How much easier would it be to maintain a slightly higher weight?

purple4sure05
purple4sure05 Posts: 287 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys, hope everyone is doing well! I used to be very active on this site until the end of 2020. I was sick of obsessing over food and diet and decided to stop logging, but to continue to weigh my food since I generally eat the exact same foods every day. I'm 5'6 and after losing 30 pounds last year I maintained my weight of 129 to 131 roughly for the whole year, but felt extremely limited by my diet regimen. It held me back from ever going out to eat or being out late with friends because I would become too hungry after 10 PM.

Basically, I've lightened up a bit on being so food focused and am doing okay the last few months weighing almost all my food, but I've found that my weight creeped up to between 133.5 and 135.5 now. Too soon to say if it will continue to creep up, but I'm wondering how much easier it would be to maintain a weight of say 140 instead? I'm happy with my appearance at that weight but the fear is that it will continue to grow. I'm just looking for a more sustainable lifestyle as I'm struggling.

Earlier this year when I first saw a number over 135, I cut back on calories for over a month and got down to only 132.6, but once I reintroduced my usual calorie allotment, I flew back up over 135 within a week. It almost feels like my body does not want to be leaner, but I assume that's not scientifically valid lol.

Any experience or recommendations?
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Replies

  • Unicorn_Bacon
    Unicorn_Bacon Posts: 491 Member
    Change your weight on mfp to 140 maintenance and eat to that goal. You should gain til you hit it then continue as usual
  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,092 Member
    My experience is I maintain pretty effortlessly at a bmi of around 23. Don’t have to think too much about calories can have a few drinks with friends and a couple of restaurant meals a week.

    Just now I’m at a bmi of around 19. I find I have to be much more careful with watching my intake. I’m almost teetotal and 80 percent of my diet is protein fruits and veggies with 20 per cent more treaty foods. This is just about manageable for me. I can’t say it will be forever. The differnce of about 15 pounds means I have to be much more careful. It’s a trade off I like a leaner look but is it worth it? I dunno.
  • frankiesgirlie
    frankiesgirlie Posts: 667 Member
    I did this same thing. I’m 5’9” and my happy weight was always 145. I struggled to get down to that weight. My highest weight was 163. Not overweight by any charts, but I felt tired, not cute, and not as fit at that weight. Plus my clothes didn’t fit.
    I decided to change my number to 150, even though I’ve always mentally had a problem with that number.
    I hit 150 about 5 months ago. It wasn’t so hard to maintain. I did it for about 4 months without logging and also weighing food as much as I can.
    I didn’t run into a problem until the pandemic and now I’ve been stress eating.
    But I do think that an extra 5 lbs can make a big difference in the effort to maintain. Especially if you still feel good at that weight.
    I say go for it!
  • frankiesgirlie
    frankiesgirlie Posts: 667 Member
    One other thing. I didn’t try to change my diet to low carb, more protein or more satiating foods, as so many advise.
    Unless you count eating extra veggies. Because life is too short and I don’t want to deny myself reasonable portions of my favorite foods. Ever.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,673 Member
    For me, every time I've allowed my weight to go up, just a few pounds, I would end up regaining all the weight I had lost and then some. It's a very slippery slope. For years I thought 140 was my 'natural weight'. It turns out I was wrong. I've been maintaining 120-125 for the past 6 years. I do it by being mindful of what I eat - I log though I don't weigh everything I eat - and by being very active, running and walking a lot. I don't feel deprived because I know I can eat what I enjoy without worry since I burn an average of 500 extra calories every day.

    As stated above, you need to work on a way of eating that is filling, but not fattening. It may mean going out to eat less often, or making different choices when you do. It may mean making exercise more a part of your life. You don't have to give up on maintaining your weight loss.
  • purple4sure05
    purple4sure05 Posts: 287 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    You should differentiate between short term weight fluctuations or even fluctuations introduced by hormonal cycles and the underlying weight trend which is more indicative of a change in your level of stored energy reserves!

    A change within a week screams of water weight (either hormonal or other: sodium, more food in the system, exercise, or the myriad other reasons for weight fluctuations).

