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Long time maintainers how do you do it
Replies
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There is a great book I read called "Thin for Life". It gives great examples of how people maintained their weight loss over years. My best advice? Make MFP part of your life just like checking your email, voicemail, and bank balance, etc every day.
What I tell my patients who want to lose weight and maintain is this:
Think of tracking your intake and exercise is like tracking your checking account. Would you ever go to a store and swipe your debit card without ever knowing what your balance is to spend or what the price of the item your buying is? Eating without tracking is exactly this.
Who would ever go to Best Buy and just start writing a check for the prettiest washer and dryer or fanciest computer just because you were "hungry to have one"? Blind eating is just like blind spending.
Would any of us irresponsibly ask the question, "Hey when can I stop checking my balance at the bank? It's getting old seeing how much money I have or don't have every day . I just want to relax and spend freely and assume that I have unlimited funds available". Or how about, "Hey, I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks...can't I just blow a bunch of cash that I don't have and just worry about the overdraft fees later when I get home?"
I would hope not.
Your friendly Registered Dietitian
very helpful information!11 -
I have been at my current weight since Jan 2019. While it is not my desired weight, It is 55 pounds down from my high. There are 5 things that help me maintain this weight.
1. I engage in group therapy every week regarding weight loss. Having a forum in which to speak about my issues and even more importantly helping others who are struggling builds my ability to create habits that further my strength to eat in a way that maintains this weight.
2. I use meal replacements almost every day for at least one meal. That gives a big boost of protein and a feeling of satiation that lasts
3. I try to track calories and exercise in MFP. I have set up 6 daily meals. I record a missed meal as Fasting. I record my meds because I have some calories there in fish oil caps. I have several "My Foods" set up that reflect how I am feeling. Happy, In Control, Sad, etc.
4. I try to exercise most days. Pickleball, Walking, Gardening, Stretching, and Strength Training.
5. I try to use Visualizations just before I go to sleep. I am currently combining 2 visualizations in my meditation. I imagine what I want to look like and I imagine how satisfied I am with myself when I do not snack in the evening. These two visualizations feel like they are becoming a part of my sense of self which is how they are supposed to work. As time goes by I know I will begin using different visualizations to help with the aspects of my weight work I want to focus on.
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I've maintained an 80 (+/- 5 lbs) for close to 9 years and there are a few things that keep me at my goal:
1. I didn't "go on a diet." Instead I committed to choosing the eat healthy most of the time, track my food, stay at a reasonable calorie goal and move more.
2. I still don't diet and I've moved to a more plant based way of eating but very little is totally off limits.
3. I track my food each and every day and stay within that goal most of the time. Pay attention to the weekly number
4. Exercise is non negotiable and I do something EVERY day. Walking our dog each morning is a great way to start the day. changing up my exercise routine lately and adding lots of yoga along with cardio
5. Weigh a few times/week and if my weight is more than 3 lbs over my goal I pay closer attention to what I'm eating and how I'm exercising.
BTW, I'm 72 and 5'7" and my goal is 142.
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You’ve been here a long time too! I stop eating when I’m not hungry. I eat things I love first, eat smaller portions, and don’t eat things I don’t like. I don’t drink my calories. I avoid or eat small portions of foods that very calorie dense.5
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I love reading the posts about maintenance. I'm almost at my goal weight - lost 62 lbs and scared to death of gaining the weight back (I've done it before). I am 69 5'6" currently at 164 and goal is 150. I am retired, walk my dog twice and sometimes 3 times a day, play pickleball 3 times a week. I hope that I will still log my food and activity daily and keep a close eye on my weight - if I get 3 lbs over then I will need to be more conscientious with calorie intake. I don't limit myself to only certain foods - I eat when I am hungry and if I crave something I allow myself to have a little bit without going crazy. My red flags are chips, salty snacks and carrot cake. I almost never have the red flag foods - except for special occasions. I limit alcohol to maybe one or two drinks per week or just special occasions. I don't eat a lot of bread or carbs but love spaghetti and pasta so I do have those rarely.6
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Lost about 35-40 and have maintained that weight with a few pounds for several years. Here are a few takeaways.
