Did maintenance (reaching your goal) meet your expectations?

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Fursian
Fursian Posts: 524 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hi all,

I've a bit to go before reaching maintenance, but catch myself on occasion wondering how I'll feel once I get there, will it be what I thought it would be? Happy? Sad? Will it prompt new goals? I really can't know until I get there, I guess, but would be very interested in hearing about your personal experiences of when you finally *arrived* at your destination and your expectations/reactions if you had any.
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Replies

  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,089 Member
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    Well for me once I reached my goal weight , I realized that weight on the scale was only a very small piece of the puzzle. Someone can be 110 lbs but look terrible, they could have loose hanging skin and look flabby. Then someone at 180 lbs could look great with a tight stomach and abs. So I realized that weight isn't as important as I thought .
    I see many people on here that are only concerned with dropping weight , and they may be in for a rude awakening when they get to goal. So now instead of worrying about the scale, I focus on fitness. ( im 135lbs, 5'8 tall)
  • Larissa_NY
    Larissa_NY Posts: 495 Member
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    My maintenance is my normal weight. I only have weight loss goals when I deviate from it by more than a few pounds, so my expectation is that I'll be back to normal and my jeans won't feel annoyingly tight anymore.
  • 20yearsyounger
    20yearsyounger Posts: 1,643 Member
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    Fursian wrote: »
    Hi all,

    I've a bit to go before reaching maintenance, but catch myself on occasion wondering how I'll feel once I get there, will it be what I thought it would be? Happy? Sad? Will it prompt new goals? I really can't know until I get there, I guess, but would be very interested in hearing about your personal experiences of when you finally *arrived* at your destination and your expectations/reactions if you had any.

    Maintenance itself probably doesn't make you feel any happier but you will need some new goals as the weight loss incentive disappears. I am happier to exercise a little less and eat a little more :)
  • HIITMe
    HIITMe Posts: 921 Member
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    Maintenance was harder to keep up with than weight loss mode.
  • becky10rp
    becky10rp Posts: 573 Member
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    Maintenance is a lot of work - but - in my opinion - completely worth it! Shopping for clothes is now fun! I've been maintaining for around 2 years - logging everything and exercising 6 days a week is crucial for me. I've made some wonderful friends on MFP who are as serious about this as I am. No - reaching maintenance doesn't make your life perfect - but - for me- when I can start each day looking and feeling great - it certainly helps!
  • speeno
    speeno Posts: 55 Member
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    I never had an "ideal weight" in my mind, I had an image of how I wanted to look, as I got closer to that image I moved the goal posts slightly and could see where I wanted to improve, I'm happy how I look now, but still want to be better :)
  • airangel59
    airangel59 Posts: 1,887 Member
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    Awesome feeling <3 (never thought I'd get there). Ended up dropping #15 more than my "goal" number and now working on firming & toning, but consider myself very lucky that I don't have a lot of excess saggy skin. I'm still weighing/measuring/logging, weighing in weekly & working out 7 days a week as I was when in losing mode.
    d8vtmxccsmt9.png
  • HippySkoppy
    HippySkoppy Posts: 725 Member
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    Initially I was a bit lost when I hit maintenance.....been in weight loss mode for so long that it took a bit of introspection on what 'new' goals I now wanted.

    Getting my head around the 'range' idea of maintenance was tricky for me too....after trawling through the post here it has helped me understand a lot and I am glad the anxiety that I had over daily weight fluctuations has gone....to now that it is perfectly normal and others were successfully maintaining using this 'range' concept was heartening.

    Now the diet is familiar and no hassle, still weigh and log everyday and I think I will not drop this ever. This period has seen me focus more on strength and building flexibility also making the most of building up my wasted muscles lost due to illness and get my core to be as strong as possible to help with osteoporosis.
  • kpeterson539
    kpeterson539 Posts: 220 Member
    edited January 2016
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    HippySkoppy wrote: »
    Initially I was a bit lost when I hit maintenance.....been in weight loss mode for so long that it took a bit of introspection on what 'new' goals I now wanted.

