Corona Maintenance Crazy?

springlering62
springlering62 Posts: 7,421 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I am 5’7” 135lb (SW222) 57yo, and reached goal a couple of weeks ago. After months of painfully slow loss, the last 5-7 pounds dropped crazily and unexpectedly fast since the stay at home orders.

My activity is same or up because I’m making a conscious effort to do as much as before, while cutting calories to be on the safe side so I won’t gain during this period.

Since lockdown, I’ve gone through hunger (new experience), lethargy, sheer exhaustion, short bursts of depression and frustration (answer: get up and take yet another walk) as well as wild spurts of energy. For the most part, though, staying at home hasn’t fazed me at all.

A week or two ago, my skin suddenly got too big for my body, and is literally flapping, sagging, or bunching up everywhere.

If I don’t keep moving I’ll go nuts, but I don’t want my weight to drop any more. The last four days I’ve tried relaxing and helping myself to as many carbs and calories as I wanted, and enjoying some baking when my fresh fruit and veg ran out. My weight is back up three pounds, but I’m bright enough to know that two or three thousand extra calories didn’t do that, and that the intentional glut of carbs added some water weight, so I’m not really concerned about it.

I’m guess I’m confused and need reassurance. I don’t know where I am or where I want to be this week, after months of a fixed goal in sight. And the suddenly sagging skin is shocking to me. I thought I’d seen it all in the past year and a half, but golly, it’s like my epidermis is an alien creature trying to shed my body right now. WTF is going on with that?

And on that note, I think I’ll go out for a walk, dammit.

Replies

  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    Glad I could help! I lose about 2-3lbs everytime I either take a break from lifting or even if I reduce my volume it's crazy and like I mentioned in the other post I just look flat when that happens, not a look I prefer for myself. But once I'm back in the gym it all comes back so I wouldn't worry !

    And wow congrats on your progress! Also we pretty much have the same stats, I am about 133 now, trying to maintain and recomp at 135
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
    You lost the weight! Throw a party and have some fun!

    I think we all have a moment of panic at the conclusion of a cut. After all that work, will the weight come right back!? We all know it can happen and it sucks!

    But: I'm living proof that you can reset at a new level and maintain for many years. It takes continuing control of your eating. For most, this means continued logging and monitoring your weight (I logged carefully for almost a year on maintenance). You get to add in more calories a day which translates to a modification of your eating patterns, but they are pretty subtle when spread throughout the day, so you have to really think it through and get into a groove.

    The most important thing is to relax and enjoy your life!
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    Interesting. We got a new puppy just before the lockdown (yes we had been planning it for a year, it was coincidence) so have been walking 3 miles a day.

    My husband took the lockdown as a reason to improve his health and FINALLY started logging reliably. He has dropped 20 pounds. I had been having trouble maintaining and was slowly trending upwards. I've dropped 8 pounds and am not hungry.

    To me, as a psychologist, lethargy, weight loss, and the other things you describe sound a bit like stress and depression. Just a thought.

    It could also be that your weight loss finally hit the level where your body changed its set point. That happened to me. They last 5 pounds seemed to take forever, then I dropped 10-15 pounds (more than I wanted to) really fast. And yes, when you drop fast, skin and flesh get bloopy. For me, it all tightened up again. That loss, btw, lasted several years. I'm currently hoping to get there again! I'm still well into the healthy weight BMI (under 23). But I liked it better when I was at 22.

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