At first I counted every calorie. I did this using the MFP tool for a couple of years, so much that I could sit down at almost any meal and estimate the calories without even going to a reference. Same with shopping for food. It's almost instinctual now.
I found that by staying within the calorie target, that the mix of carbs and proteins and so on naturally fell out. So I never focused a lot on that - although I do try to consume foods with bulk that tend to naturally reduce your appetite. The items that naturally fell out for me by counting calories are snack foods, candy, potatoes, fried foods and most importantly fast food and restaurant meals. If you are honest and thorough about your calorie count, you will by definition cut back on those things.
For me there was no particular item that I cut out completely. Ice cream? Sure, but instead of a whole bowl it's a couple of small scoops. French fries? Yes, but it's a small portion not a half plateful. Once you know the caloric content of any particular food it's easy to estimate the portion size to fit your calorie target.
If you do this long enough you will start to get a very good idea of your set point for maintenance and for weight loss. It is not sufficient to go to a table and assume you are the average. For me I discovered that my set point was lower than the average male; 2000 calories a day is maintenance for me, and about 1700 calories a day to reduce weight at around a pound a week.
Activity level is important too, but it can be a mixed blessing. Regular exercise (for me it's recumbent bike, light weight lifting and calisthenics 2-3 times a week, and do a weight check) works well to increase your metabolism overall, particularly if you are not very active otherwise.
I recently retired from a largely sedentary job as an engineer where I sat in front of a computer screen constantly, 10 hours a day. Now as a retiree I am a lot more active, some of it pretty strenuous, and on those days/weeks I forgo the regular exercise.
The mixed blessing of exercise is that while it increases your caloric burn rate, it will tend to boost your appetite too as the body seeks to replenish itself and build muscle. So it is a balancing act between exercise and caloric intake. This has probably been the biggest challenge in recent months as I moved away from my sedentary job.13 -
Great thread. My experience is pretty similar to a lot of the comments. I’ve been maintaining since 2006. I’ve lost a bit over 100 lbs.
How have I maintained so long?
It is 100% derived from my willingness to go back to full on calorie counting and tracking when needed. It has worked every time I’ve done it. I have a red line now at 180 lbs and I keep it. Why? Unfortunately I’m not sure I can explain. It's who I am now. I don’t think tracking is a burden. I don’t think weight loss takes a huge amount of effort. It does take concentration and persistence. I look at what I’m doing as trying to live within some reasonable limits. Even if I’m not tracking I know how many calories are in the meals I make at home. My food scale never leaves the kitchen counter and I use it every day. I try to make good choices when out. I’m not very good at saying no. But I’m fairly good at compromise solutions. Even when I’m actively tracking I don’t look at what I’m doing as dieting. I’m just living my life. Sometimes I have to pay more attention to what I’m eating. If I don’t pay enough attention I tend to over do it. Look around, there are a lot of people in the same boat.
Like a lot of people, at one point I added exercise to try facilitate weight loss. Now I look at maintaining my weight as something I do to support my fitness goals.
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It is 100% derived from my willingness to go back to full on calorie counting and tracking when needed. It has worked every time I’ve done it. I have a red line now at 180 lbs and I keep it. Why? Unfortunately I’m not sure I can explain. It's who I am now. I don’t think tracking is a burden. I don’t think weight loss takes a huge amount of effort. It does take concentration and persistence. I look at what I’m doing as trying to live within some reasonable limits. Even if I’m not tracking I know how many calories are in the meals I make at home. My food scale never leaves the kitchen counter and I use it every day. I try to make good choices when out. I’m not very good at saying no. But I’m fairly good at compromise solutions. Even when I’m actively tracking I don’t look at what I’m doing as dieting. I’m just living my life. Sometimes I have to pay more attention to what I’m eating. If I don’t pay enough attention I tend to over do it. Look around, there are a lot of people in the same boat.
