Which is most difficult to accomplish maintaining weight vs losing weight

Maintaining is harder imo, you don't have a specific goal.... You're trying to not do anything in a way. I find it easier to set a physique goal - trying to gain muscle, or fuelling myself for heavier lifts etc.

I don't know of anyone who thinks maintaining is the easier of the two. With weight loss, you have a goal and you have something you can do to reach that goal. And though you may have some setbacks (a.k.a cheat days), your calorie deficit is constantly pushing you toward that goal. As you near your goal, you see results. With maintenance, your goal is to remain the same, with no end in sight. If you have a setback, you'll eventually have to do something different or it'll stay with you for a long time.

When you think about it, weight loss is easy compared to maintaining.

Loosing was more difficult for me. Now I do less and eat more. I also have good fitness friends that post often and remind me (through positive peer pressure) to get off my butt. In addition, I set weekly fitness goals.

I think they're both equally easy. It's not a 'hard' thing to do. It doesn't take talent. It just requires following the directions and being persistent. You log your food and make sure you eat what you're supposed to. Healthy food and healthy exercise help too.

That said, losing was more rewarding. But by the time I got to maintaining (9 months) I had the rest of it down. And every time I step on the scale and I'm still in my goal range, I feel another sense of accomplishment. 3 years and it hasn't gotten old.

Ive come to realize that having the 5-10 pounds as a goal has kept me more engaged in the process then reaching my ultimate goal.

Timorous_Beastie wrote: »

Psychologically, maintaining is harder for me. There's so much positive reinforcement built in with losing that it's an adjustment from the highs of fitting into new clothes, seeing the number drop on the scale, getting compliments to same old, same old. No one ever says, "Hey, congrats on staying the same size for a year. Good job."

lol

That's one fun thing about trying a recomp though. I'm hoping I'll still see changes.

TimothyFish wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

Far, far easier to maintain than to lose - I absolutely hate having to diet.

Even though I was fat for twenty years I actually maintained at a fat weight - it wasn't a constant increase in weight unless I tried intuitive eating which was an abject failure for me. I just now maintain at a lower weight and in a different way.

If we're counting being fat as maintaining, maintaining is the easiest thing in the world.

I think the point went completely over your head!

I maintained at around 198lbs and now I maintain at around 164lbs. It's no harder to maintain now just because I'm lighter. The bit in between was the hard bit to me - losing weight. Tiresome, irritating and a complete chore.

I don't know of anyone who thinks maintaining is the easier of the two. With weight loss, you have a goal and you have something you can do to reach that goal. And though you may have some setbacks (a.k.a cheat days), your calorie deficit is constantly pushing you toward that goal. As you near your goal, you see results. With maintenance, your goal is to remain the same, with no end in sight. If you have a setback, you'll eventually have to do something different or it'll stay with you for a long time.

When you think about it, weight loss is easy compared to maintaining.

So now you have met someone who thinks maintaining is easier. My goal is to maintain at this weight and that's no less a goal than weight loss was, doesn't need an end date and is far more rewarding than the tedium of weight loss to me. Maybe when you get to goal and maintain for a while you might understand. You seem to be fearing the very thing you have been working towards.

When you are losing weight sometimes you see good news when you step on the scales, but often you don't - I see good news every day.

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

Maintaining is harder imo, you don't have a specific goal.... You're trying to not do anything in a way. I find it easier to set a physique goal - trying to gain muscle, or fuelling myself for heavier lifts etc.

Maintaining is definitely harder. I obsess minutely about food. How do I just let go, eat well and not worry?!

For me-the transition period between active weight loss and maintenance was the most difficult part (about 6 months of time). I couldn't get my weight to stabilize, dropped down to an underweight bmi, struggled to get back up to a healthy bmi etc. I also started exercising for the first time during that time as well, and that added a level of stress as well. It was also really hard to transition mentally and that was pretty rough.

So weight loss/maintenance, pretty smooth sailing. Transition period between the two-sucky

sijomial wrote: »

TimothyFish wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

Far, far easier to maintain than to lose - I absolutely hate having to diet.

Even though I was fat for twenty years I actually maintained at a fat weight - it wasn't a constant increase in weight unless I tried intuitive eating which was an abject failure for me. I just now maintain at a lower weight and in a different way.

If we're counting being fat as maintaining, maintaining is the easiest thing in the world.

I think the point went completely over your head!

I maintained at around 198lbs and now I maintain at around 164lbs. It's no harder to maintain now just because I'm lighter. The bit in between was the hard bit to me - losing weight. Tiresome, irritating and a complete chore.

I don't know of anyone who thinks maintaining is the easier of the two. With weight loss, you have a goal and you have something you can do to reach that goal. And though you may have some setbacks (a.k.a cheat days), your calorie deficit is constantly pushing you toward that goal. As you near your goal, you see results. With maintenance, your goal is to remain the same, with no end in sight. If you have a setback, you'll eventually have to do something different or it'll stay with you for a long time.

When you think about it, weight loss is easy compared to maintaining.

So now you have met someone who thinks maintaining is easier. My goal is to maintain at this weight and that's no less a goal than weight loss was, doesn't need an end date and is far more rewarding than the tedium of weight loss to me. Maybe when you get to goal and maintain for a while you might understand. You seem to be fearing the very thing you have been working towards.

When you are losing weight sometimes you see good news when you step on the scales, but often you don't - I see good news every day.

I maintained at about 208 from 1997 til about 2005. I don't have an exact date on when I quit. That's part of the reason I lost my handle on it. I stopped paying attention. Then the stress of working 60+ hours a week took over and I began gaining weight. The thing that makes maintaining hard is that you can't force yourself to always care. Even after maintaining a weight for more than five years, it is possible to reach a point where you don't care that you are gaining weight, and though you could do something about it, you don't.