May Challenge: Maintainers Back on Track Thread
Replies
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Name: Simon
How long in maintenance: 5+ years
Goal maintenance range: Thinking of revising....***
Current weight: 169lbs
Current goal: 168lbs (but probably less....)
Recent success: After a traumatic week I'm just pleased to have maintained my current weight and am getting back to exercising again. Exercise is really important for my emotional wellbeing.
Strategy for your goal: I just cut calories in a sporadic and fairly unstructured way to give me a slow rate of loss, a small amount here, a bigger chunk there but most days at maintenance.
***
For a few years my maintenance range has been 168 (best cycling weight) to 175 (upper limit I tend to hit during the winter) but considering dropping my range a little lower. Last time I maintained around 164lbs I became hungry all the time despite not being very lean at that weight. But I do like to experiment and being light would help my cycling goals which now include a aiming for a 100 mile PB doing an organised event for a cancer charity.
Yay - back on track and hit my goal weight (a bit later than planned but it's not been a normal year).
I have decided to drop at least a couple of pounds more just to find out how I feel, perform and look a little lighter.
168lbs is 12 stone so Brits will get the seemingly big difference between "12 stone something" and "11 stone something" for something in reality not a big change.7 -
Name: Simon
How long in maintenance: 5+ years
Goal maintenance range: Thinking of revising....***
Current weight: 169lbs
Current goal: 168lbs (but probably less....)
Recent success: After a traumatic week I'm just pleased to have maintained my current weight and am getting back to exercising again. Exercise is really important for my emotional wellbeing.
Strategy for your goal: I just cut calories in a sporadic and fairly unstructured way to give me a slow rate of loss, a small amount here, a bigger chunk there but most days at maintenance.
***
For a few years my maintenance range has been 168 (best cycling weight) to 175 (upper limit I tend to hit during the winter) but considering dropping my range a little lower. Last time I maintained around 164lbs I became hungry all the time despite not being very lean at that weight. But I do like to experiment and being light would help my cycling goals which now include a aiming for a 100 mile PB doing an organised event for a cancer charity.
Yay - back on track and hit my goal weight (a bit later than planned but it's not been a normal year).
I have decided to drop at least a couple of pounds more just to find out how I feel, perform and look a little lighter.
168lbs is 12 stone so Brits will get the seemingly big difference between "12 stone something" and "11 stone something" for something in reality not a big change.
Well done!5 -
Scale is still being a pill. I'll wait around for results another couple weeks. Then if it's still derping around, I'll have to tweak my plan a bit to see if we can get things moving. Water really loves to stick around on me.
I did notice that my NEAT has been dropping, so I need to get on top of that. I'll be moving around all over the place getting 4 kids and an old RV ready for a camping trip this weekend, so today should be ok for that. 
My workouts have improved. I've got a little more juice but I'm still lagging a bit. Nature of the beast, I guess. Once I get the fluff off and get back to maintenance, I'm going to see about working on upping my strength again. 6 -
Name: Elaine
How long in maintenance: 6 months
Goal maintenance range: 128-133
Current weight: 133
Current goal:
Avoid late night snacking and other stress eating. Increase physical movement to ten minutes a day. And lose 1-2 pounds by the end of May.
Recent success:
For the past three days I have been able to avoid late night stress eating.
Strategy for your goal:
I’m trying other distractions like playing two dots on my phone and my adult coloring book. And weighing myself daily. And practicing mindfulness.8 -
How long in maintenance: 3yrs
Goal maintenance range: 101-110
Current weight: 110.0
Current goal: 105
Recent success: Down 0.5lbs, which is a decent drop for this week. I think my original 108 goal may end up being a good stopping point. I'm playing it by ear as it's hard to tell how much muscle I've gained vs. fat. I haven't been 101 since I went into maintenance 3 years ago. I have the feeling I'd be competition shredded at that weight now. My maintenance weight is probably more realistic at 105-110. We'll see.
Strategy for your goal: I didn't do as great with my snacking this week, but I was able to hold off on eating instead of reaching for the snacks several times.7 -
Name: sofchak
How long in maintenance: 2.5 years
Goal maintenance range: 122-127
Current weight: 131
Current goal: 125
Recent success: I’m finally fully committed to tracking calories again. Haven’t counted since Jan 18. It was an internal struggle to admit I need to track again.
Strategy for your goal: Track diligently coupled with doing the elimination diet again to help with my psoriasis that is slowly coming back since I’ve started eating gluten again.
