Maintenance Thread

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  • Chocolickkyss
    Chocolickkyss Posts: 3,654 Member
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    Hello all! I've been a MFP member for a little over a year and have been maintaining for about 6-8 months. I have given myself a happy range of 120-125 lbs but would prefer to be a little closer to 120 which is why my ticker is not all the way at the end just yet. I currently weigh 124.5 and am fitting into my size 4/6 jeans quite nicely. My main 2011 goal is to reduce body fat and I'm trying to do that by completing Turbo Fire/Chalean Extreme hybrid. I'm hoping this program will give me enough cardio and strength training to get where I ultimately want to be.

    In this last year I have definitely seen my body change. I have muscle definition in my legs, biceps and back. I'm hoping to see a little more definition in my abs by the time I hit the beaches of Jamaica this July.

    I have read through a few posts and can relate to a lot of what has already been posted. Today I made the decision to weigh in and take measurements monthly. Since I'm following the Turbo Fire/Chalean Extreme hybrid I would weigh in and take measurements prior to entering into a new phase of the program. I just began the program on January 3rd so my next schedule weigh in is either January 31st or February 1st.

    I look forward to getting to know everyone
  • Chocolickkyss
    Chocolickkyss Posts: 3,654 Member
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    Good morning everyone and happy Saturday! I had to get up and at em early this morning because I had a very early hair appointment. I got up at 5 am and Rocked out the first part of today's workout. I completed the Burn It Off dvd from the Chalean Extreme program. I was supposed to also do some ab work but did not have enough time this morning so will complete a little later after my errands have been completed.
  • yvonnej1
    yvonnej1 Posts: 904 Member
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    Hi, up at 5am wow, I just about dragged myself up at 8.15 because I had a hair appt too! I've got no exercise scheduled for today so I've spent some time on the wii with the kids playing family trainer and when I find where I've 'tidied' my pull up bar I'll attempt some pull ups too.
  • RaeN81
    RaeN81 Posts: 535 Member
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    I know this is going to seem strange....but I don't track my calories right now. I use this website for support and to help others on their journey because I am on maintenance and I kept losing when I was tracking. If I had to guess I'd say I eat anywhere from 2000-2500 calories a day depending on the intensity of my physical activity and my own hunger. I have been weighing everyday, but I am starting to do this less frequently as well. I go to a weight loss support group about once a month and they weigh me there for my official weight.
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
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    I find that I need to eat 1650-ish calories a day not counting exercise to maintain. In order to get MFP to use that as my maintenance calories, I had to either tell it I was 34 or that I'm extremely active. I went with the later, as my age does appear on my profile and I wanted it to be accurate. This is because MFP thinks my BMR is about 200 calories lower than it is.

    Then I add in my exercise calories and try to eat them though not always on the day I earned them. (I try to keep balanced over a 3-4 day period.)

    The end result is an average calorie intake of 2000-2200 a day with a net of 1500-1700.

    As for exercise, I take Dec. off from hardcore training and workout 1-3 hours a week doing mostly cardio. Then, around this time of year, I start back up with targeted triathlon training and work my way up to 10 hours a week by end of April, if not sooner. I'll stay at that level until end of Sept-early Oct. When the whether starts to turn bad and I'll slow down on outdoor workouts.

    This year I'm gearing up slower and doing some ice skating instead of doing all swimming, biking, running and strength training. (I have some leftover skating tests I didn't pass when I gave up skating 3.5 years ago that I want to pass.) I'm also going skiing next month. I don't intend to start training for my next Ironman until March.
  • lobster888
    lobster888 Posts: 861 Member
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    Good Morning all,
    Got up this morning and did my run. So, I have been keeping up with my exercise. I did the dreaded weigh-in after a two weeks of eating right.... i am at the very top of my range 130. I have gained four pounds. So, now I just have to find out if that is the top of my flucuation or was that a low point.(yipes) . So I will be back to weigh-in twice a week. Mondays and Fridays. Slowly getting back into the complete healthy groove.

