Long time maintainers how do you do it
Replies
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Bump; always great to have strategies that work!1
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Honestly,...
You have to learn to enjoy it. I started 14 years ago and went once a week and almost dreaded it but in time I learnt not dread it!, then I liked it , now I love it….it only took about eight years to feel that way about it :-)
On a more practical level, the best advice I can give you is enjoy the trip…go to a good gym with good facilities, do a good balance of CV workout and then CHILL out after….steam / sauna / jacuzzi / coffee and read of the mags and newspapers after…..it doesn't half feel like you've earned it! … best do this post (not prior) workout eh?
you don't have to go daft, pick a routine that you think you will stick with and go 2 / 3 times a week and listen to music, speak to people, and don't expect it to get easier fast.
the return on your investment is well worth it.2 -
I eat low carb (don't need the added water weight used to store carbs) and keep to around 50 g per day and I don't count calories unless I'm on the learning curve of a different plan (It's South Beach at the moment). I exercise at at least every other day - power walking, pilates and strength training and eat basically the same foods. I also weigh daily and record the monthly average, along with measurements , body analyser data and blood pressure. I enjoy record keeping as it also keeps me motivated.
Travelling between Dukan, LCHF, South beach gives you an idea of what will work best for you.
I have been maintaining between 55-57kg since 2005....lately my bottom weight has been 56.4kg (124lb)1 -
^this!Apparently, what works for me is trying to lose the last 10 pounds. :grumble:
I've been down over 100lbs for almost 11 years now. I've been fighting this last 10lbs for years....I think that realization that I'm never "done" keeps me on guard and working.
My understanding is that you never actually lose fat cells, they're still here wishing to be refilled. It'll alway be a battle. But, it's one worth fighting. My effort to lose 10 more lbs is strong right now, but that ebbs and flows. My body is very resistant and I'm not giving up.
I track, exercise and stay mindful. I can't just eat willy nilly or I'll regain quickly and it's a bear to relose! I'm not like "normal" (aka never obese) people. I can't relax and just eat. For my hypothyroid, hormonally imbalanced body, a calorie is not a calorie and I need to work harder to lose and maintain. But being that 5%? It's worth it!!5 -
There is a great book I read called "Thin for Life". It gives great examples of how people maintained their weight loss over years. My best advice? Make MFP part of your life just like checking your email, voicemail, and bank balance, etc every day.
What I tell my patients who want to lose weight and maintain is this:
Think of tracking your intake and exercise is like tracking your checking account. Would you ever go to a store and swipe your debit card without ever knowing what your balance is to spend or what the price of the item your buying is? Eating without tracking is exactly this.
Who would ever go to Best Buy and just start writing a check for the prettiest washer and dryer or fanciest computer just because you were "hungry to have one"? Blind eating is just like blind spending.
Would any of us irresponsibly ask the question, "Hey when can I stop checking my balance at the bank? It's getting old seeing how much money I have or don't have every day . I just want to relax and spend freely and assume that I have unlimited funds available". Or how about, "Hey, I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks...can't I just blow a bunch of cash that I don't have and just worry about the overdraft fees later when I get home?"
I would hope not.
Your friendly Registered Dietitian
Thanks making this post. I definitely want to share this with my weight loss buddies so they understand WHY they need to take the tracking more seriously.2 -
I'd like to hear from other folks who've maintained their weight loss for several years or so.
What do you do to maintain?
What sort of lifestyle changes did you make while losing or after that made it easier (or possible?) to maintain your loss?
And, are you active/do you exercise regularly?
What works for you?
Thanks. It just seems with all the discussions about LOSING weight, hearing from some long time maintainers would be helpful. Since THAT is one of the biggest challenges.
cheers
I have found maintenance over the last two years fairly easy. I watch what I eat and opt for nutritionally dense food. I no longer use a food scale or measuring cups to weigh and measure my food, but I do keep track of my intake with broad brush strokes so that I can keep an eye on my macros and micros (and to some extent calories). Walking is my primary exercise. I walk about 3 to 4 miles a day per my Fitbit and supplement with a couple of 35 minute HIIT sessions at the gym per week.
More than anything what I have is an ironclad promise to myself that I will NEVER put the weight back on. I had to be willing to fundamentally change the underlying habits that lead to my weight gain in the first place. For me, that was mindless junk food snacking. Without those empty calories, maintaining my weight and size has been pretty easy. Especially since I like exercising and staying active.
I weigh myself regularly and try on a snug pair of jeans monthly to make sure they still fit. Whenever my weight exceeds a 4 pound range, I reduce my calories moderately for a week or two until I'm back range. That's only happened a couple of times in two years.
Best wishes!
These are all good tips. I REALLY love the idea of keeping a set of clothes around as a gauge of when I'm over my target weight, works better than a scale.
Can't wait to come back to these tips once I hit my goal weight so I can STAY at that weight this time.
Thanks for sharing.2 -
But South Beach isn't low carb...I eat low carb (don't need the added water weight used to store carbs) and keep to around 50 g per day and I don't count calories unless I'm on the learning curve of a different plan (It's South Beach at the moment). I exercise at at least every other day - power walking, pilates and strength training and eat basically the same foods. I also weigh daily and record the monthly average, along with measurements , body analyser data and blood pressure. I enjoy record keeping as it also keeps me motivated.
Travelling between Dukan, LCHF, South beach gives you an idea of what will work best for you.
I have been maintaining between 55-57kg since 2005....lately my bottom weight has been 56.4kg (124lb)
How long have you been maintaining, if I may ask?0 -
Good info! Marking my place.0
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Hi Sabine,
I'm consuming 24 g carb in Phase 1 of South Beach and that's low carb enough for me. In Phase 2 I'll add 10-20 g.
I have maintain on a wide selection of food plans since 2005. It's become an enjoyable hobby for me.1 -
Interesting. SB isn't generally a carb counting diet. Or a low carb diet (though yes, phase 1 has less) Isn't the gist of it NOT counting carbs, but rather choosing the right carbs, and a good balance of proteins and fats for satiety?Hi Sabine,
I'm consuming 24 g carb in Phase 1 of South Beach and that's low carb enough for me. In Phase 2 I'll add 10-20 g.
I have maintain on a wide selection of food plans since 2005. It's become an enjoyable hobby for me.
And again, I'm confused...you're doing the strictest phase of SB in MAINTENANCE? All new to me. thanks for the reply.1 -
bump0
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There is a great book I read called "Thin for Life". It gives great examples of how people maintained their weight loss over years. My best advice? Make MFP part of your life just like checking your email, voicemail, and bank balance, etc every day.
What I tell my patients who want to lose weight and maintain is this:
Think of tracking your intake and exercise is like tracking your checking account. Would you ever go to a store and swipe your debit card without ever knowing what your balance is to spend or what the price of the item your buying is? Eating without tracking is exactly this.
Who would ever go to Best Buy and just start writing a check for the prettiest washer and dryer or fanciest computer just because you were "hungry to have one"? Blind eating is just like blind spending.
Would any of us irresponsibly ask the question, "Hey when can I stop checking my balance at the bank? It's getting old seeing how much money I have or don't have every day . I just want to relax and spend freely and assume that I have unlimited funds available". Or how about, "Hey, I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks...can't I just blow a bunch of cash that I don't have and just worry about the overdraft fees later when I get home?"
I would hope not.