    A weight trend app or web site showing a month over month slow increase especially when comparing back to the same part of your hormonal cycle a month ago, indicates a more long term change in energy reserves. That's the weight level you would want to manage.

    After a period of caloric restriction it is would not be uncommon to have a very long time frame where you experience additional hunger induced by hormonal changes.

    How long were you losing for and how fast did you lose? How long have you been at maintenance? Your dates above seem to include at least one typo. What BMI did you end up at at your lowest and where are you now in terms of BMI?

    I believe, but I am not sure, that you're indicating that you lost from BMI ~26 to about ~21 during 12 months in 2018, maintained at around BMI 21 for 12 months in 2019, are at about 22 now after found months in 2020 and want to end up at around BMI 23... correct?

    My answer would be to concentrate of figuring out foods that you find satiating AND satisfying while trying to avoid over-running your calories by too much while keeping in mind a general 80-20 sort of rule between nutrition and indulgences (notice that I am being deliberately vague here).

    The point being that you can't continue to work with patently unsustainable things (I will only eat soylent and nothing else would be an example of what I would call unsustainable). Or never go out with my friends! (excluding COVID19 which may be coming to your rescue right now)

    On the other hand I don't know that you can ALWAYS go out with your friends and eat out every day and not expect to either manage your weight aggressively or regain aggressively if you don't do so. Last I checked most restaurant menus were not full of items coming in at less than 1200-1500 Cal per meal excluding drinks.

    So. If I were you I would seek to revamp things a bit so that they are a bit more sustainable while ALLOWING; but NOT SEEKING, my weight to increase a bit if I were comfortable to do so.

    You are still within the 2 year time period after weight loss where most people regain the weight they lost.

    There is a difference between
    --fighting tooth and nail to the point of being miserable.
    --being mindful and seeking a new balance.
    --courting disaster.
    --or giving up and going into an IDGAF state which inevitably will lead to regain.

    Somewhere between the middle two is probably where your best chance of success will be when we define success as retaining most of your weight loss after FIVE years.

    I would probably try to balance closer to #2 than #3 :smiley:

    Thanks everyone for responding. Yes to clarify I was close to a BMI of 26, dropped to about 21, am currently 21.6, and asking about how much more sustainable it could be to inch up somewhere between 22.5 and 23. I already run about 3 miles per day and weight train for another 40 minutes 6 days a week, so adding exercise is not really an option for me as suggested in another comment. I also go for about an hour walk most days.

    I have used a weight trend app and I have found that it is not just water weight, my weight will trend up if I start allowing myself to eat at a restaurant where I don't know the calories, even though I only would do this once a week. This is still honestly the case. I can only keep a handle on things when I have calculated the calories on every meal, which is getting old. I want to be able to go to dinner with friends once a week and not worry about how many calories I'm accounting for. I also don't have a problem with binging, so I don't go overboard in these scenarios. I weigh everything I eat for the most part the other 6 days.

    Basically, if a slightly increased weight would allow me to actually live my life a bit more, it would be worth it. It sounds like experiences vary. For some it makes a huge difference, for others there is not much difference at all.

    In the past I know I maintained a BMI of just under 24 pretty effortlessly while going out to eat or for drinks once or twice a week, plus not measuring food at all. That went on for two years before I began gaining a bit.

    Anyway thanks again for the insight.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,526 Member
    edited April 2020
    My take is that absent bloodwork to confirm either way, there's some evidence that hormonally driven regain is at least one of the things that aids, if not drives, regain.

    And that there is some evidence that it may extend to years, not months. Or, until the unwanted outcome of substantial, if not full, regain.

    I don't doubt that fat levels associated with higher bmi may be easier to maintain than lower. This is anecdotally confirmed by many.

    The question is how to weather the storms and how to get to an easier to maintain equilibrium safely.

    That's where your own mental processes management has to come in.

    @psychod787 has done an awesome job to slowly and carefully regain some without giving up or overshooting and while continuing to maintain his physique! But he is a double exception among exceptions when is comes to weight management success.

    I tried to avoid the issues he faced by convincing myself that I was on a five year weight loss plan and only doing things I would be willing to do for five years (so no resentment at "having" to do them, and not too much pushing of other goals beyond the primary one of sustainability)

    The first 2+ were spent losing the weight. The rest "optionally losing", aka maintaining.

