Is maintenance hard for anyone else?

Yup, maintaining is hard for me sometimes. I chew lot of gum, drink a lot of no calorie beverages.

nope, how bad do you want it? I want it bad,. I am here only to maintain.

The only difference between maintenance and weight loss is that the calorie cap is higher. All of the lessons from before--managing your appetite, staying away from foods that make it hard to stick to your diet, etc.--still apply.

For example, you mentioned that you're "satisfied with less" sweets than before--think about what you did back then to reduce your sweet tooth and keep doing that until you're better able to be satisfied with what you eat.

You probably used a variety of other tricks during your diet phase to stay sane: spacing of meals, sticking to certain foods, avoiding other foods, etc. Those tricks will still work! In fact, they'll be easier to use this time since you're not eating at such a deficit.

Overall, you might be feeling disappointed that maintenance is not a magical period where you can eat exactly as much as your appetite demands. If so, I empathize--I've seen several of my maintenance periods get derailed because of that idea.

But if you think of it more like what you were doing during your diet, except with much more generous limits, then you'll find yourself a lot more satisfied compared to 6 months ago. I just finished a meal where I felt like I was "pigging out," but I only actually used a third of my day's calories. By continuing to live under my past regimen of portion control and food choice, I'm able to stay satisfied with less in my maintenance phase.

When I set my goals for this year weight wasn't a factor at all - it's a given now so yes I suppose it does get easier and becomes a habit but haven't really found it hard at any stage. Far, far more pleasant than losing weight as I like my food!

I did deliberately try and make my weight loss phase as close to how I intended to maintain as possible though - nothing excluded, just calorie control.

Trusting the numbers helps a lot, which comes over time - makes you much more relaxed about temporary fluctuations, holidays etc. Means you are able to relax the iron grip some people seem to try and hold over their weight to the detriment to flexibility and fitting your diet (noun) around your life and not the other way round.

As I said before, it is hard sometimes, however, I dont wanna go back to how I was feeling/living/etc before the loss, because it was harder living with the heartburn and excess pounds. I'd rather be a little hungry then a lot sick.

boatsie77 wrote: »

Over the past 2 years, your main focus has been weight loss, and you've succeeded. Now, in addition to maintenance, try focusing on a new long-term goal. In my case it was training for a marathon (which I just completed)...but it not only needs to be fitness oriented (but it does blend nicely with maintenance), it can also be education (get a degree, learn a language); creative (learn piano, take up oil painting); or career broadening (search for a new job that is different or more challenging).

When your mind and body are engaged in learning new and satisfying activities, they'll have less time to become bored and wallow in thoughts of cravings.

This!

I generally don't find it that hard. But I'm also so active that I can get away with overeating often enough. I find it hardest when I try stress over calories and macros as I have been doing recently.

I found it fairly easy in the fall--in fact, I continued to lose a little weight when I was trying to maintain. But winter is definitely harder. I like to eat a lot, and I don't mind working out to do so, but indoor exercise is so boring to me.

I think maintaining is harder than losing the weight was. It has been almost 15 months on maintenance for me. My goal now is to be one of the very small percent of people that keep the weight off. It helps me to still have goals and helps me keep focused. I know I will have to continue logging and monitoring for the rest of my life. I have to keep reminding myself how much better I feel physically, and how great it is to be a normal sized person, after being morbidly obese for most of my adult life. As for most people, I do not want to ever go back. This is a pretty powerful incentive to keep going, at least it is for me.

earth_echo wrote: »

It's about being in a state of not being hungry.

My new mantra. Also, great profile pic.

I was just thinking about this very same issue. I still long for the days when I wasn't counting calories and just eating whatever and whenever I wanted. Unfortunately, when I hit my mid-forties, my metabolism slowed and I gained some weight.

It is hard to maintain but I don't want to lose all the work I put in losing weight over the last year so I keep on counting calories and trying to exercise. I try to allow a 'cheat' day here and there and let myself go out to enjoy a meal without counting calories...too much. lol

If I'm craving something I hold off on it as long as possible, sometimes hours, sometimes days, and sometimes the cravings go away. Sometimes that craving gets replaced by a craving for something else, but hey, its not a perfect system.

Those are just thing that help get me through the day and I think a lot of previous posters had great tips.

i have to say, maintenance is easy. getting 10000 steps and doing my Barre3 /yoga every day, easy. Lifting weights on a regular basis...which I KNOW would improve my fitness 1000%, utter don't wanna. Beyond light dumbbells in my Barre3 rotation, don't wanna. Quit after 6 sessions of PT because I just hate it. So I would say I have to just be happy with what I can do, and want to do.

For my chocolate cravings I buy nestle dark chocolate chips. I weigh out about 100 calories worth. I don't eat them. I let them melt in my mouth - one at a time. I concentrate on what it tastes like. It usually takes about 20 minutes to finish. By the time the last chip is gone I usually have satisfied my flavor craving. I know other people by chocolate bars, and do that with a square or two. My preference is the little chips because takes longer to consume.

I agree with sartezalb - What tricks worked when you were eating at a deficit? Think about how you were successful at loosing weight.

You mention eating at a deficit to make up for binges. Maybe you need to have a planned high calorie meal every week?