    I have prepared several healthy meals in advance this past weekend, so hopefully that will help keep me on the right path. I keep trying....

    Goals I need to work on. ..
    1.) Water - I need more than my recommended
    2.) Preparing my green tea at home.
    3.) Work a little harder on healthy snacks.
    4.) Start my power 1/2 for strenght training - this week. (I have been seriously lacking!!!


    Hope everyone is having a happy healthy day.
  • Robin1117
    Robin1117 Posts: 1,768 Member
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    Good morning! Thanks for all your responses on calories/exercise. It's so interesting how different we all are. Yvonne, I am envious of your exercise routine. I wish I was a gym person, because I so need the diversity of exercise and have so much to learn--but I don't think I'd ever get out of the house to do it. Right now the weather is sketchy but maybe I can look into it this spring.

    DeeDee, I think your 2 week lag-time theory is working for me as well. I started eating better 2 weeks ago, but actually lowered my calorie goal last week and today feel much better and am fitting into my clothes better. The only issue is that I can't really go on in the long run at 1290+ exercise calories. It's way too low. I think I remember someone in pasts posts mentioning a "happy weight". I almost wonder if the weight I was this spring/summer--121 is an obsessive weight that I can't maintain--and maybe around 125 is more like my "happy weight" --where I can live w/my calorie allotment even without exercising. Anyway, not sure--I seem to re-evaluate what my body is doing and how it works every week or so. Maybe one of these days I'll get it right. Or maybe I'll go to a dietitian and see if there is any new information I can learn--I have never done that, as I have always eaten healthy--it's just this calorie level for maintenance that is really confusing.

    Anyway, not much time today, my son is home from school again--yesterday for MLK day and today another snow day. I'm up for many art projects, legos and constant chatter......being an "only" it's hard to get a minute where he isn't looking for me to be his active audience.

    hope you all have a great day!
  • lobster888
    lobster888 Posts: 861 Member
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    Good Morning all,

    Well got up and did my power 90 1/2 hour arms. Felt pretty good. Tonight spin/ab class. Did well yesterday, only goal I didn't meet was to prepare my own green tea. I actually have the organic bottle (nothing added) to drink.. but I need to make my own. It is soo much cheaper... But now I am down to last one...LOL

    So, my goals for today,

    1.) Prepare my own green tea
    2.) Make very healthy choice of dinner out tonight
    3.) Get in all my water and then some


    Hope everyone is having a happy healthy day!!!
  • pickledlilli
    pickledlilli Posts: 14
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    Soooooo want to be part of this group......better get me skates on ha ha.
  • vickiele1
    vickiele1 Posts: 394 Member
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    Hey fellow MFP, I would like to start a new Maintenance thread for those that have reached their goal. I would love to have check-in, weekly weigh-ins, tip and suggestions. The struggle to maintain can sometimes be as hard as losing. I am hoping with support and motivation I will be able to maintain.

    Any takers?

    Have a happy healthy day!!!

    I would love to be a part of that - let me know when/where to find the thread. I struggle with the balancing act - I was able to reach my goal weight about a week or 2 ago, so feel like this is the pivotal point to continue the maintenance. I certainly know how to "reduce" weight, but maintaining it seems to be a little more difficult for me.

    Vickie
  • lobster888
    lobster888 Posts: 861 Member
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    vickiele1, & pickled , you are in the right place. This is the thread that anyone can post to. We come here and post our problems, stuggles, questions, suggstions, tips we try - just about anything to help us maintain our weight. I have notice a trend that once on maintainance some of us have developed a range of weight - maybe four to five pounds of flucuation around our goal weight. This helps keep me sane LOL.

    I try to post every day or so to help keep me accountable. I try to weigh -in on Mondays and Fridays. I usually to post my exercise and daily goals to help me. This thread offers support when needed :) !!! It is very helpful.

