What does Maintainence have to be so d@mn hard!

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  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    Maintenance IS gaining and losing the same 5 pounds over and over again.

    This is pretty much my view. I have a three pound window that I allow myself to fluctuate within (that may not sound like much but I'm small). When I get to top of my allowable range, it's time to buckle down.

    Me too. And that's the strategy that the weight loss registry says works really well long term. I'm 5'10", but 3 pounds really is my normal bounce now. Not really any more than that.
  • melham
    melham Posts: 233 Member
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    If I ever get to maintenance, I'll commiserate. I've been trying to hit maintenance for two months, but keep losing. Now officially down to the "underweight" category. Yeah, when I fantasized about this before it looked a lot less bony and more like some uber-hot Victoria's Secret runway show. Now? Pretty much just looks like I need a cheeseburger. Oh, well.

    Sounds like a little exercise (lifting) would do wonders for you. And get you hungry enough to eat the cheeseburger.

    I found last week I had a really hot top on, which my husband loved. And then I realized I have a new area of 'blubby' fat around the armpit that resulted from another pound lost without enough muscle gained.
    Thanks for that! I agree. I am finally getting back into my regular sport, rock climbing, three times a week. I was out with an injury for six weeks. Between that and losing a considerable amount of weight before, during and since, I managed to lose a lot of muscle. Once I've been back on the walls for a few more weeks the weight loss should stop. If I'm really lucky, I'll start to regain the muscle I've lost. If I could get back a pound or two of lean muscle in the next three or four months, I would be over the moon. In the meantime, I think I might just eat a cheeseburger!
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
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    I agree! Yesterday I went way over my calorie goal and the day before I went under. I seem to alternate high and low calorie days, but the way things are stacking up, I will eventually gain if I keep at it. Plus I only had 5 lbs really to lose, so I have less to play with. :ohwell:
  • FrnkLft
    FrnkLft Posts: 1,821 Member
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    Everyone has said this... but my bodyweight fluctuates by as much as 4 lbs and I'm still cutting... Don't sweat it.
  • steffij100
    steffij100 Posts: 85 Member
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    For all you guys who are at maintenance- when you hit your target or ideal weight, did you then carry on a couple of pounds below, so that your ideal weight became the average of this 3-5lb window? I know there's an interesting thread on this which someone has kindly posted above, but just wondering.
  • Knsclptr30
    Knsclptr30 Posts: 38
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    It shouldn't be if you carb cycle and or do the zig zag diet approach
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    For all you guys who are at maintenance- when you hit your target or ideal weight, did you then carry on a couple of pounds below, so that your ideal weight became the average of this 3-5lb window? I know there's an interesting thread on this which someone has kindly posted above, but just wondering.

    I don't use my weight as my goal. My weight is a result of the functions- not part of the equation.

    I set my calories based on my goals. Do I want to cut- bulk or maintain? For my cut this summer- I was cutting for a photoshoot... the visual results were the only thing that mattered- I didn't know what weight it would be- or where I would wind up- the goal was a set DATE. so the weight- was largely irrelevant- it only served to help keep my TDEE on a cut- rather than leveling out once I'd lost some weight (happened- lost a whole 6 weeks to maintance when i thought I was cutting- I'd just evened out- it was sad)

    I think way WAY to many people see the weight as a huge part of the equation- and when you get to a point about maintenance- I feel like you shouldn't be worried about weight loss- you are focused on what your muscles and body are doing. yes you are looking at weight- but only because of body fat- not because weight is the number. At that poing you know XXX weight means you are around XX bf%. Verses someone else who is just trying to be XXX weight because it's how much they weighed in high school.

    Despite cutting and loosing weight being the exact same thing (in principle) the general goal/movement behind them are different. Someone cutting is doing so for a very specific reason... while some one who is 'just trying to lose weight' is usually just trying to stop being fat.

    And neither is good nor bad- they are what they are. I don't allow my physical number to determine anything. I can tell via visual abs- and other muscle definition if the cutting is working- I can tell when it's nto- I'm getting smaller and my lifts aren't increasing.

    The number is just a number. it's to help me track- it's not what I'm aiming for- I don't care. I have goals to look a certain way- and to pull certain lifts- both of those are coupled with bulking/cut/maintain cycles.

    I'm not sure if that helped at all- but my weight is largely irrelevant to me. It's simple a reflection/function of the rest of what i'm doing rather than a goal or something to aim for really.
  • steffij100
    steffij100 Posts: 85 Member
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    Understand what you are saying Jo. I think you're right, once one gets to, or close to, maintenance, the way one feels and looks is at least as important as the scale (though obviously the scale got many people there in the first place). That's also part of my thought process now. However, I think I would find it hard to totally let go of the scale number as a) I'm quite target driven! and b) to be honest, the weight I have lost has been more vanity pounds than actually really needing too, as I wasn't exactly overweight to start with. In other words, I don't have an awful lot to play with if I start creeping up again, and I feel good at my target weight. That said, if any weight which goes back on is (hopefully!) a bit more muscle than fat, than maybe I won't mind!

    Thanks for your thoughts :smile:
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
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    For all you guys who are at maintenance- when you hit your target or ideal weight, did you then carry on a couple of pounds below, so that your ideal weight became the average of this 3-5lb window? I know there's an interesting thread on this which someone has kindly posted above, but just wondering.

    No, I didn't. I hit my goal weight and then kept on doing what I was doing, only with more wiggle room diet-wise. I don't have to work very hard to maintain in this range. I've been above it one, below it once (stressful job change time resulted in some loss I knew wouldn't last). I did not bounce up immediately once I hit that weight, because I had been increasing calories gradually for months prior. I was only eating slightly below maintenance at that point. There was no big glycogen refill needed ;)

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