Maintenance is hard, you guys

Hammig74 · May 17, 2019 12:53PM

I know I’m the millionth person to make this statement, but it’s true. I’ve been in maintenance for going on 3 months and I’m still not comfortable with it. From what I’ve read and what my Ideal Protein Coach has told me, it takes a year to get it down pat.

My weight is definitely creeping up. I can no longer deny it, though I’m still lower than my reset weight. My coach and I have come up with some simple tweaks to stop and reverse the trend. These include decreasing carb intake for breakfast and having one indulgent meal or less (never a whole day) per week.

I’m going out of state next week to visit family. It will be difficult, but I’m determined to stay in my calorie range. I don’t know if I should set myself up for failure regarding my macros, though, as my choices will be limited. I’m definitely going to stay within my macro range when I return on Thursday

That’s all. Words of wisdom are always appreciated

LivingtheLeanDream · May 17, 2019 1:16PM

I'm heading for 6 years in maintenance in July, it still needs working at to stay in my goal range of +/-5 lbs - once I see myself getting to top end of that range and staying there, I rein in my calories until I get back down. Such is maintenance. We either keep an eye on it or if not its very likely we'd regain over time. I refuse to let that happen so do what it takes.

So for me that means:
Frequent weigh ins - use a trending app so its easy to see the trend.
Going back to tracking my intake and eating at deficit if I'm seeing the higher end of range too much.

Enjoy your family visit, family times/vacations/holidays are a part of life and are to be enjoyed. I am blessed to holiday several times each year, I aim to eat no more than 500 above my maintenance calories so I only have to lose a few pounds when I get back and keep on being active when away. The other option I have used before is lose an extra few lbs before I go on a trip. Either way works.

All the best,
Ruth

garystrickland357 · May 17, 2019 1:23PM

LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »

I'm heading for 6 years in maintenance in July, it still needs working at to stay in my goal range of +/-5 lbs - once I see myself getting to top end of that range and staying there, I rein in my calories until I get back down. Such is maintenance. We either keep an eye on it or if not its very likely we'd regain over time. I refuse to let that happen so do what it takes.

So for me that means:
Frequent weigh ins - use a trending app so its easy to see the trend.
Going back to tracking my intake and eating at deficit if I'm seeing the higher end of range too much.

Enjoy your family visit, family times/vacations/holidays are a part of life and are to be enjoyed. I am blessed to holiday several times each year, I aim to eat no more than 500 above my maintenance calories so I only have to lose a few pounds when I get back and keep on being active when away. The other option I have used before is lose an extra few lbs before I go on a trip. Either way works.

All the best,
Ruth

I'm 6 months into maintenance. So much wisdom above. During maintenance I enjoy the occasional doughnut or snack that I didn't have during the loss period, but I watch the scale with a trending app. When the weight creeps up a couple of pounds I tighten up and watch what I eat until I get back down. I think we all know what to do if we successfully lost weight - it's just the realization that we'll have to be vigilant FOR LIFE if we want to maintain.

sijomial · May 17, 2019 1:25PM

"I’m going out of state next week to visit family. It will be difficult, but I’m determined to stay in my calorie range. I don’t know if I should set myself up for failure regarding my macros, though, as my choices will be limited. I’m definitely going to stay within my macro range when I return on Thursday "

When you have to go off plan for a short time just eat the different food, don't worry about macros - just portions and calories. Nothing bad will happen in a week! You can't have "failure" from a week of missing whatever macro goals you rely on.
Enjoying time with your family without casuing yourself stress is important.
It's good practice for holidays, vacations and special events.

LivingtheLeanDream · May 17, 2019 1:42PM

garystrickland357 wrote: »

- it's just the realization that we'll have to be vigilant FOR LIFE if we want to maintain.[/quote]

Truth!

pierinifitness · May 17, 2019 2:11PM

@Hammig74 I enjoy the transparency and honesty of what you share in your posts. I judge in the long run, you’ll be fine.

I’m newer to maintenance than you and thus far my experience has been different. I share a little of what I’m doing in this topic:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10742912/struggling-to-figure-out-maintainence#latest

Maybe there’s a nugget for you there.

Enjoy your family visit, wishing you the best.

Hammig74 · May 17, 2019 2:24PM

pierinifitness wrote: »

@Hammig74 I enjoy the transparency and honesty of what you share in your posts. I judge in the long run, you’ll be fine.

