I've heard maintaining is harder
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I found it easy. Same behaviors, more calories. You just have to keep it up - I've been doing it four years. What motivates me is that my goal is to keep the goal off FOREVER. If your goal is to lose the weight, you'll regain.7
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I feel like it can be harder if you view your weight loss as a diet. If you change your lifestyle to fit your desired outcome, I feel it is easier. Many people get to their goal weight and go back to the old habits that got them overweight to begin with though.7
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i just think when you start this thing you have to factor in maintaining. its all very well losing the weight but what happens after. This is the reason why we see so many people put it back on. I am not as strict as when i was losing but still have to be very mindful of what i am doing. i really dont want to start all over again.5
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Maintenance isn't hard for me. I treat it just like I did when I was losing weight. The only difference is that I eat more so that I would stop losing weight.
Everyday I still work with planning and trying to make good food choices and I am active daily.
My biggest issue was missing the highs of losing an inch here and there or a pound, but I now make new fitness goals regularly and that helps me out a lot by keeping me focused.
I also look at my old pics and try on old clothes that used to fit tight on me that now fall off on me (like in my profile pic) to help remind me how far I have come.6 -
So basically if I learn from this year of losing and continue on the same path with a few more calories, it shouldn't in theory be any harder. Thanks so much for the responses. I eat near maintenance on Wednesday so I know around the amount of food I will be able to have for the rest of my life. I just didn't know if hunger is any different after that biggest loser study.0
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Whenever you read/hear anything coming from Biggest Loser - change the channel, flip the page. Disregard.4
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cmriverside wrote: »Whenever you read/hear anything coming from Biggest Loser - change the channel, flip the page. Disregard.
There was a legit study that came from following some of the contestants 6 years after their weight loss. All but one gained most if not all of their weight back. They were burning fewer cal at rest than before they started the show even though they gained their weight back.
At any rate I agree about the show itself.0 -
So basically if I learn from this year of losing and continue on the same path with a few more calories, it shouldn't in theory be any harder. Thanks so much for the responses. I eat near maintenance on Wednesday so I know around the amount of food I will be able to have for the rest of my life. I just didn't know if hunger is any different after that biggest loser study.
I find maintaining to be exactly the same as losing but better. There are just enough more calories that I'm not hungry.1 -
It is harder for me.
While losing, I had the actual weight loss, and all the comments to inspire me, and keep me going.
Now I just have to keep telling myself that I can never go back to where I was.cmriverside wrote: »Whenever you read/hear anything coming from Biggest Loser - change the channel, flip the page. Disregard.
There was a legit study that came from following some of the contestants 6 years after their weight loss. All but one gained most if not all of their weight back. They were burning fewer cal at rest than before they started the show even though they gained their weight back.
At any rate I agree about the show itself.
Maybe so, but the statistics for all people that lose weight are that over 80% of the people gain all of the weight back, some gain even more weight, within 5 years. This is part of the motivation that keeps me going. It will be 3 years on 11/3/16 that I have maintained my weight loss (I weigh less than 1/2 of what I weighed when I began MFP 3/12/12), and it is hard for me. There are threads here every day with people starting over. I am now striving to not be one of the people that gain the weight back.5 -
For me it is harder because weight loss is a goal, its something to work towards, its something to aim at and because of that I can remain focused. Maintenance is not really a goal in the same way, it doesn't feel like progress to just not change weight over time and so I tend to get listless and start paying attention to other aspects of my life. 2 years later I've put on 20 pounds basically not paying attention.
I think thats why the type of weight loss that sticks is the type where you lose weight by learning new habits that just happen to support a leaner version of yourself in the first place and just stick with that as your new routinue as it transitions into maintenance naturally.5 -
than actually losing. Why is this? It seems once the calories amount is dialed in for maintenance that it would be equal to losing. Does one tend to loosen the calorie restriction a bit?
I have about 7 months to go before I begin maintenance but I think about it often and I'm trying to focus on how to learn from this so that I can maintain for life.
Don't believe everything that you hear. Harder for some, not so much or nothing at all for others. It all depends on your eating habits, your relationship with food and exercise, and what and how much to learn while you were losing.
Edited because spelling in hard on Thursdays.3 -
than actually losing. Why is this? It seems once the calories amount is dialed in for maintenance that it would be equal to losing. Does one tend to loosen the calorie restriction a bit?
I have about 7 months to go before I begin maintenance but I think about it often and I'm trying to focus on how to learn from this so that I can maintain for life.
Don't believe everything that you hear. Harder for some, not so much for or at nothing at all for others. It all depends on your eating habits, your relationship with food and exercise, and what and how much to learn while you were losing.
Thank you. I do tend to believe people though. What I'm trying to do is figure out why it's hard for some and easier for others. That's how I learn, or hopefully will learn.0 -
than actually losing. Why is this? It seems once the calories amount is dialed in for maintenance that it would be equal to losing. Does one tend to loosen the calorie restriction a bit?
I have about 7 months to go before I begin maintenance but I think about it often and I'm trying to focus on how to learn from this so that I can maintain for life.
I think you actually answered your own question ..and I agree. I consider myself on maintenance now.
By the time I get to goal... I will have to eat this way and keep exercising still have to maintain... just like now as I lose
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what is it 90% gain their weight back. I think you will if you are not cautious. I think it is hard keeping the weight down but I think it is harder to be fat. I know it will always be a struggle for me but it hasn't been as hard as I thought. Yep, I have to log or I will gain it back. 4 years in Feb and I keep at it.7
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thank you @elisa123gal @brenn241790
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I'm a few pounds away, but it seems like shifting ones mindset from weight loss to other aspects of fitness would be helpful for those of us that are very goal focused. I expect to be done losing by the end of the year and wil shift my focus to improving run times and increasing lift strength. Other areas might be improved nutrition, decreasing body fat or starting Crossfit.5
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I sort of struggled with maintenance at first, but then I started focusing on my sport (long distance cycling) and it became quite comfortable.
I've been maintaining for almost a year now.
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tpblazer2015 wrote: »A simple solution is to never stop striving. Always have a goal in mind. You hit your target weight? Awesome. What about your target body fat percent? Or dress size? Or your weight lifting performance in the gym? Or what about training for a 5k? 10k? Marathon? What about running a certain number of races per year, or a certain number of miles per week? The way I see it, there is always something to strive towards, to aim for, which then leaves never a dull moment on your fitness journey.
This...I'm saving this forever. Thank you.10 -
For me maintaining is harder for reasons listed above. There is no end in sight. I will be weighing daily and logging daily to maintain.1
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Actually it's the easiest when you start, I've nearly completed my third year of maintaince, finding it a lot harder each year, but i'm managng and fighting it all the way...6
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