Please share your number one strategy for maintaining

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  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    Make new goals. Mine are now fitness based.

    Allow yourself a weight range for maintenance.

    Also don't let things start to slide too much. I continue to log every day. I don't think that's necessary for everyone, but you should be aware if your weight starts to creep up so that you can correct the problem before it gets away from you. But, keep the second point in mind. It's normal for weight to fluctuate in maintenance just like in weight loss.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    Avoid high-fructose corn syrup. Completely. Which means I make my own desserts and buy good chocolate :) I eat a lot of chocolate and I was fine in maintenance and have been having an easy time gaining weight very slowly with this pregnancy.

    There was a study done by researchers at Princeton where they found that mice processed HFCS differently than other sugars and they stored an alarming amount of fat in their abdomen over the duration of the project. That was enough for me. It's in so much processed food from bagels, tomato soup and cheap protein powders to Yoplait yogurt and ketchup. Fast food restaurants love it because it's such a cheap sweetener. It's ubiquitous but it's not that hard to avoid once you start looking. Read labels.

    Stories like this make me glad I'm not a mouse.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    I don't eat any differently than I did when I was losing except I eat a few hundred more calories. Also exercise is even more important to maintaining than it is losing. Also keep setting new goals and keep crushing those goals.

    Essentially, continue to get your fitness on and your nutrition on. Hopefully while you've been losing you've taken the opportunity to learn portion control and moderation and didn't just practice deprivation dieting....deprivation dieting usually results in gaining the weigh back because you never really learn how to eat the things you enjoy and do so in a balanced and healthy way which is essential to maintenance.
  • zichab
    zichab Posts: 1,441 Member
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    Bump for future reference!
  • afiallo
    afiallo Posts: 20 Member
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    Exercise and drinking lots of water
  • foodiscomplicated
    foodiscomplicated Posts: 85 Member
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    Why it's So Difficult For Some to Maintain Weight...

    Watch this excerpt from the HBO documentary series, "The Weight Of A Nation".

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i_cmltmQ6A
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
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    Big slice of pizza
  • sdps745
    sdps745 Posts: 33 Member
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    Also bumping for future reference.
  • A_Fit_Mom
    A_Fit_Mom Posts: 602 Member
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    I have maintained my weight loss for a while now. It isn't as hard as I thought. I didn't track and actually haven't exercised in months. I just kept up my good eating habits. I eat sweets and "bad" food too..just in moderation.

    I weigh myself every day...so if I notice the scale move up a little bit..I just watch it for that day and I am back to normal.


    I am starting to track again now and exercise..because I decided to lose another 5-10 pounds. I figured I took a long enough break. :)
  • PaytraB
    PaytraB Posts: 2,360 Member
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    I was hesitant to go on maintenance, but I continued to lose on maintenance, and had to increase my calories, so I wouldn't lose too much. Logging accurately & honestly is most important. That, and maintaining a consistent workout schedule. I've had no problems whatsoever maintaining, and I even take a break with logging on Sundays & all holidays (and I'm sure I over eat on those days). It's not as scary as it seems....you can do it!

    This was me, too. I continued to lose at the calories that MFP said was my maintenance goal. I figured out my TDEE and tried that. I initially gained about 3 pounds, which I expected (glycogen stores replenishing), but I was a bit edgy about it, thinking that it may be weight gain, not glycogen gain. But my weight gain stopped and I've been a steady weight since.
    I only weigh myself once a month. I still log everyday and have averaged out my daily calorie goal to include exercise (meaning that each day's calories are roughly the same and I do not eat back my exercise calories as they are included in my daily calories already).
    I pay attention to how hungry I am and don't worry about whether I reach my daily calorie goal or go over it. I look at a weekly average and find that it works out well.
  • stetienne
    stetienne Posts: 560 Member
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    Understand that fluctuations happen...therefore don't get down and give in when you gain a couple pounds.
  • gatorginger
    gatorginger Posts: 947 Member
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    For me this has been a lifestyle change and not a diet so that means I never deprived myself of my favorite foods. I try to stay within my calories every day but on occasions I go out to eat/or a party where it is hard to keep under my calorie intake, so I indulge and eat what I want that day. I will get right back on track the next day though. I will usually gain anywhere from one to two pounds. what I do to get those off is to cut my calorie intake lower than my maintenance so that I can lose them back. This works great for me. You have to try not to stress over it because your going to gain from time to time, but the key to it is to jump right back on track to get it right back off.
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
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    I've been in maintenance since March of this year. I am no expert either, but what works is continuing to weigh myself every day. There is literally no weight that weight can "creep up" on me if I am looking at the number every day! I have a 5lb maintenance range, and if I get close to the top if it, I just back off of the cals a little bit and the weight goes back down.

    I used to log every day when I was losing but I'd say I log around 4 days per week now. I know what I need to eat but sometimes logging helps, especially if I need to plan ahead for whatever reason.

    I know you said only 1 piece of advice, but I have to add that exercise is definitely part of the equation! I work out 4-5 days per week for 30-45 min doing 2 days of cardio and 3 days of weights (I'm doing Chalean Extreme).

    You can do it!!
  • MelsAuntie
    MelsAuntie Posts: 2,833 Member
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    Just pay attention to what you eat. Grabbing another Xmas gift tray cookie as you walk by and not logging it, and not going outside because it's cold and snowing, so you stay in and watch TV, is deadly to your weight loss/fitness. Pay attention, and make yourself go out to the gym, if that's what you do, or go haul firewood and stack it, and move hay and break ice on stock tanks, which is what I do, will keep you on track.
  • takumaku
    takumaku Posts: 352 Member
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    I treat maintenance (spirit) like I treat death (physical). When someone dies, I do not look at it as death of one's body. I interpret it as my Lord has called the spiritual being home and has instructed the physical being to rest/fall asleep. Instead of mourning the lost of the physical being, I am rejoycing in the journey the spirit is taking.
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
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    Tracking calories. That's it. Of course, that's all I did to lose the weight, and it worked, so it ought to do just fine for maintaining too. :drinker:
  • NorCal311
    NorCal311 Posts: 44 Member
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    My number one is calories in vs.calories out. Just watch your portions, eat every 2 to 3 hours and keep burning calories and all will be good.
  • walleyclan1
    walleyclan1 Posts: 2,784 Member
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    Count caloiries, stay active
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    I treat maintenance (spirit) like I treat death (physical). When someone dies, I do not look at it as death of one's body. I interpret it as my Lord has called the spiritual being home and has instructed the physical being to rest/fall asleep. Instead of mourning the lost of the physical being, I am rejoycing in the journey the spirit is taking.

    :huh:
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
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    I treat maintenance (spirit) like I treat death (physical). When someone dies, I do not look at it as death of one's body. I interpret it as my Lord has called the spiritual being home and has instructed the physical being to rest/fall asleep. Instead of mourning the lost of the physical being, I am rejoycing in the journey the spirit is taking.

    :huh:
    :laugh:

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