    About 3 years post faster weight loss (2 years past the last 12lbs and while in a "final" maintenance range which has been closer to mid BMI 23's than anything else)... things started to feel easier, and daily calories limits require less management to be adhered to.

    I have not found definitive and believable research on all this (behavioura?l, hormonal? both? how to fix????)

    The timelines I experienced do correlate to statistics about the chances of successfully defending against weight regain.

    Hence my advice to concentrate on trying to find something that works for you mentally and physically while ALLOWING but not SEEKING a certain degree of regain.

    And thoroughly establishing that this is an experiment you're in charge of running and that you're the one managing it and driving it.

    You're not helpless; but you're the principal investigator in experimenting with how to make things easier for yourself and evaluating the trade offs you're willing and able to make so as to get to an optimal, for you, outcome!!!

    Last but not least, run an experiment, especially now with covid-19 and less eating out, as to how much you CAN actually increase your calories while maintaining. There exists some elasticity for most between losing calories, maintenance calories, and gain calories, usually absorbed by NEAT changes. And don't be afraid to experiment with ways of eating (changing fat and carb and protein ratios). These are both things you can do while allowing, without necessarily seeking, some regain!
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,088 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    My take is that absent bloodwork to confirm either way, there's some evidence that hormonally driven regain is at least one of the things that aids, if not drives, regain.

    And that there is some evidence that it may extend to years, not months. Or, until the unwanted outcome of substantial, if not full, regain.

    I don't doubt that fat levels associated with higher bmi may be easier to maintain than lower. This is anecdotally confirmed by many.

    The question is how to weather the storms and how to get to an easier to maintain equilibrium safely.

    That's where your own mental processes management has to come in.

    @psychod787 has done an awesome job to slowly and carefully regain some without giving up or overshooting and while continuing to maintain his physique! But he is a double exception among exceptions when is comes to weight management success.

    I tried to avoid the issues he faced by convincing myself that I was on a five year weight loss plan and only doing things I would be willing to do for five years (so no resentment at "having" to do them, and not too much pushing of other goals beyond the primary one of sustainability)

    The first 2+ were spent losing the weight. The rest "optionally losing", aka maintaining.

    About 3 years post faster weight loss (2 years past the last 12lbs and while in a "final" maintenance range which has been closer to mid BMI 23's than anything else)... things started to feel easier, and daily calories limits require less management to be adhered to.

    I have not found definitive and believable research on all this (behavioura?l, hormonal? both? how to fix????)

    The timelines I experienced do correlate to statistics about the chances of successfully defending against weight regain.

    Hence my advice to concentrate on trying to find something that works for you mentally and physically while ALLOWING but not SEEKING a certain degree of regain.

    And thoroughly establishing that this is an experiment you're in charge of running and that you're the one managing it and driving it.

    You're not helpless; but you're the principal investigator in experimenting with how to make things easier for yourself and evaluating the trade offs you're willing and able to make so as to get to an optimal, for you, outcome!!!

    Last but not least, run an experiment, especially now with covid-19 and less eating out, as to how much you CAN actually increase your calories while maintaining. There exists some elasticity for most between losing calories, maintenance calories, and gain calories, usually absorbed by NEAT changes. And don't be afraid to experiment with ways of eating (changing fat and carb and protein ratios). These are both things you can do while allowing, without necessarily seeking, some regain!

    Coming from the "Legendary @PAV8888 , that means a lot! Yes, my body composition has changed. I have gained bf, but I have also put on muscle mass due to being in a hypertrophy training program. I would encourage OP to engage in hyper trophic lifting to help body composition while regaining. We know, body fat will come back faster than lean mass when regaining.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,935 Member
    purple4sure05 wrote: »

    Thanks everyone for responding. Yes to clarify I was close to a BMI of 26, dropped to about 21, am currently 21.6, and asking about how much more sustainable it could be to inch up somewhere between 22.5 and 23. I already run about 3 miles per day and weight train for another 40 minutes 6 days a week, so adding exercise is not really an option for me as suggested in another comment. I also go for about an hour walk most days.

