Lose 5lbs + in June 2019

mtaratoot wrote: »

mari_moulin wrote: »

mtaratoot wrote: »

Heaviest weight: 175.4 in early 2013.
Original MFP starting weight (January 2018) - 168.2
May 26 starting weight - 145.2 (ten-day rolling average weight 144.8)
June goal - 143
Ultimate goal - Range between 142 - 148

I report scale weight and (ten day average weight).

May 26 - 145.2 (144.8)
June 3 - 147.6 (145.8)
June 14 -
June 21 -
June 28 -
June 30 -


Total loss for June: By scale weight AND by ten-day average, I have GAINED AGAIN this week (1.5 pounds by scale and exactly one by ten-day average). Uh oh. Add this to the three pounds I gained in May, and I'm heading to the ceiling of my maintenance range. Before mid-may, I had been maintaining within about a half pound of my goal since mid March.

I think it’s amazing that you are in maintenance and holding it there even if it’s not always easy. How do you compare staying at maintenance with the weight loss phase?

Don't be that amazed -- I have been struggling to maintain for at least two weeks going on three.

Maintaining is way easier, just as hard, and way harder than losing. It's way easier because when you get to your goal, you obviously figured out how to balance energy in and energy out. If you were losing at a reasonable 0.5 pounds per week for your last five pounds, you get to add 250 calories when you get to your goal. It's easy to add 250 calories. In fact, it's too easy, so that's why it's just as hard. It's way harder because you still must be vigilant, and it's a life-long commitment. You also don't get the reward of watching the scale move down. You have to change your response to the scale and get excited when it doesn't move at all. I got down below my goal, and I was actually worried for a while I'd keep losing. Ha. That's funny now. I'm back at the top of my maintenance range, and it would be SO easy to blast through the ceiling. I know I could lose again, but that's not healthy.

I'm slowly also working on my body composition. I'd like to have less fat mass and more lean mass. So that's a new goal that's even slower. For sure I lost some lean mass when I was in weight loss mode. I tried to minimize/mitigate it with strength work, but I am not consistent. So when I gain again, it is fat that I gain. This is another reason it's difficult, and it's a real reason it's so important to maintain.

YOU will get here! You WILL maintain when you get here. And then after a few months, let us know how it goes. I'll check back in again as the months go by, and I hope I get to a place where it's easier again. I had given myself permission to go off the path for a while, so it's no surprise my weight is up. It happens. I need to start enjoying the "emptier" feeling again. Honestly, all I need to do is be more mindful in the evenings because I sometimes sabotage my efforts when I grab healthy snacks but eat unhealthy amounts of 'em. Nothing wrong with Akmak crackers, but take it easy man. (that was a note to myself, not you).