    Getting my head around the 'range' idea of maintenance was tricky for me too....after trawling through the post here it has helped me understand a lot and I am glad the anxiety that I had over daily weight fluctuations has gone....to now that it is perfectly normal and others were successfully maintaining using this 'range' concept was heartening.

    I couldn't agree more. I'm still in the introspection stage of the whole thing, even after 9 months of maintenance. I still have quite a bit to learn or to assess. It did, however, give me a bit of breathing space to focus on some other issues, like recomp and some other goals I want to achieve.
  • bsbprincess
    bsbprincess Posts: 161 Member
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    thorsmom01 wrote: »
    Well for me once I reached my goal weight , I realized that weight on the scale was only a very small piece of the puzzle. Someone can be 110 lbs but look terrible, they could have loose hanging skin and look flabby. Then someone at 180 lbs could look great with a tight stomach and abs. So I realized that weight isn't as important as I thought .
    I see many people on here that are only concerned with dropping weight , and they may be in for a rude awakening when they get to goal. So now instead of worrying about the scale, I focus on fitness. ( im 135lbs, 5'8 tall)

    I once got about 11 lbs from my now goal.. so I was at 161.... I felt fat still. Less, sure, but my stomach was still all squishy and hung down in like a fold (sorry, TMI... ew)

    That really started teaching me this part. I never reached goal but I was so close and yet had so much work to do before I would have considered that I reached "goal" because I clearly had a lot of body fat left. Some will probably always be excess skin (had a tummy my whole life... I doubt it'll firm up :'( this thought kills me)

    I really think that this time (just starting back again) I need to focus more on measurements and my clothes sizes than the scale. Part of the reason I gave up was because the scale was stuck, but I bet I was still losing body fat % with the workouts I was doing.
  • spacepony
    spacepony Posts: 13 Member
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    Here's my Cautionary Tale, if you will.

    I started out this year at my highest weight in my adult life. After 5 months of logging and sweating, I reached my goal. I was ecstatic to say the least! But then I got a mean case of the "what now?"s. I'd never reached my goal weight my entire life. I literally didn't know what to do with myself. So, I kept going. Weight loss had become addicting, and I wasn't ready quit. Since I'd never been this thin/in shape before, I literally thought "There's no way my body gets smaller than this". I deduced from eons of reading weight loss articles that once you're body reaches too low of weight, it will start holding onto fat no matter what you do. That theory quickly debunked, as 3 months later I was cold all the time, feeling bones through my skin I'd never felt before, and getting extremely concerned looks from loved ones. My new skinny jeans were sagging, and yet still didn't feel "done" with it all. It didn't hit me that I definitely was indeed done until MFP told me that "If every day were like today"... I'd be dead by Christmas.

    So I told MFP to put me on a slow, healthy gain track (I NEEDED TO GAIN WEIGHT!?! that will never stop blowing my mind). Now, after an extra boost of help from holiday goodies, I'm back up to my initial goal. So I guess you'd say the concept of maintaining is still brand new to me. I hope I can do it without going too far in either direction again. Balance is the key to everything in life, I know this now.
  • bsbprincess
    bsbprincess Posts: 161 Member
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    Wow, spacepony, may I ask how much you lost in the 5 months?

  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,484 Member
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    Mine was a 5 yr 30lb gain so all I did was return to the weight I had been most of my adult life.
    However, along with my calorie counting I exercised, body weight, and cardio, and this gave me a much nicer body shape.

    Exercising also meant I was fitter, this meant I could really enjoy all kinds of adventures on vacation in my 60's, that I wouldn't have had the strength or stamina to do in my 30's.

    So to answer your question; reaching my goal weight was what I expected.
    The extras I gained through exercise exceeded my expectations- I didn't have any.