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How long in maintenance: 2 years
Goal maintenance range: 114-118lb
Current weight: 119.4lb
Current goal: to get back into my maintenance range
Recent success: I've been able to maintain slightly above above my goal with a very hectic life right now
Strategy for your goal: quit snacking on junk, be active every day, and no eating after dinner. I'm ok with it taking awhile to get back to my old range.3 -
I have been psychoanalyzing myself on the subject of ‘weight range’. At first I thought, ‘I’ll give myself a 10 pound range to stay within.’ After a while, I thought ‘Too wide a range doesn’t give me enough focus’. Next I considered a five pound range, but I thought ‘with a five pound range I’ll probably just settle at the high end of the range’. Then I started thinking ‘my ideal weight is probably somewhere between 180 and 184, so that’s what I’ll make as my range’ But then I started thinking ‘how can my ideal weight be 184 if it can also be 180’? Where I am in my mind now is ‘I need to decide on an ideal weight and try to stay there.’ However, I am human so I can expect to drift above it from time to time. When I get more than 2 pounds (3,4 5...???) above I will go on a campaign to get back down to it again. Now I am going back and forth with myself about what my ideal weight is. I have not reached a satisfying conclusion. I wore myself out thinking about this, time for a nap 😴11
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I have been psychoanalyzing myself on the subject of ‘weight range’. At first I thought, ‘I’ll give myself a 10 pound range to stay within.’ After a while, I thought ‘Too wide a range doesn’t give me enough focus’. Next I considered a five pound range, but I thought ‘with a five pound range I’ll probably just settle at the high end of the range’. Then I started thinking ‘my ideal weight is probably somewhere between 180 and 184, so that’s what I’ll make as my range’ But then I started thinking ‘how can my ideal weight be 184 if it can also be 180’? Where I am in my mind now is ‘I need to decide on an ideal weight and try to stay there.’ However, I am human so I can expect to drift above it from time to time. When I get more than 2 pounds (3,4 5...???) above I will go on a campaign to get back down to it again. Now I am going back and forth with myself about what my ideal weight is. I have not reached a satisfying conclusion. I wore myself out thinking about this, time for a nap 😴
@fh1951 I’ve been going through exactly the same “figuring”. My weight does not swing a lot & I lose weight very slowly, so I set my maintenance to <153 and scream weight to 155. Only 1/2 month into maintenance so far. I’m sure what we should do will emerge over the next 1-3 months!3 -
I have been psychoanalyzing myself on the subject of ‘weight range’. At first I thought, ‘I’ll give myself a 10 pound range to stay within.’ After a while, I thought ‘Too wide a range doesn’t give me enough focus’. Next I considered a five pound range, but I thought ‘with a five pound range I’ll probably just settle at the high end of the range’. Then I started thinking ‘my ideal weight is probably somewhere between 180 and 184, so that’s what I’ll make as my range’ But then I started thinking ‘how can my ideal weight be 184 if it can also be 180’? Where I am in my mind now is ‘I need to decide on an ideal weight and try to stay there.’ However, I am human so I can expect to drift above it from time to time. When I get more than 2 pounds (3,4 5...???) above I will go on a campaign to get back down to it again. Now I am going back and forth with myself about what my ideal weight is. I have not reached a satisfying conclusion. I wore myself out thinking about this, time for a nap 😴
You will eventually figure this out, and your weight itself will let you know what's ideal. Weighing every day at the same time is good. Maintenance is a lot about figuring what works for you, including your best range. But a red line or a "scream weight" is always a good thing to have settled, so that you turn back and cut calories when you hit it, to get back to your range. Don't panic if you hit a scream weight one day or even two or three, but a week or more, and you will find yourself needing to cut and return to your range. At least that's how it has worked for me for the past almost 5 years. The important thing is that you are thinking about a range rather than a number. Give yourself a ton of credit for this ... people who focus on a certain weight are asking for frustration and trouble, IMHO. I'd suggest using one of the trending apps like Happy Scale as you go through maintenance. It really helps you keep sane ...
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Name: Patti
How long in maintenance: 7 1/2 months
Goal maintenance range: 130-133
Current weight: 130 pounds, 5’2.5”
Current goal: 125
Recent success: just completed my first full week back at eating at my ‘lose 1/2 pound a week’ level.
Strategy for goal: get back to walking more regularly and continue on at this calorie level to hopefully lose that last 5 pounds.
I maintained well through the holidays but gained about 5 pounds in January and February. Last October, I called maintenance 5 pounds shy of my goal of 125, (after 9 straight months of dieting) and took a break from logging.
