Please share your number one strategy for maintaining

bonjalandoni

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)

thunderguts123

Leaving wife .

ardithann5

not cheating and doing my workouts.. cleaning house stairs squats and walking... have been doing this since Oct and have lost 3 pounds and kept it off.. trying to drop another 3 in the next 2 months.. It did not go on all at once and will not leave all at once either.. Stand Tall Hold the High Ground and keep punching. go team go....

nattyann2245

I struggle with maintenance, but I have found that daily weigh-ins make it possible to avoid those pounds sneaking up on me. (sometimes they still do) but it gives me accountability.

aggiegirl121

Great info ! Bump

librarydogmom

Intentional exercise every day, 7 days a week even if just a walk around the block sometimes. Best 30-60 min, whether walking, jogging, playing with kids or dogs, haha. I rode the bike 2 hrs 7 min this morning...good thing, as a friend dropped off a gorgeous red velvet Bundt cake for us. I agree with below post, eat what you like best...be sure to track all food and exercise. It's never totally accurate, but helps us be aware and accountable. Good luck!

STrooper

Keep a consistent exercise pattern and monitor your food intake. Note, you may find that setting your profile to maintenance gives you "too many calories" given the relative inaccuracy of many calorie counts AND if you are much more into cardio than strength training for exercise, your body may be more efficient than you think.

I set my maintenance plan to losing 0.5 pounds per week since much of my exercise comes in the form of cardio training for marathon running. Although I am typically very close to my calorie allowance with that setting, I don't feel bad about going over slightly on any given day.

I have experienced very little day-to-day variation in weight but that took several months to achieve after I reached my goal weight.

Just_Scott

To maintain log accurately, and weigh your food...always. You may still create a deficit but nothing where you are dropping pounds. If you exercised and lost weight and found something you enjoyed then by all means continue exercising. Best of luck.

sld4063

I don't eat any differently than I did when I was losing except I eat a few hundred more calories. Also exercise is even more important to maintaining than it is losing. Also keep setting new goals and keep crushing those goals.

Essentially, continue to get your fitness on and your nutrition on. Hopefully while you've been losing you've taken the opportunity to learn portion control and moderation and didn't just practice deprivation dieting....deprivation dieting usually results in gaining the weigh back because you never really learn how to eat the things you enjoy and do so in a balanced and healthy way which is essential to maintenance.

Soo glad you said this,,I have lost 50 pds before and gained it back bc I was eating the same shiz everyday.... Eggs, oatmeal, chicken, turkey etc. and after I reached goal I got sick of eating those foods and went back to eating bad . Now don't get me wrong I have some repetitive food and meals but at least you can't predict what my diary will look like every day. I think when people don't allow variety and to enjoy in moderation it sets them up for failure just like you said

RaggedyPond

Keep away from high calorie sweets that don't fill you up.
Determine if actually hungry or just bored.
Try to get as much protein as you can.
Get at least 90 mins of exercise in a week.

tmw1018

Daily logging. It keeps me accountable and is my tool for meal planning on a weekly/daily basis. I lost and regained with WW in th east and I think one reason I failed is because I stopped logging when I hit lifetime.

Laura3BB

not cheating and doing my workouts.. cleaning house stairs squats and walking... have been doing this since Oct and have lost 3 pounds and kept it off.. trying to drop another 3 in the next 2 months.. It did not go on all at once and will not leave all at once either.. Stand Tall Hold the High Ground and keep punching. go team go....

this person has just started and has lost a total of 3 pounds but gives advice on maintenance strategies
I find this funny :-)

