Special Occasions in Maintenance

dpr73

So last week is Easter and I let loose for the day but still was somewhat mindful of intake. I didn't go up this week it seems (just some minor fluctuations up over the course of the week). But now I have ANOTHER family celebration all this weekend (Friday and Sat). My question is: should I try to cut back this weekend because Easter was last week or should I just enjoy myself and come back onto my healthy lifestyle on Sunday? Keep in mind I won't be going over as much as on Easter (these will just be dinners out at restaurants not big feasting days).

DopeItUp

Enjoy yourself. There's going to be many, many special occasions in the future. Monitor your weight long-term and make adjustments as needed. Add a little exercise if your weight is creeping up from a bunch of events. Even just a little walk every day for a week can easily counteract one bad day on the weekend.

nxd10

If you use the phone app, it gives you a very nice graph under Nutrition when you click on Weekly. It shows your daily calories but also your average for the week. If your weekly average is under you can eat and know you won't gain, despite daily fluctuations.

I don't know about you, but going over by 500 calories is a HUGE amount for me. I can make up for that with less than 100 calories a day. So enjoy.

dpr73

So essentially letting loose and not really paying attention to my intake for a night (or entire weekend) won't kill my maintenance? I know I'll be back on track at the end of the weekend. It just seems too easy to me and that I must have to compensate for it somehow...even if that sounds ridiculous.

trogalicious

So essentially letting loose and not really paying attention to my intake for a night (or entire weekend) won't kill my maintenance? I know I'll be back on track at the end of the weekend. It just seems too easy to me and that I must have to compensate for it somehow...even if that sounds ridiculous.

nope. enjoy it. I would avoid the scale for a week, if the number bugs you. Take a weekend off, celebrate... then just get back on track.

it didn't take one night to get fat, right? didn't take one night to lose it either. It's a game of averages.

RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle

I agree with all of this. I find I can be *bad* for weeks at a time and get away with it. As long as I return back to eating at maintenance. I've maintained for about a year and a half now.

dpr73

Wow this has made me think maintenance is that much more manageable. I originally thought that to maintain I would have to give up letting loose altogether. But it sounds like if I keep the "letting loose" to special occasions and stay otherwise dedicated I can actually maintain pretty easily.

jenilla1

So essentially letting loose and not really paying attention to my intake for a night (or entire weekend) won't kill my maintenance? I know I'll be back on track at the end of the weekend. It just seems too easy to me and that I must have to compensate for it somehow...even if that sounds ridiculous.

Nope. It really IS that easy. I've been maintaining for 3 years this way. :flowerforyou:

Blokeypoo

I've been maintaining for nearly 18mths. When losing and in maintenance I still enjoyed hols/events etc. and I maintain by eating at a 250 deficit in week then having more at w/e. I do try not to use events as a licence to go nuts but sometimes I also tell myself it's fine and it is.

I use my trusty Fitbit (the ONLY reason I believe I have actually done maintenance in 30yrs of dieting!) to see what I've burned and on days where cal intake is higher I walk more or use my mini tramp and clock up some credit.

It CAN be done but maintenance can be a head messer so don't be hard on yourself or feel surprised how stressed it can make you feel. I have to stop myself worrying that I'm "reverting to type" sometimes but the truth is in the scales. I like trendweight.com for helping me see that a mini gain has little effect of the overall trend.

Enjoy yourself!

jackielou867

Define "let loose" I can let loose but only maybe once a month. And my definition of letting loose is huge portions of healthy stuff and tiny portions of anything else I fancy. I let loose at Christmas and boxing day to the tune of almost 4000 calories per day. I could not do that every week. And to be honest that was a controlled let loose. I honestly think before mfp I would have eaten double that. I went for a buffet with my family today and ate 1300 calories for lunch, lots of salad veggies and grilled fish. A little Fruit and ice cream and 2 tbsp of fondue chocolate. I was stuffed and sufficiently sugared up. My old way of eating would have been half a plate of chips and a plate of meat and one of every desert. I couldn't begin to imagine how many calories it would have been. I guess I got lucky though, because I actually prefer the healthier mains now, it's just that darned desert trolley I have to be careful with; -)

dpr73

Define "let loose" I can let loose but only maybe once a month. And my definition of letting loose is huge portions of healthy stuff and tiny portions of anything else I fancy. I let loose at Christmas and boxing day to the tune of almost 4000 calories per day. I could not do that every week. And to be honest that was a controlled let loose. I honestly think before mfp I would have eaten double that. I went for a buffet with my family today and ate 1300 calories for lunch, lots of salad veggies and grilled fish. A little Fruit and ice cream and 2 tbsp of fondue chocolate. I was stuffed and sufficiently sugared up. My old way of eating would have been half a plate of chips and a plate of meat and one of every desert. I couldn't begin to imagine how many calories it would have been. I guess I got lucky though, because I actually prefer the healthier mains now, it's just that darned desert trolley I have to be careful with; -)

My definition of "let loose" was: salad appetizer (with light vinaigrette, very low cal), a grilled Bronzino with Hericot verts in a butter cream sauce, and a dessert sampler (a small portion of a lemon cake, lava cake and cheesecake for tasting). I ate approximately 1,100 calories throughout the day so I had 1,100 to work with.

sijomial

Wow this has made me think maintenance is that much more manageable. I originally thought that to maintain I would have to give up letting loose altogether. But it sounds like if I keep the "letting loose" to special occasions and stay otherwise dedicated I can actually maintain pretty easily.

Maintenance isn't day to day or even week to week.
To me it's about developing good habits that are sustainable long term.

Those habits that you stick to for the majority of the time easily counteract special occasions, holiday weeks etc. which to me are a big part of enjoying life.

I'm away on holiday soon and fully expect to gain about a pound a day and have a fantastic time doing so. Half will be temporary bloat which will go in days and the other half may well be fat which will come off over a few weeks leaving me back at my pre-holiday weight plus a sun tan and some good memories.

jackielou867

I'm off on holidays in a month. 3 weeks back to uk with family and friends. I haven't seen them in 3 years and they are used to me binging on chocolate and pizza and a few drinks now and then to wash it all down. It's going to be really hard to stay on track. It was not easy to lose those last few kilos though, which is why I try so hard to stay on track in maintenance. In my normal environment its pretty easy, but this is going to be like 3 whole weeks of special occasions and home cooking.

Woodspoon

Easter last week, with lots of chocolate from family and my Birthday was yesterday, family meal on sunday, I've just written the entire week off.
There will be plenty of weeks to come where I can get it back, so I'm not even going to bother thinking about counting this week.
Taken me a long time to get to the point where I realise 1 week out of a year isn't that important really, if I can't relax and enjoy it for a week, what's the point.

Brooke4206

Go for it. I have vacation coming up.. 7 days! I plan on enjoying any and every food i'd like. I've been good the last six months. A week won't kill me.

dpr73

Do you guys just take the loss on the day/week/weekend or even try to eat healthily during these occasions? I have been trying to hit a medium but I honestly think that I could be playing it overly careful (as I've never even so light before and I'm not used to eating at this weight).