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How long in maintenance: 2.5’ish years
Goal maintenance range: 120-130
Current weight: 145 pounds
5-7”
I had been totally stressed about a week long meeting last week. Every day breakfast and lunch catering and dinners out at fancy restaurants. I mostly had coffee at breakfast and salads at lunch, but ate ALL the suppers with desserts and indulged in many snacks and wine.
I couldn't even bring myself to get on the scale until today. Yup, you guessed it, lost a pound. I swear stress can put on more weight than eating sometimes.11 -
Name: zeejane
How long in maintenance: 6 years
Goal maintenance range: 130lbs-135lbs
Current weight: 129.6lbs
Current goal: continue transitioning to a LCHF woe
Had my annual physical today. Was overall pleased with my blood work and health screenings.
Blood pressure was 110/70.
Blood-work:
total cholesterol: 170
HDL: 46 (this is lower than my last check, hoping to get this back up in the high 50s by my next one)
LDL: 111 (a bit high, most likely reflects my dietary changes)
Triglycerides: 64
glucose: 80 (my best reading to date, used to be labeled a pre-diabetic back when I was overweight)4 -
Name: jrwms714
How long in maintenance: 4.5 years
Goal maintenance range: 136.5-138.5
Current weight: 139.5
Current goal: Continue to have no snacks at all at night; get back to range. I also need to up my consumption of vegetables and fruit. I am eating very little due to a real lack of appetite that has been months long. I have to force myself to get the right amount of calories. Sometimes this means I am really under-eating things like fruits, and vegetables.
Current success: I have maintained a loss back to 139.5 for the past 6 days, which I believe means I have gone past the plateau and am beginning to move in the right direction. I know this will take a while, so am in no hurry.6 -
Hi everybody! Been wanting to join a maintenance group for a while now. I’m so glad I found this.
Name: Kim
How long in maintenance: 1+ year
Goal maintenance range: 127-131
Current weight: 131
Current goals:- Lose weight: The bridesmaid dress I ordered for my sister’s wedding came in pretty tight. I was sitting around 133 or so at the time. I’m trying to lose a few more pounds to fit into it better, and hopefully get away with no shape wear underneath? Pie in the sky dream right there, lol. I’m kind of shooting for 129, but I’d be okay if I could just maintain this weight until the wedding on June 7. I’m currently weaning a toddler from nursing, so my eating goal is kind of in the air. After losing steadily on 1800 calories a day for 2 years, I started seeing a weight creep, so I want to lose the 6-8 pounds I gained (my weight topping off at 136 after Christmas).
- Do a better job reaching my 20% protein goal (I’m usually about 15%).
- Get out of the house more.
Recent successes:- I lost 5 pounds since March!
- I cut to 1650 cals/day. I am proud of myself for finding a calorie goal that is working for me. I finally just set it to sedentary maintenance — letting my NEAT and (scant) breastfeeding create the deficit — and it seems to be working. I will have to readjust probably when I finally wean completely. I am really proud of sticking to this goal over the last 10 weeks. The best thing is I am back in my size 4 pants. I only kept 1 pair of 6’s so I was wearing a lot of sweatpants and it feels so good to fit my clothes again!
- I have really gotten a handle on my emotional eating. Not using food to mask anxiety & depression any more!
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Name: ceiswyn
How long in maintenance: 7 months
Goal maintenance range: 10 st 5 - 10 st 9
Current weight: 10 st 8
Current goal: Get back down to a 'true' (not water-loss-assisted) 10 st 7 without suffering any binge eating episodes
Recent success: Had some ice cream (a recent binge trigger) last night without disaster!
Strategy for your goal: Restrict calories further, plan meals less, generally try to eat more 'as I want' rather than 'as fits my calories'.
I know my strategy sounds like madness, but restricting calories further tends to make me feel hungry less.8 -
Okay, I'm feeling better. Cleaning up my eating. Lost another few pounds. Still moving in the right direction. Started swimming for the first time in years. Hope to be back in that zone in another few weeks.
(6 years maintaining. 7 pounds outside my zone.)9 -
Name: sofchak
How long in maintenance: 2.5 years
Goal maintenance range: 122-127
Current weight: 130
Current goal: Lose 1/2 lb a week
Recent success: Finally back to calorie tracking after mindful eating the last 1.5 years. Scale was down 2 lbs this morning! First time I’ve seen the scale in the 120’s in a while.
Strategy for your goal: Continue to track calories on MFP until I reach 125. Then I think I’ll stop tracking on weekends to slowly get back to mindful eating.9 -
Name: Frantz
How long in maintenance: 8 years
Goal maintenance range: 180-184
Current weight: 188, down from 212 January 28
Current goal: 185 by Memorial Day
Recent success: I left on vacation weighing 188. The first couple days I have gotten a normal workout in, logged all my food and stayed under my daily calories.
