Maintenance pitfalls
Options
Replies
-
bump1
-
Bumping this! It's a super old thread but would love to hear more comments. I have been maintaining for two years and while it has become my life to be healthy, there is still always the fear in the back of my mind that I will get fat from eating too much or indulging in sweets. I have found that I am not the kind of person who can really practice moderation with sugar...it is better for me to avoid it, which I do 95% of the time or more. If I am PMS and really craving a sweet, sometimes I just go for it but I know it is tough to get it out of my system and fight that sugar addiction.
I am a Jedi also and do all of the tricks mentioned, like keep foods out of the house completely or have foods that are tempting hidden in the cupboard. I am thankful my man and son are supportive and want to be healthy, too.
I know my body enough now to feel when I have been deviating and it is catching up to me and all I have to do is jump on the scale and yep-feeling confirmed. Thankfully when I get back to cleaner eating, I level out again.
It's a lifestyle--not a destination. That is the most important piece for me. And it is the life I want and that brings me the most joy!5 -
Old thread but one bad habit which I notice in maintenance is that over time I start to eat faster and faster instead of savoring. Just reminding myself to take smaller bites and enjoy the food helps.7
-
SummerSkier wrote: »Old thread but one bad habit which I notice in maintenance is that over time I start to eat faster and faster instead of savoring. Just reminding myself to take smaller bites and enjoy the food helps.
@SummerSkier
Yes, I’ve noticed this, too, lately. Also looking at phone or other distractions while eating.
BTW- somewhere I saw you post about what you had noticed in some others about gradually shifting up goals & gradually adding back lbs. Remembering that post had helped me many times. Thank you!0 -
Bumping this! It's a super old thread but would love to hear more comments. I have been maintaining for two years and while it has become my life to be healthy, there is still always the fear in the back of my mind that I will get fat from eating too much or indulging in sweets. I have found that I am not the kind of person who can really practice moderation with sugar...it is better for me to avoid it, which I do 95% of the time or more. If I am PMS and really craving a sweet, sometimes I just go for it but I know it is tough to get it out of my system and fight that sugar addiction.
I am a Jedi also and do all of the tricks mentioned, like keep foods out of the house completely or have foods that are tempting hidden in the cupboard. I am thankful my man and son are supportive and want to be healthy, too.
I know my body enough now to feel when I have been deviating and it is catching up to me and all I have to do is jump on the scale and yep-feeling confirmed. Thankfully when I get back to cleaner eating, I level out again.
It's a lifestyle--not a destination. That is the most important piece for me. And it is the life I want and that brings me the most joy!
Hi @nay0meh
I do the things you list.
And…
I don’t eat out or get takeout.
We only eat two foods that have a bit of sugar (and that I’ve learned I can definitely control.)
The one thing I noticed in the past month (almost 40 months maintaining 70 lb loss) was a little voice saying, “I don’t want to weigh & track all my food.”
But I did because…
1. I want accurate data.
2. I was obese 40+ years; it’s very easy for me to eat a lot or make poor food choices.
3. I know for sure it’s not the voice I should listen to. It’s the voice that will have me waking up a while from now obese & unhealthy again.
4. I need to keep some macros/micros below certain values for health reasons & the only way I can do that is to track my food accurately.
3 -
No such thing as maintenance.1
-
No such thing as maintenance.
I'm thinking you and I must define "maintenance" differently, because maintenance is where I think I've been for 6+ years now, after multiple previous *decades* of obesity.
Healthy BMI? Check.
Good, normal blood tests/blood pressure, unlike in the past? Check.
Same clothes size? Check.
To me, that's maintenance.
Will I stay there the rest of my life? Don't know, but I'm working at it.
I don't think maintenance means never having to think about managing eating or bodyweight again, ever. My always-slim friends don't ignore those things, either.
How would you define "maintenance", since you seem to think it's unachievable?2 -
Have lost about 85 lbs & I've been at or under my goal weight for over 8 years and fortunately have not really had an issue with staying on track except for vacations. That's when I'll eat foods I don't normally choose and will eat more than usual. My mind set is that when I get home, I'll get back on track no delay and no excuses. Even on vacation though I track everything and get in some exercise every day. Never really gained much more than a pound or two.
