Two Months on Maintenance.... more thoughts
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xKoalaBearx
Posts: 181 Member
Hi everyone. I hope everyone is doing well. I wanted to update you on my journey so far and the things that I've learned.
As you may or may not know, I joined NS on Nov 1, 2014. At my highest I was about 200 lbs and was able to lose around 60 lbs. I have been in maintenance since mid-June 2015. I continue to order NS foods. I enjoy the foods, and it continues to make it easy for me to plan my meals for the week. I still weigh myself every morning as soon as I wake up and right before I go to bed. I am used to the daily fluctuations and typically gain 2-4 pounds from morning to evening, then lose it again by morning. I try and keep my weight around 142 lbs, and have gone as low as 140.2 and as high as 150.5. I am currently 140.4 lbs.
I still log all my food. I use a food scale to weigh my non-NS food whenever I can. I eat within my calorie goals for the day. I continue to drink plenty of water, usually 16 cups a day. I plan my meals ahead at least a day in advance. That includes dining out, even buffets. (MFP makes it easy my being able to save entire meals.) I continue to have 4 servings of vegetables daily. My two smart carb portions are always servings of fruits. If I have reached my calorie limit for the day, and I am still hungry, I either will eat veggies, but more than likely, I will just wait for the morning.
I have also added a regular heavy weight lifting regimen, ICF 5x5, three times per week and I do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), 2-3 times per week. I have noticed this has really helped to lower my body fat faster than ever before. I'm even starting to see signs of the upper 4 pack of my future 6 pack! I still have my goal of getting toned and a six pack. I'm doing what's called a recomposition. That's where you maintain your weight, but simultaneously lose fat and replace it with muscle.
Since it's summer, I've definitely been more active with the family. We've gone swimming, cycling, camping, hiking, and white water rafting. I started playing volleyball again. My kids are now old enough, that I've been able to start teaching them the game and we can actually play, bump, set, spike and all! It's been great to be running around without getting short of breath. And sometimes, my kids get tired before I do! Funny right?
I have become very interested in the science behind weight loss and maintenance, mainly because I've never been in a healthy weight range my entire adult life, and I've yo-yo'd so many times in the past, that I don't want to do it again. So I've been doing research to figure out how to lose weight, how to keep it off, and why 80% of people gain it back after 2 years or so. I figured if I can understand these things, then I can help prevent the weight gain again.
So a few things I have discovered:
1. I can control my weight loss/weight gain:
I have come to realize that all weight loss/gain and maintenance is really all about CICO. Calories In and Calories Out. It's not about NS having any special food. It's not about any other "diet plans" out there being better than another. When you boil them all down it's really whether the calories you are taking into your body are more/less or equal to the calories you are burning each day. You can eat any type of food as long as it's at your maintenance level and you won't gain weight.
For example, if my maintenance calorie limit is 2000 cal, I can theoretically eat 2000 cal of ice cream and not gain weight. I wouldn't recommend it, because we need a certain amount of protein in our diet as well, but from a purely weight loss/maintenance standpoint, this holds true.
Back to controlling weight loss/gain, with summer being around, I have gone on vacation and have had a couple of weeks where I splurged quite a bit. Around mid-July I went away to Ocean City, MD and then camping in the Delaware Water Gap area for a week and really let go. Now mind you, I'm still reverse dieting to discover my true daily maintenance calorie level, and I'm currently at 1700 cal/day. But on this particular vacation my days looked like this: 2316, 2015, 1161, 1481, 2863, 2860, and 4875 calories (avg 2500 cal/day x 7 days)! Needless to say, I went from 141.3 lbs to 150.5 in a week! More than 9 pounds, 7 of them in the last 3 days!
My old self would have panicked or just quit. But I know now that this is mostly just water weight. Secondly, if I immediately go back to eating at a slight deficit, along with continue to drink plenty of water (btw water is needed to carry salt out of the body), that I will lose the weight. So I did just that, I cut my calories, drank lots of water, and surely enough, the weight did eventually come off. I lost 3 overnight. It took me over 2 weeks to get rid of the other 6 lbs, but counting the calories did work.
Another thing I noticed is that many people frequently complain that they aren't losing weight despite being under calories. Unless you have a medical condition, I have found that for most people, it's because they aren't counting their calories correctly. If you aren't weighing/measuring your food with a scale, then you are just guessing. If you aren't losing weight after a few weeks, then you are eating too many calories.