Your friendly Registered Dietitian
I like this way of looking at things. Nice analogy.0 -
I've been maintaining for two years. I still track daily. If I go out to dinner, sometimes my whole day doesn't get logged, but I'm still on here daily. I have hypothyroidism. I had lost weight before, but then slacked off on exercise as I got "too busy." I gained back 15-20 of the 40 I'd lost. For me, I have to continue working out (I workout at home with DVDs that are 30-ish minutes long) at LEAST 3 times per week, and my body stays looking much better if I keep it at 5. So I shoot for 3-5 workouts per week, still keep an eye on what I'm eating, but I'm not as strict. My weight fluctuates, but I stay within 4 lbs of my goal weight. If I notice it's starting to creep up, I try to be a bit more strict with what I'm eating until I get it back down. This is what works for me. Will I continue to log forever? I honestly don't know, but at this point... I'll be logging for the foreseeable future. And working out 3-5 times per week.2
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Only 1 year of maintains 250 and know I'll maintain for the rest of my life or at least i feel that strongly about it. In a nutshell stay consistent with good habits. Stay consistent with always trying to learn new ways of enjoying exercise and food. Explore discover and apply new ideas. Remember that the rate of decline is steep and will always outweigh your rate of progress. Work hard after a weekend of letting loose, stay disciplined. Continually try to learn from the many people out there that are succeeding as well as failing. Be a student and an observer 24/7, 365.1
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Great post.Only 1 year of maintains 250 and know I'll maintain for the rest of my life or at least i feel that strongly about it. In a nutshell stay consistent with good habits. Stay consistent with always trying to learn new ways of enjoying exercise and food. Explore discover and apply new ideas. Remember that the rate of decline is steep and will always outweigh your rate of progress. Work hard after a weekend of letting loose, stay disciplined. Continually try to learn from the many people out there that are succeeding as well as failing. Be a student and an observer 24/7, 365.0 -
You're spot on Sabine. Over the years I've learned to eat low carb and now apply this to SB. It makes life interesting.
Cheers0 -
bump for later0
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Awesome thread. Can't wait until I get to my goal. Very close!1
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The easiest way that I have found to maintain weight is that of mental reprogramming. We are inundated daily with ads that remind us how "fat" we are but is this helping us in any way to lose weight or get on the right path...I think not. In fat research shows that this may be actually making us "fatter" in the long run. Quantum Physics has proven that our thoughts have a definite impact on our lives, for example if you are constantly worried about your weight, then your thoughts will continue to work with your body and give you more reasons to worry about your weight.
My profile image is an image from a few years ago when I was at my ideal weight. I used this image, because this is the body that I want today. If I log in and see a heavier picture of myself then by default my thoughts will project that image of the heavier me, effectively keeping me overweight.
So begin to normalize yourself, by first normalizing your thoughts. Hold the vision of the body you want and disregard any information contrary to that thought (Warning: This is not an easy task). These are techniques that I used while training martial arts and wrestling as well as many other aspects in my life. I will be happy to give you more information on my methods if you're interested.4 -
I track my foods and am realistic about the results when I go over or under my calories. I don't know. I went real thin for few months when I first started losing weight, and then found a balance between me eating the things I like and not getting too fat. I've been around the same weight for a year now at least (far as MFP report go).
I'm still just waiting for some switch to click and me suddenly getting fat, because that's what I've always heard happens. I hope it won't, but I don't know yet. If it does, I'll just have to reconfigure the balancing act.0 -
Makes sense.You're spot on Sabine. Over the years I've learned to eat low carb and now apply this to SB. It makes life interesting.
Cheers
In fact, SB as maintenance is super simple and flexible.0 -
There is a great book I read called "Thin for Life". It gives great examples of how people maintained their weight loss over years. My best advice? Make MFP part of your life just like checking your email, voicemail, and bank balance, etc every day.
What I tell my patients who want to lose weight and maintain is this:
Think of tracking your intake and exercise is like tracking your checking account. Would you ever go to a store and swipe your debit card without ever knowing what your balance is to spend or what the price of the item your buying is? Eating without tracking is exactly this.
Who would ever go to Best Buy and just start writing a check for the prettiest washer and dryer or fanciest computer just because you were "hungry to have one"? Blind eating is just like blind spending.
