Is maintaining harder than weight loss?
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When I was in weight loss mode I was meticulous about weighing and measuring everything, I had a goal to work towards and it just seemed easier to stay the course. Now that I'm pretty much done I feel my resolve slipping. I'm not measuring as often and I can't seem to choose food wisely. I find myself eating more carbs and sweets and less veggies. Slipping back to the way I used to eat.
I don't know why it's so hard to stay motivated during maintenance other than I love what I see in the mirror and the lack of goal makes it hard to stay consistent.0 -
I'm just curious. Is it harder than trying to lose weight?
It depends.
People talk the good talk about "lifestyle change", but most don't really understand what that means...it's just some term that sounds good...but conceptually, they have no idea. These people will have difficulty maintaining a healthy weight because they will just revert back to the old way of doing things very easily. These people fail to realize that nutrition and fitness have to be a huge part of one's life...they fail to realize that these things are really life long endeavors. You can't just stop working out and go back to eating the SAD and really expect to maintain...it's very likely not going to happen. This is another reason that is important to focus on other goals besides some arbitrary number on the scale when you're losing...it has to be about more than just some number; if it's not, it's pretty likely that old habits will creep back in as you become lazier and lazier in maintenance.
People who successfully maintain tend to understand that diet is a noun, not just an action verb...they adopt a way of eating for life that allows for proper nutrition and optimal health and well being. They also tend to adopt a fitness oriented and/or otherwise active lifestyle...as in, this is how they roll...forever.
I've successfully and easily maintained my weight for over a year now without logging...I eat a diet that is rich in nutrition and a smattering of "junk" and I rock my fitness 5-6 days per week. It pretty much requires dedication to the above. You have to adopt a new "normal".0 -
^^ This.I'm over a year in and 80 lbs down I have to say for me it's pretty easy, but I do work hard every day to maintain. It took me a little time to figure things out after I reached my goal though.
I still watch what I eat and how much (I eat at a slight deficit during the week and have 1 or 2 relaxed meals over the weekend). I still write down everything I eat and my daily workouts in my notebook. I find it helpful to see what I'm eating and doing in black and white and I stay active everyday. More for health reasons, but it's nice to be able to eat a little more and I love the result working out has on my body aesthetically.
Also I focus on fitness goals (I'm currently trying to increase my speed walking to 4.6 mph and trying to do 5 pull ups in a row...I'm stuck at 4), so I think that is helping me to maintain too. There is always a new fitness goal I can try to reach for.
I never had the mentality of "l made it to my goal dress size. I'm done"! It was more like "l made it to my goal dress size. I'm going to work my behind off to stay here"!
It a lifestyle thing for me now. I went on a short weekend vacation this past weekend and I woke up early to get a workout in at the hotel's gym to start my day. I would have never, ever, ever done that in the past, but I enjoy it.
Lastly, everything I did during weight loss mode was sustainable. All I know I was not giving up pizza or entire food groups and was not going to do painful, back-breaking workouts. I often wonder if I took that route if my maintenance experience would have had a different outcome or not.0 -
no, more foooooooooooooooood. I love food.0
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yes yes yes, a thousands times yes. There is such a fine line to walk. I feel comfortable at 185, but everytime I get there I back off just a bit and I am back up to 200. Seems that is just where my body wants to be.0
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It was hard the first couple of go rounds, but once I realized that I could NEVER stop exercising and go back to eating the way I used to, it's been a piece of cake.
"It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle" - never have truer words been spoken.0 -
For me, yes. I know how to lose weight. I know how to gain weight. I have never maintained my weight loss. That being said, I reached goal yesterday. Yikes!
Congratulations! That is so awesome that you reached your goal. I am still losing but have never been successful with maintenance and am hoping this time I can do it (when I reach my goal) by continuing to log my food and stick to my work out.0 -
For me maintenance is much easier.
Losing weight is...life-dominating (or was for me) - everything revolved around the calories in and out, for those 4 months it took me to lose 22 pounds.
Maintenance is...going back to normal life! For me,that means, not logging, bot portion control and a little bit of exercise. I've been maintaining 6 months now.
Have to say the first month of maintenance was challenging though.0 -
For me, no. Maintenance for me isn't going back to normal life. Life can't be like that anymore or I'll end up in the same boat. For me I have to be ever mindful. Not as strict as weight loss but still strict.0
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Yes .. losing was very easy. In fact I did well at it .. and why maintaining is so hard.
I am no longer accepting to eat **** and get fat again, so eating healthy and eating much more is harder.
I am finding it harder to maintain .. as my body just wants to lose more fat.