I've only been in maintenance since October of 22 (45 pounds lost), but I could not have said this better myself. All of it!
I have a scale at home, and one at work. When people at work see me weighing food, they often ask me "what diet I'm on." No diet--it's just what I do to stay at or near my goal weight (within my 5 pound window).
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Every time I re-visit this thread I'm inspired.9
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I have lost once from 90 KG to 55 KG in 6 to 9 Months then maintained for 2 Y . End of 2 Y was 65 plus KG then became within few months again 90 KG .
Lost this time in 6 to 9 Months ….
From 90 to 55 to 52 KG….
Have maintained at same weight for 1 Y.
This time making some effort to look at what I eat and move around.
Height 5*4 or 5*5
Staying skinny after losing so many kg
Is so important
There is no point to lose kg and gain even 1 kg back
Or even 1 pound.
Food is tasty and should fuel the body for energy
Never be used to deposit fat in body
Walk really helps if willing to Walk
Please maintain weight
Eat less
Steps more and more if possible….
Food : low quantity
Exercise : walk best friend5 -
For me regular weight and circumference logging has been key. If the numbers consistently go in an unfavorable direction I know it’s time to tighten things up for a while to course correct.3
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So much good advice here!2
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Complacency kills. Maybe you haven't had your wake-up call. It usually takes not feeling good, pain, and getting uncomfortable enough, before we do something. Complacency is not OK. We like to self-indulge ourselves in almost every area of our lives. We've become greedy.
We want it all and guess what, we can't have it all. Great things take a good amount of work. We can prioritize our finances. We know how to get out of bed every single morning, so we can make it to work. We don't want to govern ourselves with food, so we become complacent. It kills our momentum.
We have to show UP for our life with a quiver of arrows, all our hard-learned life lessons, and an open heart. We have to make a deep commitment to improve our life and quality of health.
Old habits die hard. They cast very long shadows, even in the early morning hours. Complacency says that you have no power over food. Food is so powerful that you can't rein in your portions or snacks or drinks. Food habits have put you into a chokehold and you can't ever get free. That's a lie, to keep you down.
It comes at a tremendous cost. Some order out of that food chaos must be imposed. Dogs know where invisible boundaries are in their yard. They're happy with humans moderating their portions. We can train ourselves. We are not powerless with food. Believing that means we can never be fixed. Complacency is not our friend.
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Hiawassee88 wrote: »Complacency kills. Maybe you haven't had your wake-up call. It usually takes not feeling good, pain, and getting uncomfortable enough, before we do something. Complacency is not OK. We like to self-indulge ourselves in almost every area of our lives. We've become greedy.
We want it all and guess what, we can't have it all. Great things take a good amount of work. We can prioritize our finances. We know how to get out of bed every single morning, so we can make it to work. We don't want to govern ourselves with food, so we become complacent. It kills our momentum.
We have to show UP for our life with a quiver of arrows, all our hard-learned life lessons, and an open heart. We have to make a deep commitment to improve our life and quality of health.
Old habits die hard. They cast very long shadows, even in the early morning hours. Complacency says that you have no power over food. Food is so powerful that you can't rein in your portions or snacks or drinks. Food habits have put you into a chokehold and you can't ever get free. That's a lie, to keep you down.
It comes at a tremendous cost. Some order out of that food chaos must be imposed. Dogs know where invisible boundaries are in their yard. They're happy with humans moderating their portions. We can train ourselves. We are not powerless with food. Believing that means we can never be fixed. Complacency is not our friend.
Golden. Thank you for writing this today. You've eloquently expressed what I've been ruminating on and battling within.3 -
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I get on the scale every morning. It keeps me focused on the goal. I also record the weight in a journal with a few comments about challenges or successes.7
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So I have been in maintenance now since Oct 2017. I guess that makes me a longer time maintainer?
The one thing I think that has been surprising to me is how much CHANGE there really is even at this stage. For some reason I sort of always had this thought or perception that once I got to maintenance and the initial year or so of "figuring it out" was done that the boat would be clear sailing and the path would be straight.
