Scared to enter maintenance??

kimad

Hello,

So as I near my goal, about 7 lbs away, I have all the common fears of maintenance.... how can I eat more and not gain weight, etc.

But a big one for me is that I have never been at an ideal weight so I really only know how to be fat or on a 'diet' (I do consider this a lifestyle change for me now), does that make sense? I have worked so hard to lose weight that I feel I don't know how to do anything else, maybe I feel like I don't have a direction now when I hit my goal??. Maybe there are some underlying fears I will gain back?? This probaby sounds ridiculous to most of you, but someone has to get where I am coming from!!

I guess this is a new phase of the journey, discovering myself as this new person who is healthy.. obvisously I need to work hard to maintain, but it's just so odd to me. Maybe I just never thought I would come this far, but so proud of myself for being able too. The self esteem and confidence, along with alot of other internal changes was worth everything.

It's all so scary and exciting at the same time. Sorry I had a hard time protraying this across, but I look forward to other people's experience.

ETA: any tips for entering maintenance would also be very much appreciated.

NovemberJune

I understand completely!!! I can't really give advice but I did go ahead and up my calories from 1600 to 1800 a few weeks ago to ease slowly into maintenance. Good luck!

mcarter99

Ah, congrats on your success! I totally understand. I pretty much have failed maintenance twice now. But I maintain longer and rebound shorter each time!

Don't see it as the end of the vigilance, just a loosening of the limits. Work out less if you want, eat more if you want. I'd recommend keeping an eye on things and not thinking you can wing it. Good luck!

waldenfam2

Congrats, and I completely understand. I'm 17 lbs away from goal weight and I really can't believe it. When I log my weight sometimes I still enter it as 190 something instead of the 160 something that I am, lol. I've been trying to up my calories for a while now to ease myself into maintenance, but since the kids have been out of school my schedules been off and I haven't been eating enough. Hopefully I'll get it back in line in the next few days.

I think, when going into maintenance, it's important to listen to your body. Which really is what we should be doing along this journey. When you work harder it's okay to eat more, your body needs the fuel. When we don't, it's okay to eat less. Sometimes I find that I'm more hungry the day after I've really worked out hard, and I listen to my body. I feed it (within reason of course). Just remember that this is a lifetime journey not a quick fix to lose weight, and you'll do fine. Start upping your calories some now and slowly over the next few weeks/months to allow your body to adjust to the additional food. After a while you'll find that sweet spot between gaining and losing

Good luck!

kimad

Thank you everyone, you have all done so wonderful.

Right now I eat around 1300 cals a day and cheat on Friday.... (sometimes Saturday but I have tried to get that out!!)
I don't eat back my exercise calories, and this has workd really well for me.

I have actually decided to start slowing uping my calories, but since my kids summer schedules are stupid, I haven't been at the gym as much as usual so I have put that on hold for a couple more weeks. (working out less, eating more scares me).

A dietician I work with said that I should sit down and really be honest with myself about how much I eat on a cheat day -- maybe I don't need to make too much adjustments becuase those extra cals might, on a weekly outlook, be enough. Phew that probably didn't make sense typing it out.

Anyways eating 1600 cals a day SCARES ME, but maybe I can work myself up there.

Thanks again everyone your kinds words mean alot. I guess the journey never really is over, it just changes

kimad

Ah, congrats on your success! I totally understand. I pretty much have failed maintenance twice now. But I maintain longer and rebound shorter each time!

Don't see it as the end of the vigilance, just a loosening of the limits. Work out less if you want, eat more if you want. I'd recommend keeping an eye on things and not thinking you can wing it. Good luck!

Good luck to you...
I have definately been loosening the limits in the last month or so, haven't been losing as fast, but since I am enjoying life it has been ok!!!

MisterTEZ

it's all about finding the right balance, I found it's the same as trying to lose weight you need to work out what's best for you and it's the same with trying to maintain. when I started maintenance, I upped my cals and soon put on 3 pounds.

I set a deficit of 500 cals a day until I lost the 3 pounds and then gradually introduced more cals and kept up a routine of regular exercise, I was then able to find the right amount of cals with exercise to maintain properly.

It's a bit like repairing an engine, (losing the weight) then fine tuning it (maintaining) until it runs smoothly

heddylyn

I can 100 percent relate to your dilemma. I have been in maintenance for about a year. I was scared to death to up my calories when I reached my goal. I played around with the numbers for awhile and have managed to stay within a 3 pound weight range (give or take for TOM, etc.). The thing that has worked for me personally is to set my activity level to sedentary. Then I feel like I'm able to eat back my exercise calories and not feel deprived. I feel like leaving my activity level at sedentary gives me some wiggle room to play around with. (Having two VERY energetic children and a pretty busy lifestyle I am definitely not sedentary!) There are days when I am hungrier than others and I just try really hard to listen to my body and really think about whether I am truly hungry or if there is some other reason why I want to eat more. Being in tune with my emotional eating was a major turning point in my weight loss journey. Now I look at eating as a way of giving my body what it needs to be able to do the things I do as far as fitness is concerned instead of seeing it as something that terrifies me to do. Also, personally for me, continuing to log in to MFP every day and tracking my exercise and food has really worked for me. I know some people find it cumbersome to continue tracking after they have reached their goal but I just don't feel comfortable not tracking and slowly slipping back into my old habits. Congratulations on reaching your goals! What an amazing accomplishment!

mangorabbit

Hi there!