For me I think the "secret sauce" was never really going on a diet. I made small sustainable changes and over time changed the way I ate in a way that I really like and is easy to maintain. If I do find my weight has crept up in my range (+/- 3 lbs from goal) I'll not do much different except to make sure I'm accurately tracking everything and really staying at my daily goal. And I'll forgo the wine for a few nights.3 -
I'm in year 6+ of maintaining (including a period where I super-slowly lost a few vanity pounds that hadn't taken me out of a healthy weight/BMI for my body, nor made me buy bigger jeans)
Most of the time, things are fine. I know myself, know I need to keep counting, at least the majority of the days; and I know I need to watch my weight trend. (I weigh daily, use Libra.)
To me, that routine's non-intrusive, takes maybe 10 minutes a day. Like some above, I've found ways of eating and being active that are pretty easy, keep me happy overall. No way I could stay "disciplined", "motivated" for this long, to do hard/unpleasant things. I also calorie bank - eat a little under calories most days (just 100-150-ish) to eat more indulgently occasionally, though I don't precisely track the banked amounts; I just set goal a little low, and eat to it most days, splurge occasionally, watch the scale. Staying active in the MFP Community also seems to help me keep my head in the game.
A few things are challenges:
1. Traveling, especially traveling with others who are snack-y people, but even on my own there's some FOMO when there are interesting restaurants in new places, and that sort of thing.
2. Potluck meals, which I'll define because MFP is international: Many people, everyone brings a tempting dish to share. My rowing club has them occasionally, for example.
3. Fall. I don't know whether it's some shorter days/SAD (seasonal affective disorder), or my mostly-Scandinavian genes being wired to fatten up as the cold season comes, but I get crave-y and less well-controlled in Fall.
4. Drinks with tempting food, the obvious issue that alcohol reduces inhibitions, makes it easier to give in to extra calories if yummy stuff is present. I don't feel like I have "an alcohol problem" in a general sense, like wine and craft beer, so don't want to go cold turkey.
Counter strategies:
1. Identify better road snacks, still things I like and can get at convenience stores/service centers on the road (for some reason, that's important to me, bringing things from home doesn't work). I appreciate it when they have V-8 juice, which I really like; I get unsweetened cold tea (don't like sweet drinks); look for snacks that fit into my nutrition needs (HB eggs, Greek yogurt, sometimes nuts) or are relatively lower cal (flavored popcorn in small bags, pickles). For special restaurant meals, I indulge a bit. For not-special restaurants, I focus on nutrition #1 (I'm vegetarian, travel protein is hard), calorie efficiency #2.
2. I've pretty much given up on handling potlucks well. They don't happen often. I eat the things, take withdrawals from the calorie bank. Usually, I try to take something nutritious and tasty, but it's not always calorie-efficient, honestly. I don't avoid them, I enjoy them. (I think jacking around with my social life Because Calories would be a Really Bad Plan. That may not be true for all, but it is for me: Screws up my overally life balance.)
3. Since I've become aware of Fall cravings, I simply try to push back on it, calorie bank a bit more when it's easy during Fall, recognize trigger situations/foods and think twice about my plan, try to be a little more disciplined about transitioning to my (non-preferred) Winter indoor exercise activities more quickly. Not perfected.
4. Drinks/food risks, I just try to plan ahead, set intentions, space out the particular trigger situations if I can while keeping good overall life balance (social connections & what-not), plan out things to balance over time.
I mentioned the re-loss of vanity pounds, which also is I guess an answer to the OP question: Back around October 2019, My size 6 jeans still fit, but were getting a little snug when I added my extra-thick Winter long underwear. I super, super hate to clothes shop - I know, weird - so that was very motivating to me to lose those few pounds, to be comfy in the thicker long underwear not just the everyday thin ones.
That loss was completely intentional, but I really didn't feel any enthusiasm for a meaningful-sized deficit: I just saved the banked calories relatively more often - which was made easier by less indoor socializing later, during the pandemic, frankly - and ended up losing around a pound a month on average, for something a bit over a year. It was pretty painless, honestly.
Looking backwards, the gain of those few pounds (over roughly 4 years) was mostly from more-frequent travel for a while, and the Fall cravings thing. That insight has been helpful in making me feel more intentional about managing those things better. FWIW, Libra helped me see that pattern, noticing where the peaks (in themselves mostly water weight) were gradually leading the typical trend to be a tiny bit higher, after trip season, after Fall, etc., in patterns over multiple years.
Apologies: Another bleepin' essay. 🙄8
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.6K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 387 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.2K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 913 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions