Maintaining vs. Losing Which is harder?

riffraff2112

People who have arrived at their goal. What is your opinion on relative difficulties of which is more difficult to succeed at
Losing the weight vs Keeping it off

Give me a reason also as I want to know as much as I can about the topic.

I am entering maintenance and wondering what others may suggest or have to offer.

thanks

DonM46

For me, it was finding the calorie intake that created equilibrium.
I started too low -- kept losing.
Then, I overshot -- starting gaining.

nathalier71

Definitely maintaining for me! I find my mentality changed - when I was losing, I would never be in "the red". I was more motivated to see results. Now, I'm sometimes in the red and don't care as much... which can turn into a problem real fast

I do exercise everyday which technically gives me more calories to eat... thank goodness for that! haha

tremroy1

definitely maintaining is harder.......when you have a specific calorie count, you are very goal oriented. Once you reach that goal, you need to find the new calorie count that will keep you on track. You cannot go back to old habits.....you are not invincible to gaining weight....you must continue to excercise and be responsible for your intake vs. burn rate. I have been there before and hope I have learned my lesson. good luck

newfie026

I lost 52 pounds. It wasn't difficult, really, just long. Now that I am maintaining, I worry less. If I go over and gain a little, I'll just cut back for a few days and add an extra exercise day and that's it! Not like when I started and had loads of weight to lose. I'm still eating the healthy foods that helped me lose, just a bit more of them and once in a while, if I splurge, I don't panic. I am more aware of what I eat and what my body needs. that helps out in restaurants. When I was trying to lose and would eat something way off track, often I would get discouraged and ruin the whole day. Now, I take it in stride, knowing that one thing, no matter how fat or full of calories it is, It won't destroy all my hard work.

I was a maniac for a while, exercising six days a week. When I reached my goal, my fear was not being able to keep up with exercising. I thought once I stopped exercising often, I would gain everything back super fast. I was able to handle 3 days a week for sure and if I could more, great! That seems to be enough. I'm working towards firming up and getting my body fat % down, so the focus is not in the same place.

All this to say that losing was harder and while maintaining is tough, it's way more fun.

Go_Mizzou99

Maintaining is pud-easy.
Losing was hardest.

It is hard work turning your mini-van into a sports car.
It is easy to keep a sports car tuned up.
Calorie deficits are gone when maintaining
It is easier to do things that used to be hard so you just naturally do more things

serendipity57

definitely maintaining is harder.......when you have a specific calorie count, you are very goal oriented. Once you reach that goal, you need to find the new calorie count that will keep you on track. You cannot go back to old habits.....you are not invincible to gaining weight....you must continue to excercise and be responsible for your intake vs. burn rate. I have been there before and hope I have learned my lesson. good luck

This for me too
I've had to fiddle with my maintanance calories to find the right balance, my MFP maintanance calories were too low

Good luck to you

riffraff2112

Yeah that is what I expected to hear for the most part. Having lost the weight, and got some nice definition for the first time in my life I now know I 'CAN' do this.

But this isn't the first time I have dropped a significant amount of weight and for some reason (as is very common) something tends to switch off eventually for many many people and losing that spark and discipline usually means regression to old habits.

I am a little worried (not all consuming but concerned I suppose) that I will let things slide since I don't have a 'goal' anymore. Obviously my goal is to maintain and fine-tune but I am not sure its as powerful a motivator as hating what you see in the mirror.


Thanks...keep the responses coming I appreciate them.

cwolfman13

I found neither to be all that difficult but if I would have to pick one I'd say losing because a few extra calories is a few extra calories and I enjoy eating.

I think people tend to find maintenance difficult because they haven't actually established a new "normal" in RE to their diet (noun). They also tend to think of exercise as something you do to lose weight so they fail to actually establish independent fitness goals...when they reach their goal weight they see little point in exercising anymore.

In reality, regular exercise is just as important if not more important in maintenance than it is when you are losing weight. You also can't go back to old habits...people talk a good talk about lifestyle change, but most fail to actually implement such a change and go back to the SAD or whatever it was they were doing before.

The only difference between losing and maintaining is a few hundred calories...basically an extra snack or two...but people tend to miss this boat entirely.

riffraff2112

I found neither to be all that difficult but if I would have to pick one I'd say losing because a few extra calories is a few extra calories and I enjoy eating.

I think people tend to find maintenance difficult because they haven't actually established a new "normal" in RE to their diet (noun). They also tend to think of exercise as something you do to lose weight so they fail to actually establish independent fitness goals...when they reach their goal weight they see little point in exercising anymore.

In reality, regular exercise is just as important if not more important in maintenance than it is when you are losing weight. You also can't go back to old habits...people talk a good talk about lifestyle change, but most fail to actually implement such a change and go back to the SAD or whatever it was they were doing before.

The only difference between losing and maintaining is a few hundred calories...basically an extra snack or two...but people tend to miss this boat entirely.

Very good point. Sometimes you need to step away and realize that it isn't rocket science. This was suppose to be for life, not for a few months. Shouldn't complicate things with wish-washy self doubt. Good answer....appreciated.

Odinisgod

Losing weight is easy, keeping it off is the hard part.

To lose weight, you only need to be vigilant about your calories in vs calories out in the short term. To maintain, you have to be vigilant indefinitely.

aedreana

They say to allow 15 calories per pound per day to maintain. I've tried that a couple of times, but I lost weight-- slowly, a pound or two per week I guess-- but I ended up several pounds lighter each time I tried to maintain on 1680 calories. So then I started eating normally, because I don't want to be that thin. If I had a scale at home to monitor my weight, I'd be able to maintain, by weighing every day. I cannot afford to purchase a scale. Even if I were willing to take that Very Long Walk every day to weigh at Weight Loss Center, which of course I am NOT, they undoubtedl would very quickly get tired of me using their scale that often. Also-- it would be WAY WAY too much trouble to measure the oil in the pan before AND after I fry potatoes, to see how much oil has been absorbed, so as to determine the calorie count! I gain about 2 lbs./month when I eat normally, averaging approximately 3900 calories on a typical day..So, Idk.I know my maintenance calories are less than 3900-- but more than 1680; that's all I know.I guess when I hit goal, I could figure out how long it took to lose that amount of weight on the calories I consumed, then use that info to determine what my maintenance calories would be? Maybe. (Not a math wizard!)

sistrsprkl

I've lost about 50lbs 3 times now (twice after pregnancies). For me, losing is the hardest. When I was at my goal weight (I'm about 10 over now), as long as I stayed active doing the things I love and was reasonable about food, the weight stayed off and I even kept losing. I also find that I'm much more active when I weigh less (more energy) so that makes it easier to keep it off.

tremroy1

I look at all the people on mfp......who are coming back several times...leads me to believe that maintenance is harder or as hard. Over the last 40 years I am ashamed nto say have lost 2 to 300 lbs. I am doing only 25 to 30 lbs. this time hope its the last