Strategy for your goal: Eat right, exercise, and log everything on MFP. Internalize my desire to be lean, trim and fit to make it stronger than my urges to slack off.5 -
Name: Nijntje
How long in maintenance: around 9 months
Goal maintenance range: 112-118
Trendweight 5th May: 119.8
Trendweight 19th May: 121.9
Current goal: 116
Recent success: trendweight is up this week, but I flew back from a 6-day trip away at the beginning of the week, and my weights been all over the place since, so I’ll reassess better next week. I tracked as well as I could all conference, and ended up being about 500kcal over maintenance for that week so I’m not too concerned - and proud that I didn’t eat all the things! Am training for a 37 mile walk end of June and managed 22 miles today which was (exhaustingly) awesome. Goal is to stay on track for loss cals this week - feel like my heads in the right place.
Have a great week everyone!7 -
Name: PAV888 (but having to use PAV8888 on MFP since PAV888 was taken by imposters when I signed up!!!)
How long in maintenance: ~2+ years
Goal maintenance range: 154 +/- 2 by trendweight but unofficially enamoured with 155 or *less*
Current weight: 155.9
Current goal: 154 ... no timeline, so just to eat less over my MFP deficit goal.
Recent success: Weathering certain inevitable life changes that often result in weight derailment. Have so far kept things to "I gained a "couple" of lbs over the holidays and haven't lost them yet" as opposed to "I'm continuing to eat my feelings and gaining right up"
Ha!
"intuitive let's review our weight progress?"
Exactly a month later and no calendar reminders!
How long in maintenance: ~2+ years
Goal maintenance range: 154 +/- 2 by trendweight but unofficially <155
Current weight: 155.1 < -0.9lbs this past month, yeah!
>
Current goal: 154 ... no timeline, so just to eat less over my MFP deficit goal thus actually achieving some of that deficit <mental hamsters are interesting>
Recent success: Watch this mental hamster re-framing: *Noticed* myself repeatedly eating when on the phone and, in retrospect, stressed over the phone call. Not only is that bad phone policy (though VOIP calls and wind noise suck enough to cover any sounds), but it is bad Caloric consumption policy! <- now I may have to do something about it!
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I have been psychoanalyzing myself on the subject of ‘weight range’. At first I thought, ‘I’ll give myself a 10 pound range to stay within.’ After a while, I thought ‘Too wide a range doesn’t give me enough focus’. Next I considered a five pound range, but I thought ‘with a five pound range I’ll probably just settle at the high end of the range’. Then I started thinking ‘my ideal weight is probably somewhere between 180 and 184, so that’s what I’ll make as my range’ But then I started thinking ‘how can my ideal weight be 184 if it can also be 180’? Where I am in my mind now is ‘I need to decide on an ideal weight and try to stay there.’ However, I am human so I can expect to drift above it from time to time. When I get more than 2 pounds (3,4 5...???) above I will go on a campaign to get back down to it again. Now I am going back and forth with myself about what my ideal weight is. I have not reached a satisfying conclusion. I wore myself out thinking about this, time for a nap 😴
You are not married to whichever number you start with <though I would watch for creep in an unwanted direction>. As to the size of the range it does depend a lot on your customary fluctuations.
The past twelve months my trending weight has diverged up to 4.1 lbs while my scale weight hit a 6.3 lbs range. Trendweight.com still views all this as within their "green band' around goal weight which they've set at +/- 2.5 lbs of weight trend.
Due to my relatively low scale fluctuation range I've set my mental band to +/- 2lbs of weight trend and I am glad that I am reacting within this slightly smaller range.0 -
I have been psychoanalyzing myself on the subject of ‘weight range’. At first I thought, ‘I’ll give myself a 10 pound range to stay within.’ After a while, I thought ‘Too wide a range doesn’t give me enough focus’. Next I considered a five pound range, but I thought ‘with a five pound range I’ll probably just settle at the high end of the range’. Then I started thinking ‘my ideal weight is probably somewhere between 180 and 184, so that’s what I’ll make as my range’ But then I started thinking ‘how can my ideal weight be 184 if it can also be 180’? Where I am in my mind now is ‘I need to decide on an ideal weight and try to stay there.’ However, I am human so I can expect to drift above it from time to time. When I get more than 2 pounds (3,4 5...???) above I will go on a campaign to get back down to it again. Now I am going back and forth with myself about what my ideal weight is. I have not reached a satisfying conclusion. I wore myself out thinking about this, time for a nap 😴
You are not married to whichever number you start with <though I would watch for creep in an unwanted direction>. As to the size of the range it does depend a lot on your customary fluctuations.
