What has been your biggest struggle at maintenance?

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desiresdestiny
desiresdestiny Posts: 175 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I was curious as we all can struggle differently at maintenance. Mine so far as been figuring out maintenance and eating at maintenance. I'm sure I've struggled with other things, can't think of anymore right now.
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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    I really haven't struggled with anything...I've been maintaining for over 2.5 years without logging.

    if you know your average rate of loss, all you really need to do is work the math to figure out what your maintenance is. so if you were losing about 1 Lb per week as a general trend then you know you need to eat about 500 calories more per day to maintain.

    it is also helpful to understand that maintenance isn't a static number, you're going to have fluctuations in weight. to a similar end, your maintenance calories aren't static...nobody has a TDEE of exactly XXXX calories...basically, you have a range of calories for which you will maintain.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    I'm loving maintenance these days :smile: took me a while to get my numbers right but with that came a confidence that I could stay this weight longterm :smile:
  • desiresdestiny
    desiresdestiny Posts: 175 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I really haven't struggled with anything...I've been maintaining for over 2.5 years without logging.

    if you know your average rate of loss, all you really need to do is work the math to figure out what your maintenance is. so if you were losing about 1 Lb per week as a general trend then you know you need to eat about 500 calories more per day to maintain.

    it is also helpful to understand that maintenance isn't a static number, you're going to have fluctuations in weight. to a similar end, your maintenance calories aren't static...nobody has a TDEE of exactly XXXX calories...basically, you have a range of calories for which you will maintain.

    I think I've figured out my TDEE range and yes I have a weight range not a number. It took me a while because I wasn't calories counting when I was losing weight as I just became more mindful of my eating and then I got sick and lost more weight. I joined MFP to actually maintain.
  • desiresdestiny
    desiresdestiny Posts: 175 Member
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    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    I'm loving maintenance these days :smile: took me a while to get my numbers right but with that came a confidence that I could stay this weight longterm :smile:

    Totally agree.. I can def see this being long term.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Hormones and more generally, hunger. WAY hungrier since I got close to my goal.
  • Laughter_Girl
    Laughter_Girl Posts: 2,226 Member
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    I've been maintaining my goal weight for a little over 6 months now, and my biggest struggle is staying satisfied food-wise throughout the day. The past couple of months it seems my appetite has been ferocious. Nevertheless, I have still been consistently logging, exercising, and weighing/measuring everything. I'm enjoying being at goal, and that makes my little struggle with hunger well worth it!
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    edited October 2015
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    I've been maintaining several years. It has been pretty straightforward. My biggest struggle is trusting my body when it's cold to tell me I really AM hungry because I'm really burning a lot more calories than normal, even though my exercise doesn't register it. And to trust my log when it tells me I really HAVEN'T eaten enough even though I'm not hungry, and maybe that's why I'm grumpy.

    So trusting both heart and head and keeping them balanced.
  • irenehb
    irenehb Posts: 236 Member
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    Laughter_Girl wrote: »
    I've been maintaining my goal weight for a little over 6 months now, and my biggest struggle is staying satisfied food-wise throughout the day. The past couple of months it seems my appetite has been ferocious. Nevertheless, I have still been consistently logging, exercising, and weighing/measuring everything. I'm enjoying being at goal, and that makes my little struggle with hunger well worth it!

    This! Feeling hungry when you are losing is fine, not like it is forever.
    But I still feel hungry at maintenance, I have increased fat and protein which helps some but not enough. It is hard to resist having more food when you don't even feel satiated.
  • johnnylakis
    johnnylakis Posts: 812 Member
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    holidays!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    edited October 2015
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    irenehb wrote: »
    Laughter_Girl wrote: »
    I've been maintaining my goal weight for a little over 6 months now, and my biggest struggle is staying satisfied food-wise throughout the day. The past couple of months it seems my appetite has been ferocious. Nevertheless, I have still been consistently logging, exercising, and weighing/measuring everything. I'm enjoying being at goal, and that makes my little struggle with hunger well worth it!

    This! Feeling hungry when you are losing is fine, not like it is forever.
    But I still feel hungry at maintenance, I have increased fat and protein which helps some but not enough. It is hard to resist having more food when you don't even feel satiated.

    Glad to see it's not just me. When I was losing everyone was saying that it will be easier to maintain because you have more calories. What nobody told me was that I'd be hungrier and that I have to be MORE careful with what I eat now than when I was losing...
  • sun_fish
    sun_fish Posts: 864 Member
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    My biggest struggle has been not falling back to old habits of overeating during times of stress and often simply because food tastes good, and I'm still working on moderation. I overate most of my life (beginning in childhood), and was obese until age 50. So those habits are difficult to change, and it's a daily struggle to stay on track.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    I stopped tracking a few months into maintenance, I just plan/log in a spreadsheet now. My biggest struggle has been the sliding into eating a little too much, even though I still eat healthy food. First I planned for too many meals. Turns out I can't eat to complete satiety five times a day, and keep the weight off :s Then I miscalculated mindlessly and upped my portions too much. Now I'm having a monster craving for grains, and they are truly calorie dense. I have to rearrange my whole meal plan to accomodate for more bread, porridge and cereal.
  • Laughter_Girl
    Laughter_Girl Posts: 2,226 Member
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    @irenehb & @Francl27 Thanks for making me feel "maintenance normal". I was beginning to think something was wrong with me. :D I definitely monitor my macros to try to meet my daily targets. Other than that, I just drink plenty of water and try to eat slower.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    Laughter_Girl wrote: »
    @irenehb & @Francl27 Thanks for making me feel "maintenance normal". I was beginning to think something was wrong with me. :D I definitely monitor my macros to try to meet my daily targets. Other than that, I just drink plenty of water and try to eat slower.

    What made me hungrier at the beginning of maintenance was eating too many refined carbs. And every time I get hungry and start going over calories it's the same thing.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    nxd10 wrote: »
    Laughter_Girl wrote: »
    @irenehb & @Francl27 Thanks for making me feel "maintenance normal". I was beginning to think something was wrong with me. :D I definitely monitor my macros to try to meet my daily targets. Other than that, I just drink plenty of water and try to eat slower.

    What made me hungrier at the beginning of maintenance was eating too many refined carbs. And every time I get hungry and start going over calories it's the same thing.

    I think this is my issue now. I have to get in more whole grain. As long as grains played a minor part in my diet it didn't matter; now I have to pay more attention to their nutritional quality.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    Thanks for sharing your tips & experience. I'm still 35 lbs away from maintenance but I think about it a lot because I have failed miserably at it on the past.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    nxd10 wrote: »
    Laughter_Girl wrote: »
    @irenehb & @Francl27 Thanks for making me feel "maintenance normal". I was beginning to think something was wrong with me. :D I definitely monitor my macros to try to meet my daily targets. Other than that, I just drink plenty of water and try to eat slower.

    What made me hungrier at the beginning of maintenance was eating too many refined carbs. And every time I get hungry and start going over calories it's the same thing.

    The problem though is that I'm not eating more refined carbs than I was when I was losing, and I'm still hungrier, even with more calories. It's just odd.
  • votkuhr
    votkuhr Posts: 276 Member
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    Getting enough protein for recomp :s
  • andyluvv
    andyluvv Posts: 281 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    nxd10 wrote: »
    Laughter_Girl wrote: »
    @irenehb & @Francl27 Thanks for making me feel "maintenance normal". I was beginning to think something was wrong with me. :D I definitely monitor my macros to try to meet my daily targets. Other than that, I just drink plenty of water and try to eat slower.

    What made me hungrier at the beginning of maintenance was eating too many refined carbs. And every time I get hungry and start going over calories it's the same thing.

    The problem though is that I'm not eating more refined carbs than I was when I was losing, and I'm still hungrier, even with more calories. It's just odd.

    I find the same - but I have 2000 calories on a sedentary setting and find that after the day is gone I gain about 800 calories to eat so I don't get crazy over it. As long as most of the time I'm eating at maintenance or close to I don't fret.

    My main issue is milk - I LOVE milk and have a lot of it so I try to cut back (says he after having milk and shreddies in a small cup).
    I also find that if I eat little but often I don't feel as hungry as normal - oh and a lot of soda water.
  • rtp_slg52181
    rtp_slg52181 Posts: 73 Member
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    Laughter_Girl wrote: »
    @irenehb & @Francl27 Thanks for making me feel "maintenance normal". I was beginning to think something was wrong with me. :D I definitely monitor my macros to try to meet my daily targets. Other than that, I just drink plenty of water and try to eat slower.

    I would suggest you haven't found your optimum maintenance cals. There is usually a ~500 cal range that your body can adjust for. If you are at the low end your body will easily get cold your hair and nails won't grow as fast and other non essential fictions your body would normally do are reduced to conserve energy.

    The best way to truly find your high end maintenance is to add 100 cals to your daily intake every 2 weeks till you see a gain on the scale.

    Remember you will have a glycogen weight gain of ~3-5#'s but this is just your body returning to normal fiction.

    I remember the first time I tried to bulk. I was maintaining on~1900 for 6monthd so upped to 2150 to gain 1/4 a week. 3 weeks went by and I had lost a lb. I upped it again 2500 and maintained my weight for the next month. I added again to 2750 and gained 1/2 lb over the next month. I finally hit 2900 to gain ~1/4lb a week.

    From 1900-2150 I did gain 6lbs of glycogen weight the first week before I started losing, but my measurements didn't change and my clothes didn't feel any tighter.

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