Advice needed !!!
titchy_michelle
Posts: 51 Member
Hi everyone hope you are all well. I’ve reached my goal weight today 🥳 but I’m worried I’m not going to able to maintain it can anyone recommend some ideas to help ??
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Replies
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Congrats on reaching your goal weight! Having anxiety about maintaining is very common. Here's a list of some long-established threads about maintaining. https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300324/most-helpful-posts-goal-maintaining-weight-must-reads#latest
Personally, I meticulously log 100% of the food I eat and many would argue I've been "maintaining" the entirety of the 9 years I've spent on MFP because I've always been within "normal" via BMI. I have every intention of continuing that indefinitely, too. I'm sure the clinical recommendation would be to learn to eat the correct amounts intuitively but if I can effectively measure and regulate my intake in a quantitative way I don't see the benefit of altering course.
Good luck!13 -
Congratulations on reaching your goal, I would continue to do what you did to reach goal. With the exception of adding a few more calories to maintain your current weight without losing or gaining weight, may have to play around with that number to figure out the right range for yourself and also plug it into myfitnesspal and see what calorie range they give you for maintenance. Continue to exercise if you already do, if not starting to exercise would be a new good goal and set other health related goals to help you stay healthy and at maintenance weight. Hope this helps, be well.4
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For success, I think personalization is really, really important.
There are quite a few threads here about how people manage maintenance successfully, and the methods vary all over the map. As a sample, here are a couple of recent-ish ones:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10838039/what-does-maintenance-look-like-to-you/p1
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1422943/long-time-maintainers-how-do-you-do-it/p1
That latter one ranges from 2014 to 2021. Those are not the only threads of that general type. Perhaps they can give you some ideas to consider, when it comes to what might work for you?
It's common to be worried, at first, but possible to settle into a routine that is comfortable and flexible enough to reduce worry in the long term.
I do think that for someone like me, who was overweight/obese for multiple decades, maintaining a healthy weight is a lifelong matter for attention, not a process that stops when goal weight is achieved, or shortly after. How difficult that lifelong matter is, is going to vary based on how easy, natural and practical the new habits are, or aren't, for that one individual.
I'm saying this from the perspective of 5+ years in a healthy weight range, admittedly with some ups and downs, but all within that healthy range.
Wishing you success!4 -
Well done! As you will probably be aware, however, the scales are a fickle beast. You may find yourself up next time you weigh for no good reason, other than that your scales are mean kittens.
Otherwise I can't really add more to what AnnPT77 has said above.3 -
I lost and gained back 10-15lbs many times. In 2017, I decided to shoot for a bigger loss, and when I reached my goal weight, I increased my intake to maintenance and kept weighing myself and logging my meals for a year. This allowed me to tweak my diet to work long term.
Since then, I weigh regularly and go on deficit whenever I am 5lbs above goal. What's nice about that approach is that you can get back to goal weight in about a month or so when necessary. If you wait longer, then it just takes longer.
Weigh daily in the morning after toilet. Don't fret if it jumps around a bit daily. Average several days.5 -
Just keep logging. Focus on the foods you love and make sure you make room for those in your day. Watch sneak calories like extra butter or bread. Keep it up. Be mindful of what you eat and enjoy your food.6
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titchy_michelle wrote: »Hi everyone hope you are all well. I’ve reached my goal weight today 🥳 but I’m worried I’m not going to able to maintain it can anyone recommend some ideas to help ??
First congratulations! My advice is to keep tracking your food and gradually increase the calories you are eating and see how your weight goes. And don't stop exercising!
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titchy_michelle wrote: »Hi everyone hope you are all well. I’ve reached my goal weight today 🥳 but I’m worried I’m not going to able to maintain it can anyone recommend some ideas to help ??
First congratulations! My advice is to keep tracking your food and gradually increase the calories you are eating and see how your weight goes. And don't stop exercising!
I’m struggling with my exercises at the minute I’m going up and down all of the time it’s so frustrating1 -
titchy_michelle wrote: »titchy_michelle wrote: »Hi everyone hope you are all well. I’ve reached my goal weight today 🥳 but I’m worried I’m not going to able to maintain it can anyone recommend some ideas to help ??
First congratulations! My advice is to keep tracking your food and gradually increase the calories you are eating and see how your weight goes. And don't stop exercising!
I’m struggling with my exercises at the minute I’m going up and down all of the time it’s so frustrating
What is the struggle? doing too much, too little? Are you getting a rest day at least once/week? If you can afford it, you might want to schedule a couple of sessions with a personal trainer. Also completely unscientific, but your body is probably adjusting and you'll settle in at a comfortable weight.
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@titchy_michelle
Expect a quick uptick in weight as you begin maintenance-more food in digestive track, for example.
Exercise every day per my doctor - 10K steps per day - every single day
Track all food & drink consumed daily. “Consistency trumps accuracy” so if you eat at a friends, enter your best estimate.
Become an expert on you! Mindful eating, beginning to identify your best eating schedule, size of meals, unique hunger signals
Weigh daily, but focus on 10 day Trend weights or monthly weights. It’s just data not a moral condemnation. Use it as helpful data!!
The last habit I finally did was to change my lifelong night owl ways. Wow, sleeping well makes Everything Easier!!! From
My doctor: set bedtime. No screens 2 hrs before, read a book 📖 in bed beginning 1 hr before. I cannot believe how well it is working. After a lifetime.
NEVER GIVE UP!5
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