let's hear it for maintainenance

This thread has been really helpful.

I hit (passed) my goal I think four or five weeks ago. I have been increasing my calories each week, so now I am up to 300 more in food calories and 100 less in exercise calories, so an added 400, and I am still loosing weight. Its not rapid but it is still happening. Its been really interesting watching the calorie number go up but my butt shrink haha. I think maybe I will take another day off exercising to see if that levels the loss off.

This is a helpful tip, as far as adding calories back little by little and reducing exercise a bit. Thanks!

Bump, for future reading

Bumping for later. Reached goal a few weeks ago and am scared to eat!! Still at a wee deficit and losing a bit, but plan to balance that with heavy lifting. (5"6', 129 lb,)

Bump to read later x

I have been maintaining since late August. It is a different way of thinking. I do not log food every day, but I do record everything least a few times a week just to make sure I don't excessive over OR under eat. I do log ALL exercise (that habit I want to keep and hold myself accountable) and I do log in and check on my friends every day at least for a minute. I know I have still lost inches since some of my new clothes are a bit loose, but my weight is actually stable. It takes some getting used to when you swing 3-4 pounds in a week and it is just a normal variation and not actual loss or gain. I try and think about things more on a weekly basis than on a daily basis when I was losing weight. I am at 5' 3" and 130, and at the age of 50 I will take that.

i am maintaining!!

I lost 95 pounds in 20 months and have been maintaining for 16 months. This is my 3rd MFP anniversary.

I'm 5'6", I weigh between 145 and 149 and I'm about to turn 61.

I track what I eat every day faithfully as I eat it. I either run, swim, bike or elliptical every day for at least an hour.

How you maintain has a lot to do with how you gained weight in the first place. I can only speak for myself - I started gaining weight when I was in high school and I spent the next forty years at an unhealthy and obese BMI. There were some significant weight loss diets in there where I got down to where I am now and there were equal weight gains which took me back.

I'm not that careful about my exact calories but I keep to between 1800 - 2200. I weigh myself daily but I only record it once a week. It fluctuates within this four pound range. When I'm at the top of it, I'm extra careful about what I eat and I try to say "no" more often.

I'd love to lose another five pounds - I did this summer when I was in training for a sprint triathalon. I figure I'll probably lose it again next summer when I go back into training.

Maintenance is harder than losing because:

1. You exercise all the same self-restraint that you do when losing and it doesn't get much easier to do;

2. You don't get any of the thrills of losing - no lower numbers, no smaller clothes, no excited compliments. You and everybody else get used to the way you look. Life becomes normal.

3. There is skin sagging somewhere on your body.

4. Life has the same hard/sad/devastating moments that it always has. You can't comfort eat your way through them anymore so you have to find new strengths.

On the other hand,

1. You never look in the mirror, see a photo, catch a glimpse of your reflection and have that automatic cringe response. Lots and lots of times, you have a "looking good!" response.

2. You feel great physically. Your doctor loves you. You can read every article on "how to eat healthily" and think, "Yup. Got that one." You have bursts of joy when you run/bike/swim or just move. You don't get out of breath unless you want to get out of breath. You start taking up activities that never even crossed your mind before just to see if you'd enjoy them.

3. You have deep down pride in yourself. You're living life the way it is meant to be lived. You start applying what you learned about yourself to your other problems. You start owning your life.

To have those last three, I'll log every bite I eat and work out every day for the rest of my life. With a song in my heart.

Jeanne

I have been maintaining for 5 months now. What helps is always being aware what my clothes feel like when I put then on: like are they tighter than last time or looser or the same. I weigh myself 1x a week. I MAKE SURE I LOG INTO MFP.

This is great to see. I've been pretty successful at losing, now that I've set my mind to it. I'm terrified about getting to maintenance! So terrified, in fact, that as I've approached my goal weight I've dropped it by 5 lbs a couple of times now just so that I can delay maintenance! I know that the hard work is not going to end when I achieve my goal, but there's definitely a mindset about it to which I will need to adjust!

I've been at maintenance since July/August but like others have mentioned I too lost a couple "extra" pounds trying to find that magic number. I generally fluctuate 3 pounds a month and weigh myself once a week. I still log every day but I'm not as strict with my logging (if I eat a handful of pretzels I might not log it). I generally net between 1700 and 2300 a day depending on my exercise for that day. I generally do cardio 3-4 days a week, lift 2-3 days a week and do yoga 1 day a week. I'm 35 and am 5'5".

Bump...need to check the responses when I have more time. I've been struggling with this for a couple of months now.

I always choose to maintain during the holidays. Trying to lose, with all of the dinner parties, happy hours and lovely treats, it is just unrealistic for me to continue losing. That is a choice, or course.

I just stick to around the same calorie goal as when I'm trying to lose, with about a 300 cal wiggle room, and maintain at least 4 work outs a week. Maintaining is self control. If you don't have it, continue to log. If you do, than you'll be just fine.

I it my goal of 170 in late September. Because of massive ours at work, I dropped to 162 a few weeks later. I have been maintianing since then.

It is nice to have that 8 pounds to play with. I am currently up to 165. I weigh myself once a week. It fluctuates a pound or two, up or down, every week. I just eat the way I want and stay within my calories. If I feel I gained too much weight, I adjust accordingly to get back down to my weight.

Bump

I lost 110 pounds by my one year anniversary on MFP. I will be celebrating my 2nd MFP anniversary in two weeks. Solid maintenance for a year now. I would like to lose another 10 but I am pleased that I have held onto the loss with no gains and I'm eating more freely without logging food daily.