DiannaLouize

What works for me is regular weigh ins. I use a great app called Weight Diary to track. If you have an iPhone I highly, highly recommend you download this app. The free version is good, but the paid version which I use is definitely well worth it.
The scale is a tricky thing, though. It can totally f*** your mind up too if you aren't careful, and if you don't understand how fluctuations work. I'm a recovering anorexic and the scale was my enemy for a long time. I was a slave to it. But when I stayed off the scale for too long, eventually I blew up to maybe 20-25lbs heavier than I wanted to be.
I've since lost that weight and I'm right where I want to be...thanks to regular weigh ins. I recommend weighing once a day, naked, first thing in the morning before eating. This will give you the most accurate reading. Try to weigh at around the same time each day, and don't weigh more than once a day. Missing a day or two here in there isn't a big deal.
Just don't trip if the number goes up and down a bit during the week. Keep fluctuations into consideration. That's a great thing about Weight Diary, it takes fluctuations into account as it calculates your loss/gain trend.
If you find yourself obsessing though, STOP weighing. Until I got my mind right, I would have to weigh backwards at the doctor and stay off it altogether at home. Find another way; it's not worth losing your sanity.
If you can, tracking your weight daily- use the same scale!!- is a sure fire way to maintain. Use some kind of tool to track it . This way you'll notice signs of weight gain before it becomes a problem.

RaggedyPond

not cheating and doing my workouts.. cleaning house stairs squats and walking... have been doing this since Oct and have lost 3 pounds and kept it off.. trying to drop another 3 in the next 2 months.. It did not go on all at once and will not leave all at once either.. Stand Tall Hold the High Ground and keep punching. go team go....

this person has just started and has lost a total of 3 pounds but gives advice on maintenance strategies
I find this funny :-)

Indeed

margaretturk

Weigh daily to be sure I keep within a 3 lb. range and if it begins to creep up, get things under control immediately. I also am more relaxed since I know, this time, I'm keeping track and not letting my weight balloon again. I also generally track my meals most days, although I'm not as concerned because I generally know now what works for me.

This is what works for me too. I am at about the one year mark for a 25 pound weight loss. I find MFP a helpful too.

seltzermint555

I am nowhere near maintenance yet, but I've lost over 100 lb total since my HW and my biggest thing is weighing daily. I know a woman who is in her early 50s and has always been within a healthy/average weight range and she weighs every morning w/o fail. I have done so since joining MFP in March of this year, and it seems to be a great thing for helping me stay on track and accountable. So I plan to do it for the rest of my life even if I stop logging years down the road after reaching my GW.

A_Fit_Mom

I have maintained since July of this year and it wasn't hard at all.


First, you need to make sure you lost the weight...the right way. You didn't starve yourself, you exercised reasonably and lost at a good pace. I lost 35 pounds over a course of about 4-5 months. I ate at about 1250-1350 calories a day and exercised about 5 times a week for 45 mins.


And now I haven't logged in months...I eat normal food and have treats almost every day. It is all about portion and not going overboard on the "bad" food. I weight every day, if I see the scale go up...I just watch it the next day and it goes back down.


I have just decided I want to lose another 10 pounds..so I am back to my first point.

Amandainyaface

Listening to your cravings for real food.

Also let me just add that even though a lot of people seem to do so, I wouldn't recommend you weighing yourself every day. It becomes really obsessive and humans are designed to eat more one some days than other. Your weight can fluctuate around 2 pounds, meaning one day you could be 140 lbs and the next you could be 139 and then be 141 the day after that. It's often waterweight and waterweight is nothing to be afraid of. I recommend you weigh yourself once or twice a week, max.

smc122977

Up your calories slowly so you can get a better idea of what works for you calorie wise.

Allow yourself a few pound 'range' and don't worry if you go up 2/3 pounds on the scale as it probably won't stay on or long!

Don't stress the little things - you've done great so far so allow yourself an extra treat or two but just keep yourself active

Willpower.

THIS^^^

Laura8603

I weigh myself everyday and trim my eating and increase my exercise anytime my weight is more than 3 pounds above my target. This doesn't happen very often but when it does it usually only takes a few days to bring it back into range.

It's much easier to lose 2 pounds than 20.

This is my strategy, too!!