Those who go back to cutting (from maintenance or from bulk) ...come chat

Your CO side of the equation needs a little kick in the *kitten*! Yes?

OP you've probably seen my posts and I'm struggling a lot with this! I actually do great for a couple weeks then hormones kick in and my willpower goes out of the window. Then I have to try to get back on track and there are always temptations (it's been a bad couple weeks for me!). So I constantly lose and gain a few pounds (unfortunately I'm in the 'gain' part right now).

It's definitely a mind game. I think that the main issue is that when you start, you clearly have a lot of reasons to, so it's pretty motivating... plus with more fat, you're less hungry overall (in my experience)... vanity pounds? Not so much.

What I do is set a low goal. I'm less likely to have an extra granola bar at 3pm if I see that I have 500 calories left instead of 700 for dinner.. and more often than not I'll still be satisfied after dinner and stick to my calories. Then I don't feel too bad if I have a special treat or am hungrier a couple times that week.

I went from maintenance to a small cut because I was sick of recomp. I wanted to bulk but wanted to get my body fat a little lower before bulking. I think because I had a goal to work for it didn't really seem that bothersome. The last month though was not pleasant. My weight fluctuations were all over the place - it was hard to figure out what was going on. Normally a few days before my period the scale spikes up. Instead it spiked down. My workouts were also tanking.

I was also trying to lose a few pounds not because I needed to - but just to get my body fat down a little lower. My thighs are pretty fat compared to my bony upper body. Funny though - now that I am eating in a slight surplus I swear my legs look much more muscular! (it might be wishful thinking or maybe the water weight gain has leveled out so they don't look as puffy)

Sued0nim wrote: »

How do you get back to a cut? What's the psychological process for you? If it's Nike slogan that's nice but not interesting.

That's a good question that we all must face from time to time - especially if we do creep up above our comfortable fluctuation range.

I've got a list of talking points to kick my Id, Super Ego, and Ego into some sort of a coordinated action to begin the cut again.

• Biological father just passed away at 79 after years of a battle with heart disease. (I'm committed to avoiding that in my own life as best I can by controlling what it is I can control: keeping waistline as trim and slim as I can, eating cholesterol lowering foods, and continuing with good exercise habits - all items he avoided at my age.)

• My comfortable fluctuation range is up to 8% of my ideal racing weight which seems to happen during every off season (October - January). When I get near reaching the top of that 8% gain range, the psychological process involves the usual shift in eating habits. After enjoying all the eating I did in my 4 off season months, I turn the ship around which does involve about a month of screaming, crying, kicking, and ranting - but I do it. January - April is the cut phase, or rather my surly months.

• Related to the second kick point above, weight is an issue for my enjoyment of racing a bicycle. The more one weighs, the more one has to carry up the hill. Knowing that extra weight reduces any competitive advantage that I may have (which isn't much, believe me ) is enough of a solid psychological kicking point to start the cut again so I am not carrying excess weight on my body's frame.

• Fitting into my wardrobe is also a major psychological kicking point. When the pants get tight - that's the end of the line. The ship turns around to get me back into my comfortable fluctuation range.

• And finally, without it being a huge narcissistic thing - who doesn't like to look and feel good? The energy levels, confidence, and enjoyment of life when in your ideal weight range is a huge boost to one's life. Having been out of that comfortable ideal weight range for about a decade of my life - I don't want to be there ever again. It's so much better being in the comfortable fluctuation range that it acts as a huge psychological boost to initiate a cut when needed.

You will need to develop your own list of kick points and live by them if that is important to you.

I've put on about 10lbs since we returned from our vacation in Colombia at the end of May...a substantive amount of that is due to the fact that I've been on IR for about 12 weeks and unable to cycle or lift, but it's also due to letting things go a bit with summer time fun.

I don't log as it takes a toll on my mental health and where health and wellness is concerned, I'm all about the whole package...mental, physical, and spiritual.

For one, I'll be able to get back on the bike and back to the weight room next week (fingers crossed)...this will of course help things immensely. A part of me is ready to rock and roll, but another part of me is like, "man...it's been nice just coming home from work and cracking open a cold one and chilling on the patio." It's kind of weird, but what really helps me in this regard is to right down my training schedule...what I'll be doing and when I'll be doing it...for whatever reason, when I right it down it sort of seals the deal for me...I guess it's kind of like signing a contract or something from a psychological standpoint.

Where diet is concerned, I just have to tweak things...like I said, I don't log so I just have to look at what I'm doing on the daily and tweak it. One of the things I've written down and committed to starting next week is no alcohol during the week...this alone will cut a substantive amount of calories...I've contracted myself to eight weeks of this. I've also contracted with myself to no weekend splurges...both my wife and I are pretty tight during the week, but we do pretty much whatever on the weekends...not really a big deal when I'm maintaining and able to train...more of an issue when I'm trying to cut weight.

Pretty much that is all I've decided to do from a dietary standpoint as my diet overall is pretty tight but will reassess in a few weeks as per my results. In addition to basically writing out this contract to myself, I have let my wife know of my intentions...she has no qualms about being like, "WTF...why are you drinking a beer...you said you weren't drinking during the week." I have also let my buddy/coach know what's going on so he'll be monitoring Strava to make sure I'm getting in my miles and he owns the gym so he'll be expecting me on gym days...he also has no qualms about slapping me upside the head...and/or changing my training protocol as he sees fit...often he will text me out of the blue to see what I had for breakfast or lunch or whatever...he's an excellent resource for staying the course.

ETA: I know you said no Nike slogans or whatever...but yeah...these do help me along too...

VintageFeline wrote: »

My new wondering is switching my goals to maintain and just seeing what the green number is at the end of the day. I don't know if this would be any more effective than when I manually shaved 100 calories per day off my goal to allow me not to be quite so hard with logging (that didn't really work, I seem to eat the same at the moment regardless!).

