I have no problem losing it, I have a problem maintaining it!

I understand what you are saying. While it was hard losing it, maintaining it seems harder. Since you are no longer on that do or die plan the lazy days seem to multiply. I always figured whatever activities I took up needed to be things that I enjoyed and that worked for me. Tennis did not work for me, while I can hit the ball on a wall - large walls are hard to come by. I know I need my activities to be primarily solitary activities. I love going to the gym, enjoy strength training at home (this one was really hard for me) and love walking. Though I do two of them with friends on occasion I have yet to find anyone as dedicated as myself who will stick with our plans, so working alone is what works for me. Another thing that helps keep me motivated is when I can complete a 30 day Jumping Rope challenge and then fall off from JR for a while and then can barely get through 3 minutes I know I need to keep myself active and keep my strength up.

Try and find something that you enjoy and then schedule your workouts and reward yourself when you say complete a month or several weeks. Develop a habit.

I'm trying to find the link, but there was a recent video release of findings from the National Weight Control Registry and they identified several key successful habit of individuals losing and keeping off 30lbs or more.

http://www.nwcr.ws/Research/default.htm

First of all they identified a higher motivation than losing weight, such as "being a better parent".
They exercised 60 min/day.
They logged their activity.

All of this is based upon small changes that have dramatic impact over time. Just continue developing good habits and if you start to drift, correct and make small sustainable changes to get you back on track.

Try to find a workout/fitness plan that you enjoy. If you only diet to lose w/o changing you're setting yourself up for failure. "It's a process, not a project," and a lifestyle not a "diet." It may take you a while but experiment and find out what works for you.

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And to the OP, I think "where I'm from people are not really into exercising or eating well" is a bit of an excuse. Americans (I live in the U.S.) are generally overweight and unfit. I don't see that as a deterrent--I see it as a challenge not to fall into that category.[/quote]

Exactly what I thought. If people around you suddenly stopped caring about showering or brushing their teeth, would you let that affect you? You don't need their approval, and you don't even need to advertise it. Just do what you need to do.

I've "maintained" within a 20 pound range for decades, by eating good food, avoiding bad foods, exercising on a set schedule most of the time and finally, by getting back on the horse each time I fall off. I'm up 18 pounds again, and am also tired of such a large fluctuation, so intend to lose it and only go up and down by 3 pounds or so. I hope.

That's why I'm here- to learn from you all, how you maintained in a narrow range for a long time. The OP has a great question, as it's the one I have the most problem with. I say that I "maintained" as many of you might be glad to be only 18 pounds overweight, but for me, it's 18 pounds too much but I don't think it's healthy and is getting harder and harder to lose.

Developing a habit of working out is one of the hardest habits to develop. Most other stuff takes about 30 days, but exercise takes almost 100 days to stick. And even then, people have recidivism rates that are high.

The thing about exercise or even it's paltry cousin, activity, is that people who are sedentary overwhelmingly have the excuse of not enough time, but if you ask anyone who is regularly working out, they will never say, oh, I have plenty of free time. People who have developed a habit and maintained that habit of exercise/working out have made it a priority in their lives.

In a way losing weight is indeed the easier part because in theory there is an 'end' But maint. there is no end ... it's quite literally the rest of your life so that fact can be SO overwhelming & daunting that many falters on old habits because the maint just seems too monumental of a task.

I think the key is to make sure that whatever healthy habits that you have developed while losing is something that can be maintained for the long haul. Transitioning to maint is nothing more but continuing the healthy habits and not revert to the ways of old with the mind set of 'yea I've reached goal I can eat whatever I want how ever much I want.' Because technically there is really no finish line ... it's a continuum - just with different goals.

Here are two articles I always recommend folks to read. They're helpful practical tips. This first one is from long time maintainers, boasting of about 10,000 members in the National Weight Control Registry. In 2014, NWCR reported 87 percent of their members maintained their weight loss over 10 years of at least 30 lbs or more. HERE

This second one I think is really helpful to put things into perspective for the long run not the quick 'I need to lose X lbs by X date' which I think is a mentality many follow & fail. Click HERE

I am embarking on my 2 yr maint anniversary here in a few weeks and I'd say the that two key things have helped me tremendously:

1. Auto Pilot: From the get-go I proactively & consciously conditioned myself to replace my unhealthy habits with new healthy ones because I like the auto-drive mode. Think get in the car & put on your seatbelt without thinking about it level of mindless conditioning. (Kinda like sitting at the TV mindlessly stuffing my face LOL - same principle just different activity). I like not giving my brain the chance to say, ''ooo I want to eat an entire bag of Doritos instead of a proper meal" Think of Pavlov dogs ... yes I was the dog HAHAHA Read HERE to get the science behind the approach
2. Jedi Mind Tricks: This REALLY helped me to 'stick with it' in maint when I became overwhelmed with the whole rest of my life fact. By adapting a variation of this 80/20 approach (I'm more like 90/10) I gave myself permission to snack hence I no longer obsessed about it because I can. Yes silly jedi mind trick but it really worked for me. There are also recent studies where it shows maintaining success adapting a 75/25 approach. Key is being consistent.

I apologize for the long post. Hope it was somewhat helpful. Best of luck to you!

cherishpatterson wrote: »

I maintain on a 90/10 food plan. Meaning, 90% of the time I eat according to my healthy lifestyle choice. Then maybe 10% of the time I'll have a meal or item off the "naughty" list. And to be completely honest, having lost 177lbs, the "naughty" food choices are not as appealing as they used to be. Maintaining for me has become my new way of life and new view of food. It's not easy to live in a world so obsessed with weight/health yet so overstocked with poor food choices... hope that helps. Just keep your goals in perspective, and the choices you make will follow what your heart and mind really want.

Amazing. Congratulatons to you!

Watch portions and move every day. Set a maintenance range and return to deficit eating for a while if you notice bracket creep.

The thing is, maintaining and losing is exactly the same mindset. You just have a few more calories to go with. You can stop exercising, but then you need to adjust your intake down. Most people start eating more and slow down exercising, which results in weight gain.

Or you just use MFP and follow the numbers.