    Hope to see you both posting soon!!!
  • RaeN81
    RaeN81 Posts: 535 Member
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    What do you do when you lose your appetite? Does anyone else ever have this problem--because it is very unusual for me.
  • lobster888
    lobster888 Posts: 861 Member
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    Actually I have had this problem - not often enough- LOL. But there have been time that I don't have an appetite at all and have to almost force myself to eat. It's like I forget to eat... when these times have happen i try to eat light - yogurt, energy bar, green tea. Maybe a little light string cheese or soup. My appetite usally picks up in a couple of days. The only time this lasted long was when i was going throguh my divorce - but that is an whole different story. But if you are sure that it not something medical or your not getting sick, just eat what your body allows ... you will be back to normal soon. But I am no expert and that is just my opinion and my own experience. Hope it helps.

    Have a happy healthy day!!!
  • altushe
    altushe Posts: 57 Member
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    Rae: Aside from a couple of days when I was sick, I have not yet experienced a loss of appetite since going on maintenance. Similar to lobster888, when that did happen, I couldn't force myself to eat my full maintenance calories (despite at that point still struggling to find a calorie level where I didn't continue to lose). I simply ate lightly and admittedly lower than my maintenance calories - although not below 1200. While I was nervous I would continue to lose weight, it didn't last more than two days - one of which I skipped my workout which is VERY RARE.

    Has anyone had the opposite problem - increased appetite on maintenance? While it seems I was never hungry during weight loss, it seems that no sooner do I increase my maintenance calories, does my body become accustomed to the new higher level and I feel hungry on more calories than I was the previous week on fewer. What to do...
  • lobster888
    lobster888 Posts: 861 Member
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    Good Morning all, So this morning I didn't get up and exercise - I wasn't feeling well, so I just got up and and try to prepare for work. But, I did manage my hour walk last night. I also made my green tea yesterday. I have homemade soup for lunch so i think I am doing pretty.

    Tomorrow will be a weigh-in for me to kinda get my range and then I will see where I need to do work. i think I may have to do a little extra to take off a couple of pounds. But we will see. I have been doing better so I am not going to let this missed morning workout get me down.

    I feel better that I am logging in my food and being more structured about my exercise. I am settign mini goals and obtaining them. I am not back to where I would like to be - but I am getting there.

    Goals for today.
    1.) recommended water intake
    2.) drink my green tea in addition to my water
    3.) try to get in a workout today (missed this morning)(even if it is just walking on treadmill)

    That all for today since I am not really feeling well.

    Hope everyone is having a happy healthy day.
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
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    @Rae - I go through this every winter when I take a month off from triathlon training. It takes my body a while to adjust my appetite to match my decreased activity level. Sometimes it happens naturally but most of the time I have to consciously do it.
  • a1schwei
    a1schwei Posts: 617 Member
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    sorry for not checking in very often...i catch up on reading, but not always posting...sorry!! :)
    i was maintaining well for a most of fall and most of the holidays (i gained 1-2 lbs of holiday weight that has mostly come back off), but then i decided that i really did want to tone up and lose about 4-5 more lbs before my wedding april 2nd...well ever since i made that decision and adjusted my goals, i have been 100% stalled!!! the scale has been making baby steps up and down (the same 1-1.5 lbs on and off) more than just my natural fluctuation...i know that i haven't been making the best choices, but i feel like i can't help myself...i have been working out consistently with the 30 day shred and banish fat, boost metabolism, but because of the cold, snowy, icy weather and lack of gym membership i haven't been running like i had been for the majority of the last year :( i find myself thinking about it all the time, but the more i think about it the harder it is for me to conciously make the right choice...when i started this last year, i told myself that i wanted to make a change that i could stick with without being really strict...adding more exercise, being mindful of portion sizes, and eating healthier/limiting my junk intake, but i don't/didn't want to have to cut foods out that i really love and enjoy to eat and i didn't want to get to the point that i measured/weighed every food i ate
    i really want to lose the last 5 lbs by april, but i am starting to think that where i am at might be where my body is most comfortable...i don't know if what i want to do is reasonable within the limitations i know that i am comfortable with...am i going about this right? should i just suck it up and push myself a little bit harder? i'd be curious what you all would suggest :)
  • kath711
    kath711 Posts: 712 Member
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    Been a bad week for working out. Lots of snow and snow days with the kids. Did get some cardio in shoveling snow but i am soooo ready for spring already!! I want to run outside :( Did not get to weigh in this week as snow days keeping me away from the gym but been eating fairly well so hopefully kept my weight in check.
  • DeeDeeLHF
    DeeDeeLHF Posts: 2,301 Member
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    Hi all,

