Went down hill since Maintenance

Just stay with it. You've actually done the hard work already. Now you have to maintain. This is just another task you have to accomplish. And you can do it!

I'm one of those who gained all the weight back. I had gone from 250 to 160 in 10 months back in 2010. I looked at the scale this March and I was back at 250. I could say it was work/life got in the way. Truth is that I got lazy. I'm now on the march to donate (lose) the weight again. I now have got my head in a better place and realize I will have to track the rest of my life.

It's OK because I have made a lot of friends here on MFP and am still learning things so I'm good with it.

bmskid wrote: »

Do you think it's possible for you to not even think about it "maintaining"? If you can get your mind around continuing to log, just with a higher number

I think this is the best advice to give to people who are on maintenance.

What are your stats? How can we help you if we do'nt know where you are at in factual terms. Is your diary open.

Apart from that I will say this. I'm also in maitnenance and have been for 10 months. The path has been up and down, not just a smooth coasting along in perfect mode the whole time.

I think i first started climbing because i was sick of the whole monitoring thing and just let myself relax and nibble too much. I didn't ever get into binging that wasn't related to a stressful situation. I did have some of those but to get past those situations, i did what i have done throughout my whole journey which is to go get some councilling so if you are having stress , address yoru stress.

If you are just binging becuase you are hungry, then my advice would be to eat more but make sure its healthy. Allow yourself to go up a little. YOu need to let your metabolism speed up again anyway if you ahve been restricting for a long time. There's quite a lot to be said about this but i can't really say it all here but just trust me you are unlikely to put on a lot by eating normally.

And i mean normnally healthily, not a free for all. If you go back to eating junk you will get fat again and go back to square one. So eat healthy. Keep on refining the quality of your diet. Try to make sure your food is enjoyable. Eat a wide variety of foods, healthy foods of course.

My weight seems to cycle a little bit. It goes up adn then i do something to get a grip again. But i have not gone back above my healthy weight range and i intend never to let that happen again.

If you are hungry, the only solution is to eat. Trying not to when your body is telling you it wants to eat is what is causing this stress and strife. You can get into a dangerous pattern of not eating and then binging becuase you are even more hungry. So be sensible and settle. Message me if you need to.

Was it just one day? If so, I don't think I would stress too much about it, we all have bad days, I'm sure you had them when losing too. Just get back on track today, drink plenty of water, eat at a slight deficit, and maybe do some exercise to help get your head back in the game.

Are you continuing to log while in maintenance? How much of a deficit were you at when losing and how quickly did you raise it?

Deep breath.

What's different? Are you still doing what you were doing when you were losing? If not, start there. It's the same mindset, just with a higher calorie goal.

But I get the feeling though, there's always a day or two a week when I end up eating more (sometimes way more). But I keep a deficit the rest of the time (I don't 'restrict', still eat what I want, just less) to maintain. I don't like it either but I've come to accept that it's going to have to be how it is - some days I'm just way hungrier, and if I don't eat less the other days, I will end up gaining.

irenehb wrote: »

How did you work out that your goal is 1800-2000 calories per day? That seems too low for someone your age, weight, and activity level.
The fact that you aren't putting on weight suggests that maybe your calorie needs are closer to the low to mid 2k calories per day.

Exactly.
OP, you are probably eating your correct maintenance calories.
Just start logging again and stick with the exercise and you'll be fine.
I wish i could eat 2500 cals a day and not put weight on!

In response to Patttience on Sept. 23:

Great advice!

I try to stay within a healthy range instead of focusing on a number. If I plan to eat out, I might exercise a little bit more that day. If one day I give in to junk food at work, I just start eating healthy the next day. I have also found that there are certain foods I should avoid having in my house such as tortilla chips as it's hard for me to eat just one serving.

I am prolly qualifies as I've been there done that, my advice is don't lose it and start working out again. I lost 70 pounds before and gained it back after 5 years... Now I am fighting it back, one habit at a time...

The most accurate word is 'insidious' , these bad habits creeps back in slowly and will surely destroy you.

Tons of good advice here!! You are not alone!
It doesn't work all the time but sometimes when I'm about to just "fall off the food wagon", I think why am I about to eat this and will I feel like crap after? If I just take a moment I usually talk myself out of eating it. BUT sometimes I don't! I have however always increased my cardio that next morning and it has always balanced out.
Good luck!
Sometimes knowing your not the only one that does this helps and you are not!!!