Well the path at least for me. Is not. It is a series of smaller course corrections and changes but I guess that is all that life is about anyway? So I guess my insight to how do you do it is different now that I would have said in 2019 or 2020 or 2021. Then I would have said to make sure to log, weigh, measure, and keep track of "things"
Now I would say that maintenance is more about looking at the longer trends and making adjustments along the way. Setting different goals than just a scale # and being flexible in your approach to this stage.
For me it may always be a struggle since I tend to have a binge personality (whatever that is), but it is definitely worth it.5 -
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I weigh in daily and adjust accordingly...
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DayByDayGetStronger wrote: »There is a great book I read called "Thin for Life". It gives great examples of how people maintained their weight loss over years. My best advice? Make MFP part of your life just like checking your email, voicemail, and bank balance, etc every day.
What I tell my patients who want to lose weight and maintain is this:
Think of tracking your intake and exercise is like tracking your checking account. Would you ever go to a store and swipe your debit card without ever knowing what your balance is to spend or what the price of the item your buying is? Eating without tracking is exactly this.
Who would ever go to Best Buy and just start writing a check for the prettiest washer and dryer or fanciest computer just because you were "hungry to have one"? Blind eating is just like blind spending.
Would any of us irresponsibly ask the question, "Hey when can I stop checking my balance at the bank? It's getting old seeing how much money I have or don't have every day . I just want to relax and spend freely and assume that I have unlimited funds available". Or how about, "Hey, I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks...can't I just blow a bunch of cash that I don't have and just worry about the overdraft fees later when I get home?"
I would hope not.
Your friendly Registered Dietitian
OMG! That is exactly how I think about money! It takes a great deal of discipline for me to respect my budget.....same goes for my food budget, it takes serious discipline. I've discovered that discipline is not a bad word, it just means: make a choice and do it. I'm 60 years old and we have money in the bank and I'm am the lightest I have ever been since I was 14 yrs old. Because I decided to do this, no tricks, no magic, just "I'm doing this"8 -
Daily weighing. Once per week measure waist, shoulders and neck. Return to tracking when weight creeps above 183lbs. Train 3-5x per week. Active daily...3
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I don’t buy bigger clothes! I weigh myself and watch how my clothing fits. If anything gets too snug.. time to work.
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I am pretty new to MFP. I had used it briefly 2 years ago then stopped, but decided to pick it up again this New Years of 2025. I don’t have huge amount lose and I am nearing my goal weight where I want to stay for life. Reading these posts on maintenance is very helpful for planning ahead. I’m very comfortable with the idea of continuing to log indefinitely and this is a good time start working on spreading more exercise sessions over the week. Also I’m happy to hear the importance of weight lifting, sine I’ve been increasingly into this over the past year working with a fitness trainer.3
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Been maintaining (from a 335lb weight loss) for 12 years, now. My tips:
• Water - I easily clear 90 oz a day. I have a 35oz Yeti tumbler that I keep next to me all day, every day, full of ice water and it gets filled at least 3 times a day, but usually 4 times.
• Protein, Vegetables, then Carbs (if I have room) - That is how I consume my food. Whatever is on my plate, I always consume the protein and vegetables first (leaning on the protein as the first priority), and if I'm still hungry, I'll have -a little bit- carbohydrate. Most nights, Dinner consists of simply a protein and a vegetable; No carbohydrate at all. Easy Peasy.
• Walking is highly underrated. I go on at least 1 walk a day, equaling a distance of at least 1.25 miles each, and I try to keep my speed up to a quick walk (but not a 'Speed Walk').
• Macro Goals and Food Tracking - Everyone's macro goals will be different; Food is fuel, and fuels differ. My body won't run on exactly the same thing that yours does. It'll take a lot of time and experimentation for you to figure out how much of each macro will work best for you to keep your energy up, your labs healthy, and your weight stable. With time and effort, you really CAN figure out what YOUR necessary macros are.
I hope this helps!!
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