Why is so little attention given to maintenance?
Replies
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Two things.. when you start losing weight no one wants to realize that maintaining is just dieting for frickin' ever.
This board seems active enough for me.. but I also have been around here for years and sometimes step away to just live life norma and I bet a lot of people who successfully maintain like moving on with life and not live on the boards.
However, I come back here to be around like minded people to make sure I stay on track.11 -
Just eat normal and exercise the way you started and lost weight, no biggy!!2
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I wish it was as easy for me as it is for you. I have to be very vigilant2
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Over the years, I have found it easy to lose weight when I set out to do so, but I eventually regain it. I don't want to do this cycle anymore. I know if I could keep the motivation going, I can do this. I think I (and the other maintainers) could use more social support for long term success. This community is great, but even here, the "Goal: Maintaining Weight" is one of the least active boards. I am in several support groups on FB, I tried finding a support group for people that have reached their weight and maintaining, but no avail (maybe I am not using the right keywords? Is anyone aware of one?) There are tons of weight loss groups. Anyway, why there is so little social attention given to the maintenance stage, given how hard it is? Isn't the long term success rate only 5 to 20 %?
In my years of maintenance I've also discovered that there is a significant lack of support available, both in-person and then online. It's why I keep coming back to MFP, even though I get burned out from the drama stuff, because there's at least a small presence of maintainers here.6 -
Hey @MadisonMolly2017 I know this is the ULTIMATE back to basics, but are you drinking a ton of water? Getting plenty of sleep? Chug a glass of water when the “gnawing” starts and see if that doesn’t take the edge off.
@nowine4me & @psychod787
Just thanking you both again for taking the time to help me❣️
⬆️water & protein is working really well!
🍀7 -
Yes it seems Permanent healthy changes are harder than “temporary”, even long term dieting to hit a goal weight. So I’m working on making my changes become more of a lifestyle change in my habits to keep off what I’ve lost. Hope you can too! I understand how hard it is to keep it off. Portions and what I do and don’t eat and keeping track and being honest with myself is the best way for me.4
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I'm on my sixth year of maintaining a loss of more than 130 lb total. But I still operate like I'm trying to lose weight, track daily and my MFP is set to lose 0.5 lb per week. I know that I don't normally eat a deficit because I've gotten lazy over the past 4+ years, don't log every bite and don't weigh or measure most things. That's why I'm not consistently losing weight and fluctuate up and down within a 7-10 lb range over each year. To be honest though, for me personally I feel if I ate "at maintenance calories" I would gain weight. But part of that is me getting a little older (42) and being fairly inactive especially through the work week.9
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Maintaining hasn't been easy for me. It takes the same dedication and effort as losing and I have seen myself slip many times in the last five years. I am lucky that I tend to reach a certain weight (or my fave pants or shirt doesn't fit anymore) and I am able to real it back in.
I kind of agree, I think someone who has maintained their loss for a few years has done something very special as diet success rates are not very encouraging. The maintainers thread is awesome, but you are correct there should be more attention given to it because it is not easy for the vast majority of people.7 -
"Diet." That word should be banned in the Maintenance thread because we no longer "diet." We've graduated from the diet phase into the "eating normally phase."2
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Its not as glamorous or attention grabbing as losing or gaining weight for that matter. People like the constant push pull of losing and maintenance takes accountability and self awareness which from a look through the boards most prefer entertaining/surface vs the deeper things of self mastery.6
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Like seltzermint555, I'm also maintaining a big loss for over 6 years and I'm continuing on with the commitment, intensity and dedication just like I did while I was losing.
When I think about it, other then this forum, for the most part I don't run into many people that are actually maintaining their weight. Both online or offline.
Most are trying to lose, others are looking to intentionally gain and the rest have been at a healthy weight or athletic all of their lives - they don't have to think about their weight at all.
I do agree that there such be more focus on how to maintain weight loss. There are a handful of books I've read and websites (blogs and message boards) I have visited over the years, but that's about it. I just had to learn how to be my own cheerleader and keep going strong with maintenance.13 -
Rainbow 198 what books did you read?1
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New Year *bump*3
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@rainbow198 I like your comment 'I just had to learn how to be my own cheerleader...' thats exactly what I've found.5
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No way to track it on MFP, but I wonder how many reach their goals, remain around for a few months longer while beginning maintenance, then leave once it's habit? So, there could be a very high maintenance %, but we'll never know on the forum.3
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^ that's me pretty much. I just came back for the community. I've been in maintenance for about 8 years.5
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I am pretty obsessed with maintenance at the moment. I am studying habit change and working on what else I need to do to get ready. I also plan to practice maintenance and do recomp before worrying about getting to some sort of goal weight.
I lost a lot by being so heavy. Now I have gained a lot by losing a lot. I now consider preparing for maintenance as preparing to defend my freedom. Is that enough attention?5 -
So...@dashagrr (the OP) - Howsit?
You said in your original post back in September that you were looking for ongoing discussions and/or support?
How's Maintenance?4 -
TarryTaffy wrote: »No way to track it on MFP, but I wonder how many reach their goals, remain around for a few months longer while beginning maintenance, then leave once it's habit? So, there could be a very high maintenance %, but we'll never know on the forum.
I don't necessarily understand the drive people have to leave, to cross a mythical finish line and be done.5 -
Honestly, losing the weight and succeeding is not something most people do in the first place.
Maintaining? That's usually not given a lot of thought because it's not dramatic. Humans aren't very good at paying attention to long-term things that aren't exciting or gives a lot of instant feedback naturally.
And humans are very good at going back to old habits. And our bodies were "developed" to seek out fatty/sugary foods, and conserve energy when given the opportunity.
(That's not the whole story, of course. We can develop new habits. Human bodies are meant to move, and feel good when they do. We can get used to healthy eating habits too.)6
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