Losing weight vs. maintaining weight, which do you think is harder?

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Replies

  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    @swim777 if you can't deal with scale hikes on a Monday morning stay off the scales for a few days?
    You either learn to ignore the water weight hikes and just go by your average trend weight. Hence its a good idea to have a goal range or +/-5lbs.

    We all have weeks when we are eating more than others, but even that wont harm our weight in the long run as long as we get back to eating at maintenance calories again.
  • kristen6350
    kristen6350 Posts: 1,094 Member
    Maintaining is much harder. You almost have to find some kind of piece with not being perfect all the time. I have a pretty big "Ok" zone. If I'm anywhere between 150 and 160 (I'm 5'11) and my clothes still fit, game on. This wasn't the same mentality I had 2-3 years ago when I was coming off of losing 50lbs. I felt I had to be within 3 pounds. Yeah, not happening. I have a pair of size 6 jean capris from Eddie Bauer that if they get tight I need to do something. That's it, it's as easy as that. It's amazing when I go back to watching and weighing food and thinking about exercising how much I realize why I'm back in this prediciment in the first place. But I'll never see above 170 again. (I started a 193).
  • mtorrescop
    mtorrescop Posts: 1 Member
    edited June 2016
    I'm in remission of cancer but before then, I was in better shape. I have since gotten back where I need to be and have used myfitnesspal to get me there. I hate the guess work of knowing what I can or cannot eat, so I let it MFPal do the math for me. I don't have a problem losing weight, especially when im doing chemo, just putting muscle on.
  • DawnUrbanski
    DawnUrbanski Posts: 39 Member
    Maintaining is so much harder and for some reaon, I'm hungrier
  • swim777
    swim777 Posts: 599 Member
    I am sometimes! I was at such a deficit for so long...once I've allowed myself to have more..I really feel deprived and hungrier if I cut back again too much. I have my snacks that I really enjoy.
  • oocdc2
    oocdc2 Posts: 1,361 Member
    Losing weight requires no thinking, once you have your method. Maintaining requires effort.
  • xbowhunter
    xbowhunter Posts: 1,241 Member
    Hornsby wrote: »
    Since I didn't do anything while losing weight that I don't do in maintenance, it literally is "just eat more" for me.

    Exactly!!! It's not rocket science...... :)
  • KetoneKaren
    KetoneKaren Posts: 6,412 Member
    I am not there yet, but a friend on MFP says that for her there is very little difference. She lost weight slowly, and was fortunate enough to choose a calorie/macro combo that had to be tweaked very little when she reached her goal, I think she said she added 100-200 calories is all. As she lost weight, she gradually increased her activity level and now is quite active on a daily basis. A good role model, I think.
  • johnnylakis
    johnnylakis Posts: 812 Member
    I lost 36 pounds 2 years ago, kept it off. You have to want to succeed
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    edited June 2016
    Honestly I didn't find either too difficult. When I was losing I did not have a high deficit and I lost my weight on the slower side.

    However, when I moved to maintenance I found it tough to stop losing weight and I missed those celebrations of losing an inch here and there and dropping dress sizes.

    When I started creating new fitness goals to reach towards that helped me to turn my focus from weight/fat loss to getting stronger, faster, building more endurance, getting more flexible etc.

    Maintenance is not hard for me because I still work hard everyday like I did when I was losing weight. I just eat more. Plus I really, really, really, really want this (staying at a normal weight and being fit) so I just keep going. :)
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,396 Member
    Maintenance, for me, is harder in some ways and easier in others. Harder because when I'm actively losing weight, I'm focused on a goal and that drives me to keep at it. In maintenance I don't count calories and just relax and live like I want to without really worrying about food choices (I naturally make good food choices for myself and DH and I cook at home a lot, so that helps). Also, beer.

    It's easier because it is fairly easy for me to stay within my 5 lb weight range without counting calories and being strict about not eating goodies, etc. But I do eventually get up to the higher end of the weight range, usually about twice a year, then I have to go back to actively counting again for a month or so to shake it off and fit back in to my clothes properly.
  • jessicarobinson00
    jessicarobinson00 Posts: 414 Member
    I originally found maintenance to be more difficult: now as I've adjusted, I've truly enjoyed the additional calories and I still eat at a deficit all week (think "Calorie Banking") so that I can splurge on the weekend...I still miss the excitement of stepping on the scale to see my hard work paying off...Now my "scale" is a measuring tape and, though the victories are there, they are far fewer and farther apart.
  • wendymoira
    wendymoira Posts: 40 Member
    I find maintenance (for about 4 months now) easier than weight loss because I'm less obsessed with calorie count/logging and can enjoy trying to eat healthfully & experiment with new types of exercise. Also, this morning at the gym the calorie counter on the elliptical I used wasn't working, and I didn't have to care. :)
  • dr_soda
    dr_soda Posts: 57 Member
    Considering that I've lost weight several times, I'm tempted to say that losing weight is easier than maintaining weight. Otherwise, why would I have had to lose more than one or two times? If maintenance were so easy I would just stay at my goal weight, after all.

    On the other hand, maybe it's helpful to look at the gain/loss progression over time. Starting about 20 years ago, we see this over time:

    1) 300lbs -> 190lbs (Lost 110lbs)
    2) 240lbs -> 180lbs (Lost 80lbs)
    3) 225lbs -> 165lbs (Lost 60lbs)
    4) 190lbs -> 170lbs (Lost 20lbs)
    5) 190lbs -> 170lbs (Lost 20lbs)
    6) 185lbs -> 170lbs (Lost 15lbs)
    7) 185lbs -> 174lbs (Current and ongoing, but recomping to more muscle this time)

    So maybe, at least in some cases, maintaining becomes a little easier over time in the sense that you become more alert to danger signs and quicker to correct them.
  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
    It is hard for me to lose weight when I am healthy, I do tend to drop weight easily when I am stressed or not living well and gain it as I get more fit (which obviously is only good up to a certain point, I don't want to keep getting bigger), being able to eat more when working out a lot feels better, trying to maintain a low calorie goal while also working out as much as I like to doesn't feel good physically.


    The only recent time I dropped weight it was easy, I wasn't trying to, really, just working out a lot and not remembering to eat all the time, was going through some bad stuff. Doing it intentionally? While happy and staying in shape? Just to get back to as skinny as I prefer visually? That's harder.

    Maintaining is pretty natural for me, it happens at different weights but my body tends to stick in one place for years, then I make some sort of change and it comes along, sticks in the new weight. So now I am doing yoga plus jogging and having a latte each day and some drinks in the weekend, this weighs just under ten stone, which seems too heavy to me but arguably is the most healthy weight for my height. Before that, I easily maintained underweight around 125lb doing jazzercise only and not drinking alcohol or coffee, that was just how much that lifestyle weighed, there was less of me. Before THAT I had walnuts always with breakfast and couldn't work out because of some health issues after last baby, that weighed about 148lb, it stuck there. So my body likes to maintain, it doesn't really like to gain or lose mass, but does adjust each time I adjust my lifestyle.

    So for me maintaining is easiest. Losing weight on purpose, consciously, in a healthy way, is much more difficult, gaining or losing without trying to by changing my lifestyle happens easily though.
  • Lynzdee18
    Lynzdee18 Posts: 500 Member
    Maintaining is harder. I cringe each time I step on the scale. Water weight is my nemesis and it hitched onto me when I restarted carbs and got hooked on them again. I need to get lots of sleep to keep water weight off. I haven't been resting well for about a month. Argh. Did I aay maintenance is harder? :o

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