Is maintenance hard for anyone else?
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The answer is yes. I'm almost twice your age and have been maintaining with a lot of tools. I think it's like anything else that takes effort and discipline. Temptation never leaves us even though healthy habits and change behavior, with planned substitutions, make a big difference. On a regular basis, my "self-talk" is key. I remind myself how rotten I feel with relapse. I didn't like it with extra weight. I love being healthy at preferred BMI because I simply feel better and suspect most people feel the same. All the best to you in your efforts!0
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Maintenance = management. Management = every day (most days). It's boring, monotonous, annoying, and time consuming sometimes.
And guess what? It's worth everything to me to feel this good and love what I see in the mirror. Losing 80lbs is my #1 accomplishment and I plan to never take that away from myself.
I'm a food addict in recovery and logging is what I have to do to keep in recovery. My addiction doesn't take a day off and I've come to accept this. Yes, during some weeks of the month, my stomach is a bottomless pit. I allow myself to indulge, but it's never the same quantity I ate when I was 263lbs. A Fiber One brownie (90 calories) pretty much fixes my chocolate craving. If it doesn't, I'll eat 2. Much better than a 700-calorie piece of Claim Jumper chocolate cake.
I love my body, I really love the way I feel and I'm proud that I'm taking care of myself. I want this body to carry me through in my retirement years and still keep hiking, biking, rollerblading, swimming, traveling without restriction. Who wants to live with restrictions?0 -
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.
^^have the same thinking as this ☺ also am seeing great results from reverse dieting, currently maintaining on 2100 cals, I'm 5ft 2, 135lbs, 45yrs and very active. ..In a few more weeks I reckon I'll be able to maintain on 2200 ☺0 -
The difference with when I was eating at a deficit is just that I'm much hungrier now. So it's so much harder to stick to it. I used to be able to have 200-300 calorie treats in my day easily when I was eating 1700 calories, now even when I aim for 1900 (still a 300ish deficit, I think), it's a struggle when I do. It's not like my weight is unreasonably low either, heck I could stand to lose 8 more pounds! Just can't imagine what hell it would be to maintain that.
I'm fine with chocolate, I have 53 calories mini bars that are very satisfying. Honestly my cravings are typically manageable except when I get hungry from PMS. I swear hormonal hunger has been so much worse since I lost weight too...
I'm trying to increase my calories to keep a smaller deficit, that might help with the binges (although to be fair... 90% of my binges are because I'm hungry anyway). Maybe one day I'll actually figure it out...
Someone mentioned increasing my activity level - I've done that. But my workouts seem to suffer as a whole, so I'm not sure it's really helping in the end? Plus Winter makes it hard, I'm naturally more active in the Spring or Fall when it's nicer out. A bit harder to go out for a walk when it's a mess outside and 25 degrees, especially as I'm always cold (still had a fantastic 12 mile walk in NYC last week with 20 degrees, but it was sunny at least, lol!).
Keep increasing your cals slowly, I was starving at 1900 cals, now eat at 2100 which is completely satisfying. I do lots of cardio though.
Ps winter is no excuse to slack off, plenty of great workouts on youtube to get you moving ☺0 -
RunRutheeRun wrote: »The difference with when I was eating at a deficit is just that I'm much hungrier now. So it's so much harder to stick to it. I used to be able to have 200-300 calorie treats in my day easily when I was eating 1700 calories, now even when I aim for 1900 (still a 300ish deficit, I think), it's a struggle when I do. It's not like my weight is unreasonably low either, heck I could stand to lose 8 more pounds! Just can't imagine what hell it would be to maintain that.
I'm fine with chocolate, I have 53 calories mini bars that are very satisfying. Honestly my cravings are typically manageable except when I get hungry from PMS. I swear hormonal hunger has been so much worse since I lost weight too...
I'm trying to increase my calories to keep a smaller deficit, that might help with the binges (although to be fair... 90% of my binges are because I'm hungry anyway). Maybe one day I'll actually figure it out...
Someone mentioned increasing my activity level - I've done that. But my workouts seem to suffer as a whole, so I'm not sure it's really helping in the end? Plus Winter makes it hard, I'm naturally more active in the Spring or Fall when it's nicer out. A bit harder to go out for a walk when it's a mess outside and 25 degrees, especially as I'm always cold (still had a fantastic 12 mile walk in NYC last week with 20 degrees, but it was sunny at least, lol!).
Keep increasing your cals slowly, I was starving at 1900 cals, now eat at 2100 which is completely satisfying. I do lots of cardio though.
