Is maintenance REALLY harder than losing weight?
Options
Replies
-
This is from a limited experience (long maintenance breaks) but I find maintenance to be easier. I don't operate on motivation, so it's less of a factor for me. What I found harder is that during weight loss you have room for screwing around. If you have, say, a 3500 weekly deficit and eat over maintenance by 1000 you still have a calorie cushion not to gain. During maintenance the balance is more delicate. Those 1000 extra calorie splurges cannot be random and if they happen they cannot be ignored. They need to be either planned for or mitigated by subsequent deficit. Other than that, I found it easier. Of course, who knows how I would handle a smaller maintenance budget once I'm at goal weight. My current maintenance budget is generous even without exercise so that may be another deciding factor.9
-
I find it harder.
I found losing weight quite easy.
But with maintenance, I find it difficult to find balance the fuel needs of long distance cycling with eating at maintenance.4 -
It's easier in that I get to eat more food. It was harder at first because I no longer had the positive boost of seeing weight loss. But the harder part only lasted for a couple of months. Now this is just the way I live8
-
I think a lot of people tend to underestimate calories eaten and overestimate calories burned but if you have a big enough deficit built into your planned calories in the loss phase you will still end up losing. However, when you get to the maintenance phase and your estimations are off then you will start to gain. It's also not as inspiring to see the scale stay the same. When it is consistently going down you get excited and motivated to keep going.7
-
adipace815 wrote: »I have been enjoying the additional food. It's been nice to add a few things back to my diet that I couldn't budget calories for while I was "cutting" like peanut butter and some real starches. I think what makes it the most difficult is changing the mind set. Setting new goals is a great idea, but my new goals are not as tangible as that weight loss goal we all set for ourselves. New goals like recomposition, physical fitness, muscle tone, etc are not as measurable. The most frustrating goal of all is the weight range we set for ourselves in maintenance. I have changed mine a bunch but sooner or later when it settles in to a healthy range, I can see myself really obsessing over it. My weight is all over the place in maintenance within a very small window. I find I am constantly adjusting calories when it looks like I have had a small gain or loss. I think the word for maintenance is not that it is more "difficult"but maybe it's more "frustrating". We all enjoyed our success losing weight but none of us want to go through that again so we are now determined to keep it off, and doing that can be very frustrating.
I agree!!!!2 -
Alatariel75 wrote: »I think a lot of it is psychological. You no longer get the 'reward' of a lower number on the scale, people don't compliment you on being smaller etc. It's not new and exciting and rewarding like it was. Add in the mental block of ' now I've done it, I can go back to 'normal'' thing and yeah.. I think it can be harder.
I think this sums up how I feel about it.
I'm at 15 years of maintenance now. I'm up 5-7LBS, but recently went through menopause, which is it's own mental game. So now I'm back at losing (fortunately just a tiny bit).
But yes, you don't get the same reward of the number, and instead of, say, six months of dieting, you're talking about the rest of your life.7 -
I think it's pretty easy, but I had and have many goals that are outside the scope of weight management...doing the things I need to do to achieve those goals result in pretty much natural weight management.4
-
Harder for me. I still have the appetite I had when I was 30 lbs heavier, but I need to eat 400 calories less than that to maintain. Plus, ignorance is not bliss anymore.11
-
cwolfman13 wrote: »I think it's pretty easy, but I had and have many goals that are outside the scope of weight management...doing the things I need to do to achieve those goals result in pretty much natural weight management.
That's a great point. You made NEW goals. And those new goals complement weight management.3 -
Weight loss is a sprint. Maintenance is a marathon.17
-
I have programmed my brain to get slightly excited over staying within my range.It's also not as inspiring to see the scale stay the same. When it is consistently going down you get excited and motivated to keep going.
I am so happy that my eating habits and expectations have been tweaked to fit my new, smaller body.Harder for me. I still have the appetite I had when I was 30 lbs heavier, but I need to eat 400 calories less than that to maintain.1 -
Maintenance felt easier to me because I didn't have to spend as much time being hungry.4
-
It has been harder for me so far. I am having trouble figuring out my maintenance calories. I'm so much more active now I need more calories than I expected to need.3
-
Honestly I have no idea.. because every time I try to maintain/recomp I always end up veering away from it with other goals, so I guess, yes, for me it is more difficult. But.. I think I am finally going to attempt and stick to it after this last bulk/cut cycle.. we'll see.2
-
The difference between losing and maintaining for me has been more like adding 250 cals, not 500-600. It's an Apple and a tbs of peanut butter. Do yourself a favor and keep logging for a bit. I can tell you from experience, it's easier to lose 20# once and keep it off than to lose 5 or 10 over and over and over.11
-
I have been in maintenance for 1.5 years (after losing 50+ lbs over 6 months). I don't find maintenance that hard. It's definitely not as rewarding but have found a good balance on intake and activity level. I still splurge now and then. I keep my weight to a 3-5lb range.1
-
kommodevaran wrote: »
I have programmed my brain to get slightly excited over staying within my range.It's also not as inspiring to see the scale stay the same. When it is consistently going down you get excited and motivated to keep going.
I am so happy that my eating habits and expectations have been tweaked to fit my new, smaller body.Harder for me. I still have the appetite I had when I was 30 lbs heavier, but I need to eat 400 calories less than that to maintain.
wow good for you2 -
I've been at maintenance for almost two years and my own experience is that losing weight was easier. This was mainly due to me being better motivated and focused. Now I'm maintaining I often fail to log and this usually results in me hitting the cakes and cookies. I admit that I don't have the greatest self-discipline.2
-
I think it's hard if you're planning on going back to the type of diet and lifestyle you had before and expect to keep the weight off. I overhauled so much during the process that I can't imagine going back to what I used to eat, how little I moved and my general outlook on life. After 31 months of maintenance I'm falling into the 'it's different' camp, it's certainly not harder (for me). Everyone has different journeys though.....
I wish you the best of luck
1 -
I find it slightly more difficult to maintain than lose, but I struggle comparing the two. It seems that all the support out there from media to facebook groups to MFP (but less so), is all focused on LOSING, but when you've lost and you've made it, it becomes a lonelier game. It's just you, your head and your body.
I focused on different goals instead of the scale - some fitness goals but also health ones (cholesterol and blood pressure).9
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 389 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 920 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions