When does it END?

thewolfman

hey all,

so it's been my habit in the past to need an end for every task. to start a project, complete it, leave it and move on to the next one. my problem now is that i've lost the weight i wanted to lose, i'm back to my premarital weight. but i'm not really satisfied yet. though it may be some kind of phantom-fat phenomena (i still feel fat even though i've obviously lost most of it) that keeps me thinking i should lose more... my mind plays tricks like this on me.

just curious how you handled successfully making the switch from losing to maintaining? i'm afraid of gaining all my weight back! when i train with weights i get crazy hungry and i'm also on day 5 of quitting smoking, so having some serious cravings to deal with as a result, and trying hard not to just eat away those cravings...

any tips? what kinds of goals do you set for yourself after reaching the first goal of losing the weight? do you consider reaching that first goal as an end or do you continue to use MFP every day? do you count and log your calories as an every day lifestyle kinda thing or do you relax with it? is there ever a point in all of this where you consider yourself to have "arrived"? do you go from checking the scale to checking body fat calipers? what keeps you going? and how do you keep yourself from relapsing?

BTW if you're interested, you can check out my before/afters on my profile, here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/photos/view/55923

cardbucfan

I"m right there with you. I have met my goal weight but know I still have fat to lose so I'm trying to adjust my mindset away from the scale (which I still check daily) and away from calories burned over to how do I look both naked and in my clothes-and even though I look good and get tons of compliments, it's really hard to change that mindset! I'm making an appointment with a trainer at my gym to do a complete body assessment so I can start focusing on body fat % and measurements. I'm gonna have her help me with a plan to really work those problem areas that I still have and when we spoke this morning she was reminding me of the benefits of serious strength training (I do some now, but it's really secondary to my cardio workouts). As far as logging and tracking, this will be a lifelong thing for me. It keeps me honest and on track and I've worked too hard to stop tracking. Good luck, it's a real challenge!

rileysowner

I'm not there yet, although after 80 pounds there are only 10 remaining to my weight goal so I am speaking about what I expect. I expect I will be very tentative about maintenance calories with the same worry you have of gaining weight. I have already (since getting within 15 pounds of my goal) started to raise my calorie budget in anticipation of going on maintenance calories. I enjoy working out a lot, especially since discovering Metabolic Resistance Training. I expect I will keep that up and probably incorporate some weight training with the specific goal of building muscle, although I have a decent amount of muscle on me (hidden by the fat) I think I will want to work to get my body proportions as close to the Adonis Index as I can (google that if you want to find out what it is--the female version is the Venus Index for those interested). That will likely be my goal after losing the weight, other than not to put the fat back on. This leads to my suggestion. Pick another health goal, not weight related, that you will strive for. Then you have something else to keep you working out and paying attention to maintaining the healthy lifestyle you have started.

Oh, I also expect that counting calories will probably be something I need to do all my life as I don't think the healthy lifestyle will become so natural to me that I can go through life and not go back to eating too much and mainly the wrong thing. Thankfully MFP makes that easy, and when I upgrade my phone I will go for an android phone so I can log wherever I am.

thewolfman

meeting with a trainer to make a new plan sounds like a great idea, i may have to do that! and i think i'll be sticking with logging too, kind of addicted to it now anyway

JayClitherow

Wow the wolf man, your before and after shots are brilliant, an inspiration to us all, what was and is your waistsize?

As for the what to do now, just enjoy it I guess, I have never quite made it all the way to my goal weight, but once I get there my next goal will be definition, I will want to gain some muscle especially around the abdominal area, although allot of the resistance training I am doing at the moment, should see benifits anyway once the layer of flab has been removed.

I would say that MFP can still be a good tool at the end, to keep tabs on your food, as now you will need to eat to maintain, too little food and you will be low on energy and begin to consume your muscle mass, to much and back on we go.

But really well done, and good luck with the next "Project" )

Fitness and Health as a project will never end, it is ongoing for the rest of your life, the goals will just change a little as continue on.

Jay.

Onesnap

Once I've gotten to my old size I plan on using MFP to maintain. I know what works for me, and how to stay at the weight I need to be. I think without MFP it would be too easy to get off track again.

thewolfman

rileysowner: havin a difficult time finding an Adonis Index calculator... but seems like something to look into!

JayClitherow: my waist size was 44/46 and is now 33/34. and i agree with you about Fitness and Health, this "task" probably won't have an end. guess i just gotta find a way to make it fun! gonna start playing soccer again this year so that's definitely gonna help!

Onesnap: yep, MFP is pretty sweet! i think i'll be sticking with it!

SommerJo

I'm just starting towards my goal -- but I wanted to comment on the task list. I'm the same way -- I want to finish something and move one -- I'm not great with ongoing "chores". I wonder since you met your goal (and look super awesome btw) can you make new goals such as adding inches of muscle? I guess that only applies if you want to beef up.

