Is maintaining weight harder than losing weight?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Cortelli wrote: »

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.

For maintenance I really focus on my fitness and performance goals. Lifting for example...I eventually reached a plateau on some of my lifts...I had to figure out how to get beyond that...I had to take a look at my diet again and timing, etc. I switched some things up and ate a little more in general and BOOM...busted right through.

I'm also always trying to get faster on my bike...I did some rides last year and I'm going to do some actual races this year as well as some time trials to help me establish some more specific goals in that arena.

I agree with all of this. I was afraid at first too, but I weigh daily so I am assurred that I am "good". I can eat a whole lot more, and my goals have changed from being skinny to being strong. Now I have fun playing with my macros and trying to hit that goal every day!!

I think part of what makes it more or less difficult is how different dieting is from what you were doing before and how different maintenance will be for you. I needed to lose 15 pounds that I put on over the course of about 8 years. I obviously was consuming more than I needed but not by a huge margin and my food choices were generally good - just went a bit heavy on alcohol. To lose all I really needed to do was to cut out my alcohol, and to maintain, add it back but just not as much as I was before. If I had a 4x a day giant fast food meals habit, what I would need to maintain is going to look a lot different from my prior habits and would be more difficult.

nxd10 wrote: »

What helps me is still being really happy that I am thin every single day. Every day I look at that scale and I'm still in a zone I consider a victory. My goal is to STAY then, not get thin. And I really do love to eat, so enjoy picking out my very favorite calories and savoring them and leaving mediocre food on my plate. It's been three years. My only regret is I didn't so this years ago.

I could have written exactly this.

I love being this weight. That's awesome motivation to stay this weight. I love good food. Food that isn't good is no longer worth it.

Oh yes I lost three stone before it took ages then put it on practically overnight when I was Ill and I think you get complacent

You sound determined go for it

Yeah exactly