I definitely feel like I know what I need to do to gain, maintain and/or lose weight at will. It just takes patience, because, weight loss at least, won't happen over night.
2. Our metabolism slows down as we lose weight.
This part sucks, but it's a reality that we, who were once heavier and are now lighter, must accept, for a little while at least.
So I've read that as we lose weight, our bodies try and resist, perhaps because it is worried we are going into a famine, etc. And the body will adapt to weight loss, by trying to prevent it. So it slow our metabolism down, which means that we might have to lower our calories per day even more, in order to keep losing weight.
What it also means is that our maintenance calorie level might be lower than someone who hasn't lost weight, but has always been at a low weight. For example, if I used to weight 200 lbs and am now 140 lbs, my maintenance calories might be only 1800, where someone who has always been 140 lbs might have a maintenance level of 2400 calories. Sounds unfair right? Apparently this slow metabolism has been shown to still be around even after 1 year of maintenance. But my understanding is that if weight is maintained, the metabolism should increase again. By how much, I'm not sure.
Another thing with this is that because our body is resisting the weight loss, it wants to go back to our original heavy weight. So, it is VERY EASY to gain weight back, and very hard to lose it again. As my example above, I gained 7 lbs in 3 days but it took me more than 14 days to lose it again.
Lesson learned: do not have too many 5000 calorie days, or be prepared to eat at a deficit for a few weeks.
3. I've been studying research done by the National Weight Control Registry. This is an organization that studies people who have lost 30 lbs or more and have been able to keep it off for more than 1 year. They regularly have them fill out questionnaires 4 times a year to see what they do to maintain.
Things the NWCR have found:
a. 80% of persons in the registry are women and 20% are men.
b. The "average" woman is 45 years of age and currently weighs 145 lbs, while the "average" man is 49 years of age and currently weighs 190 lbs.
c. Registry members have lost an average of 66 lbs and kept it off for 5.5 years.
d. Weight losses have ranged from 30 to 300 lbs.
e. Duration of successful weight loss has ranged from 1 year to 66 years!
f. Some have lost the weight rapidly, while others have lost weight very slowly--over as many as 14 years.
g. 45% of registry participants lost the weight on their own and the other 55% lost weight with the help of some type of program (Weight Watcher, NS, etc.)
h. 98% of Registry participants report that they modified their food intake in some way to lose weight.
i. 94% increased their physical activity, with the most frequently reported form of activity being walking.
j. Most report continuing to maintain a low calorie, low fat diet and doing high levels of activity.
k. 78% eat breakfast every day.
l. 75% weigh themselves at least once a week.
m. 62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
n. 90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day.
Have you noticed anything? I've noticed that NS follows a lot a of what these successful people do. It's no wonder why NS recommends the things they recommend. I try to keep these things in mind and incorporate them into my lifestyle.
4. I don't consider any foods "bad". I still eat ice cream, chips, burgers, funnel cake, any cake, pizza and other foods. I just have to measure and log what I eat and stay within my daily calorie goal. More accurately, I stay within my weekly calorie goal. What I mean is that if I am supposed to average 1600 cal per day and I plan to overindulge on Saturday with 2200 cal then the next 6 days I will average 1500 calories to maintain the 1600 cal average, and I won't gain weight.
Anyway, that's it for now. I'm the healthiest and happiest I've ever been and my wife and kids are the fortunate beneficiaries of my fitness. I hope everyone is sticking with the program. For me, it was the easiest "diet" I ever did. Wish you all the best. Please feel free to comment or ask me any questions.
Keep fighting!!
KB
As you may or may not know, I joined NS on Nov 1, 2014. At my highest I was about 200 lbs and was able to lose around 60 lbs. I have been in maintenance since mid-June 2015. I continue to order NS foods. I enjoy the foods, and it continues to make it easy for me to plan my meals for the week. I still weigh myself every morning as soon as I wake up and right before I go to bed. I am used to the daily fluctuations and typically gain 2-4 pounds from morning to evening, then lose it again by morning. I try and keep my weight around 142 lbs, and have gone as low as 140.2 and as high as 150.5. I am currently 140.4 lbs.