I’m newer to maintenance than you and thus far my experience has been different. I share a little of what I’m doing in this topic:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10742912/struggling-to-figure-out-maintainence#latest

Maybe there’s a nugget for you there.

Enjoy your family visit, wishing you the best.

Thank you for sharing. Your post is helpful. I enjoy the community here on MFP. It makes me feel like we’re all in this together

potokat · May 17, 2019 7:24PM

I've been at maintenance for about a year and a half now. As mentioned by LivingtheLeanDream, daily weigh-ins are hugely helpful. I have a weight range of five pounds that I stay within, and daily weigh-ins help me correlate certain types of food/exercise with ups/downs in that range so there isn't too much panic if I'm up a little bit. I still use MFP to log everything on a daily basis, as I've found if I go over a certain caloric amount I'll start to gain. This also allows me to tweak my calories during the week if, say, I'm going out of town, or I know I'm going someplace over the weekend where I'll want to eat more.

Jordan Syatt had a good post on IG the other day about caloric cycling for fat loss -

- but the same idea can be tweaked a bit for maintenance.

As far as going out of town, are there certain snacks you can pack that will help you maintain and not be tempted? I bring protein powder with me on vacations, along with Quest bars and other snack-y type items that help me stay within my macros.

Hammig74 · May 17, 2019 11:24PM

Thanks everyone. You put some thought into your responses, which puts you in the top percentile of all social media citizens!

brenn24179 · May 17, 2019 11:56PM

I maintained a 40 lb loss for 4 years and then gained 25 lbs back. I did not weigh often. Now I weigh every day except vacations. I lost 30 this summer so back to maintenance since Oct. YOu said it would probably take a year to figure this out, I agree, since Oct still trying to figure out how many calories to maintain, trial and error. I started eating a lot of carbs and that made a difference, up 4 lbs so have to watch that. I guess everyone is different, let us know. Lifetime of being cautious for sure. I watch how skinny people eat now, sure different from me. I eat about 1/2 what I use to.

snuff15ee · May 18, 2019 12:16AM

When I travel and know I have to eat out, I revert to intermittent fasting. I take a day or two (trip duration dependent) on the trip and the day after I return to only eat 600 calories. Also, as it was mentioned above, just keep within your calories goals the best you can. If you eat out alway eat a lean protein, pass on the fried stuff, swap out the calorie bomb sides, and regulate your portion as required (plan to take some leftovers). Drink lots of water!

Addictead · May 18, 2019 12:16AM

I've been in maintenance for about a month and am already up 1.5/2lbs(0.4+ from my weekly averages) from my lowest. I'm sure some of it is water weight but I also did over eat several days in a row, It's seriously a struggle already so yeah..It's hard.

thanos5 · May 18, 2019 12:43AM

i gotta tell ya...i'm about to enter maintenance and i'm scared to freaking death. i have nothing to offer, just feeling your pain. best of luck.

pierinifitness · May 18, 2019 2:12AM

Offering hope by sharing I’m almost 3 months into maintenance and today was 16th consecutive day of morning BW below the low of my maintenance weight range. Obviously, I’m doing a lousy job on the CI of the CICO equation but have ramped up my running lately so maybe it’s the CO causing this.

The message is a glimmer of hope your maintenance experience will be pleasant.

Leapinfrog0485 · May 29, 2019 4:53PM

I have been in maintenance for 2 years now. I have a 5 +/- range and weigh myself several times a week. Maintenance still means always monitoring. once I slide too far up, I cut calories and correct it right away so it doesn't get out of hand. You just always have to keep a careful eye on it, forever.

cwolfman13 · May 29, 2019 6:01PM

Over 6 years maintenance. The hard part I think is understanding that you have to remain vigilant and can't just go back to whatever you were doing before. Fortunately, I enjoy quality nutrition and regular exercise so that has made things fairly easy. I monitor my weight on the scale weekly or a couple times per week. For the most part I maintain throughout the year except for about 8-10 Lbs I put on in the winter. 10 Lbs is my intervention point and since I put that weight on in the winter, that intervention point usually coincides with the onset of spring where I start becoming more active naturally and I usually lose it over the spring months.

