Maintainers - how do you keep your head in the game?
Replies
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Keep old progress pics handy.6
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LumberJacck wrote: »I'm just wondering if you do anything that helps keep your focus towards maintenance, and preventing gains. Are there any traditions, things you do, preventative methods etc that you do which help you stay at your current weight. I'd love to know of any.
Just portion control, I watch what I eat and I exercise. We are all different, for some people loosing and maintaining are harder for others not so much; there is not a magic or exclusive way to do things.
In my opinion it will depend in your relationship with food, motivation and self control. If you live to eat instead of eating to live, you may have a problem. If you had a lot of weight to lose, can't stay away for some foods, and are a volume eater, it may be also harder. Some people need to weigh, measure and log their foods forever, others not so much. How to focus in your maintenance depends on you and sometimes is trial an error.
I have been in maintenance for 7 years. I log when I am home but not when on vacation or eating out (I don't have what I consider bad eating habits}, so that helps. I need a break from MFP so I don't became OCD, and I have a good idea of the portions, nutrition, and I read calories in the menus (when available); if I overdo it one day, I scale back the next one. I weight myself almost daily when I am home, but on vacation (and I take lots of it), I leave all the scales at home.
If you are or were successful at losing your weight, keep the same routine while maintaining; just increase your calories a little bit at the time until you find your happy medium.7 -
I've been in maintenance mode for nearly 3 years.
My method - LOGGING, LOGGING, LOGGING!
And weighing in weekly...
There are ups and downs - key is to keep honest and keep logging.
Jean4 -
I am now at my goal weight. Since I started I have lost 3 stone which is a real achievement. I have gone down 2 sizes. I would like advice on how to keep this weight without becoming obsessive. I am scared of regaining the weight!!2 -
1. Discipline. Meal prep, planning my day, getting my workouts in. It's all routine and good habits for me. It doesn't feel like discipline - it's just...my thing now.
2. Accountability through logging. Not every meal. Not necessarily weighing (I do occasionally). But enough "tracking" to see where I'm at daily / weekly.
3. 80/20 or 90/10 - sticking to consistent go-to meals and macros.
#1 though is what makes a difference. I always work out bc I love it (I struggle to force in a recovery day!) and eat intuitively at 80/20 or 90/10.
My struggle is food volume, partly bc I am so active. An undisciplined weekend of eating TOO MUCH can set me back 4 days (minimum) to 2 weeks. I feel terrible, I get in my head. Blahhhhh4 -
When I decided to get back in shape, I established some patterns—like logging—so it’s a matter of sticking to those and not falling back into my old behaviors. New thing I’ve been doing is a brisk walk first thing every morning—and every other day I lift after. I load up my Contigo with coffee, cue up a podcast, and head out. Been doing this since early June so now it’s just what I do. I think the key is being consistent and sticking with the habits that got you to your goal.5
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Just bumping this a little. As a serial yo yo er, I am now into year 2 of maintaining within my weight range. I won't say that it hasn't been a struggle. But one thing I have noticed is that if you don't FREAK out when you go over your range, and just slowly work to trend the other direction, you have less of a tendency to keep gaining. What I mean by that is not to "punish or restrict yourself" too much. What I see happens with that is that I can't maintain at that restriction and have a lot of "bad" days. So the secret which I am telling myself is "look how far you have come". You don't need to get back there ASAP, just take your time and remove one or two items you have been treating with and the trend will go the other way. Learn to enjoy the accomplishment and not beat yourself up for a minor blip. You won the war, now don't go into all out war again, just do little skirmishes and enjoy your days.26
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SummerSkier wrote: »Just bumping this a little. As a serial yo yo er, I am now into year 2 of maintaining within my weight range. I won't say that it hasn't been a struggle. But one thing I have noticed is that if you don't FREAK out when you go over your range, and just slowly work to trend the other direction, you have less of a tendency to keep gaining. What I mean by that is not to "punish or restrict yourself" too much. What I see happens with that is that I can't maintain at that restriction and have a lot of "bad" days. So the secret which I am telling myself is "look how far you have come". You don't need to get back there ASAP, just take your time and remove one or two items you have been treating with and the trend will go the other way. Learn to enjoy the accomplishment and not beat yourself up for a minor blip. You won the war, now don't go into all out war again, just do little skirmishes and enjoy your days.
Very helpful! Thank you!2 -
The creep has hit me the past few weeks. What has nipped it in the bud is a new giant full length mirror placed right by my front door. Amazing how that works.. I see myself..and now I'm back to my work outs and eating right ,..no problem.
I also agree with the no stretchy clothes or older big clothes waiting in the wings.. wear those tight pants..you have no choice but to cut back,0 -
I think I've done this 6 years - I've never missed a meal logging I don't think. I do it as a habit - like brushing my teeth and putting on moisturizer. I log everything. I weigh every morning. I lost 38 pounds when I was at the bottom of my five pound target 'zone'. I'm now around 3 pounds out of my zone but dropping again.
I don't think about it that much. I log all my food but barely look at the numbers. I have habits that keep me eating what I should be. When I started going up two years ago, I refocused a bit on accurate logging. I finally dropped it all again when I did the Whole30 on my doctors recommendation for another issue. Basically effortlessly.
To maintain I have to do three things: keep my calories where they should be, keep my carbs under 40% (lower if I want to lose), and walk at least half an hour a day. I do that, I don't have to keep my head in the game. I just maintain.
