May Challenge: Maintainers Back on Track Thread
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Its somewhat comforting to know that many of us are in the same boat, sometimes we feel we're the only ones having to struggle with regain but the struggle is real for so many.12
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LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »Its somewhat comforting to know that many of us are in the same boat, sometimes we feel we're the only ones having to struggle with regain but the struggle is real for so many.
True
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Hey, @LivingtheLeanDream: You have been a voice of reason and compassion on here, so sorry to see that you are struggling. But just wanted to throw a few things your way: 1. Anti-inflammatory meds CAN cause water weight gain, so take that into account and 2. You and I have each been on maintenance for a while - 4.5 years for me, 6 for you - and we are each struggling to get back into our ranges. Maybe we also need to consider (and that would include everyone who's been on maintenance for this long or longer) that we have aged during that time and that it's going to be more difficult to get back there, and that maybe we need to even cut back more than we thought. I have been going over this in my own mind and I think there's something to that. Metabolism keeps slowing as we age, I believe. Just sayin'.4
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@jrwms714, ones metabolism only drops a small amount yearly as one ages. (50-100 cals per decade, from the age of about 25, depending on stats)
We do however tend to move less and because of that lose muscle as we age. It is the subtle activity drop that has the biggest effect on our calorie intake.
I found making sure I upped my daily activity to the same level as I had pre car ownership (late 40’s) during weight loss (30lbs gain was the car) and maintenance, has meant I can maintain my weight without having to eat fewer calories.
I also strength train regularly, sometimes heavy; sometimes body weight, and that helps with muscle retention adding a few extra cals to my expected BMR.
I’ve been maintaining 10yr 55-65 and eat about 300 cals more now than I did when I started maintenance despite the expected drop in BMR.
Just something to ponder so you dont have to think it inevitable that age has to mean you have to eat less to maintain.
Not denying that we can find it more comfortable maintaining at a weight that is higher than our initial goal. But that is all part of finding out maintenance in my mind.
Calories, activity level, weight, and visual appearance all have to align, that is a hard thing to balance.
Cheers, h.
@LivingtheLeanDream, I know you’ve got this, you are body aware and analyze well.
I’ll wish you a happy birthday here too as I will be travelling to the UK when you celebrate.8 -
middlehaitch wrote: »@jrwms714, ones metabolism only drops a small amount yearly as one ages. (50-100 cals per decade, from the age of about 25, depending on stats)
We do however tend to move less and because of that lose muscle as we age. It is the subtle activity drop that has the biggest effect on our calorie intake.
I found making sure I upped my daily activity to the same level as I had pre car ownership (late 40’s) during weight loss (30lbs gain was the car) and maintenance, has meant I can maintain my weight without having to eat fewer calories.
I also strength train regularly, sometimes heavy; sometimes body weight, and that helps with muscle retention adding a few extra cals to my expected BMR.
I’ve been maintaining 10yr 55-65 and eat about 300 cals more now than I did when I started maintenance despite the expected drop in BMR.
Just something to ponder so you dont have to think it inevitable that age has to mean you have to eat less to maintain.
Not denying that we can find it more comfortable maintaining at a weight that is higher than our initial goal. But that is all part of finding out maintenance in my mind.
Calories, activity level, weight, and visual appearance all have to align, that is a hard thing to balance.
Cheers, h.
@LivingtheLeanDream, I know you’ve got this, you are body aware and analyze well.
I’ll wish you a happy birthday here too as I will be travelling to the UK when you celebrate.
Lean mass accounts for most of the drop in rmr. You are an active gal! I bet you lift! Lifting, in some studies, decreases muscle efficiency... thus raising your "metabolism" cheers ma'am!2 -
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.
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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.
Life has a way of slapping you in the face!!
Just when I was happy with my fitness and weight one of my mashed up lumbar discs decided to flare up dramatically. 8lb gain in four days was obviously majority of water weight (very obvious swelling) but also coincided with a massive drop in activity and exercise due to two days driving and three days eating hotel, buffet and ready made food so would have gained some "real weight".
