I just logged in for the first time in months.....

Tanie98
Tanie98 Posts: 675 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
have been maintaining for year without tracking my food but just making healthier food choices, eating when I'm hungry, watching my portions and regular exercise .I also pay attention to how my clothes fit and so far so good :)

How are you maintaining? Why do some people gain it back when they stop tracking?

Replies

  • mamadon
    mamadon Posts: 1,422 Member
    I've been maintaining for nearly two years. I still log all my food and will do so indefinitely. I think if you are able to maintain without logging that is awesome, but I know my limitations. I need to be aware of how much I am consuming in order to keep the weight off.
  • sjabbar3151
    sjabbar3151 Posts: 13 Member
    Hi i am new. I have lost 11 lbs so far in 3 weeks mostly by eating healthy and changing my diet. I do exercise but not consistently. I want to lost 55 more lbs and be around 113 to 115 lbs. i am 5 feet 1 inch. I just want to know which exercises will help flatten my lower tummy and the skin on my upper arms? I want to be stronger and toned this time. I eat mostly fish and a gluten free diet with green veggies and fruit.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Well done :smile:
    I think some people revert to old habits??
    I still log, I like to ensure I hit my macros and also these days I have to make sure I'm actually eating enough.
    Been maintaining successfully for 2+ years. I am very active, thats a habit thats not going to change either. :)
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    Great job on maintain for one year!

    I think some people are too aggressive during weight loss (under eating, over exercising or both).

    They reach they goal and either get complacent or can't keep up with what they were doing to lose the weight so it slowly comes on over time.

    As for me I plan out what I'm going to eat in advance, keep track of my meals in my written food journal, I also enjoy being active everyday and I monitor and keep track of my measurements.

    Lastly, I work hard everyday to make good choices and stay vigilant. Next year will be my 3rd year comfortably maintaining!
  • neldabg
    neldabg Posts: 1,452 Member
    edited December 2015
    Awesome job！^_^ As the years go by, you should definitely post your loss and maintenance to the success stories section here to motivate others. I'm still ten pounds from maintenance, so I can't answer the first question, but for the second question, these are some reasons I've observed as to why people gain without tracking：
    1) For many of us who've been overweight all our lives, eating more than we need is just second nature, a deeply rooted habit. Therefore, it is with deliberate thought and effort that we must watch our food consumption. When we stop monitoring our food with a diary, we are prone to slip back to old ways without realizing it before we gain the weight again.
    2) Even after reading all of the helpful posts here, people STILL just view weight loss as a diet rather than a lifestyle change or a change in diet, so once they stop tracking, they go back to old habits and regain everything.
    3) People let go of their "training wheels" (aka calorie counting) too soon into maintenance. They feel confident that they now know how to eat within their calorie range, when in fact, they probably still needed more training and more mental preparation to successful carry out the balancing act required to stay within a range.

    This is my first stab at a sustainable, healthy life, so I've never gained weight after a loss or anything, but I highly suspect that my danger would be case #1. It's been about six months since I've made a change for my health, and I still find myself thinking about stopping by the local corner store to grab some chips, and I tend to overstock because I'm so used to eating large portions. For me, overeating is such a strong habit that I NEED to keep a food diary in order to remind myself that I choose to no longer live a life of uncontrolled eating. As such, I'll never stop tracking, and I don't mind it at all. :) It's quite fun actually.
  • youngmomtaz
    youngmomtaz Posts: 1,075 Member
    I enjoy tracking too and while I am now working on the last 20lbs, I maintained last year just by making sure to pay attention to how I was eating and how often, and getting on enough activity.