I still log all my food. I use a food scale to weigh my non-NS food whenever I can. I eat within my calorie goals for the day. I continue to drink plenty of water, usually 16 cups a day. I plan my meals ahead at least a day in advance. That includes dining out, even buffets. (MFP makes it easy my being able to save entire meals.) I continue to have 4 servings of vegetables daily. My two smart carb portions are always servings of fruits. If I have reached my calorie limit for the day, and I am still hungry, I either will eat veggies, but more than likely, I will just wait for the morning.
I have also added a regular heavy weight lifting regimen, ICF 5x5, three times per week and I do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), 2-3 times per week. I have noticed this has really helped to lower my body fat faster than ever before. I'm even starting to see signs of the upper 4 pack of my future 6 pack! I still have my goal of getting toned and a six pack. I'm doing what's called a recomposition. That's where you maintain your weight, but simultaneously lose fat and replace it with muscle.
Since it's summer, I've definitely been more active with the family. We've gone swimming, cycling, camping, hiking, and white water rafting. I started playing volleyball again. My kids are now old enough, that I've been able to start teaching them the game and we can actually play, bump, set, spike and all! It's been great to be running around without getting short of breath. And sometimes, my kids get tired before I do! Funny right?
I have become very interested in the science behind weight loss and maintenance, mainly because I've never been in a healthy weight range my entire adult life, and I've yo-yo'd so many times in the past, that I don't want to do it again. So I've been doing research to figure out how to lose weight, how to keep it off, and why 80% of people gain it back after 2 years or so. I figured if I can understand these things, then I can help prevent the weight gain again.
So a few things I have discovered:
1. I can control my weight loss/weight gain:
I have come to realize that all weight loss/gain and maintenance is really all about CICO. Calories In and Calories Out. It's not about NS having any special food. It's not about any other "diet plans" out there being better than another. When you boil them all down it's really whether the calories you are taking into your body are more/less or equal to the calories you are burning each day. You can eat any type of food as long as it's at your maintenance level and you won't gain weight.
For example, if my maintenance calorie limit is 2000 cal, I can theoretically eat 2000 cal of ice cream and not gain weight. I wouldn't recommend it, because we need a certain amount of protein in our diet as well, but from a purely weight loss/maintenance standpoint, this holds true.
Back to controlling weight loss/gain, with summer being around, I have gone on vacation and have had a couple of weeks where I splurged quite a bit. Around mid-July I went away to Ocean City, MD and then camping in the Delaware Water Gap area for a week and really let go. Now mind you, I'm still reverse dieting to discover my true daily maintenance calorie level, and I'm currently at 1700 cal/day. But on this particular vacation my days looked like this: 2316, 2015, 1161, 1481, 2863, 2860, and 4875 calories (avg 2500 cal/day x 7 days)! Needless to say, I went from 141.3 lbs to 150.5 in a week! More than 9 pounds, 7 of them in the last 3 days!
My old self would have panicked or just quit. But I know now that this is mostly just water weight. Secondly, if I immediately go back to eating at a slight deficit, along with continue to drink plenty of water (btw water is needed to carry salt out of the body), that I will lose the weight. So I did just that, I cut my calories, drank lots of water, and surely enough, the weight did eventually come off. I lost 3 overnight. It took me over 2 weeks to get rid of the other 6 lbs, but counting the calories did work.
Another thing I noticed is that many people frequently complain that they aren't losing weight despite being under calories. Unless you have a medical condition, I have found that for most people, it's because they aren't counting their calories correctly. If you aren't weighing/measuring your food with a scale, then you are just guessing. If you aren't losing weight after a few weeks, then you are eating too many calories.
I definitely feel like I know what I need to do to gain, maintain and/or lose weight at will. It just takes patience, because, weight loss at least, won't happen over night.
2. Our metabolism slows down as we lose weight.
This part sucks, but it's a reality that we, who were once heavier and are now lighter, must accept, for a little while at least.
So I've read that as we lose weight, our bodies try and resist, perhaps because it is worried we are going into a famine, etc. And the body will adapt to weight loss, by trying to prevent it. So it slow our metabolism down, which means that we might have to lower our calories per day even more, in order to keep losing weight.
What it also means is that our maintenance calorie level might be lower than someone who hasn't lost weight, but has always been at a low weight. For example, if I used to weight 200 lbs and am now 140 lbs, my maintenance calories might be only 1800, where someone who has always been 140 lbs might have a maintenance level of 2400 calories. Sounds unfair right? Apparently this slow metabolism has been shown to still be around even after 1 year of maintenance. But my understanding is that if weight is maintained, the metabolism should increase again. By how much, I'm not sure.
Another thing with this is that because our body is resisting the weight loss, it wants to go back to our original heavy weight. So, it is VERY EASY to gain weight back, and very hard to lose it again. As my example above, I gained 7 lbs in 3 days but it took me more than 14 days to lose it again.
Lesson learned: do not have too many 5000 calorie days, or be prepared to eat at a deficit for a few weeks.
3. I've been studying research done by the National Weight Control Registry. This is an organization that studies people who have lost 30 lbs or more and have been able to keep it off for more than 1 year. They regularly have them fill out questionnaires 4 times a year to see what they do to maintain.
Things the NWCR have found:
a. 80% of persons in the registry are women and 20% are men.
b. The "average" woman is 45 years of age and currently weighs 145 lbs, while the "average" man is 49 years of age and currently weighs 190 lbs.
c. Registry members have lost an average of 66 lbs and kept it off for 5.5 years.
d. Weight losses have ranged from 30 to 300 lbs.
e. Duration of successful weight loss has ranged from 1 year to 66 years!
f. Some have lost the weight rapidly, while others have lost weight very slowly--over as many as 14 years.
g. 45% of registry participants lost the weight on their own and the other 55% lost weight with the help of some type of program (Weight Watcher, NS, etc.)
h. 98% of Registry participants report that they modified their food intake in some way to lose weight.
i. 94% increased their physical activity, with the most frequently reported form of activity being walking.
j. Most report continuing to maintain a low calorie, low fat diet and doing high levels of activity.
k. 78% eat breakfast every day.
l. 75% weigh themselves at least once a week.
m. 62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
n. 90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day.
Have you noticed anything? I've noticed that NS follows a lot a of what these successful people do. It's no wonder why NS recommends the things they recommend. I try to keep these things in mind and incorporate them into my lifestyle.
4. I don't consider any foods "bad". I still eat ice cream, chips, burgers, funnel cake, any cake, pizza and other foods. I just have to measure and log what I eat and stay within my daily calorie goal. More accurately, I stay within my weekly calorie goal. What I mean is that if I am supposed to average 1600 cal per day and I plan to overindulge on Saturday with 2200 cal then the next 6 days I will average 1500 calories to maintain the 1600 cal average, and I won't gain weight.
Anyway, that's it for now. I'm the healthiest and happiest I've ever been and my wife and kids are the fortunate beneficiaries of my fitness. I hope everyone is sticking with the program. For me, it was the easiest "diet" I ever did. Wish you all the best. Please feel free to comment or ask me any questions.
Keep fighting!!
KB
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Replies
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Awesome post! Thank you.0
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Thank you for posting!0
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Great Post K-Bear!! I have been on maintenance since 1 Aug. Although I have not laid it out in as much detail as you I have found you to be right on. On a vacation I gained just over 3 lbs. Have now lost it back simply by going back to 1500 a day. I exercised everyday on vacation just as I do at home except for the travel days. Continuing to log and monitor is paramount in my opinion. If you don't know what is going in then there is no way to control it.
MPF moved my calorie count for a maintenance program to 2370. I have a hard time reaching that, except when at a luncheon and a dinner (lucky one of the entree selections was fish) where everything was calorie high. I did watch my portions and selected good veggies. I traded fries for a baked potato once also. Neither good, but got away from the frying oil.
I grasped hold of and accepted a lifestyle change in the beginning. One cannot do the same things we used to do and expect different results. Thus, if we do the same things we are doing now we should see the same results and live a happier, healthier life. I believe your research shows us just that.
Have a great day and again Thanks for the info.
Charlie0 -
Well said K-Bear and Charlie, thanks for sharing!0
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Wonderful info. Koala bear. Thank you for sharing. As usual, you are spot on. I'm 6 lbs. from goal, and your post is very helpful for planning what I will do. I've already determined that I will continue NS along with other comparable grocery replacements for a few months after reaching goal to get my footing. I also think I will drop 5 extra lbs to give me cushion while I figure out what my body is doing. That way I won't get so spastic when the scale fluctuates. Please keep sharing. Your actual experience and experimentation is priceless! P~0
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Thanks for the feedback everyone! Glad to hear it's helpful.
Since realizing I can control my weight I actually find myself intentionally dropping a couple of pounds BEFORE going on vacation, so when I get back I'm close to my maintenance weight.
Keep fighting!!0
