Scared of maintainence

bigcraddock · August 2019

Hi all, have lost about 90 pounds this past year. I’ve never eaten e exercise calories. I can’t imagine getting on the scales and it not going down. That’s going to feel like a failure. I’m basically at my goal weight, although with my bmi at 22, there is room to healthily lose more. This past month I’ve lost 11 pounds. There’s lots of practical advice on here about maintaining. But I just wanted to know if anyone else was scared and just wanted to keep losing weight.

amckholmes · August 2019

I lost almost 50 lbs since January, am at my goal weight and am working on transitioning into maintenance. I am absolutely struggling with not seeing the scale go down, and this week it has actually gone up a bit. Even though my head knows that is normal and it is simply water weight, its got me scared to stay with maintenance calories. I have been reading this forum for about six weeks now, there are lots of awesome people here who have been maintaining for a long time who are super encouraging and very successful. Keep tracking your intake and output and have confidence in knowing the same “logic” that helped you lose will help you maintain.

steveko89 · August 2019

First off, there's nothing to say that you have to stick to the goal weight you picked when you started losing if you're not satisfied with the visual results within the confines of staying at a healthy weight (i.e. not getting to underweight).

Second, 11 lbs/month is a really high rate for someone thinking about shifting towards maintenance. If you're being overly restrictive or very low carb it's likely you could see some rebound in scale weight due to fluid retention, especially if you reintroduce/raise carbs. I suggest looking into "reverse dieting", where one slowly reduces their deficit over the course of a number of weeks until they reach maintenance-level intake rather than flipping a switch and suddenly eating an additional 500-1000 calories per day (or in your case maybe more).

Lastly, I think you've got some work to do regarding your relationship with the scale and self-valuation. A BMI of 21.7 is right smack in the middle of the "Normal" range so we're not talking about needing to lose weight for health concerns anymore, though there's certainly nothing wrong with losing weight to improve one's appearance; it's the entire reason I'm here. Allow yourself to take credit for the weight you've already lost and put some focus on the intangible benefits of the process you've gone through instead of just the scale and BMI measurable data.

LivingtheLeanDream · August 2019

I don't understand how you can feel like a failure when you are now at a healthy goal weight, congrats, you have done it!

.
Celebrate that you can be within a range of say +/- 5lbs when you keep seeing the same numbers consistently, that's your new goal.
If you have lost 11lbs in the last month and because you are a healthy weight it sounds like you are actually under eating - so you need to address that, its not healthy for your body to keep under eating. Now is the time to up your calories with the aim to staying at your current weight within a few pounds. And enjoy those extra calories! I know I do

Tanya_Clair · August 2019

I am pretty much in the same boat, have lost 90 lbs since October 2018 and am now at a healthy BMI. It's pretty daunting to start eating more and accept that the scales might sometimes go up, I have started increasing my calories slowly, around 100 a week, and am weighing myself every day on a weight tracking app just to accept that my weight will fluctuate whilst in maintenance, I am already getting better at understanding weight fluctuations, maybe trying something like that could be helpful? Congrats on your loss and hope you transition to maintenance well

jan110144 · August 2019

I can relate! I think your feelings are fairly common amongst people who have lost a considerable amount of weight. I'm 5 months into maintenance and am still working out the details. Setting a maintenance range and not sweating the ups and downs within it has been very helpful. I have also been setting other goals to replace the sense of accomplishment that comes with seeing the number on the scale go down.

goldthistime · August 2019

In the time I've been here on MFP, I've only known about one person whose successful diet turned into an eating disorder, but it had enough of an impact on me that as a "just in case", I'm going to link a couple of articles for you to check out OP.

https://centerfordiscovery.com/blog/diet-becomes-eating-disorder/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-ivory-tower/201904/when-does-diet-become-eating-disorder

pkweier · August 2019

I'm still get nervous from time to time. September will be 2 years of maintenance . I lost 200 pounds. What helped me was the encouragement and support from this board. I took their advice and set up a range it has worked for me. I'm also a big believer of weighing myself every day. This is what helped me stay the course.

bigcraddock · August 2019

Thanks everyone. Some very good advice- I will decide a range that works for me. And slowly increase calories. I didn’t ever look at these boards when I was losing- but I think they’ll be massively useful now. Thanks again

whmscll · August 2019

Worst-case scenario: you gain some or all of the weight back. But you know now that you can lose it, and how! Won’t be fun or easy, but regaining weight is not the worst thing that can happen in life. I just reached maintenance (for the second time in 7 years) and to keep myself motivated to continue tracking, logging and not overeating this time I am focusing on recomp. The discipline of going to the gym regularly, adding weight progressively and making sure I eat enough protein while keeping to maintenance calories will keep me from going back to bad habits (that’s the plan, anyway).

Lynzdee18 · August 2019

whmscll wrote: »

Worst-case scenario: you gain some or all of the weight back. But you know now that you can lose it, and how! Won’t be fun or easy, but regaining weight is not the worst thing that can happen in life. I just reached maintenance (for the second time in 7 years) and to keep myself motivated to continue tracking, logging and not overeating this time I am focusing on recomp. The discipline of going to the gym regularly, adding weight progressively and making sure I eat enough protein while keeping to maintenance calories will keep me from going back to bad habits (that’s the plan, anyway).

I agree. I’m in the same boat. I find maintenance really hard. I lost 65 pounds from July 2015 to July 2016. My problem is mostly not knowing what my goal should be. In retrospect, I think I got caught up in the thrill of watching the numbers on the scale decrease. I maintained for over a year, but grew tired of meticulous logging. I think that contributed to my weight gain. I need accountability and now realize I need logging and frequent weighing to keep my weight under control because I love cooking and eating, maybe too much? I don’t want to be fat...I just want to eat!

I gained back over half the weight lost over the last year or so, gradually, but steadily. I just couldn’t get under control I guess. No excuse.

In May, back at it. Now I’m 1 pound to a more realistic goal weight, 15 pounds higher than my first goal

Sunday we leave on a month holiday in Eastern Europe, where I’m going to enjoy the food and drink , but with a more conscious attitude. I know I’ll gain some since I’ve been carb restricting since May, but I feel more in control.

Yes, I’m scared of maintenance too. Very much so.

Thank you for starting this thread and thank you too all the posters who expressed their perspectives on this issue.

We CAN do this!

Scared of maintainence

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