    Absolutely awesome job! Keep it up! I will probably track in and off once I hit maintenance. I like the numbers, I appreciate how they motivate me. But if I could maintain last year, I am quite sure that once I hit goal I should be able to keep myself in line. It has been a long time coming!!
  • ilovesweeties
    ilovesweeties Posts: 84 Member
    I reached maintenance at the end of June this year after losing 68 lbs. I kept tracking and working out and lost another 4. I found it hard to eat all my maintenance calories (2400) after nearly a year of ~1500, so I was eating a lot of chocolate and sweets to get there... that caught up with me and I started eating more and more and more and more, so I started to lose track. After an eating festival of a holiday, my birthday and a gain of 7lbs on my goal, I had a word with myself and I am now back at my original goal. I've set a new, slightly lower, goal so I am back to tight logging anyway, but my experience over the summer showed me I need to be better mentally and logistically prepared for maintenance and I will need to keep tracking. Maybe not forever, but certainly for a good long while. I'll also be creeping slowly, slowly to maintenance and putting up with the much slower loss as a consequence!
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    Tracking on and off as required but mostly exercising and maintaining an active lifestyle.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,486 Member
    Well done on maintaining for a year.
    I have been maintaining for about 6 and only log occasionally. Body shape and clothing fit are my general guides, but I do log when my workout routine changes drastically.
    I find just logging a few weeks a year keeps me more precise with portions. In general though I haven't had a problem with food. Exercise is another story- I can become a sloth at the drop of a hat, so have to keep a tight rein on that.

    Cheers, h.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    I am still logging but it is very unusual that it makes any difference in my eating. I'm always under. Good habits are what you need to maintain.
  • Tanie98
    Tanie98 Posts: 675 Member
    HappyCampr1 wrote: »
    sjabbar3151 wrote: »
    Hi i am new. I have lost 11 lbs so far in 3 weeks mostly by eating healthy and changing my diet. I do exercise but not consistently. I want to lost 55 more lbs and be around 113 to 115 lbs. i am 5 feet 1 inch. I just want to know which exercises will help flatten my lower tummy and the skin on my upper arms? I want to be stronger and toned this time. I eat mostly fish and a gluten free diet with green veggies and fruit.
    It would be better for you to ask this question by starting your own thread. You'll get better responses to your question and we won't derail this one.

    Thank you :)

  • Tanie98
    Tanie98 Posts: 675 Member
    Thank you everyone
  • AdamImadA
    AdamImadA Posts: 74 Member
    edited December 2015
    I quit tracking/logging 3 months ago and am enjoying it! I weigh daily and if I notice an upward trend I reign it in a little. Staying on top of it and it and not getting lazy are keys.

    Good job doing what works people!
  • Larissa_NY
    Larissa_NY Posts: 495 Member
    AdamImadA wrote: »
    I quit tracking/logging 3 months ago and am enjoying it! I weigh daily and if I notice an upward trend I reign it in a little. Staying on top of it and it and not getting lazy are keys.

    Good job doing what works people!

    I weigh weekly, but other than that, same. I have a five-pound weight range to either side of my target weight and if I stray too far outside that, it's time to add in another day or two of cardio, up the protein, and rein in the carbs. I log for a bit to make sure my macros are where I want them,

    In answer to your second question, I think it makes a lot of difference whether your starting point was "Can't buy clothes in regular stores" or "Oops, getting a little flabby, better lay off the donuts and be more conscientious about hitting the gym." The latter is an easy fix and takes a few weeks of concentrated effort to get back to normal; the former probably involves metabolic damage from years of obesity, possibly poor hormonal signalling of hunger and fullness, and all the emotional issues that caused you to put enough food into your body over the course of the day to sustain two full-grown human beings. That stuff can't be cured by eating more chicken and taking a walk after dinner.


  • becky10rp
    becky10rp Posts: 573 Member
    I've been on maintenance for about 2 years - I log daily. I've had great success on MFP and I credit a lot of it to logging everything - it really makes you aware of what you eat. I have no plans of stopping as far as logging goes....why mess with what works? !
  • michellesz
    michellesz Posts: 429 Member
    I have been maintaining now for about 3 years. I have become one with logging. Not only for accountability, but I like to also keep other things other than calories in check like fiber and protein consumption or limited sodium and like to see how adding in exercise and workouts adjust those calculations. If I am happy and feel better than ever in my life and the system is working, why not continue to keep it up. Good luck.
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,474 Member
    WELCOME BACK, I am here every day just to maintain.
  • LaLa_Ventura
    LaLa_Ventura Posts: 94 Member
    I too started back logging my food diary. It's been a few months and I'm having some difficulty with my decision to continue. I feel that I become obsessed with every little thing I eat or don't eat. Don't get me wrong, I love this app and knowing my nutritional data is wonderful but then I am constantly at war with myself and checking how many calories I have left vs. if I'm still hungry.

    I was thinking of writing it down and than just logging it at night

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