I've got 3 eyes when they see me still logging my food. I reached my goal (and then some) back in April. They don't understand why I continue to pay attention to what goes in my body now that I've "lost the weight". Really?
  • Wingg_
    Wingg_ Posts: 395 Member
    Bump
  • xilka
    xilka Posts: 308 Member
    Weekly budget, instead of daily, has kept me at maintenance for 9 months now.

    I work towards a small weekly deficit.
    This way, if I go WAY over on one day, I can compensate on the other days.

    It also means that every week I'm saving up 100 cals or so, which add up to 1000 every 10 weeks,
    which allow me to not worry about the occasional feast (birthdays, holidays, etc).
  • Amandainyaface
    Amandainyaface Posts: 33
    To eat when I feel hungry and stop when I'm full.

    It sounds weird but at this point when you've lost the weight you wanted to lose it's time to start trusting your body again.
  • patfriendly
    patfriendly Posts: 263 Member
    I have routine that keeps me at the level and I follow it. Its that simple.
  • Rays_Wife
    Rays_Wife Posts: 1,173 Member
    bump
  • Wwinkel
    Wwinkel Posts: 34
    #1 tip is to stop eating the types of foods that you have to count calories with. (think about that for a bit)
    #2 stop thinking of this journey as your 'dieting time', and start thinking of it as your 'life change'.
    #3 don't 'work out'. Working out sucks. Big time. Find an activity that you like to do that will keep you limber and burn the calories that you need to burn. Like hockey, running, biking, kick boxing, yoga.
  • bonjalandoni
    bonjalandoni Posts: 136 Member
    My # 1 strategy was to shift my focus from weight loss/diet to fitness. I had already been exercising throughout my weight loss journey, but I decided to venture into the world of strength training in order to really challenge myself and to hopefully get better definition. It was a good way to channel all of that determination and charge-ahead energy that I used to lose the weight into something equally constructive and healthy.

    ^^this I am just really starting to maintain and have been struggling to find the sweet spot. I plan to have a smooth landing and lose the last 5 lbs by half a pound every 2 weeks. I am now switching from weight loss exercises (crazy cardio) to more fit level exercises like strength training and maybe a little muscle building when my body is strong enough to do it. (Who doesnt want to look good... *wink)

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