How have you kept the weight off?

phdiva12

Hi! I joined MFP in September and have now lost 60 pounds! I'm pretty much at my goal and have been putting alot of thought into keeping the weight off. Actually, I've been a little anxious about it. My question is how long have you kept the weight off and what have you done to maintain it?

khayashi80

bump, I would love to hear!

Goin4goal

Bump. Me too.

olDave

I have counted calories my whole life and maintained. I'm almost 60 now. The times when I neglected to keep track of my calories is when I gained some weight back. I plan to ALWAYS track my net calories.

Good luck.

montana_girl

I have been at goal for about 3 years and I have to say... maintenance ain't easy! It's as hard (if not harder) than losing weight.

For me, I think part of the reason I've been able to keep the weight off is because I lost it slowly, had a lot of setbacks, so I learned what did and did not work for me. I also resolved a lot of the issues that got me to be morbidly obese to begin with.

That being said, I think for me, finding the right balance of calories in/calories out helped a lot. Plus, I focused on goals other than the number on the scale. I now focus more on running and trying new activites whenever I can. In the past year I've tried backpacking, snowshoeing, and Zumba... and found I love all three. This summer, my goal is try kayaking and possibly taking a white water rafting trip with a friend.

Just realizing that the journey is never done is a lot of my mental battle with keeping the weight off. I just had to come to terms with the fact that tracking, exercise, and continuing with my meetings (I'm a WW Lifetime member) is something I need to do forever. But if it keeps the weight off... then I will continue that until the day I die! :happy:

phdiva12

I have counted calories my whole life and maintained. I'm almost 60 now. The times when I neglected to keep track of my calories is when I gained some weight back. I plan to ALWAYS track my net calories.

Good luck.

Thank you~ I agree that keeping track of the calories is going to be critical in maintaining the weight.

phdiva12

I have been at goal for about 3 years and I have to say... maintenance ain't easy! It's as hard (if not harder) than losing weight.

For me, I think part of the reason I've been able to keep the weight off is because I lost it slowly, had a lot of setbacks, so I learned what did and did not work for me. I also resolved a lot of the issues that got me to be morbidly obese to begin with.

That being said, I think for me, finding the right balance of calories in/calories out helped a lot. Plus, I focused on goals other than the number on the scale. I now focus more on running and trying new activites whenever I can. In the past year I've tried backpacking, snowshoeing, and Zumba... and found I love all three. This summer, my goal is try kayaking and possibly taking a white water rafting trip with a friend.

Just realizing that the journey is never done is a lot of my mental battle with keeping the weight off. I just had to come to terms with the fact that tracking, exercise, and continuing with my meetings (I'm a WW Lifetime member) is something I need to do forever. But if it keeps the weight off... then I will continue that until the day I die! :happy:

Congrats on your amazing loss! I like the idea of finding new activities to keep me active and motivated! Your kayaking and white water rafting trip sounds amazing! Thanks for the advice.

skinnyclare

Well done thats a brill loss, Im pretty much at my ideal weight wouldnt mind loosing a bit more but im going to concentrate on maintaining what im at now. I think im just going to carry on pre logging my food for the day and planning each day. Im going on holiday in 6 weeks so that will be a big test for my as its All Inclusive for 2 weeks!!!!

cwolfman13

When I'm maintaining, my diet is pretty much the same as when I'm cutting. I just eat less when I'm cutting and eat a maintenance level of calories when I'm maintaining. I eat the same stuff though...veggies, fruit, healthy fats, lean proteins...only thing that changes is the calorie intake. Diet and fitness should be sustainable, not something you start and stop...that is how you maintain.