Is maintaining weight harder than losing weight?

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  • brendant1
    brendant1 Posts: 17 Member
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    my doctor told me fat has a memory of about three years so if you can keep it off for three years it should be easier to maintain your weight. I lost 16kg but have put it back on so I'm part of the 80%. My new goal :get the weight off again & keep the weight off for three years.
  • MickeyCastello
    MickeyCastello Posts: 269
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    For me it is harder. Mainly because I know that my mind says I'm done, and I have to work hard to counter that. It's too easy for me to say "It won't hurt to do this or that", but one time leads to two, two times leads to four... Then the next thing you know it's 10 pounds or more. I worked too darned hard to let myself go back.
  • pjcfrancis
    pjcfrancis Posts: 121 Member
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    I'm getting close to my weight goal too, so I also have been thinking a lot about what maintenance really means. I like the advice about setting fitness goals. I'm almost able to run 5 k and I hope to push that to 10 k before long. Maybe I will add more goals as I go. I know that I can never sit down with a 2 liter tub of ice cream again, but that doesn't mean I can't ever enjoy a bowl or a cone. I really need to learn balance. Being aware of my calories, monitoring my weight, and staying fit are all part of my maintenance plan.
  • SKME2013
    SKME2013 Posts: 704 Member
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    I think maintenance is different, not necessarily harder. I have new goals. Fitness and exercise are now a daily habit. What helped me tremendously is to think in weekly terms and not daily ones. If I go over my calorie goal on one day, I make up for it the next. So far it works for me and it is less stressful than stressing over daily goals. And yes...keep on using MFP.
    Stef.
  • sfbaumgarten
    sfbaumgarten Posts: 912 Member
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    It's not harder, it's just different. No idea how many calories I lost on (Weight Watchers), but I maintain on around 1800 net. Everyone is different and you have to find what works for you.
  • madrose0715
    madrose0715 Posts: 463 Member
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    For me the strategy is 2-fold:

    Tracking and
    Continual Fitness/Exercise goals
  • jcim1ru
    jcim1ru Posts: 40 Member
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    It's definitely different - but I still believe it's another mind over the matter situation. It's just that what matters now is a different set of goals.

    It is a lifestyle change - it's not temporary. Anyone who thinks that when the diet ends they can let off the gas and start eating all the stuff they cut out is going to end up right back where they started.

    I refuse to fall into that trap - so for me it's still a set of goals - they are just different
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    My goal is to keep this off forever, and that's what I'm working for. I like that goal.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    Harder for me because I'm hungrier as a whole, even eating more calories. Go figure. And I have more 'cheat' days, I guess after 2 years you sometimes need a break from restricting yourself. So I pretty much still eat at a deficit with cheat days that wipe it off.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    brendant1 wrote: »
    my doctor told me fat has a memory of about three years so if you can keep it off for three years it should be easier to maintain your weight. I lost 16kg but have put it back on so I'm part of the 80%. My new goal :get the weight off again & keep the weight off for three years.


    It would be good if this was true :) I have kept my weight off for 2 years...another year to go and I'll be in the 20%...sweeet :smiley:
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    I maintain periodically every now and then, but this may not apply since I'm still overweight and my maintenance is at around 1800 excluding exercise. I find maintenance to be much easier than dieting, that's why I take maintenance breaks for months every time I feel a little burned out.

    What I do is just eat ad libitum, whenever I feel hungry, Keeping up with exercise. I don't count calories. I just made a habit of weighing myself every day, so I know my absolute highest mega bloat weight and my absolute lowest light weight (a 6 pound difference between the two for me). If I see myself going above my highest weight by the slightest tick of a scale, I'm back to dieting until I reach my lowest light weight and so on. Usually takes about a week of dieting to correct a slight increase, in extreme cases two weeks.

    I found that to be easier for me, personally, because instead of thinking about maintenance and foodstuff at all times I get to just relax and forget all about it until it's time to correct a slip, basically losing, gaining and maintaining the same 6 pounds. It's mentally easier for me to have to diet down periodically than being extra vigilant not to gain the weight in the first place.
  • pheekayo2014
    pheekayo2014 Posts: 2 Member
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    I set myself a weight maintenance threshold. So as long my weight stays in that threshold I am good. I spent the better part of 3 years losing the weight. I have no plans for gaining it back.
  • Cortelli
    Cortelli Posts: 1,369 Member
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    I find it harder. Not the intake associated with maintenance (food is awesome!) -- just that I find I am more dedicated and motivated when I have a goal in mind, and the goal of "maintaining" is just not as focused as losing or gaining to hit some sort of target. YMMV.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    It's way easier...I can actually eat.