    I have used a weight trend app and I have found that it is not just water weight, my weight will trend up if I start allowing myself to eat at a restaurant where I don't know the calories, even though I only would do this once a week. This is still honestly the case. I can only keep a handle on things when I have calculated the calories on every meal, which is getting old. I want to be able to go to dinner with friends once a week and not worry about how many calories I'm accounting for. I also don't have a problem with binging, so I don't go overboard in these scenarios. I weigh everything I eat for the most part the other 6 days.

    Basically, if a slightly increased weight would allow me to actually live my life a bit more, it would be worth it. It sounds like experiences vary. For some it makes a huge difference, for others there is not much difference at all.

    In the past I know I maintained a BMI of just under 24 pretty effortlessly while going out to eat or for drinks once or twice a week, plus not measuring food at all. That went on for two years before I began gaining a bit.

    Anyway thanks again for the insight.

    To the bolded:

    You may be absolutely correct. Without seeing your full details, I have no idea.

    However, I'm going to comment based on my own individual experience. I hope you'll be patient if it's a bit (heh) wordy.

    As background: I lost weight in 2015, down to around BMI 19.5 (overshot goal intended goal weight), gained back a bit to around BMI 20 (goal), then started slowly creeping up from there to near BMI 23. Since late 2019, I'm super-slowly intentionally creeping back down again, currently at BMI 21.5. Despite the regain in there, I didn't find anything in that range to be especially subjectively harder or easier to maintain. (My issues have to do with gaming a self-indulgent personality, not really appetite or the like.) I have observed it being generally easier to maintain my weight now (going into year 5) than it was at first, FWIW. Though I describe my regain as "slow creep", it was actually primarily from too-frequent high-indulgence days that cumulatively over-ran my intentional calorie banking cushion.

    I've used a weight trending app (Libra, in my case) for a good share of those years, and back-entered weight data going all the way back to when I started losing (at BMI 30.4, if that matters).

    The thing is that the trend line is not a magical insight. If I have a peak-eating day, that single day's effect (via the next day or few's weigh-ins) is entirely capable of driving my trend line upward, which looks like regain, even when (simply by sticking to a rational maintenance routine, not trying to "make up for it") my scale weight will drop back to my starting point in another few days.

    In other words, the trend line is misleading. It's just statistics. It's not deep insight.

    Keep in mind that I told you I calorie bank (undereat maintenance) most days, to indulge some days. The goal is to maintain, overall. My routine deficit is in the 150-250 calorie range daily, and I usually eat it back over the course of a week or two, by having peaky meals or days. Every time I eat more, the next days' weigh-ins pull the trend line up. I'm going to share a chunk of 2016 here, by way of illustration (below). Look specifically at April, May, and into June. I would've been taking multiple weekend trips during that period, and eating very indulgently for a day or two each time. I'm talking eating 1.5 times or 2 times maintenance sometimes, 1000+ calories and more, not just a few extra calories.

    You can see the post-weekend scale weights "yanking upward" on the trend line, and then the trend drops back again as what is in reality mostly water weight (and extra digestive contents in transit) work their way though my system, and the daily weights below the trend after that "yank downward" on the trend line again. What ought to be obvious, looking at the whole period, is that despite the crazy careening of daily weights from 116-124 and points in between, and the trend twitching from under 119 to over 120, is that I was actually maintaining my weight in that 119-120 range for those months. Personally, I would not want to misinterpret those shifts in the trend line as "actually gaining" in any meaningful way.

    rlxa5od7585x.png

    Now, here's a fun thing. In Libra (don't know about other apps) I can actually change the way it smooths the curve, and projects my trends. The chart above came from putting those settings at 7 days smoothing, 7 days projection, which I believe are the default settings. In maintenance, because I eat in such a whacky, uneven way, I've found it helpful to change my settings to use a longer term set of data. Below are the exact same daily weights, with the settings changed to 30 days smoothing, 60 days projection. Most of the wild swings of the trend line disappear, with this statistically longer view, and it actually appears that my weight was creeping downward a tiny, tiny bit over this period, from just a bit above 120, to just a bit below. Weird, huh?

    b04doijeqp8a.png

    There's an old saying about "Lies, d*mned lies, and statistics." This is statistics. Perhaps you know how statistics work. Knowing a little bit about that seems like a useful thing, when it comes to weight trends.

