losing weight Is easy, maintenance is hard!!

kluvit

I think it depends on how someone lost the weight and their expectations of maintenance. If they lost it on some very restrictive diet and expect to return to their old habits and still maintain, they've got unrealistic expectations and will find maintenance not just hard, but impossible. If they changed their lifestyle and choices to lose weight and continue to use the same principles learned through the process to make choices that align with their goals during maintenance, it will be not be so difficult.

For me, the transition was challenging as I continued to lose weight past my goal, then actually needed to gain a few pounds to settle in at a comfortable maintenance weight. It was challenging mentally to figure out how to stop losing, start gaining a little without returning to bad habits. Once I got there, it was fairly easy to maintain by continuing to weigh, continuing to make choices in alignment with my goals, and to quickly act when I start to get off track.

I think one of the challenges is continued motivation, if a person reaches their goal, and is still not "happy," they may just give up and return to their old ways, so I think it's important to make sure you lose enough to make a difference. Don't settle for a better weight; go for your happy weight. Once I got to my original goal, I didn't look like I wanted, so I kept going to a weight/size I never really even dreamed of. Then, I bought a whole new wardrobe and gave away all of my old clothes. I feel so great (confident) in my new clothes and get so many compliments on my new wardrobe that I can't imagine giving it up which helps me stay on track.

Tykk

I just want to say thanks to the many people who have written these thoughtful posts. I'm a long way from maintenance, but I do feel like I need to be thinking about it now so that it isn't an abrupt change. There are a lot of good ideas here, from your hard-won experience.

mjglantz

I used to find it very hard and that's why I gained back all the weight. This time has been very different mainly because I didn't see this as "going on a diet." I saw it as a lifestyle change. Over the years I have really changed my eating and consistently chose real food and lots of plants. For me, tracking my food is very important and I still do that. I also make sure that I move at least 6 out of 7 days/week. I hit my goal last April and have continued to lose weight although now I seem to have stabilized over the last couple of months.


I honestly prefer the way I eat now and if I want something that isn't so healthy, I have it. No guilt.

Bayluvr

Maintaining is easy...not that losing was particularly hard, but it was tedious and annoying...but maintaining has been easy for me, I've been doing it for 8 months without logging with no problem. Here are some of the issues that I've seen from people I know personally and people I know on my FL and MFP in general....

- Failure to understand that there is no finish line...they aren't "done" just because they've reached some arbitrary weight on the scale...but that's how they see it. They're "done" with all of this nutrition and fitness stuff...time to get back to "normal". Long term success is predicated on understanding that health, nutrition, and fitness are lifetime endeavors...you are never "done"

- Unsustainable dieting practices...I call it deprivation dieting. People think that to lose weight they have to stay away from this or that or cut out this or that and in some cases, backing away from certain "triggers" is necessary...but by and large, cutting everything "good" out of ones diet is a recipe for disaster down the line because you never learn moderation and portion control. You never learn how to incorporate those not so nutritious goodies into an otherwise overwhelmingly nutritious diet. The result is that when people cross that finish line and pronounce themselves "done" they go back to eating the same old **** they used to eat. The only difference between losing weight and maintaining weight from a dietary standpoint should be a few hundred calories, what you're eating most of the time really shouldn't change at all.

- Failure to understand that the benefits of exercise reach well beyond calorie burn and losing weight. Weight control is a wonderful bi-product of exercise, but there are so many other benefits...but people tend to look at exercise as a chore that needs to be performed to lose weight...they never address any actual and independent fitness goals. They cross that finish line and pronounce themselves "done" and stop getting their fitness on. They've failed to understand that you use your diet for weight control; exercise for fitness. I exercise the exact same way now as I did when I was losing...sure, I mix up the routines and what not, but it's still 3x weekly in the weight room and 3-4x weekly of moderate cardiovascular activity for 45-60 minutes...right now it happens to be mostly on my bicycle.

TL/DR...basically people fail to realize that there is no finish line...reaching "goal" weight is only the first step of many in a lifetime of health, nutrition, and fitness.

This is great advice! I could see myself heading in the "done" direction, but I have actually begun to see that this is a way of life that I can maintain. I actually look forward (most days) to my workouts, and wake up knowing which foods I will use to fuel my body instead of agonizing over those that I really shouldn't have (I have a few triggers, and they aren't going anywhere, so I have learned to live almost a year without them by finding suitable substitutes).

I'm about 20 lbs from my latest goal, which is to reach 145 lbs and maintain between 145-150. I feel that if I follow this advice, I can adapt. Thank you for your insight.

george7527

Hi I agree as i'v been there myself many time you have to be on guard of what you eat all the time and keep up the exercise set youself a treat day enjoy it then get back on track the rest of the week hope that helps
you are not alone