The past twelve months my trending weight has diverged up to 4.1 lbs while my scale weight hit a 6.3 lbs range. Trendweight.com still views all this as within their "green band' around goal weight which they've set at +/- 2.5 lbs of weight trend.
Due to my relatively low scale fluctuation range I've set my mental band to +/- 2lbs of weight trend and I am glad that I am reacting within this slightly smaller range.
Nope.. no longer married to my "goal" weight... lol @PAV88880 -
How long in maintenance: 4.5 years
Goal maintenance range: 138.5-140.0
Current weight: 138.5-139.5
Current goal: Get range back to 136.5-138.5
Recent success: My Happy Scale Moving Average is 139.0 That is down quite a bit from 141.8. I would like it in the 137.5-138.0 range. It is taking forever to get there, but I have nothing but time, and am seeing quite a bit of movement, no matter how slow. It looks like such a small bit of weight, but first of all, I am older and I am only 5'0", so a small amount takes forever and at my height and age, is really what is necessary. Also, a small amount is what can lead to a large amount.
Yesterday, I broke one of my cardinal rules and bought some "junk" to eat. Haven't done that in ages. Ate 2/3 of it, threw the rest away. But the good news is that I said to myself: "OK, you did that. You haven't done it in ages. Move on." And I did. Went right back to my healthy dinner and today my usual breakfast and workout routine. I think we all need to forgive ourselves and move on. And that's success when you/I do!
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Today I was back on schedule walking my two miles. (One on treadmill and one with my dog) it’s already high 80’s and low 90’s so walking has to be early. Felt really good to have both miles in again. Normal is good!6
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Well, my pants are still tight. That’s all I have to report.11
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Name: Jess
How long in maintenance: 3+years
Goal maintenance range: 157-162
Current weight: 174 -fricken BOO!
Current goal: Get that fluff off. Saw myself in my 16-year-old's pic of us playing Four Square. Yuck. I'd love to be down to 150, but I was skinny fat then, and I'm 5'9.5" (ish) and have gained muscle. I'm 40 now. I'm being real. It's not going to happen. I'll settle for 160
So after almost 2 mo doing this...
I lost a couple, regained them, and now I lost it again. 172 now. 10 to go.
This is going to take FOREVER. Ugh.8 -
I've been AWOL from this thread..possibly since April!! oops!
Not finding it easy sticking to 1700 cals a day - which is the magic number for me to lose 0.5lbs a week on...so no surprise, I'm still at 130/1 which is the top end of my range.
The good news is two of my UK size 8 dresses from last year still fit perfectly and they don't have any give in the fabric so thats a good sign.
Potentially I'm holding on to water because I've been on anti inflammatory meds for a few weeks now but I still need to get back to proper deficit and be consistent. I've not seen 130/131 in two years.... and I hadn't wanted to see it again but it is what it is...sighhhh
(6 years in maintenance)4 -
I'm going to join.
Name: Irina
How long in maintenance: 2.5 years
Goal/ preferred maintenance weight: 142-143lbs
Current weight: 147.8 today, trending up again for the last 10 days .
I've been trying ever since Christmas to bring it down to reasonable 143 and i haven't been able to do so. There were weeks when i managed pretty well and it came down from 150ish, and down to where i want to be for a short few days just to go up again. It's so frustrating. And now same thing. Down to 143 for a few days and a steady climb back up to nearly 148. Gosh. I blame nuts, chocolate, peanut butter and pretzels, ice cream and cookies. Lol. Oh, and mango. Because i have the huge tree and it's mango season! The only innocent snack on my list is sugar free jello, haha. And I've been so busy running to my appointments after I got hurt. And dealing with pain and not being able to ride much at all, which is my primary exercise along with walking. And walking is very painful now, so it's out. Gotta. Snack. Less.8 -
A bit late, but joining you all in getting back on track. I’ve let things slide for a few months, bouncing around the top of my maintenance range and now that I saw my scream weight after vacation, time to reign it in .
Name: Diane
How long in maintenance: 3.5 years
Goal maintenance range: 125-130
Current weight: 132.8
Current goal: 131 (pre-vacation weight, then working on getting back to 127ish)
Recent success: started the day after vacation at 135, so headed in the right direction. I’ve logged every day since then,except part of the fancy chocolate bar with no label my husband brought me (oops)
Strategy for your goal: cut down on dessert and wine. Add in more (read: more than zero) cardio to my lifting routine
5
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