    Cheers, h.
  • sistrsprkl
    sistrsprkl Posts: 1,013 Member
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    thorsmom01 wrote: »
    Well for me once I reached my goal weight , I realized that weight on the scale was only a very small piece of the puzzle. Someone can be 110 lbs but look terrible, they could have loose hanging skin and look flabby. Then someone at 180 lbs could look great with a tight stomach and abs. So I realized that weight isn't as important as I thought .
    I see many people on here that are only concerned with dropping weight , and they may be in for a rude awakening when they get to goal. So now instead of worrying about the scale, I focus on fitness. ( im 135lbs, 5'8 tall)

    This.
  • yesimpson
    yesimpson Posts: 1,372 Member
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    I was very happy to get to maintenance as it meant eating more! Although initially I grossly underestimated how much more; I continued to lose another half stone after reaching the point where I intended to stop, because I couldn't quite believe I could eat another 300-400 calories a day. It seemed to be more than anyone else was eating. I realise now this is fairly common after stopping eating at a deficit. It also took me a while to comprehend that my body has changed e.g. kept picking up size 12 tops to try on, and being surprised when they were too big.

    I love being at maintenance. I try and keep in a range (between 120 and 124lbs). If my weight drops above or below, I eat more/less accordingly. I bank exercise calories sometimes for calorific events, and as I really enjoy exercise now I can eat a fair amount for someone of my size. This pretty much allows me to do what I want within reason, which is very freeing. I feel pretty confident in my own skin.

    I think the best thing I did to prepare for maintenance was lose weight very slowly. I was lucky in that I had only 30lbs to lose (for vanity more than anything else) so could take my time. Think it took me 18 months, but that meant a small deficit, lots of wiggle room for less strict weeks, and plenty of time to figure out how to keep things working for me long-term.
  • crb426
    crb426 Posts: 657 Member
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    Love this question. When I set my original goal, I did with the thought of "that's crazy, how can I ever get that low?". Then the weight starting coming off, and the goal seemed achievable. I got to my goal, then realized that I did feel great, but could probably lose some more. I am now 3 pounds below my original goal and I'm in a very comfortable phase of kind of maintaining, kind of losing. I would like to see what 7 more pounds lost will be like, but I'm not in a huge hurry to get there. I'm enjoying the extra calories of being close to maintenance but still losing about 1 pound a month.

    Basically, it's lovely getting to your goal weight. And fun to see where you go from there.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Haven't reached it yet but I was 2 pounds away at one point and it's just clear that I'll never look like the image I had in my head... First, my shape. I hate my shape. Rectangle, medium/large frame... Not a very defined waist and wide hips. Then my genetics that give me slim arms and legs and all fat on my hips/belly, so unless I go down to 16% body fat or something, my hips will always be the first thing that people notice when I wear a dress...

    And the loose skin. The more I lose, the worst my belly looks. I don't think all the lifting in the world would fix that, and I hate lifting, and that was the third disappointment really... that if I wanted even a chance at looking the way I wanted, I'd have to do something I hate 3x a week for the rest of my life. But I guess my expectations were unrealistic considering that I had massive stretch marks and was overweight/obese all my life (and started MFP at 34).

    So, I had to throw my expectations out of the window and just be happy to look good in clothes and be healthier.

    Then #4 for me, being hungrier at maintenance so I can't even fit all the treats I was eating while I was losing in anymore. Definitely wasn't expecting that one. Probably due to the fact that I exercise more now.

