Maintenance Thread

MacMadame

I'm back from doing my Ironman and my Thanksgiving vacation. Here's my write up on my Ironman:

http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2010/11/chuck-norris-never-did-ironman.html

I did well while I was gone, but came back to a house empty of good snacks and now my weight is up because its harder to make good choices. I hope to get to the grocery store tomorrow and get back on track!

lobster888

Hello everyone, I have been missing in action ..I have had a family emergency.( a death) I am really off track and it really shows. I have been very depressed - not exercising and making poor choices. If I can get throught the next week... I may be able to get back on track. For right now - I am just trying to keep my head above the water - so to speak. I just hope the damage isn't too bad. I will get back to it when I get over this hump. I will need all the support and help when I am ready. Thanks everyone!!

barty

Lobster, So sorry to hear your sad news, thinking of you and hope you feel able to come back with us soon x.

kath711

Lobster: So sorry about your loss.


stayed the same this week at upper part of range.

Bermudabarbie

Sorry about your loss, Lobster.

I am still at 136/ 137. Very pleased with this. Some days I feel that I do better than others, even staying within the same calories. It's the food and exercise choices I make for the days. I would never say that I had a "good day," if all I ate were sugary and fatty foods -- even if I stayed under my calorie goal.

It's still a struggle in many ways. Kind of constant surveillance. Someday I may "feel" like a thin person, but not yet!

HealthyChanges2010

New to maintenance, reached my goal weight at the beginning of Nov.:drinker:

Having a rough time thinking of eating more cals...likely a fear thing. Working on making the adjustment...

Nice to see this thread:flowerforyou:

HealthyChanges2010

bumping for another member looking for this particular thread:flowerforyou:

DeeDeeLHF

Lobster, so sorry to hear about this. These are the times that really test us.

Informal survey....in your opinion when life happens (death, illness, weddings, holidays) do you think it is better to go with the flow for a week and not worry too much than after a week or two go back on the restricted calorie plan or to try to continue during the stressful time? It seems to me that we should all be learning how to deal with life in a way that doesn't involve food. and that exercise would help us deal with the stress but for me the truth is when I am consumed by something in life, good or bad, I just cannot focus that heavily on the calories and things like fast food just happen. What are your thoughts?


Mac: Congrats on the IRonman!! Very cool!

Barty it looks like you are right on track with your running ticker.

Welcome Healthy Changes. This is not a thread where you tend to see daily posts but it is a helpful one as we are all in the same boat again. Trying to figure out how to increase calories to not gain. Changing self images, like what Barbie talked about. How to make this whole thing stick. I can identify with the fear factor! We all know at least one person who has lost tons of weight only to put it back on again and none of us want to be that person!!! Yikes! It has taken me 5+ years to take it off and I am afraid I could gain it all back in one year if I returned to the behaviors that got me up to 180+ to begin with!!

D

HealthyChanges2010

Thanks for the warm welcome Donna:flowerforyou:

yvonnej1

Donna, regarding your question about how we react when hit by life events my view is about trying to find a balance. Trying not to go completely off track by comfort eating but equally cutting myself some slack and being kind to myself. I think it is no good stressing about your diet on top of your other life stresses sometimes. That said though ideally if I indulge in 'naughty' foods or drink I try to offset it through exercise, I know for one that I feel much better if I can keep going to the gym, I get really twitchy when I don't.
Personally I have a bit of a challenge coming up as I won't be able to get to the gym or do much exercise in the next couple of weeks as I am having some treatment to my back. In the short term it will be more painful, stiff etc. but in the long term will help my chronic pain. So I have to adapt to not exercising and will need to watch my calorie intake as I will be pretty much inactive plus also fight the urge not to comfort eat because I am stuck at home and fed up.

MacMadame

I try to use MFP during these times. That helps keep my calories in check. I find I tend to be hard on myself regularly and hold my eating to a very high standard. To the point where half the things most people eat as "healthy" snacks are on my "no good" list. So I know I can fall back onto those foods which are easy but still not very high calorie during stressful times. I also can eat junk, just not a lot of it. MFP lets me know if I'm going overboard on the junk.

I'm taking Dec. off from training for triathlons. I need to heal my injured calf. I know it's going to be challenging to keep my calories in line with such a drastic cut in my workout schedule. So I'm giving myself some leeway to lose some muscle weight and gain some fat weight. I know when I start training again for my Spring and Summer races, that it will reverse itself. It did last year.

We'll see if I can be calm about it all and not freak out like I did last year though. I probably will freak out a few times but I'm going to try to be calm and forgiving about it as long as my overall weight doesn't go up too much.

DeeDeeLHF

Thanks for the replies about times of stress. It helps.


OK...so now I am converting to maintenance calories. I am eating 1400 per day and eating some of my exercise calories. (I was at 1200 and eating half of my exercise calories). Some days I am under and some days I am over by a small amount. (like two days ago I was over by 17 calories). So, the scales seem to be heading in the wrong direction. Where I had been down to a low of 119, I am now seeing 123-124. It could be related to my cycles. (I am 46 and very much in peri-menopause so I never know what is happening these days.) It could be extra food bulk since I am eating more. OR...it could be that after dieting for so long that even 1400 calories is too much. What do you all think?