Ps winter is no excuse to slack off, plenty of great workouts on youtube to get you moving ☺
I don't slack off. I still do at least 30 minutes every day in average. I'm just less likely to go out for an extra walk, obviously. I've done a bunch of home workouts but frankly I just get bored with them (done a bunch of Beachbody programs, although I will probably have to dust off some of them this week when we are snowed in - youtube isn't available in a room where I have room to workout and I can't imagine following a workout from a tablet or a smartphone).
I have a stationary bike that I use while I watch TV sometimes though (but I'd rather walk, it burns more calories).0 -
RunRutheeRun wrote: »The difference with when I was eating at a deficit is just that I'm much hungrier now. So it's so much harder to stick to it. I used to be able to have 200-300 calorie treats in my day easily when I was eating 1700 calories, now even when I aim for 1900 (still a 300ish deficit, I think), it's a struggle when I do. It's not like my weight is unreasonably low either, heck I could stand to lose 8 more pounds! Just can't imagine what hell it would be to maintain that.
I'm fine with chocolate, I have 53 calories mini bars that are very satisfying. Honestly my cravings are typically manageable except when I get hungry from PMS. I swear hormonal hunger has been so much worse since I lost weight too...
I'm trying to increase my calories to keep a smaller deficit, that might help with the binges (although to be fair... 90% of my binges are because I'm hungry anyway). Maybe one day I'll actually figure it out...
Someone mentioned increasing my activity level - I've done that. But my workouts seem to suffer as a whole, so I'm not sure it's really helping in the end? Plus Winter makes it hard, I'm naturally more active in the Spring or Fall when it's nicer out. A bit harder to go out for a walk when it's a mess outside and 25 degrees, especially as I'm always cold (still had a fantastic 12 mile walk in NYC last week with 20 degrees, but it was sunny at least, lol!).
Keep increasing your cals slowly, I was starving at 1900 cals, now eat at 2100 which is completely satisfying. I do lots of cardio though.
Ps winter is no excuse to slack off, plenty of great workouts on youtube to get you moving ☺
I don't slack off. I still do at least 30 minutes every day in average. I'm just less likely to go out for an extra walk, obviously. I've done a bunch of home workouts but frankly I just get bored with them (done a bunch of Beachbody programs, although I will probably have to dust off some of them this week when we are snowed in - youtube isn't available in a room where I have room to workout and I can't imagine following a workout from a tablet or a smartphone).
I have a stationary bike that I use while I watch TV sometimes though (but I'd rather walk, it burns more calories).
Sounds like you're moving nicely then,, roll on summer ☺0 -
You have a couple options
1) Build more lean muscle. Muscle burns calories even while resting so that at the same weight, or even less perhaps, your body is requiring more calories to maintain and would allow you to eat more to your satisfaction. This is probably going to require lifting which you said you don't like to do.
- 2) Cardio. Buy yourself more calories for the day if you don't find yourself being satisfied off of what you can currently have. Running, swimming, biking, dancing are all great ways to boost your calorie needs so that you can eat some more.
- 3) Change what you eat. Eat foods that are more filling. I just ate a huge plate of food for 550 calories that will keep me satisfied for the rest of the evening with the addition of one small snack. Less calorie dense foods such as fruits and vegetables are going to be more filling. Eat them with a small portion each of fat and some sort of carb and they are all going to make you feel full for longer. You can still have the occasional treat if you like, but if you fill up on the less calorie dense items first, you most likely are going to set yourself into stuff yourself miserable territory. Which is much more likely to stop you from eating more.
- 4) Be hungry. If you don't want to do one of the above, you are going to have to learn to live with being hungry. There are some small things that can help you feel fuller for longer (fiber supplements, savoring your food and making it last, drinking more water) but chances are that those won't even last you if you are as hungry as you are describing. You have to make your choice as to what is your priority.0 -
I had lost weight previously and kept it off 2 years. I also got frustrated with daily tracking and found that I could be successful with logging 3-4 days a week and staying under my weight loss calories, and then loosening up the other days. You can play with the days to see the right balance for you. And, of course, you can't go all out crazy on your non-logging days, stay sensible, but more relaxed. I found it worked well when I planned ahead and made it more non-logging meals/events than whole days (e.g. eat a normal "diet day" breakfast and lunch and then go out with friends without stressing over the dinner calories). That helped me maintain for 2 years before I fell off the wagon and gained the weight back.... Whatever you do, don't do that! lol
Also, I recently found that I feel less HUNGRY when I cut out artificial sweeteners and (as others have said) focus on filling foods.0 -
i'm still experimenting at this stage as i only just reached my goal weight around 3 weeks ago. very disappointed to find out due to my PCOS, i need to continue doing more than an hour per day of cardio just to maintain. i'm looking into weight-lifting as well, though i'm not a lover of exercise, despite getting into a routine with it. please don't suggest HIIT to me as i can't run or do high impact exercise for more than a few minutes without re-awakening my knee injuries from a couple of years ago. so low-moderate cardio daily for more than an hour.