It is really interesting trying to work out the psychology of it all though because that's really what it boils down to at this point. Health risks all but eliminated it is entirely down to vanity (though I'm not quite a healthy BMI yet my waist is well within what is deemed healthy) and motivation for that can for some of us not be quite as strong a pull perhaps?

Well, I am in the same boat as you, Vintage Feline, having faffed about with being really close to the finish line (I'm down very much to vanity pounds at this point as I am at a healthy BMI) and going back and forth with compliance issues to going all out to going too far off the deep end to rebounding with binging. It's been a wild ride.

My weight loss has slowed to a once every month event, and I got some very wise advise to just eat maintenance calories for my goal weight and let the scale settle where it will.

Maybe you could try that?

Edit: As for the larger questions in this thread? I dunno. I haven't been able to pull my own head together about why I've held it together for 92 pounds but seem to be losing it over the end game so badly and get knuckled down for it. Perhaps because it's just window dressing? I already have the new size 0 wardrobe. I'm wearing XS. There's no dangling carrot except marginally thinner thighs and a slightly flatter stomach.

Maybe it's less incentivizing to work on such a small goal.

It is interesting to see several long timers struggling with this. I lost big in '14, maintained happily most of '15, and have struggled with the final pounds this year. I've had a few complicating factors and have had to back off trying to lose for the time being because of spiraling downward into eating disorder territory. My hope is to regroup a bit and then get back to cutting in 2017, likely with a very small deficit, knowing that the final 10 pounds will take a year for me to lose. Anything except the smallest of deficits seems to throw my system out of whack. I just have to try not to think about the long timeline.

Like @RoxieDawn I have also been thinking about this today.

I have been trying to figure out why in my 40's I have an easier time dealing with weight and adhering to my planned workout schedule. In my late 20's and 30's I was on the higher side of a normal BMI and often flirted with the overweight category. Somewhere in my early 30's I also said F it, I am just going to start exercising regularly and not care about what my weight was. I was able to get to the normal BMI category and maintain a 10 pound range without much thought to my diet. 10 pounds is actually a pretty big swing though since I am 5'0".

I wish I could pinpoint exactly what clicked for me in my 40's though. Staying on track seems so much more important to me now. I don't know if it is watching my parents get older - there has been a few brief hospital stays for both of them. Or maybe it was the death of my last living grandparent.

I have pretty close to a 100% adherence when it comes to planned exercise and I would say diet is probably around 95%. (When I don't adhere to diet - I really go all out though! Last August I had a day where I ate close to 2 pounds of steak and a piece of chocolate cake that was was probably big enough to feed 3 people!)

It has been 2 years where I have been pretty good at staying on plan. I also have allowed myself short periods of going off plan (vacation, family events). The pull to go all out and eat has been pretty big this week. I have talked myself out of it every single time. I pretty much just told myself you can have a 1,000-1,500 calorie dessert in 2 weeks when you are on vacation. Is it easier for me to adhere because I usually not more than 3 weeks from a planned break?

I guess what I am wondering is what un-clicked for some of you? Is this just a normal phase of the ups and downs of life or is it something more?

bioklutz wrote: »

Like @RoxieDawn I have also been thinking about this today.

I guess what I am wondering is what un-clicked for some of you? Is this just a normal phase of the ups and downs of life or is it something more?

This is an excellent question..Why I don't think anything un-clicked, because I am steadfast on meeting goals now more than ever as I too think that being in my 40's (and late 40's for sure) I am better.. I was a huge procrastinator all my life in my 20's and 30's, plus I had kids. that will take all of your space.

Its making a transition to make another transition as I get very common place if I do something even for a set period of time.. and not matter if that is relatively short or longer in time.

In this case dietary changes and even exercise changes, will disrupt all that I am familiar with at the moment. meaning I have to now get back to making a new set of compromises (even though I am familiar with what that is and what it feels like).. its still readjusting to a new set of changes mentally and physically, and even emotionally if you will..

@Sued0nim, like you said, you had more time, more head space to deal with weight issues, now you probably have less time, less tolerance than if the circumstances around you were different. And in your mind, this time is not different than the last time, right?

I actually think that every time is different. I get older by the day, the world is constantly changing around me, add is stress from work, family, and all the conundrum from life, and each time its a bit different.

I take changes in my diet and exercise very serious and disruptions effects me in a lot of ways.. Perhaps my sleep will change, perhaps the amount of time or my schedule will change, my actual diet/nutritional needs will change,, these are not bad at all, cause I am striving to be a better version of myself, and its all for a great cause, its just a human element that we all have and deal with it and a bit differently.

All of the posts here are inspiring, helpful and thought provoking.. and if nothing else, I have enjoyed reading everyone's perspective.. eye opening. thanks..

I'm going to eat at the maintenance level that I want to be at goal and try to trick my body into slowly getting there without it noticing. Lol. Has anyone else done this approach before and succeeded?

ETA I don't have difficulty maintaining, but I do have difficulty losing. I'm 10 pounds away from my new goal.

Same boat here after a summer and fall with vacations, dining out, more snacks and beverages.

I look back to my diary when I was on a cut and try and get on the same program I had. Takes me a while to get the routine down and also get used to eating less food.

The other challenge for me is removing some foods that I've started eating (things like chips, desert treats etc) which i find I get used to eating. I don't like giving them up but know they need to be eliminated or at least reduced significantly.

I find the biggest hurdle though is getting a good week down of the new routine. Then it becomes easier. But doing one day at a time and reflecting on each days progress helps too.

I'm still pretty lean around 11%bf so I can only cut around 250cals/day so it's takes a while to see progress which can also be frustrating at least on the scale when water fluctuations are also at play.