So .. taking my measurements and ensuring I am not gaining fat is the game now. A small surplus and lots of strength training it will be. I look like a skinny runner now .. but with some definition. But I will get there, but yes maintenance is much harder.0 -
There are different stages of weight loss, esp. for those who have a lot of weight to lose. That first step can be really, really, really hard. There are a lot of emotional and physical barriers people have to go through just to start. Me running at my heaviest weight was a lot harder than me running at my current weight (even if I can now run longer and faster).
However, when you go over that first hurdle, there is a real joy in losing weight. It's like a runner's high (which I have never experienced, btw). During this time, it does feel kinda effortless.
I think when you are closer to goal and have a only a few lbs to lose, it can be hard to lose that last weight.
I think it should be stated that there A LOT of people who never lose the weight to begin with. So, they never have to regain it.
I think your views on maintenance depends on how much of your life consisted of you being overweight. As a fat kid, my views on maintenance are probably gonna be different than those of a person who was fit most of their life but gained some weight in their adult years.
Four years of maintenance, but this is not my first go at it. Maintenance is hard. Maintenance becomes a more personal journey than weight loss. There are days where I barely have to exert any effort. There are days when it gets really really hard to stay on plan. And I will veer off track plenty of times. It's the "get back on that horse" aspect of maintenance that is hardest. It's so easy to just give up.0 -
It can be challenging because when you are losing weight, you have a goal set before you... When you are maintaining, you have to find other goals to produce the psychological sense of progress... For me it is fitness... Being able to run further, faster, Being able to lift heavier or with more reps... Reducing body fat percentage... etc. By working on other skills, accomplishments, etc., you are off the idea of "maintaining" and are in a state of continual improvement. Of course, I am sure this is different with various personality types but I am one that responds better to improving rather that attempting to remain static.0
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I've been maintaining for about three months now. I do find it a little harder mainly because I am still trying to find that caloric sweet spot in order to maintain. Its also hard to get out of the losing weight mind set. I am however very much enjoying eating a little more lol. I am also one who still logs my food daily. I know myself all too well, I need the accountability.0
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yesYes! A million times yes.0 -
I'm just curious. Is it harder than trying to lose weight?
In theory it is the exact same process as weight loss, you monitor your calories and keep track of your progress. The difference is with weight loss you feel a sense of accomplishment as your measures change...with maintenance you don't. As a result it can be hard to keep your interest in continuing to pay attention to your intake and if you get bored and stop paying attention you might drift into some old bad habits and start putting the weight back on.0 -
Yes for me maintaining has been the hard part. Wrapping your mid around eating more is really hard. It feels like sabotage0
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Lost 40 lbs. have been on maintenance for 2 years. I just keep logging my food and exercise. Its become a habit like brushing my teeth or doing household chores.0
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No its not.
I still exercise which I love and enjoy and do not intend to stop.
I still eat healthy which I love and enjoy and do not intend to stop.
Occasionally, I indulge and its not like when I still trying to lose because I am not worried that I would not lose or that I would not get back on track again.
Maintaining being harder than losing is a fallacy....it is no where as challenging as losing weight...not by a long shot.
^^agreed^^0 -
Like many have stated before me, it's 2 completely different states of mind.
I was more motivated to keep on the losing weight mentality when i first started. 80 pounds later in maintenance mode, i find myself focusing more on definition and eating more sensibly. You just have to find something as motivating as when you first started losing weight. For me the new goal: it was about definition and improving my current self with smarter decisions food wise0 -
Depends how much weight you have lost to maintain and how old you are, if you just want to maintain and overweight range, it's quite easy, but maintaining in the middle of your ideal range, is full of restrictions.0
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It is for me. When you're losing, the scale is moving, clothing sizes are moving, people are noticing the weight loss and it's easier to stay motivated. Once all of that stops and you're being a normal weight becomes "normal", you have to find other ways to stay motivated and not get complacent. Plus, for me at least, I've tracked every morsel in MFP through the whole weight loss. It's realtively easy to hit "under" my calorie target as long as I'm exercising to stay in deficit and lose weight. Maintenance is a whole different animal. You can't go much under or get too thin, but I'm terrified to go over and gain it back too. It's a different dance, but one that I'm learning to be graceful with, I hope.0
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I think it depends on whether you are doing a diet, something you want to be temporary to lose weight then go back to the same old habits, if that's the case, I think maintaining would be harder cause the person has to accept it's a life style change, not a phase. But for people who are going into this journey knowing it's a life style change, maintaining shouldn't be difficult because you know it's a change for life.0
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snip...