![:\](https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/resources/emoji/confused.png ":\")
i also have to continue restricting calories to a certain degree because i'm so short and can't get away with eating more than 1800 cals per day for maintenance. i have noticed my weight can fluctuate between goal and +6 lbs on "heavy" days and although i try not to panic, it's discouraging. i'm still waiting to see what climbing up to maintenance cals is actually doing to my body because i'm not sure yet whether any weight gain so far has been due to excess salt intake/fluid retention or genuine fat re-gain.
this is pure hell. i enjoyed weight loss because the results were a downward trend on the scale, even when it wasn't linear - and it was also time-limited. any goal is achievable when you know it's not a forever thing. i have read extensively about the endocrine system's battle with weight losers to re-gain weight after weight loss because the body believes its' been "starving" and i've fallen victim already to a binge day that scared me silly. i have only ever tried dieting once before a couple of years ago because i started to gain weight as i got into my late 20s. i have spent most of my life being a healthy size before i gained weight around my belly that wouldn't shift in my early 30s, started having high cholesterol/lipid blood tests and irregular cycles. i was diagnosed with PCOS and my doctor recommended i lose weight to manage the condition.
less than a decade ago when i was naturally a healthy weight i never had to diet or exercise to any extreme just to stay in shape so i'm going to say this - weight maintenance is completely unfair and takes iron-will to do if you're not used to dieting/exercising your whole life. there is also a reason statistics show such a low turn-out for successful maintainers too - it has almost nothing to do with willpower and more to do with your genetics/hormones deciding you are too slim to survive. the body plays all kinds of tricks on you to get you to regain the weight, so i'm not surprised to find this really hard. i hope this doesn't discourage anyone else but it's a sad truth i only just discovered myself and i wish i had been told this before i started the diet/exercise. i don't know if it would have made any difference to my decision to lose the weight but i do think i would have had a more realistic outlook of what weight maintenance really means.
diet-watching and exercising for the rest of your life is a very high price to pay just to maintain a healthy weight. and i do mean healthy - my BMI is only just on 24... just one point up and i'm in the overweight range. there is no win here, only struggle. forever. the alternative is even more painful so yep, no win.0 -
The problem for me is not the lack of motivation from not seeing the scale go down anymore, honestly. It's that I'm hungrier now than I was while I was losing, even though I'm eating more. Honestly I never expected that...0
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The problem for me is not the lack of motivation from not seeing the scale go down anymore, honestly. It's that I'm hungrier now than I was while I was losing, even though I'm eating more. Honestly I never expected that...
You still mustn't be eating enough if you are still hungry, try upping your cals by another 100 and see if that helps. I am currently reverse dieting and finding great success (currently eating 2100 and maintaining/5ft 2"/very active)0 -
RunRutheeRun wrote: »The problem for me is not the lack of motivation from not seeing the scale go down anymore, honestly. It's that I'm hungrier now than I was while I was losing, even though I'm eating more. Honestly I never expected that...
You still mustn't be eating enough if you are still hungry, try upping your cals by another 100 and see if that helps. I am currently reverse dieting and finding great success (currently eating 2100 and maintaining/5ft 2"/very active)
You'd think but then I should be losing weight, and I'm not, lol.0 -
i'm cautiously optimistic about maintaining. i've been tentatively doing so for a couple weeks, and have found it much less stressful than weight loss mode. more food = more happy
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I have got to stay at around 1500 cals per day plus excercise and one big meal on the weekend to maintain. As soon as this goes up the weight goes up and I love eating..... Maintaining sucks especially when people say to me 'you're so lucky be naturally skinny'. I have to work bloody hard to stay slim and go without foods I love every single day. I love food, but I love being slim more! I used to get the balance wrong all of the time and kept yo yo'g. I seem to have it sorted at the moment and have stayed the same roughly anyway for 2 years now. This site really helps and I pop back on every time the weight starts to creep back.