10 days of misery and now I'm into the recovery phase gently building up my exercise and most of the swelling and weight has gone. Going from cycling 150 miles a week cycling plus 3 gym visits feeling fit and strong to being challenged by getting out of bed or gentle pottering around the garden and feeling totally useless was really depressing. Having to drop calories from the freedom of a very high amount down to a sedentary level wasn't as bad as I expected though.
Maintenance is more like a series of peaks and troughs rather than a flat line......10 -
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.
Tough one. I know that being able to exercise (particularly riding) is key to healthy eating for me. (Particularly keeping a curb on snacking). Could you do something in the pool? That helped me during recovery from total knee replacement when I couldn't ride or do the other things I normally do.1 -
Hi there. I’m new as well. Really glad to find his thread as I have been dealing with shame and self flagellation for my post goal weight gain. I originally lost about 40 lbs towards the middle of 2017. I was training for a marathon, feelling great and super focused. Then oct 2017 I injured my knee and have not been able to run. Though I managed to keep my eating under controls for almost a year, my work outs have gone from bad to worse as I injured the other knee 2 months ago. During the last year I have gained 10 lbs. I can’t work out as hard as I have done in the past so any progress I make is very slow at this point.
Here goes...
Name: Bbtj
How long in maintenance: 2 years
Goal maintenance range: 110-115
Current weight: 117
Current goal: 115
Ultimate goal: get to 112 by the end of the summer.
Recent success: Getting back into the gym.
Strategy for your goal: 5 Day’s in the gym a week and logging all food. Not letting all the stress and travel be excuses.7 -
Brendalea69 wrote: »
Since we've started this thread, my pants are no longer tight (Yay!). I've lost several pounds. Calories the same but stricter logging and just dropped those pernicious carbs and upped my steps.10 -
Well that was a frustrating week for me. Went on vacation (thurs) at 131 feeling good. Came home the next Thursday at 135 feeling appropriately bloated and sluggish after a week of wine and sitting around. Hit the gym that same Thurs, and even slightly backing off weights left me feeling like I’d been used as a punching bag for a few days. Kept on logging and working out, weight started dropping to around 132.4 starting to feel like myself.
At the end of the week, back at 135. Bah! I know there’s some crazy water retention going on (travel, alcohol, carby vaca food, then return to exercise), but dang, it’s annoying me. I was hoping to drop the water weight this week, not play hide and seek with it 😐9 -
Name: iuew
How long in maintenance: since 2005
Goal maintenance range: 160 - 175 (though i'd like to stay at the lower end.)
Current weight: 166
Current goal: good numbers at my next physical and to keep my MFP streak going.
Recent success: my BMI is 23.2 this morning.
Strategy for your goal: keep on keeping on.7 -
Name: sofchak
How long in maintenance: 2.5 years
Goal maintenance range: 122-127
Current weight: 129
Current goal: Lose 1/2 lb a week
Recent success: stubbornly continued to use MFP to track every bite. Rewarded with seeing 127.4 on scale this morning for the first time in a long while.
Strategy for goal: Need to be mindful of balance since my new fitness goal is to run my second marathon on July 28.
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Name: Jan
How long in maintenance: 3 months
Goal maintenance range: 130-135
Current weight: 132.3
Current goal: establish a consistent, healthy way of eating
Recent success: pulled myself out of some very bad behavior (foodwise
) and am back on track
Strategy for your goal: plan ahead, log, get back to the gym.
I have been Mia for the past three weeks. While I am still in my maitenance range (not sure how that happened, given what I have been eating!), I am very unhappy with my very inconsistent eating behavior (wrong foods, too much food, failure to log everything I was eating, etc.).
While I am at the weight I started maintenance, I am NOT establishing the solid eating habits for maintenance that I did during the active losing phase. I need to work on adding calories in that don't trigger over-eating. I also need to figure out how to have an occasional treat without continuing to have the treats for the next x days. In other words, I need to establish a new normal, which so far I have been unable to do.
Maintenance is turning out to be a real puzzle for me!10 -
Name: carolintally
How long in maintenance: 6 months
Goal maintenance range: 150-152
Current weight: 159.6
Current goal: 152
Recent success: Joining nearby gym . . .finally! First session starts tomorrow.