...snipIf you view maintenance only as a time when you'll finally be able to 'afford' eating a few oreos a night and hitting the Chinese buffet again once a month, you need to make sure you don't send all of your fat clothes to the Goodwill because you'll be needing them again before long.
Best. Line. Ever.
QFT0 -
It can be hard, because you may not feel like you have a goal to hit, or if you go over your calories, then you're either in a surplus or you have to exercise more to make up for it. For me, the best thing to do has been setting new goals. I'm training for a half-marathon and marathon in the Fall, so that brings a whole new meaning to maintaining. My mother just passed away last week so these last 10 days have been very challenging for me.0
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It has been more difficult for me, that is why I am trying to lose 20 pounds again. Luckily I didn't fall completely off the wagon and have gotten back on track. I lost 130 pounds and I will never go back there, but I am angry with myself for the 20 that I regained. I think the scale was initially such a good motivator for me that when I wasn't losing anymore, I didn't watch what I ate as much. When I hit my lowest weight, I was training for a triathlon. I was doing a lot more cardio at the time and could eat more and not gain anything. When the training was over, I kept eating....so maybe it was bad timing on my part.
Luckily I love working out and being active, so that part stuck and maintaining my health hasn't been bad.0 -
Start thinking NOW about what NSVs you'll be shooting for as you transition into maintenance so you don't get caught unaware.
So much this ^^
For me it has been easier because I set new goals. That was the best advice I learned from MFP as I approached maintenance. I have been maintaining for 4 months now. I did not have a big celebration when I reached goal. I decided for me, I was not going to call my weight loss a victory until I have maintained for a year. I still use MFP to log foods and exercise etc. It is real easy to get caught up in the “I made it” mentality, so for me it helped to set new types of fitness goals.
Good luck0 -
I plan to maintain by keeping to a deficit on weekdays but taking the weekend off so I can enjoy my leisure time without calorie counting. I'm hoping this will work to keep me within a 10lb range that I'll set myself. Sticking to an exact weight isn't feasible as we all vary up and down throughout the month. I'll have a weight I can't go above again which will trigger full-time dieting again if I reach it until I'm back to goal. Has this worked for anyone else?0
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i hear it is hard. and from reading above posts mixed feelings about it.
I've never made it to maintenance. however for the first time in my life i actually have maintenance in my sight now. and i think the key is what others posted and what i've read on other forums. the weight loss journey is just the training for the real deal. the real deal is maintenance and beyond. if you are eating for life and not "white knuckling it" through your weight loss journey I think we will be just fine. staying aware of what your eating and some minor caloric tweaks and I think you'll be set. weekly weigh-ins keeping you on top of maintaining during a hard week, because there's bound to be a few.
for every new or different food or activity habit i take on i always ask myself can i do this for life if i can't envision it i re-strategize. you need to be realistic about what you are willing to keep up on.0 -
I hope more people who have lost more than 10 pounds reply to this thread. Interesting that most replies are from members whose tickers show very low pounds-lost numbers... of course that could be just the amount the lost "this time" or with MFP.
I wonder if taking a year or two to lose weight because you have so much to lose, puts you in a different place than if you lose 10 pounds (or less) in a few months?
Another thought I had is that people who take control when they are overweight by just a few pounds compared to those who (like me) allow themselves to get morbidly obese before losing weight, are more nervous or shocked when they gain just a few pounds back, whereas someone who has lost 100 pounds might think "well I'm still 90 pounds lighter" if they gain back 10. Just rambling thoughts.
I feel that learning portion control and tracking/logging what I eat is something I want to do pretty much forever, now that I understand how it enables me to feel healthier. I hope that maintenance will be more of the same without the deficit. Hope, hope, hope.
I agree you are onto something. I've been thinking about this as I prepare to transition to maintenance. I'm within 2-3 kg of my goal.
I've never been hugely over weight. I put on 44 lbs in 25 years of adult life, and a good portion of that (about 10 pounds) was in the last 3 years during & following pregnancy. Averaging it out, though, that gives me an average daily surplus over 25 years of about 17 calories. Like 3 or 4 cherries too many per day.
I am planning on logging for a while on maintenance because I'm just not as active as I was pre-baby, and want to make sure I re-set my body and hunger cues. I'm confident that I can stop logging at somepoint, set a healthy range and go back to logging if I exceed a limit.
But I have been thinking about his as I read the forums and the equation must be so different for someone who was very very over weight to begin with. I really wish you luck on your journey. I'm sure it's possible to lose and maintain. My mother did it in her 70s and she had been obese for as long as I could remember.
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