    I too have not posted for awhile...I felt like I had nothing positive to contribute. The winter weather is really starting to get to me and I have been fighting a stupid sinus thing (it is in my ears which I hate the most!!).

    So negative is as negative does!! I have been trying to eat well but it has taken all of my self discipline. Exercise, except shoveling snow, has been non-existent for the past three days. Hoping to feel better soon.

    Lobster: You are really doing great! So much has happened and I am really impressed with how you are setting these goals and then motivating yourself to reach them.

    As for the appetite question...it is different every single day for me. I have days where I just cannot seem to stay under my goal and other days, like last night where I went to bed with over 300 calories left and wasn't hungry. I woke up this morning very hungry though and ate two of my high protein bran muffins! That choice will require that I brave the cold and snow to go to the gym later.

    I am back to trying to lose, so again feel like a cheater being on this thread, but my losing is really part of learning to maintain! I hope that this cycle of gaining 5, losing 3, gaining 2, losing 5...isn't what my future holds!! I really need to get this figured out.

    It is so hard to keep your head in the game when you have been doing it a long time and yet the blood chilling fear of gaining it back is HIGHLY motivating!!!

    D
  • Robin1117
    Robin1117 Posts: 1,768 Member
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    Hey all! hope you are all in the midst of a nice relaxing Saturday. I have been in a bit of a funk today. Home alone with my 6 year old and way too cold outside to go anywhere, we are listening to a kids audio book and I'm trying not to fall asleep......zzzzz

    Anyway, it has been a good few weeks for diet and exercise. like you DeeDee, I have been in cut-back mode these last few weeks and you are right--we are still maintaining but being in "loss" mode is just part of the program w/maintaining. I still refuse to weigh myself but have been feeling like it's making a difference. But then today I have been carbo-girl--making granola (and eating way too much) and sunflower wheat bread and now only have a few hundred calories left for the rest of the day, unless I can get off my bum and work out soon. Sigh....

    a1sch--I'm not sure if I can offer suggestions but what you are describing is what happened to me when I stopped losing weight--it was like my body decided to go on maintenance without my knowledge. like you, I continued working out, eating at my "loss" calorie level, but then just never lost another pound. It was after a month of this that I realized I had to get out of the loss mindset and into the "maintenance" one. It was also at this time that my husband and a friend of mine each individually without any prompting, recommended to me that I shouldn't lose any more weight. I think I'm a few lbs more now but "in range" but have also been pondering the whole happy weight vs. the how low you can possibly go weight. It's so hard to figure out but I'm leaning towards being happy :smile: Anyway I am sure you will look amazing in your wedding dress regardless of the 5 lbs...I have a feeling your body is talking to you too and pushing back......

    Lobster - I like your goal of the day idea. I have never done that before. thanks!

    Kath--glad you are on track! Happy shoveling! We have a ton of snow but I have avoided shoveling so far because we have a great plow guy (something essential when you live in Vermont). I would love the extra exercise but my back would be killing me if I did more than just the front steps...

    have a great weekend everyone!

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