This year has been a little wonky so far and I've been hampered a little bit in regards to my ability to exercise the way I would like. I fractured my knee cap in mid February and it's taken a few months to heal so my exercise hasn't been up to my normal. I have lost 5 of my 10 winter Lbs and I'm getting back into things full time now which should address the remaining 5 Lbs. To help things along, I've cut a few simple things out of my diet, but nothing major.

csplatt · May 31, 2019 1:58PM

I don’t count calories on special days - visits to family, holidays. I tighten up my logging when that’s over and it’s worth the little bump on the scale because it’s gone within two weeks.

Hammig74 · June 2, 2019 12:24PM

I just picked up some weight due to a two week vacation and am a little bummed. BUT, it was a long vacation and I’m actually looking forward to having a stricter diet for several months until my next one (beginning of November, Vegas for a work conference. I will enjoy my fave Vegas restaurants while I’m there - Michael Mina, Yardbird, Jean Georges...)

craigo3154 · June 3, 2019 10:45PM

Hammig74 wrote: »

I know I’m the millionth person to make this statement, but it’s true. I’ve been in maintenance for going on 3 months and I’m still not comfortable with it. From what I’ve read and what my Ideal Protein Coach has told me, it takes a year to get it down pat.

My weight is definitely creeping up. I can no longer deny it, though I’m still lower than my reset weight. My coach and I have come up with some simple tweaks to stop and reverse the trend. These include decreasing carb intake for breakfast and having one indulgent meal or less (never a whole day) per week.

I’m going out of state next week to visit family. It will be difficult, but I’m determined to stay in my calorie range. I don’t know if I should set myself up for failure regarding my macros, though, as my choices will be limited. I’m definitely going to stay within my macro range when I return on Thursday

That’s all. Words of wisdom are always appreciated

1) Track size, not weight. (Look up re-composition).

2) Any individual day is not going to make a change. It takes weeks to really bed in a direction.

3) Maintenance must be made to suit your lifestyle (including social events, travel, good times, troubled times, etc..). Otherwise it is not maintenance. You should plan to be in maintenance for the rest of your life. Make it easy on yourself. Make it a habit that is easy to maintain.

For me, low gluten, helps. It automatically keeps me low carb and away from a lot of processed foods. I don't go for advertised "gluten free" foods (as these tend to be highly processed gluten food substitutes). I just choose styles of food that are naturally gluten free.

A lot of highly processed foods are carb rich and fibre poor (as the processing strips a lot of the fibre). Consequently, a lot of processed foods are easy to over-eat as they are low is satiety (do not make you feel full, or keep you feeling full).

Shape your preferences and habits and let them do the work for you.

mjglantz · June 3, 2019 11:06PM

Can only speak to my experience. My initial goal was to get to 174 and when I hit that I didn't change much at all and kept losing weight. Then I had a heart attack

That prompted me to get serious about losing enough weight to get to a normal BMI and I started cardiac rehab. Ended up going to 162 (the high end of normal BMI) and still didn't change much except exercised more.
Oddly enough it wasn't hard at all to stay at that weight. In fact I ended up losing about 25 more pounds and have kept it off.
What helped me was not dieting to begin with. I made small sustainable changes and built on them. Sure there were times when I wasn't that careful and that was OK. And I still track my food. that works. Now I eat a predominantly plant based diet. Very satisfying. Also work out EVERY day.

Have been at or under my goal since April 2013.
We can all do this!

sheloves89 · June 3, 2019 11:31PM

I've been in maintenance for just about a month, now. I still weigh myself daily and I still track, but not as strictly - I ballpark low calorie things, but measure out the calorie-dense stuff. The more convenient I can make it for myself, the more likely I am to keep up with it, at this point. It's easy (dare I say, kind of fun!) to be rigorous about weighing/portioning when there's a goal in mind, but that becomes tedious during maintenance, so I give myself a break.
I also have decided to keep my calories at a 0.5 lb deficit on MFP, precisely because I'm letting myself ballpark things. I like to overestimate, and this way if I'm a little bit over on my daily calories, I feel more comfortable that it's actually closer to maintenance than to a "real" overage.
So far, so good, anyway...

An additional, huge benefit to me during this whole journey was training my body to accept normal sized portions, and working up the mental moxie to actually stop eating when I'm not hungry (silly - but it needed to happen!). Sometimes it's less about listening to my body telling me it's full, and more about yelling at my body letting it know it's full (as I take ooonneee more spoonful of ice cream... haha).

Calorie Counter

Maintenance is hard, you guys

Replies