Would any of us irresponsibly ask the question, "Hey when can I stop checking my balance at the bank? It's getting old seeing how much money I have or don't have every day . I just want to relax and spend freely and assume that I have unlimited funds available". Or how about, "Hey, I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks...can't I just blow a bunch of cash that I don't have and just worry about the overdraft fees later when I get home?"
I would hope not.
Your friendly Registered Dietitian
This is the best analogy I have ever heard.1 -
Bump0
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I have maintained for over a year now! I enjoyed reading all the ideas everyone posted. Some of them that really stood out for me and are helpful, or are something I could incorporate into my maintenance are:
1. Ironclad promise to self to not gain the weight back.
2. Make yourself activity goals. Plan that 5k.
3. Logging meals, always. Even for years, everyday. Logging still works for some people.
4. Fitbit helps to motivate.
5. Plan your meals ahead. This is key for me.
6. Whole, real foods.
7. Daily diligence, never give up. FOCUS.
8. Higher protein, lower carbs.
All this and more keeps me in maintenance.
One thing that really motivates me is clothes. I love to look good and feel good in clothes. I was born that way!4 -
I've maintained my loss of 35lbs for over 2 years now. When I started, I didn't do anything outrageous or crazy in terms of dieting. I just started eating cleaner, less processed foods. That has carried over into my maintenance. I exercise regularly....at least 5 days a week. I am a runner, logging about 20 miles a week, unless I am training for a half marathon or marathon. I weigh myself everyday. It works for me. It keeps me in check. I always plan ahead with eating. I pre log everything. If we are eating out, I try to find the nutritional info online and decided what I want to eat rather than at the restaurant.3
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I posted earlier in the replies but thought I would add a couple of other things I do. First in my profile picture, that is a picture of the restaurant I go to each day for lunch, it is a gym. Another thing is I do not get wrapped up in eating. It is currently 3:30 pm and I haven't ate a single thing today. I do this all the time, but somedays I might eat 3 or 4 meals. Am I hungry ? Sure am. Am I going to die ? No ! Before I get lectured, I would just like to ask is it worse to weigh 4 to 500 pounds or do intermittent fasting ? Also I have always wondered who in the heck made the rule to eat 3 meals a day ? Seven years ago I did away with that rule in my life and have never been happier and healthier. What really puzzles me is why all the experts that have studied dogs state to feed them just once a day or if it is a real lucky dog he or she may get fed twice. Could it be that if they are fed more often they may get fat. Some people can't do what I do....or can they ? Maybe not the gym everyday at lunch, but I bet you could find someplace to walk or better yet climb stairs. After you do that, don't worry about eating. That is why the good Lord allows us to have fat on our bodies. It is energy in reserve. If people throw the science out of what use to be common sense, maintaining weight is easy. I don't even think about it, I just do my thing. I go to the doctor each year for my physical, and my blood work comes back and my doctor just says wow. She asked me once how I do this and I told her the same story I have just typed here. All she says is keep it up what you are doing and I will see you again next year. The old saying goes mind over body. If you adopt my philosophy of body over mind this stuff is easy.5
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bump0
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Bump....I'm there and need assistance!0
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Great thread! I am 7 lbs from goal and SO glad I read it, the whole thing, in one sitting. I took notes. Lots of FANTASTIC advice here. Thanks to all you posters. My take away? You have to do what works for you, whatever that may be. Kind of like losing the weight to begin with. Peace!3
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I lost 120 lbs in April 2014 and it has been close to a year that I have been maintaining. Maintaining for me has been continuing to keep track of everything I eat by charting on here and using my fitbit to track calories in vs calories out because of my activities/exercise. I do a lot of walking and so chose to stay active in that way. It is easy to do and fun so it continues to be the main way I stay active which allows me to indulge in fun stuff on a fairly regular basis. As long as I am under and right on, I will not gain weight. I personally prefer to be under to be on the safe side. I have successfully maintained my weight over these 10 months!4
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