Which is most difficult to accomplish maintaining weight vs losing weight

I find them to be about the same actually. I'm doing the exact same thing as I was while losing. I still count calories, weigh and measure all my food, and exercise. The only difference is that I get to eat a little more.

rainbowbow wrote: »

Maintaining. Especially with the added pressure that you worked so hard for so long to lose it initially.

Thats how i feel all the time ...At first I thought maintain would be so easy breezy but when i got to it , (Not Easy) my behalf working on making it easier tho .. i tend to over eat a Couple days of the week eating like 500-800 cals above maintain.. When i was lose weight i could do this and not worry about much because i had a week full of deficits to fall back on .. now with maintain I over eat is a slight chance ta_ gain weight and the pounds will creep up...__________> before you know it all you've work/strived for all them months or years are down the drain.

Maintaining has been much easier for me. I lost 50 pounds from 2013 to 2014 and have kept it off to where it's become my new normal. Since losing 50 pounds was my goal at the time, once I reached it, my exercise decreased and my eating habits went back to basically whatever I wanted yet I still maintained that weight. I guess my body was able to handle my intake versus activity levels to stay there.

Now I'm trying to lose 20 more pounds and it's incredibly hard. My initial strategy was the same as before -- eat healthier in general while not depriving myself of what I love (moderation is key, otherwise I won't keep up with it) and exercise regularly. But, I'm having much more difficulty with it this time as I'm not seeing any weight loss. So I'm trying to adjust to see what will work this time around. I'm one of those people who prefer a steady routine instead of a quick fix but it's just trying to find the right routine that I'm having trouble with.

And maintaining is easier, because I can eat more!

I love maintenance...hate this cutting business...I could stop right now as I am in range of my last year goal but yup I freakin' set a new goal...*smh*

Goals at maintenance are there...it's call maintenance and exercising/fitness goals...

I prefer maintenance now hence why cutting is a head game for me.

I think maintaining weight is harder.

The hardest part for me was switching off the "must make changes" mentality. I went from a couch potato to reasonably athletic. That should have been enough. But instead I wanted to keep improving. And while on the surface, striving to improve sounds fantastic, for me, it just fed my insecurities and made me feel obsessed. Not saying it works that way for everyone. But for me, it was part of the reason I got burnout. There were a lot of other factors, but it was a big one.

So this time around, I'm looking for the happy medium. I don't neeeeeeeeeed to get any faster or stronger or have a lower body fat percentage. If it happens, great. But I'm not going to feel disappointed if it doesn't.

Maintenance is tough for me because I haven't yet found the balance.

liekewheeless wrote: »

For me maintenance is harder. Almost there again, so we'll see how I fair this time.

I'm an all or nothing kind of person, I don't do well with moderation.
When I'm trying to lose, it's easy to cut down calories. Just say no to a lot of stuff and work out.
It's simple.

Maintenance on the other hand allows for more food, and since I don't intend to never eat cookies or cake again, I struggle to not go overboard. Learning moderation is going to be the hardest part.

LOL that's me right here, with freedom comes a huuuuuge responsibility!!!

Hmmm, 4.5 months to lose 30 lbs and 45 more years or so to stay at maintenance.... that might give you a clue as to how I feel... I maintained for 20 years before my weight gain (which happened over 4 years), and now maintaining at my lower weight again for over a year with a loooong road ahead. Maintenance is so much more difficult because it's forever, lol.

Comparatively speaking maintaining is the FAR more challenging of the two simply because the statistics are X amount of people can lose the weight every year but less than 50% are able to keep it off. Why?

The challenge is that weight loss is a definitive start to goal ie. Im going to lose X weight to be X .... but maintenance has no quantify specific goal per say because basically it is the 'rest of your life.' And that conclusion can be very daunting & overwhelming.

That's why fad diets may be great for weight loss but have high failure rate in maint. Most of the eating regiment in said fad diet just can't be maintained.

The key to maintaining is the mentality ... at least for me. When I understood that there is no 'finish line' and that I just have to continue to practice the good habits I've groomed from weight loss for the rest of my life ... that is when maint. became a seamless part of my life and not another temporary phase to endure.

Also, I practice a form of the 80/20 Rule which has helped TREMENDOUSLY to make the whole 'rest of my life' bit less scary and continue to set goals for myself. I am currently working on upper body definition. When I feel like I have achieve that I will move on the another goal. Goals keep me motivated and focused just like in wt loss so maybe that is something you can try.

Best of luck to you!