    The problem is that most people just revert back to old eating habits...they don't really develop healthful habits while they're losing weight, they're just trying to lose weight...so they're at a loss when it comes to maintenance.

    I would also add that so many people are of the mindset that exercise is for losing weight that they go to maintenance and either drop their fitness regimen altogether or spend significantly less time exercising...their energy expenditure goes down and their consumption goes up...guess what happens?

    I've maintained without logging for 1.5 years. I continue to weigh myself regularly...usually 3 x weekly. I'm a stickler with portion control. I eat very healthfully...primarily whole foods and meals made from scratch, whole ingredients. I treat occasions like occasions and enjoy myself, but I don't let myself treat every day like an occasion. I exercise regularly.
  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Matahairi wrote: »
    It's perceived as harder cuz tracking your food can never stop while maintaining. "Diets" have an end date and people don't plan for maintenance from the get-go. Does an alcoholic say "ok, I've been sober for 6 months now and did really well, back to the bar I go"? Nope.
    The book Thin For Life is a great read BTW.

    Jennifer
    your friendly dietitian

    this is not true for everyone. i maintain just fine without tracking. it's not comparable to an alcoholic at all for me. I was never addicted to food. I just needed to learn to eat less calories, but I don't need to track forever to do that. Now I'm sort of tracking in order to figure out my maintenance since I never really did that. Also might want to gain a few pounds since I went a little low.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Matahairi wrote: »
    It's perceived as harder cuz tracking your food can never stop while maintaining. "Diets" have an end date and people don't plan for maintenance from the get-go. Does an alcoholic say "ok, I've been sober for 6 months now and did really well, back to the bar I go"? Nope.
    The book Thin For Life is a great read BTW.

    Jennifer
    your friendly dietitian

    You're a dietitian and you would have your clients track for life? I don't think that's really realistic. I've maintained just fine without logging and there are millions of people who do the same.

    I'm a bit sad for your clients.
  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
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    SergeantSausage wrote: »
    The evidence tends to point to it being harder ... or something.

    For every 10 folks I've seen lose weight, at least 7 or 8 of them don't/can't maintain - anecdotal for sure, but the massive number of folks who regain is self-evident, and ... "yo-yo" is a thing, right?

    By definition they have dieted in that case, not made a lifestyle change. The latter means replacing all the bad habits with good ones.
  • Cortelli
    Cortelli Posts: 1,369 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    It's way easier...I can actually eat.

    The problem is that most people just revert back to old eating habits...they don't really develop healthful habits while they're losing weight, they're just trying to lose weight...so they're at a loss when it comes to maintenance.

    Not disagreeing with you, as the "most people" claim may be true. I still find it easier to have a cutting or bulking goal than a simple maintenance goal - even though I might not go back to previous eating habits. Not sure why, but I simply feel more dedicated with a more focused goal that involves manipulating my diet towards some specific target that takes that manipulation to reach. With extended maintenance periods, I sometimes find other non-diet related goals take priority, and I can only manage so many priorities at any given time on necessarily limited effort and energy. Having a gain or loss goal seems to inspire me more to pay careful attention. Not true for all, surely.

  • annemaya2
    annemaya2 Posts: 6
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    It shouldn't be harder.. you just need to burn fat walking or running.. if you notice you are gaining weight, go for HIIT.. and you are good to go.. that's my opinion
  • gabbo34
    gabbo34 Posts: 289 Member
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    I think it would be harder. I made the mistake of going in two stages. I lost a lot of weight last August-December, then told myself my goal was to maintain through the holidays and then knock out the final 10-12 lbs to get to my goal weight.

    After being VERY stringent about everything I ate, I moved to maintenance mode for calorie intake for 2 months. I continued to excercise, but I let things creep into my diet that I didn't touch for 5 months. I had some days that were wheels off (like when I ate a whole sleeve of girl scout cookies) or hit some fast food places that had been off limits.

    But when I got on the scale at the end of January, my weight had only gone up 2 lbs. I think I would have been better off if I'd gained 10 lbs and been shocked back into my old eating habits. Now it's hard to stay motivated to eat totally clean when I found that I can eat a bit more like I used to without any consequences. But odds are my diet would completely slip back to what it used to be and without excercising at the ame rate, the weight would return.

    I also found that when I started eating processed foods again...I suddenly found myself eating a lot more. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but the best part of eating clean is that I found I no longer craved the processed foods, junk food and snacks that leads to a lot of 'empty' calories. Keeping them in moderation will always be a challenge for me.

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