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It's very difficult for me. I have maintained in the healthy BMI range (sometimes the upper end, though, hence why I'm back on MFP, I want my favorite jeans to fit again!) for almost two years, but it sucks up so much of my focus and energy that it's really a full time job.0
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It's very difficult for me. I have maintained in the healthy BMI range (sometimes the upper end, though, hence why I'm back on MFP, I want my favorite jeans to fit again!) for almost two years, but it sucks up so much of my focus and energy that it's really a full time job.
This rings really true. I hope it's going to go away, but I somehow doubt it... I've been getting comments from family members about how I stress out too much over it, but when I loosen up too much, I have a much harder time with moderation... and sometimes I REALLY don't want to have that high calorie meal that people have decided we'd have (when visiting family or something). Yeah I could just have a bit, but again, moderation isn't my strong suit and I need volume or I get hangry.
I'm learning to relax more when I go over, knowing I can make up for it the next couple days, but I still can't help wondering 'what if I don't stop being hungry and the cravings don't go away this time?'. It's exhausting.0 -
I guess I've been maintaining for 6 months now, but does it get easier? I mean, I've been on MFP for 2 years, but I still struggle and there isn't a day that goes by when I'm actually satisfied and don't wish I could eat more (except the days when I go 500 calories over maintenance or something).
I mean, I'm not depriving myself by a long shot and I'm typically not particularly hungry except those few days a month when hormones make me ravenous, but still. I swear it's so much harder when you have a sweet tooth! At least when I crave something salty it keeps me full... chocolate and dessert don't quite cut it. Sure, I'm satisfied with less than I used to, but still... it still takes a pretty substantial amount. And I still binge too much (I still keep a deficit to make up for those days).
I know I'm rambling a lot, I just didn't expect maintenance to be so hard at times!iloseityes wrote: »totaldetermination wrote: »perhaps Intermittent fasting would work for you ?
People always suggest this but considering I eat most of my calories in the morning because I'm just so hungry, yeah I don't see that happening at all. And on days I end up with an early dinner because of it... nope, still hungry at 7pm. Can't win.
I was just like you actually. In the morning, I would have to eat 50% of my days calories within the first 2/ 3 hours (a large breakfast, then a moderate lunch about 2.5 hours later). All afternoon my mind would be on food, thinking did I need a snack, had I eaten enough for my energy levels not to crash at some point, etc, and by the time it got to evening time I was often struggling to have enough calories left to make sure I had enough for a decent evening meal. In other words, food controlled me.
I feel free of that cycle currently, and I credit fasting for breaking it. Something I was not expecting at all. It's early days, but I feel energised, not hungry, in control of what I put in my mouth, and simply more ambitious in most areas of my life right now.
I'm not sure if intermittent fasting is right for you at this moment. I know it wasn't for me when I set out to lose weight 7 months ago. The right thing for me then, which I also discovered by giving it a go on the recommendation of some friends I would have a high opinion of, was a high fat, low carb diet. I think that was the first taste of freedom from food I felt, as what I ate supplied me with a stable energy all day long (no spikes/ crashes), and actually made me feel quite full. The benefits to general health didn't hurt either, but I shan't go into that here, as it seems to upset some people a lot here.
Anyway, low-carb may not be for everyone, but it was for me, which was an unexpected surprise. I still carried my habit of snacking though, a carryover from my diet up to that point, which was predicated on snacks every few hours.
It wasn't until intermittent fasting this last week (still early days, as I mentioned), that has been the hammer blow for some of my redundant eating habits. Firstly, and also unexpectedly, I now have a much bigger handle on hunger, and instead of being a driving force in my day to day life, it has now been relegated to that of a signal from my body, like perhaps when you feel a minor headache, take note of it, and simply carry on, not letting it derail what you are focussing on before you felt it. Secondly, the snacking is gone, something I never thought I'd be able to say. Moreover I feel even more in control now than I did even on low carb, and according food the actual priority in my life it should have had, as opposed to the one I allowed it to have, has helped me reap all those benefits I mentioned. Focus, determination, drive, etc. The health benefits from fasting too is just an added bonus.
Anyway, I thought perhaps someone's experience who has been in a similar place perhaps to where you are now, might help. Good luck with the maintenance, and finding what's right for you, that's the only thing that matters
It's hard for me to maintain weight but take our one day at a time. I have hishamotos(sp?) Which is anti bodies attaching my thyroid so i know how hard it is to maintain. What helps us eating oatmeal for breakfast and light lunches and dinners. And having healthy snacks in between.
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