Easier to lose weight??

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newguynow
newguynow Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
I find it much easier to lose weight than to maintain my weight. Anyone else agree with this?

I lost 42% of my body weight over an 18 month period. I just went into a calorie deficit and exercised and lost about 1-2 lbs a week. A pretty safe way to lose weight from what I understand.

Of course, I cut out added sugars, saturated fats and stuck to low fat meets, fruits and veggies and whole grains.

But, maintaining my weight is proving to be harder. If you eat too much you gain, if you eat too little you lose. Its like walking a tight rope. I gained back 35 lbs (considering I lost about 140lbs initially) over 2 years but now I have lost 25 of those lbs again.

Ugggh. I feel like I want to stay in a calorie deficit but I don't want to whither away to nothing.

I guess I am just venting.

And wonder how many other are in the same situation.

Replies

  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
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    I found losing weight to be extremely easy too. I'm probably at the point now that I should start to maintain. This part does seem a lot scarier.
  • newguynow
    newguynow Posts: 5
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    Yes, it was VERY scary for me. I had reached my goal weight and I so I started to add back in 100 calories per day 1 week at a time. Like I said, I had been at a calorie defect for about 18 months. I had very much gotten used to it.

    Even adding back the 100 calories per day per week, I still lost an additional 13 lbs before I stabilized.

    My diet was to cut out added sugars, beef and pork (still ate chicken, turkey and fish), processed grains (i switched to whole grains) and ate fruits and veggies. I stuck to this 90% of the time while on the diet for 18 months. Since its not too difficult of a diet to be on even when I got to my target weight, I stayed on it but probably more like 75-80% of the time. I decided I did not have to be so strict. Maybe I should have.

    I still exercised which was mainly walking 3-5 miles per day for a minimum of 5 days per week.

    About every 3-6 months I noticed I had gained 5 lbs..and I thought...it was JUST 5 lbs. Well, after 35 lbs, I realized I was getting close to being officially "overweight" again when I had worked so hard to go from obese to a normal weight.

    So, that is when I finally decided to go back to my full diet mode and lost the additional 25 lbs.

    Weighing yourself every day helps.
  • htimsm87
    htimsm87 Posts: 104 Member
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    I think part of it is motivation. When you are losing weight you have a definite and defined goal you are striving for so the motivation to always log the food and work to get "there" is always present. Once you are maintaining it becomes just a job to log the food with no end in site so the motivation seems to drop off. At least that is what happened to me the first time around..
  • newguynow
    newguynow Posts: 5
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    I think part of it is motivation. When you are losing weight you have a definite and defined goal you are striving for so the motivation to always log the food and work to get "there" is always present. Once you are maintaining it becomes just a job to log the food with no end in site so the motivation seems to drop off. At least that is what happened to me the first time around..

    Makes perfect sense!

    My goal is never to be overweight again. So, that is my new motivation. But, after 5 years, it is tiring to constantly monitor your calories..I have done it off and one since I reached my goal weight initially.
  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
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    Weighing yourself every day helps.

    yeah, my plan is to weigh myself every single day. i feel like i'm getting close to underweight now, so losing too much more would be bad. i don't want to gain either though. i think i'll set a maximum amount that i can gain before i start cutting calories again. maybe 3 pounds.
  • Vercell
    Vercell Posts: 437 Member
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    I no what you mean I have lost weight over and over but i dont no how to maintain
  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
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    I think part of it is motivation. When you are losing weight you have a definite and defined goal you are striving for so the motivation to always log the food and work to get "there" is always present. Once you are maintaining it becomes just a job to log the food with no end in site so the motivation seems to drop off. At least that is what happened to me the first time around..

    Makes perfect sense!

    My goal is never to be overweight again. So, that is my new motivation. But, after 5 years, it is tiring to constantly monitor your calories..I have done it off and one since I reached my goal weight initially.

    I hate logging now too. I'm hoping eating the right amount of calories becomes intuitive like it was when I was younger, but I guess I shouldn't count on that. This is the first time I set out to lose a certain amount of weight and kept track of it consistantly and did it. So mainaining is new to me. When I was younger, I just maintained naturally and was underweight throughout much of my 20's.
  • North44
    North44 Posts: 359 Member
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    Yes I agree 100%. While losing weight is not always easy, maintaining is definitely more difficult in general for me. I have realized that to maintain my weight once I reach my goal I'm going to have to continue tracking and weighing myself. Somewhere along the way I seem to lost the ability to do it on my own.

    It seems like I'm always successful when I'm trying to lose weight but always fail eventually in maintenance! Otherwise, I wouldn't be here now, lol.

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