Habits for Maintenance

I'm one of those people who loses the weight... then gains it back over a year or two... then loses it... then gains it back... repeat. Obviously, I get to my goal and don't have any good maintenace strategies when life gets in the way. I'm up 15 pounds and I'm starting to work on it, but I want to do things differently. Here's my thought about how to approach it differently: Instead of looking at the calories I'm eating and burning as something I'm mnanaging directly, I want to look at it as the output of my habits. So, instead of starting with the strategy of "I'm going to eat 1700 calories," I want to look at what I'm eating and say "Hm, I've been going back for seconds and sometimes a dessert at dinner ... I wonder what would happen if I started focusing on building the habit of not having seconds or desserts at dinner more than once a week?" and then look at my calorie intake over a few weeks as an output of that habit change telling me if it's taking me in the right direction. Or, another example: asking myself, "Hmm, I wonder what would happen if I started walking two miles in the morning?" then observing my energy balance to see if I end up in a bigger deficit. My thought is that this will end up with me building and relying on repeatable habits that work for me and can be used even if I'm tracking losely or traveling or whatever. Building up maintenance habits while losing, which I have failed to do in the past.

From your experience, does that make sense?

Replies

  • I’ve been maintaining a few years. (Currently bulking but what I did in maintenance and what I continue to do is similar but just with a few more calories:

    I stopped tracking a few months ago.

    I eat mainly lean meat cottage cheese fish veggies fruit and whole grains. A few treats here and there and the odd glass of wine. I only have 1 or 2 meals out a week. So although I’m not logging after years of doing so I have a good idea of roughly how many calories I’m eating.

    I do some form of exercise daily and try and walk as well.

    This approach seems to work for me. If I had weight creep I would go back to logging. I weigh day as well.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    I have two suggestions ) listen to or read the books Mini Habits and The Diet Fix 2) listen to the pods cast Half Size Me. Both support your motion and the idea of building good habits to support maintenance.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    That's what I do.
  • HappyGrape
    HappyGrape Posts: 436 Member
    nowine4me wrote: »
    I have two suggestions ) listen to or read the books Mini Habits and The Diet Fix 2) listen to the pods cast Half Size Me. Both support your motion and the idea of building good habits to support maintenance.

    There are 3 mini habits book - is the the diet or original version you recommend?
  • wwwtheselion11
    wwwtheselion11 Posts: 422 Member
    Just remember that your mind controls what you do. So its your mind thats telling you hey stop eating dessert an having seconds. Now if you can find mind control an set it on hey .i want to loose 15 pounds. Your mindset is going to put you on loosing the weight. No matter what you decide. Your mind will decide it for you. My mind is set to loose 20 pounds.