But congrats!!!

thewolfman

thanks SommerJo, i don't really wanna beef up, i'm playin soccer and want to stay agile

i think i'm gonna go with rileysowner's Adonis Index recommendation. just measured myself for it:
70" tall, 33" waist and 51" shoulders.

looks like i'll be gunning for a 1" increase in shoulders and a 1" decrease in waist to get to my "Golden Ratio" proportions. i'm an artist, this method's really got me inspired!

kdiamond

First off, congrats! THat's a great accomplishment and you look terrific!!

When I lost all my excess baby and "happy" weight back in 2005, I decided I never wanted to be back there and I liked being hot! So mentally, it became a game plan. I continued exercising almost every day, changed it up, joined Crossfit (LOVE it), started educating myself on cooking healthy, etc., and it just became a good and pleasant routine!! Now if I don't get my workout in, I just don't feel right, like I didn't wash my face before going to bed.

It has to be a mental thing, however, the rewards that come with it are well worth it!!

thewolfman

thanks kdiamond! and i see what you mean about "being hot", you're definitely rockin it haha!

i'm makin it a mental thing as we speak! i don't ever wanna go through this again

ScatteredWriter

I lost a lot of weight (50 lbs) about 10 years ago. I did really good keeping it off by setting fitness-oriented goals for myself - I like to run so I kept up with that and trained for 5ks, etc.

For me, it was simple to keep the weight off, as there wasn't a lot of calorie wiggle room even on maintenance - I'm only 5'1", so my maintenance calories (without exercise) are less than 2,000. I logged for several months after reaching my goal, just so I had a really good understanding of what maintenance looked like, and while I could splurge here and there without an issue, I could never go back to my old habits or the pounds would come back.

In the end, that's what did me in. I stopped exercising and forgot what it felt like to eat like a thin person. And now I'm back to where I started. In my defense, I kept that weight off for 8+ years, and only started losing control when my marriage and the rest of my life completely blew up. I was focused on other things!

This time, I plan to log for awhile after I hit maintenance, and then keep running. I want to run marathons and that training should keep me happily in shape and on track with eating. I also plan to hit the scale weekly forever - and the minute I go more than 3-4 lbs over my normal, I'm logging again til I'm back on track.

thewolfman

it's nuts how huge a role stress plays on your health hey ScatteredWriter?! i'm hoping the universe is treating you better these days! been experiencing marital troubles lately through a couple of my siblings, divorce and splitups etc.. not interested in ever dealing with that myself!!

awesome that you're back at it though! all the best! i lost around 20 or so pounds a couple years back and gained almost all of it back before comin on here, so i kinda know the feeling... like it says in your sig,"regret is an appalling waste of energy..." let's rather divert that energy to getting what we want instead!

dls06

When they close the lid!!

shreddingit

I just say theres always room for perfection...if you love fitness it will never end...we will grow older our hormones will change (especially for women) so we gotta stay on top of it....I dont freak so much about food anymore but stay focused on my exercise.

thewolfman

holy smokes, nice abs ms. shredder! whatever you're doin is working, keep it up!

definitely dig being fit and keepin active but i gotta come up with somethin to keep me active over the winters, i love soccer and we have winter 6-8 months of the year here... maybe i'll get into the local basketball league... or x-country skiing, snowshoeing, hmmm...

JeanneTops

I've been there too - gaining back all the weight - over and over again. And this time, I've been struggling with how frightened I am of doing it again.

This week I officially entered the "last 10 pounds" stage. But it hit me - this is the 10 pounds I wish I had stopped at the last time I started regaining.

So now I'm calling it "the first 10 pounds". After all, I did regain the weight - from the last time - and this is the first 10 pounds I regained. Since I'm all revved up about logging and exercising, my approach now is to take myself mentally back to the last time and view this as the best "do-over" chance I could possibly have! That way, when I lose it, it isn't "I'm scared of regaining", it's "I stopped re-gaining and I'm back at goal again". It's a mental game but from the MFP maintenance threads, it seems that mental fitness is crucial to maintenance.

rileysowner

The Adonis Index stuff should be somewhere on this site or linked to it. http://www.adonisindex.com

I know there was a better site, but I can't seem to find it any longer. I guess I should have bookmarked it.

thewolfman

found it Jim:

waist = 46% of height (height x .45)
shoulders = waist x 1.618

i'm guessing there could be more to it, but this is a great basic formula to work with

skylar1907

I strongly recommend logging everything the same but setting the 'goal' on MFP to holding your current weight or losing less per week (so that the calorie counts are right) for 6 months of steady weight (staying around your goal w/in 0-5lbs) and not leaving MFP for at least that long. Your body needs time to adjust as you transition and MFP is well-built to help you not just with the weight loss, but also with keeping the weight loss permanent.