Strategy for your goal: Back to daily weigh ins and recording food. Stopped recording food in Dec. But after two months of not doing my daily weigh ins, my weight is up 7 pounds. Can feel it in my clothes. BACK ON TRACK NOW!!!! Long history of yo-yo dieting.7 -
Name: Frantz
How long in maintenance: 8 years
Goal maintenance range: 180-184
Current weight: 187.5, down from 212 January 28
Current goal: 185 by Memorial Day... not going to make it 😒 but did lose 2.5 lbs during May.
Recent success: Went on vacay to the beach last week and still managed to lose 1/2 lb. Got several nice compliments on how lean, trim and fit I look 🤗
Strategy for your goal: Eat right, exercise, and log everything on MFP. Make my desire to stay lean, trim and fit stronger than my urges to slack off.7 -
Name: jrwms714
How long in maintenance: 4.5 years
Goal maintenance range: 136.5-138.5
Current weight: 138.0
Current goal: Maintain range above
Recent success: No snacks at night continues to work for me.
Strategy for your goal: Right now there are some medical issues and so my appetite has slowed to nothing. I am not sure the weight above is at all accurate since I am eating very little, and not intentionally. Once these are resolved, hopefully in the new two weeks, and I am back to regular exercising and eating all my allotted calories, this may change. If I go back up out of my range, which I think will occur, then I will stick to my strategy of no snacks at night.9 -
spiriteagle99 wrote: »My attempt at losing last month was a bust. I'm up another pound. Still within my 5 pound window, but barely (124.4). I know why. Most days were over goal by 200-600 calories. I am still trying to eat as I normally do but with 10 miles a week less running, it's not possible to keep the weight from creeping up. That 900 calories makes a big difference.
Back comfortably within my range - 123.2. I've been running more and eating fewer treats, aside from a blowout for our anniversary. Most days are very close to goal calories.11 -
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132.5 ... mid-point for maintenance, and my "ideal" number. May was a rocky go, but I think I am starting to figure this out.8
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132.5 ... mid-point for maintenance, and my "ideal" number. May was a rocky go, but I think I am starting to figure this out.
I’m thrilled to read this, @jan110144 !2 -
Hello everyone,
I've have been away from home visiting friends and family in another part of the country. I returned on Tuesday (28th). Once all the water weight had been through my system I am 1lb more than I was before the trip. That isn't too bad given the amount of eating and drinking I did
Like most of us, I find weight maintenance a struggle. Having reached my target weight and maintained for about 6 months I stopped logging and put on 11lbs between Jan and the end of March. Reading the post on this challenge this is a very common story. Most people have to work massively hard to shift the weight but just as hard, if not harder to keep it off.
It seems counter intuitive, you would think once we hit our goal we would have all the skills and knowledge to continue to eat in maintenance, but the opposite happens. Does science know why this is?0 -
Fatgonegirl wrote: »Hello everyone,
I've have been away from home visiting friends and family in another part of the country. I returned on Tuesday (28th). Once all the water weight had been through my system I am 1lb more than I was before the trip. That isn't too bad given the amount of eating and drinking I did
Like most of us, I find weight maintenance a struggle. Having reached my target weight and maintained for about 6 months I stopped logging and put on 11lbs between Jan and the end of March. Reading the post on this challenge this is a very common story. Most people have to work massively hard to shift the weight but just as hard, if not harder to keep it off.
It seems counter intuitive, you would think once we hit our goal we would have all the skills and knowledge to continue to eat in maintenance, but the opposite happens. Does science know why this is?
I think it's the same reason we got overweight to begin with. Fundamentally, you are YOU no matter what. Humans are really good at lying to themselves and wanting to buck authority. We know what we should and should not do but something within ourselves struggles still. We can learn all kinds of ways to hack our brains with tricks and routines to get ourselves to that goal weight, but all the wonderful things that are wrong with us are still there. At least that's my experience dealing with my inner-brat who constantly wants to eat a lot of calorie-dense, hyper-palatable things. She wants her belly stuffed all the time. Sometimes I'm better at telling her to go to her room than other times.
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