    Best wishes! :flowerforyou:



  • joyanna2016
    joyanna2016 Posts: 323 Member
    It concerns me that you say you eat the same thing every day...I've heard that thatbis not the best way and can lead to nutritional deficits.
  • purple4sure05
    purple4sure05 Posts: 287 Member
    joyanna2016 wrote: »
    It concerns me that you say you eat the same thing every day...I've heard that thatbis not the best way and can lead to nutritional deficits.

    I have a few different menus I rotate through each week, all basically the same calories but with different types of foods, so I am fine in this regard. Thank you though!

    For the other long comment above, I'll read it soon when I'm home but thanks so much for such a detailed reply!
  • purple4sure05
    purple4sure05 Posts: 287 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    purple4sure05 wrote: »

    Thanks everyone for responding. Yes to clarify I was close to a BMI of 26, dropped to about 21, am currently 21.6, and asking about how much more sustainable it could be to inch up somewhere between 22.5 and 23. I already run about 3 miles per day and weight train for another 40 minutes 6 days a week, so adding exercise is not really an option for me as suggested in another comment. I also go for about an hour walk most days.

    I have used a weight trend app and I have found that it is not just water weight, my weight will trend up if I start allowing myself to eat at a restaurant where I don't know the calories, even though I only would do this once a week. This is still honestly the case. I can only keep a handle on things when I have calculated the calories on every meal, which is getting old. I want to be able to go to dinner with friends once a week and not worry about how many calories I'm accounting for. I also don't have a problem with binging, so I don't go overboard in these scenarios. I weigh everything I eat for the most part the other 6 days.

    Basically, if a slightly increased weight would allow me to actually live my life a bit more, it would be worth it. It sounds like experiences vary. For some it makes a huge difference, for others there is not much difference at all.

    In the past I know I maintained a BMI of just under 24 pretty effortlessly while going out to eat or for drinks once or twice a week, plus not measuring food at all. That went on for two years before I began gaining a bit.

    Anyway thanks again for the insight.

    To the bolded:

    You may be absolutely correct. Without seeing your full details, I have no idea.

    However, I'm going to comment based on my own individual experience. I hope you'll be patient if it's a bit (heh) wordy.

    As background: I lost weight in 2015, down to around BMI 19.5 (overshot goal intended goal weight), gained back a bit to around BMI 20 (goal), then started slowly creeping up from there to near BMI 23. Since late 2019, I'm super-slowly intentionally creeping back down again, currently at BMI 21.5. Despite the regain in there, I didn't find anything in that range to be especially subjectively harder or easier to maintain. (My issues have to do with gaming a self-indulgent personality, not really appetite or the like.) I have observed it being generally easier to maintain my weight now (going into year 5) than it was at first, FWIW. Though I describe my regain as "slow creep", it was actually primarily from too-frequent high-indulgence days that cumulatively over-ran my intentional calorie banking cushion.

    I've used a weight trending app (Libra, in my case) for a good share of those years, and back-entered weight data going all the way back to when I started losing (at BMI 30.4, if that matters).

    The thing is that the trend line is not a magical insight. If I have a peak-eating day, that single day's effect (via the next day or few's weigh-ins) is entirely capable of driving my trend line upward, which looks like regain, even when (simply by sticking to a rational maintenance routine, not trying to "make up for it") my scale weight will drop back to my starting point in another few days.

    In other words, the trend line is misleading. It's just statistics. It's not deep insight.

    Keep in mind that I told you I calorie bank (undereat maintenance) most days, to indulge some days. The goal is to maintain, overall. My routine deficit is in the 150-250 calorie range daily, and I usually eat it back over the course of a week or two, by having peaky meals or days. Every time I eat more, the next days' weigh-ins pull the trend line up. I'm going to share a chunk of 2016 here, by way of illustration (below). Look specifically at April, May, and into June. I would've been taking multiple weekend trips during that period, and eating very indulgently for a day or two each time. I'm talking eating 1.5 times or 2 times maintenance sometimes, 1000+ calories and more, not just a few extra calories.