MacMadame

It could also be that your exercise calories as logged on the site are too high. If you do strength training, you could also be putting on muscle. If it's that, your clothes will continue to fit even though the number on the scale is higher.

What I did when I got to my goal weight was to add in about 100-200 calories and then wait a few weeks. If I kept losing, I would add in some more and wait a few weeks and see how that went. I did that until I got to a point where I wasn't losing or gaining within a 5 pound range that I attribute to water fluctuations.

Also, I weigh myself every day and if I am over 120 two days in a row, I cut back on my eating and/or increase my exercise.

kath711

Well, looks like I am going to be trying to maintain without exercise for a while as I messed up my knee playing soccer. Thankfully, it is just very bruised but is going to take a few weeks to heal. Will still go to the gym for strength training but running is out for a while

gailosborne

Hi, I've started reading with great interest through this thread. I would love to join you! I have maintained a 100lb loss for a year now. I'd love to keep on the right path with you all!!!

Gail x

barty

Hi, and a very warm welcome to Gail, 100lbs lost WOW well done you and to keep it of for a year, thats fab!!!! you will have to share with us how you have managed it..... I am struggling to keep at 119 lbs that I reached in August lol :laugh:

kath711

Hi, I've started reading with great interest through this thread. I would love to join you! I have maintained a 100lb loss for a year now. I'd love to keep on the right path with you all!!!

Gail x

Wow, that is awesome! You'll have to give us tips to those who have just started trying to adjust to maintenance. Welcome!

DeeDeeLHF

Gail, Congratulations!! The victory of keeping 100 pounds off is more awesome than taking them off to begin with. Although I am sure the later was more gratifying!

That is the problem with maintenance. No one is patting you on the back or giving compliments. Eventually everyone gets used to seeing you that size...or harder becomes impatient if you mention something that implies that you are still conscious of your food intake or exercise.

Kath, I hope you knee is better for Christmas. Good plan to keep doing what you can.

Macmadame: Thanks for your input. I do wear a HRM so I am hoping that my exercise calories are fairly accurate. I take what the HRM says, round down and then subtract 1 calorie for every minute exercised to account for calories normally burned. My son told me last night that he thinks I am building muscle and truthfully my clothes all fit the same. I did decrease my calories from 1400 back to 1300 and will only eat half of my exercise calories. I am so grateful for logging as I can go back and see my net calories for the past 3 weeks and it gives me a ball park for the next three.

I admit that this is low and I think it is going to mean careful choices for the rest of my life if this is really my maintenance level. Stinks that my maintenance is lower than some peoples diet!! :laugh: But at 5 ft 1 inch, that might just be what it is.

When I saw the scales number I was tempted to do something stupid and radical but then decided that punishing my body was not healthy. I don't need to respond with a knee jerk reaction. I can calmly and simply adjust my calories and give myself time to work this out. I suppose that new way of thinking goes into lifestyle change.

Yesterday, I put on my exercise clothes thinking that if I was dressed to exercise it would come. Wrong! It didn't. My day was filled with helping and listening to my children. A worthwhile trade off.

Well, no choice but to get some in today at least in the form of shoveling!:grumble:

D

gailosborne

Hello,

thanks so much for such a lovely welcome and such encouraging words. I think I don't have any amazingly new advice- but just to reiterate what others have said; I found the first few months terrifying and weighed myself daily. Now I do it once a month, I'm lucky enough to have a personal trainer and she weighs and measures me and then I don't have to bother.
I work out lots - running, cycling, strength training, rowing, plyometrics, circuits etc. I would love to do a triathlon but need to toughen up I think!!!

I read something that said something like, " A destination is just the start of another journey." and I know it sounds corny but I think is sums maintenance up, in some ways it is a harder journey- you haven't arrived you are just beginning. I just try to stay organised about what I eat and plan ahead, I know if I am tired I have less self control so need to deal with that when it happens. I know for me personally, if I have chocolate, cookies, ice cream, cheese, crisps or candy etc in the house I will eat them and find it hard to stop - so I just don't buy them. I do eat this sort of food if I am out sometimes but don't bring it home.

I think it is true that the comments about how much you've lost stop and I found that tricky as they were such a boost to me on the way down. I became a bore and I tried people's patience by having the same conversation about whether they thought I'd keep it off forever....its just reassurance I think but I must 'do people's head in!!'

I am also lucky enought to have a good friend from here Kenny, who is also a maintainer and we email each other regularly and I have found it a great thing to be able to discuss all sort of things from dating, to lose skin, to what exercises we've done to who has accused us of 'going to far with this weight loss business....' as well as celebrating fitness achievements.

I don't know if this helps Donna but in my first 2 months of weight training, I lost 6inches but my weight went up about 2kg. (A bit later I began to lose more weight but this was planned for vanity purposes!) Now I only think about measurements and not weight. The other good thing about gaining muscle is your metabolism gets raised, at the end of almost 2 years of dieting, mine had hit the floor!!! I'm 5.5 and eat about 18,00 for maintenance now although for the next few weeks I've cut it back to 1400 so I can have a few indulgences!!

Hope I haven't gone on too much, I love reading this thread and am really glad I found you all.

Gail xx

DeeDeeLHF

Thanks Gail! I don't think you went on at all! I really appreciated all that you had to say. I think I should update my measurements and see if there is any improvement.

D