    So yeah... definitely not what I was expecting at all, but I REALLY don't want to go back to being bigger either.
  • Fursian
    Fursian Posts: 524 Member
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    @thorsmom01, @Larissa_NY, @20yearsyounger, @HIITMe, @becky10rp, @speeno, @airangel59, @HippySkoppy, @kpeterson539, @bsbprincess, @spacepony, @middlehaitch, @sistrsprkl, @GuitarJerry, @yesimpson, @crb426, and @Francl27, many thanks to you all!
    thorsmom01 wrote: »
    Well for me once I reached my goal weight , I realized that weight on the scale was only a very small piece of the puzzle. Someone can be 110 lbs but look terrible, they could have loose hanging skin and look flabby. Then someone at 180 lbs could look great with a tight stomach and abs. So I realized that weight isn't as important as I thought .
    I see many people on here that are only concerned with dropping weight , and they may be in for a rude awakening when they get to goal. So now instead of worrying about the scale, I focus on fitness. ( im 135lbs, 5'8 tall)
    A small piece of the puzzle, indeed! The differences between two people of the same weight and height, thanks to exercise, can be striking. It sounds like you've found yourself on a good healthy path! :)
    20yearsyounger wrote: »
    Maintenance itself probably doesn't make you feel any happier but you will need some new goals as the weight loss incentive disappears. I am happier to exercise a little less and eat a little more :)
    Prior to my "journey", I had underestimated just how incredibly powerful having a goal could be for mind, body, and soul. Previously being an aimless person, I now cherish that I've happened upon a goal, and it's health related, yay! Like all good adventures, It's sad when they end, so I hope to transition over to many more goals (healthy ones!) after to follow.
    HIITMe wrote: »
    Maintenance was harder to keep up with than weight loss mode.
    I don't doubt this! I've been reading all I can in preparation. The interesting, yet saddening, thing I've found while reading is that there is not much emphasis put on maintenance and beyond, it's mostly on losing/gaining the weight. So, once many people achieve their goals, I imagine quite a few are a truly lost! The material regarding maintenance that can be found here on MFP is excellent, and will help many I'm sure!
    becky10rp wrote: »
    Maintenance is a lot of work - but - in my opinion - completely worth it! Shopping for clothes is now fun! I've been maintaining for around 2 years - logging everything and exercising 6 days a week is crucial for me. I've made some wonderful friends on MFP who are as serious about this as I am. No - reaching maintenance doesn't make your life perfect - but - for me- when I can start each day looking and feeling great - it certainly helps!
    airangel59 wrote: »
    Awesome feeling <3 (never thought I'd get there). Ended up dropping #15 more than my "goal" number and now working on firming & toning, but consider myself very lucky that I don't have a lot of excess saggy skin. I'm still weighing/measuring/logging, weighing in weekly & working out 7 days a week as I was when in losing mode.
    d8vtmxccsmt9.png
    Lovely posts! So positive! I am looking forward to all of this! :) I personally love the structure that logging and exercise brings to my life, so I'd really like to continue long after I've reached maintenance.

    @bsbprincess, glad to hear that you're getting back into it! Wishing you every bit of success! :)
    spacepony wrote: »
    Here's my Cautionary Tale, if you will.

    I started out this year at my highest weight in my adult life. After 5 months of logging and sweating, I reached my goal. I was ecstatic to say the least! But then I got a mean case of the "what now?"s. I'd never reached my goal weight my entire life. I literally didn't know what to do with myself. So, I kept going. Weight loss had become addicting, and I wasn't ready quit. Since I'd never been this thin/in shape before, I literally thought "There's no way my body gets smaller than this". I deduced from eons of reading weight loss articles that once you're body reaches too low of weight, it will start holding onto fat no matter what you do. That theory quickly debunked, as 3 months later I was cold all the time, feeling bones through my skin I'd never felt before, and getting extremely concerned looks from loved ones. My new skinny jeans were sagging, and yet still didn't feel "done" with it all. It didn't hit me that I definitely was indeed done until MFP told me that "If every day were like today"... I'd be dead by Christmas.

    So I told MFP to put me on a slow, healthy gain track (I NEEDED TO GAIN WEIGHT!?! that will never stop blowing my mind). Now, after an extra boost of help from holiday goodies, I'm back up to my initial goal. So I guess you'd say the concept of maintaining is still brand new to me. I hope I can do it without going too far in either direction again. Balance is the key to everything in life, I know this now.
    These insights are invaluable, thank you for sharing! I'm relieved your story turned into a positive experience for you! It sounds like you're headed for brighter places! :)

    @Francl27, thanks for sharing your experiences! I guess a big part of this, for all of us, is being realistic. I believe this is one of the keys to unlocking long lasting success.

    Thanks again everyone, for all the great posts! Well done on all your progress thus far, and what you're all yet to achieve!
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    Nope. I will probably never arrive at my destination. I never really knew what my goal was. The weight doesn't matter as much as physique and strength do. I've gotten as low as I could weight wise and tried a recomp. I've cut down to a pretty low body fat %, just to start gaining weight (and muscle) pretty much immediately. Now I'm fluffy and strong. Then I'll cut again to see what it's like with more muscle and low body fat %. This is definitely not a short term thing for me.

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