I completely understand where the OP is coming from. For the first time, at the beginning of June, I hit my goal weight and it seemed to stay. I continued eating my usual caloric amount for about a week, nervous about the idea of upping it - since then I have sucked it up and set my profile to maintenance (a victorious yet terrifying moment) ...so far so good. Granted, I find that right now it is sometimes a bit of effort (ha!) to get to the 1600 MFP sets me at, and there are days where I don't quite get there, but coming up from 1200, it is nice to not have to be quite so rigid about my food choices/amounts. (Often I end up with enough leeway for an ounce of cashews or walnuts as my evening snack...which is like heaven for me. ^_^)

Anyhoo, it is scary, but stay vigilant, opt for a balance, and you can do this! (WE can do this!)

kimad

I can 100 percent relate to your dilemma. I have been in maintenance for about a year. I was scared to death to up my calories when I reached my goal. I played around with the numbers for awhile and have managed to stay within a 3 pound weight range (give or take for TOM, etc.). The thing that has worked for me personally is to set my activity level to sedentary. Then I feel like I'm able to eat back my exercise calories and not feel deprived. I feel like leaving my activity level at sedentary gives me some wiggle room to play around with. (Having two VERY energetic children and a pretty busy lifestyle I am definitely not sedentary!) There are days when I am hungrier than others and I just try really hard to listen to my body and really think about whether I am truly hungry or if there is some other reason why I want to eat more. Being in tune with my emotional eating was a major turning point in my weight loss journey. Now I look at eating as a way of giving my body what it needs to be able to do the things I do as far as fitness is concerned instead of seeing it as something that terrifies me to do. Also, personally for me, continuing to log in to MFP every day and tracking my exercise and food has really worked for me. I know some people find it cumbersome to continue tracking after they have reached their goal but I just don't feel comfortable not tracking and slowly slipping back into my old habits. Congratulations on reaching your goals! What an amazing accomplishment!

Thank you, I totally agree, I doubt I will ever be able to leave MFP and the logging It really does keep you accountable.
If you don't mind me asking, how many cals a day do you normally eat?

kimad

Hi there!

I completely understand where the OP is coming from. For the first time, at the beginning of June, I hit my goal weight and it seemed to stay. I continued eating my usual caloric amount for about a week, nervous about the idea of upping it - since then I have sucked it up and set my profile to maintenance (a victorious yet terrifying moment) ...so far so good. Granted, I find that right now it is sometimes a bit of effort (ha!) to get to the 1600 MFP sets me at, and there are days where I don't quite get there, but coming up from 1200, it is nice to not have to be quite so rigid about my food choices/amounts. (Often I end up with enough leeway for an ounce of cashews or walnuts as my evening snack...which is like heaven for me. ^_^)

Anyhoo, it is scary, but stay vigilant, opt for a balance, and you can do this! (WE can do this!)

Good luck!! I don't know what my maintenance calories would be, I think more than 1600... and I would be coming up from 1300 so I feel you!!! I have done 1200-1300 for so long I can feel completely satisified on it.. So finding room for 300 more would be a challenge. Congrats on your success.
ETA - my maintenance cals are 1980 OMG! no way I can or will eat that

heddylyn

I can 100 percent relate to your dilemma. I have been in maintenance for about a year. I was scared to death to up my calories when I reached my goal. I played around with the numbers for awhile and have managed to stay within a 3 pound weight range (give or take for TOM, etc.). The thing that has worked for me personally is to set my activity level to sedentary. Then I feel like I'm able to eat back my exercise calories and not feel deprived. I feel like leaving my activity level at sedentary gives me some wiggle room to play around with. (Having two VERY energetic children and a pretty busy lifestyle I am definitely not sedentary!) There are days when I am hungrier than others and I just try really hard to listen to my body and really think about whether I am truly hungry or if there is some other reason why I want to eat more. Being in tune with my emotional eating was a major turning point in my weight loss journey. Now I look at eating as a way of giving my body what it needs to be able to do the things I do as far as fitness is concerned instead of seeing it as something that terrifies me to do. Also, personally for me, continuing to log in to MFP every day and tracking my exercise and food has really worked for me. I know some people find it cumbersome to continue tracking after they have reached their goal but I just don't feel comfortable not tracking and slowly slipping back into my old habits. Congratulations on reaching your goals! What an amazing accomplishment!

Thank you, I totally agree, I doubt I will ever be able to leave MFP and the logging It really does keep you accountable.
If you don't mind me asking, how many cals a day do you normally eat?

Sorry! Just now seeing this. I had maintenance set at sedentary and it put me at 1640. Then I eat back all my exercise calories so on most days I eat around 2000 to 2200. I never thought I could eat that much after being in weight loss mode for so long but I find I need it and I've maintained my weight for about a year now. And since my last post I changed it to "lightly active" because I have been more hungry lately so now I'm at 1760 plus whatever exercise cals I earn. I'll let you know what happens!

dirty_blonde

I failed maintenance miserably last year. Gained back 20 lbs of the almost 60 lbs I lost. But I know where I went wrong. I stopped tracking my food. I thought since I was maintaining I could stop tracking calories. WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!!!!!!!

I know now that I will always have to track my calories. Before I was using the livestrong app and HATED it. Now that I found MFP I think I'll be ok to track forever. I really love the app and I LOVE the social part of it. (looking for friends if your interested)

I am currently 16 lbs away from my previous goal weight of 150. I hope this time with the help of MFP once I reach my goal I can maintain and live a happy life.