    You can see the post-weekend scale weights "yanking upward" on the trend line, and then the trend drops back again as what is in reality mostly water weight (and extra digestive contents in transit) work their way though my system, and the daily weights below the trend after that "yank downward" on the trend line again. What ought to be obvious, looking at the whole period, is that despite the crazy careening of daily weights from 116-124 and points in between, and the trend twitching from under 119 to over 120, is that I was actually maintaining my weight in that 119-120 range for those months. Personally, I would not want to misinterpret those shifts in the trend line as "actually gaining" in any meaningful way.

    rlxa5od7585x.png

    Now, here's a fun thing. In Libra (don't know about other apps) I can actually change the way it smooths the curve, and projects my trends. The chart above came from putting those settings at 7 days smoothing, 7 days projection, which I believe are the default settings. In maintenance, because I eat in such a whacky, uneven way, I've found it helpful to change my settings to use a longer term set of data. Below are the exact same daily weights, with the settings changed to 30 days smoothing, 60 days projection. Most of the wild swings of the trend line disappear, with this statistically longer view, and it actually appears that my weight was creeping downward a tiny, tiny bit over this period, from just a bit above 120, to just a bit below. Weird, huh?

    b04doijeqp8a.png

    There's an old saying about "Lies, d*mned lies, and statistics." This is statistics. Perhaps you know how statistics work. Knowing a little bit about that seems like a useful thing, when it comes to weight trends.

    Best wishes! :flowerforyou:



    Thanks very much for all the info! Its helpful to see someone elses experience, as I also used to bank calories. Unfortunately even with this in mind, my trend line actually did go up, even when I would smooth it out. That was only the case when I didn't properly log calorie-surplus days. Obviously somehow Im creating a surplus despite aiming for well under maintenance the other days, but this was even with quitting drinking anything with calories ever, plus only eating out once a week.

    There were months where on those high calorie days I weighed out batter to the gram and then weighed all my cupcakes and icing (for example) but although it worked, it got very old and didn't allow me to even go to a friends birthday party and eat what I wanted. From what you've said though I think its important for me to keep in mind that having big calorie days will throw things off. For me, my weight really only fluctuates within about 2 pounds actually. I know my food intake is the root problem. Its all science, but was hoping possibly a higher weight would be a little easier on me. Sounds like the answer is unfortunately "probably not!" Haha.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,935 Member
    purple4sure05 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    purple4sure05 wrote: »

    Thanks everyone for responding. Yes to clarify I was close to a BMI of 26, dropped to about 21, am currently 21.6, and asking about how much more sustainable it could be to inch up somewhere between 22.5 and 23. I already run about 3 miles per day and weight train for another 40 minutes 6 days a week, so adding exercise is not really an option for me as suggested in another comment. I also go for about an hour walk most days.

    I have used a weight trend app and I have found that it is not just water weight, my weight will trend up if I start allowing myself to eat at a restaurant where I don't know the calories, even though I only would do this once a week. This is still honestly the case. I can only keep a handle on things when I have calculated the calories on every meal, which is getting old. I want to be able to go to dinner with friends once a week and not worry about how many calories I'm accounting for. I also don't have a problem with binging, so I don't go overboard in these scenarios. I weigh everything I eat for the most part the other 6 days.

    Basically, if a slightly increased weight would allow me to actually live my life a bit more, it would be worth it. It sounds like experiences vary. For some it makes a huge difference, for others there is not much difference at all.

    In the past I know I maintained a BMI of just under 24 pretty effortlessly while going out to eat or for drinks once or twice a week, plus not measuring food at all. That went on for two years before I began gaining a bit.

    Anyway thanks again for the insight.

    To the bolded:

    You may be absolutely correct. Without seeing your full details, I have no idea.

    However, I'm going to comment based on my own individual experience. I hope you'll be patient if it's a bit (heh) wordy.

    As background: I lost weight in 2015, down to around BMI 19.5 (overshot goal intended goal weight), gained back a bit to around BMI 20 (goal), then started slowly creeping up from there to near BMI 23. Since late 2019, I'm super-slowly intentionally creeping back down again, currently at BMI 21.5. Despite the regain in there, I didn't find anything in that range to be especially subjectively harder or easier to maintain. (My issues have to do with gaming a self-indulgent personality, not really appetite or the like.) I have observed it being generally easier to maintain my weight now (going into year 5) than it was at first, FWIW. Though I describe my regain as "slow creep", it was actually primarily from too-frequent high-indulgence days that cumulatively over-ran my intentional calorie banking cushion.

    I've used a weight trending app (Libra, in my case) for a good share of those years, and back-entered weight data going all the way back to when I started losing (at BMI 30.4, if that matters).

    The thing is that the trend line is not a magical insight. If I have a peak-eating day, that single day's effect (via the next day or few's weigh-ins) is entirely capable of driving my trend line upward, which looks like regain, even when (simply by sticking to a rational maintenance routine, not trying to "make up for it") my scale weight will drop back to my starting point in another few days.

    In other words, the trend line is misleading. It's just statistics. It's not deep insight.

    Keep in mind that I told you I calorie bank (undereat maintenance) most days, to indulge some days. The goal is to maintain, overall. My routine deficit is in the 150-250 calorie range daily, and I usually eat it back over the course of a week or two, by having peaky meals or days. Every time I eat more, the next days' weigh-ins pull the trend line up. I'm going to share a chunk of 2016 here, by way of illustration (below). Look specifically at April, May, and into June. I would've been taking multiple weekend trips during that period, and eating very indulgently for a day or two each time. I'm talking eating 1.5 times or 2 times maintenance sometimes, 1000+ calories and more, not just a few extra calories.

    You can see the post-weekend scale weights "yanking upward" on the trend line, and then the trend drops back again as what is in reality mostly water weight (and extra digestive contents in transit) work their way though my system, and the daily weights below the trend after that "yank downward" on the trend line again. What ought to be obvious, looking at the whole period, is that despite the crazy careening of daily weights from 116-124 and points in between, and the trend twitching from under 119 to over 120, is that I was actually maintaining my weight in that 119-120 range for those months. Personally, I would not want to misinterpret those shifts in the trend line as "actually gaining" in any meaningful way.

    rlxa5od7585x.png

    Now, here's a fun thing. In Libra (don't know about other apps) I can actually change the way it smooths the curve, and projects my trends. The chart above came from putting those settings at 7 days smoothing, 7 days projection, which I believe are the default settings. In maintenance, because I eat in such a whacky, uneven way, I've found it helpful to change my settings to use a longer term set of data. Below are the exact same daily weights, with the settings changed to 30 days smoothing, 60 days projection. Most of the wild swings of the trend line disappear, with this statistically longer view, and it actually appears that my weight was creeping downward a tiny, tiny bit over this period, from just a bit above 120, to just a bit below. Weird, huh?

    b04doijeqp8a.png

    There's an old saying about "Lies, d*mned lies, and statistics." This is statistics. Perhaps you know how statistics work. Knowing a little bit about that seems like a useful thing, when it comes to weight trends.

    Best wishes! :flowerforyou:



    Thanks very much for all the info! Its helpful to see someone elses experience, as I also used to bank calories. Unfortunately even with this in mind, my trend line actually did go up, even when I would smooth it out. That was only the case when I didn't properly log calorie-surplus days. Obviously somehow Im creating a surplus despite aiming for well under maintenance the other days, but this was even with quitting drinking anything with calories ever, plus only eating out once a week.

    There were months where on those high calorie days I weighed out batter to the gram and then weighed all my cupcakes and icing (for example) but although it worked, it got very old and didn't allow me to even go to a friends birthday party and eat what I wanted. From what you've said though I think its important for me to keep in mind that having big calorie days will throw things off. For me, my weight really only fluctuates within about 2 pounds actually. I know my food intake is the root problem. Its all science, but was hoping possibly a higher weight would be a little easier on me. Sounds like the answer is unfortunately "probably not!" Haha.

    Even varying within 2 pounds +/- would be a pretty narrow definition of maintenance, about as narrow as the narrowest I've seen among successful maintainers here. Your weight will go up in maintenance: Guaranteed. It will also go back down again, if maintaining. That's how maintaining works, at any weight.

    That concept will not change at BMI 20 vs. 23, just the numbers will change. If you "gain" now from a dinner out, you'll do the same at BMI 23. That would be my prediction, unfortunately.

    Best wishes!

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