What is your tips for maintaining weight after weightloss?

Im coming close to my goal weight. Its been a lot easier then expected. Almost to good to be true.
Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone has any tips maintaining weight. I dont think of my weight loss as a diet and love my new eatting and workout habits. So is it just about eatting a bit more calories and still excercising? Because that seems to simple since many people have a hard time with this.
Thanks in advance, Kay.
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Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    So is it just about eatting a bit more calories and still excercising? Because that seems to simple since many people have a hard time with this.

    In a nutshell yes!
    I'd add enjoying your food and your exercise are major factors in making maintenance easier. Even more so than dieting to lose weight actively and thoughtfully making the process easy is often neglected.

    You might find that how you maintain initially (in terms of tools you use) may well change over time as maintaining becomes the new normal. Your plan will need to change and adapt over the rest of your lifetime as your circumstances and goals change.

    Sure you have seen posts from people that lost a lot, regained a lot and have to start all over again - I'd strongly suggest keeping on monitoring your weight long term (whatever frequency suits you) but set hard but reasonable limits that actually trigger action.

    If you are a goal-oriented person setting some new non-weight related goals can help replace the feelgood factor of seeing your weight come down.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,454 Member
    Yes.....................continue to monitor your calories. It's when you DON'T that weight regain happens. And for many, it's so subtle. Adding a few extra fries or eating that extra serving may not seem that big but if continuous it's easy to over consume again..

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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  • DeterminedFee201426
    DeterminedFee201426 Posts: 859 Member
    I'm new to maintaining. currently am for a little while. what i'd say is this. eat the same way as done for wl. keep them portions controlled. it's not a free for all. after losing all the weight wanted. since i ate at 1,460 most days before. i got an additional 563 calories. which isn't much from the look of it. just a small bit more food with each meal and a extra snack in my day.
    i find when eating more food. that isn't processed and less snacks. it is very easy to maintain. i also rarely eat fast food. as i am never ever kept full off of them. no matter what place i go. plus fast food just don't taste good. also don't forget to weigh in every month. weight creep up easily, if it isn't monitored from time to time.
  • rmtanner
    rmtanner Posts: 23 Member
    Have a proper plan, which doesn’t involve the word normal. Most that pile it back on go back to type, have great results then wonder why it goes back on then the eat a more ‘normal’ diet, normal generally means normal to you I.e what you’ve always done (and what got most people me included needing to cut cals in the first place) I spend my maintenance time looking more at carbs - i also track calories but find it hard to over eat with lowish carbs
  • Caecile84
    Caecile84 Posts: 16 Member
    Certainly keep exercising and weighing yourself. If you keep track, your weight won't spiral out of control without you noticing it.
    What works for me is eating about 400 cals under my daily needs during the week (as I did when losing). That leaves me all the room I need for parties/dinners/birthdays etc in the weekends. I weigh myself twice a week, Monday and Friday mornings.
    Another thing is to immediately go back to your weightless routine if you gain a little more during a vacation/holiday.
  • SouthWestLondon
    SouthWestLondon Posts: 134 Member
    I'm a long way (33 lbs) off maintaining. But my rough plan in my head to to keep what I'm doing now but with a few more calories to play with.

    I need to have a 'trip wire' though. I know my tendancy when I'm maintaining will be to ditch the scales and just go back to 'normal', and only realise the damage I've done when I've gained 20 or 30lbs. And by then, it will feel too daunting to do anything about it, and I'll gain another 20 or 30 before I realise I need to take action. And by then I'll have 60+ to re-lose.

    My goal is 165. If I get there and can manage it, I'd like to get a little lower, maybe 160. But either way, wherever I decide to maintain, I plan to keep weighing myself. And if I go 5lbs above maintenance two weeks in a row, that's when I know I need to go back to loss mode. And hopefully it will be easier to lose 5lbs than 60+!

    I also plan on eating most of the week like I'm in loss mode. Currently I average a daily calories of 1750 across the week, with less during the week and more at weekends. In maintenance, I plan to do the same but with an average of maybe 2000 or 2100. That should be a little lower than my average TDEE, but even in maintenance I plan to go a little under TDEE to account for errors in tracking or overestimating calories burned from exercise etc.
  • Speakeasy76
    Speakeasy76 Posts: 961 Member
    I"d also advise to remember that as a woman especially, the scale can fluctuate WILDLY due to our hormones, water retention, stress, etc., so to also really focus on how your clothes feel. You can have one pair of pants that is your "test" pants (not leggings), and if they fit the same, you're doing ok.

    For me, I am continuing to track everything and remembering that it's a balance over a few days or week, not just one day. That takes some of the stress off of me of having to stay within a certain calorie limit on one day. If I go over on one day, I can adjust the next.

    The other tip is just to remain as active as possible. I know people say watching your food intake is the most important and I definitely agree, but the more we can be active throughout the day, the better for our overall health. For me, this just means not sitting for too long, parking further away, etc. while maintaining my current formal exercise routine.

    The last piece of advice is to really believe that this is your new weight now, that you're NOT going to return to old habits or your old weight. If that the thought lingers in the back of your mind somewhere that you may slip up and start putting on the pounds, I believe it affects our actions--whether we're conscious of it or not.
  • Dootzy1
    Dootzy1 Posts: 2,116 Member
    I still log-at least loosely, most of the time. I keep an eye on my weight range (within 4 pounds of my stated goal.) Maintenance has been helped (for over a year this time) by participating in one of the group challenges on MFP. It is renewing. It provides those "little boosts" as you are able to do more over time.
  • charmmeth
    charmmeth Posts: 936 Member
    edited March 2021
    I need to have a 'trip wire' though. I know my tendancy when I'm maintaining will be to ditch the scales and just go back to 'normal', and only realise the damage I've done when I've gained 20 or 30lbs. And by then, it will feel too daunting to do anything about it, and I'll gain another 20 or 30 before I realise I need to take action.

    This seems very wise. I have come to realise that my "trip wire" has been ca. 88kg, which for me is right at the top of overweight bmi. I don't think I've every been above that weight, but I lost from there to goal and then regained it over a period of several years. I'm pretty much back at goal now (been in my maintenance range since December 2020) and am working now on having the trip wire at 78kg instead of 88kg. It worked this past month: I got to 77.5kg (very top of my current maintenance range) and have now lost back to maintenance. I'd really like to maintain in the lower half of my maintenance range, so am looking to lose another 1-2kg.

    Ultimately, my aim is not to log but to be aware of what I'm eating, and also of my weight (I generally weigh in every day). What I have learned is that if my weight starts trending upwards then I know I need to go back to logging.

  • rosiekin
    rosiekin Posts: 78 Member
    I spent most of my adult life yo-yoing up and down 3, 4, 5 stone. I’ve now successfully maintained a 6 stone (plus) weight for over 6 years. Different things will work for different people, but what’s working for me is logging every day as that keeps me accountable, exercising regularly, regularly reminding myself of how I felt 6 stones and 6 years ago, and 100% avoiding foods which I believe were trigger foods for me. Possibly being flexible too helps. I’ve logged in different ways throughout my maintenance years. Initially I aimed to eat my daily allowance every day. Now I’m a bit more relaxed about that and go for a weekly allowance. This allows me to enjoy some higher calories foods like pizza at the weekend or if I’m out for a meal.