Reaching maintenance - your experience

imtriagain

Hi. I've switched over to maintenance last week. Although I upped my cals, I still didn't eat all my maintenance / exercise cals (most but still found it hard mentally to up it) and lost another 200g. It takes a bit of getting my head around moving into maintenance. Part of me is worried that if I put on weight, and then have to drop cals later down the track to lose weight, I'll struggle to go back to dropping the additional calories that I am now eating.

I am the lightest I have been for YEARS, and I still can't quite believe I have managed to get where I have got with my weight, and it's taking a bit of a mental shift to realise that I CAN maintain this weight now. Honestly though, even if I do put on a bit of weight on, I wouldn't be unhappy.

I'd love to hear your experience of moving into maintenance. Were you able to maintain your weight? Did you have to move back into losing a down the track? Did it take you long to make the switch from losing to maintenance?

Anyway, would love to read other's stories of moving into maintenance if you are willing to share.

Breadbar

I'm new to maintenance as well. After a lifetime of yo-yo dieting I find maintenance an unknown territory. It feels uncomfortable adding calories so I am adding very slowly. Although I weigh myself nearly daily, I evaluate weekly. I am patiently learning my comfortable balance of exercise & calories. I expect to have to alter the balance as other factors impact my lifestyle. I'll be adding longer walks/hikes in the warmer weather, my work schedule impacts amount of exercise time available, etc. I've never before been in this position of not wanting to lose a single pound more but I continue to log every bite and still strive to improve the quality of my food choices & work to take my exercise up to the next level - so there is still plenty for me to work on! It's exciting and frightening - will I master maintenance or will I go back on my lifetime road of re-gaining? Have I learned enough? Is my new lifestyle stable or temporary? I'm grateful to be in the position of finding the answers!

Flissbo

bump - I'm interested in this too. Well done on coming this far!