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I lost 25-30 lbs early-mid 2012, finding MFP right in the middle of that stretch from ~190lbs down to 166 (Male 6'1"). I've fluctuated since then some, but not outside the range of 159-182 lbs, so for most people they just see me as having stayed fairly constant and I get asked how I "maintain" or "stay in shape" from time to time. Personally, I attribute my relative success in "maintaining" to trying to constantly improve. After a year or two of floating between 160-175 staying "not fat" seemed like a pretty easy feat but I still wasn't satisfied with how I looked. This led me to start strength training. Subsequently, I'm definitely happier with my physique than where I was but I don't consider myself "done" by any stretch. Having this continuous improvement mindset has definitely helped me keep from getting bored and/or complacent.9
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I maintained for 10 months but it became too much to keep logging after daughter & 3 grand kids moved in temporarally, so I gained 3 solid pounds in 2 months, back to losing that & not going to stop logging again3
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I gave myself higher goals beyond maintaining that serve to ensure maintenance.
I compete in adventure races, obstacle course races, multi-sport, etc. I'm bringing my kids into this and have completed a number of races with my wife, so keeping this going and leading by example.
I continue log largely to ensure I fuel my workouts.
I have friends with similar goals and always looking to try new things and opportunities for self improvement.8 -
I invite any of you to join the community Ultimate Accountability Challenge. Just do a search under Community -> Groups for that challenge. It's a great team of like minded individuals with a goal of leading a healthy life style, tracking calories and exercise. Some team members are attempting to lose weight...but there are several of us in maintenance who are cheerleaders for each other. The rules are straight forward, the group is inclusive...and even if you start too late in the month to make Winner's Circle, it is still great to participate for accountability. We would love to have you join us!3
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It's a combination of many things. I weigh weekly and have to stay within 5 pounds of my final goal weight. I log daily and I don't mind doing that at all. It only takes a minute and makes me feel safe, lol. I'm terrified of gaining back the weight so I feel better when I know I am keeping it together. I lost and gained too many times in the past to risk that happening again. I also got rid of absolutely all my big clothes so if things get tight I have no choice but to cut back to stay comfortable. I'm also mentoring someone with weight control so I of course feel I have to hold it together.7
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My goal weight is 125. I’m 5’2” and 64. From Halloween through Thanksgiving I basically ate a ton of candy and lots of pies and sweets. I gained 4 pounds and right after Thanksgiving I decided enough was enough, I’d gone a pound over my range, and needed to do what I know I can do.
I slowly have lost a pound and have my mind back in the game. No rush and no panic. No kicking myself for totally derailing for 4 weeks. This is a new tactic for me. So far so good. I’m aiming for 125 to be the middle of my range, the the point I can gain from.9 -
Thanks everyone that was helpful. I just started maintenance six weeks ago so it’s new learning.
So far, I’m just doing the same things that worked to lose 25 pounds:
Plan ahead for meals.
Weigh in at least once a week.
Set weekly exercise goals.
Big one: use mindfulness strategies to take note of my feelings when I feel the urge to stress eat. Now I see it as a gift when I feel the urge to reach for a cookie because it gives me an opportunity to be in touch with my feelings. When I do that, the craving goes away.
Strategies for eating out: look at menus online ahead of time. Always order a salad and/or veggies. Always order fish or lean meat. Allow myself two bites of dessert on occasion.
Thanks for the reminders that slip ups are normal. I’m getting better at being kind to myself and focusing on the same old good habits.
And the BIGGEST motivation/celebration: my A1C is in normal range. I had prediabetes when I weighed 158 pounds. My father and sister have diabetes and both brothers have prediabetes. My body is responding well to a healthy weight, low carbs, and physical activity.13 -
I had a very low point in my life before I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis and chronic migraines (they were undiagnosed because they were atypical at the time). I was also at my heaviest.
The quality of my life has so vastly improved since then, but more than that, the way I lost weight was a process of forming habits. Everything I did then I do now just with more calories. It's just my life now.6 -
Yesterday was a challenge! Attended our grandchild's 2nd birthday party, and was doing ok food-wise, but three hours of mostly sitting around didn't help, followed by a trip to Costco, where at we got some steps in. But the pizza (12" veggie) and salad afterward disappeared like we were starving, and i was up a pound this morning's weigh-in. My wife was up 2 pounds, and NOT happy about it! So we're about to get dressed and hit the gym for some much-needed exercise (something the pre-weightloss us would have scoffed at the very notion of... 😂8
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I'm gonna say the opposite of what a lot of people on here are saying.....I stopped logging!
Not to say I'm not mindful of what I'm eating but I reached a point where I'm quite familiar with the nutritional content of foods (e.g. choosing a homemade flatbread sandwich (175-200 cal) over a pre-prepared one (some can be 500 cal for the sandwich alone)) so I choose when I can have a seemingly large portion or when a portion is actually much smaller than people think and have an idea of how much I personally need in a day. In a way I guess I mentally log but it's not precise or rigid or accurate.
I have to say I also utilise ready meals. They get a lot of stick (and I hate the amount of plastic packaging) but they have the nutritional info on them so if I've had a massive lunch and want a low cal dinner to contrast then a ready meal is the easiest way for me.
I eat 3 proper meals plus snacks and desserts everyday, I stay within a 5 lb range and weigh myself periodically (not every day or every week. It can vary from twice a week to twice a month) to make sure I'm not ballooning. I would actually like to gain weight in muscle but given how little exercise I'm currently doing, I know any weight gain is pure fat and no muscle!5
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