Maintenance mentality

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  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,263 Member
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    @Evamutt

    You do realize you resurrected a decade-old thread and that the original poster has not been active here for over seven years, right?
  • rosiekin
    rosiekin Posts: 78 Member
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    I'm in my 10th year of maintenance, and I agree with all the posts about having a weekly target. It took me a while to get on board with this as I HATED being in the red, but as time has gone on, I am more relaxed about the number. I find this gives me much more flexibility in my eating. As a rule I tend to eat more at the weekend, so I try to have a couple of lower days during the week to give me more calories for the weekend. Maintenance is definitely not without its' struggles, but give it time, try different things, and hopefully you'll find a system/eating plan that works well for you.
  • rosiekin
    rosiekin Posts: 78 Member
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    mtaratoot wrote: »
    @Evamutt

    You do realize you resurrected a decade-old thread and that the original poster has not been active here for over seven years, right?
    Oops 🤣! Oh well, hopefully some other members might find the replies/posts useful, and the original poster is happily maintaining!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,263 Member
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    rosiekin wrote: »
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    @Evamutt

    You do realize you resurrected a decade-old thread and that the original poster has not been active here for over seven years, right?
    Oops 🤣! Oh well, hopefully some other members might find the replies/posts useful, and the original poster is happily maintaining!

    Well, now that it's active again... yeah maybe.

    I use a spreadsheet to keep track of my daily calorie goals. My goal in general is to be within 10% of my daily goal every day and ideally within 5% of my weekly average goal. For sure I go out of that range. This week I had a day 25% over, but I still ended up fairly close to my weekly average. Over time, if I eat above my weekly goal, I will gain weight... like I'm doing now....

    This is in addition to the spreadsheet that looks at my weight as a moving average even though I get on the scale every day.

    Guess what? Being over on my weekly calories for several weeks in a row has resulted in my average weight to increase over time. Just as expected.
  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,020 Member
    edited June 2023
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    keep in mind that none of us have perfect calculations. we will always either be a little over or a little under! our weight tends to be a range, up or down 3-5 lbs from where we want to be. it’s impossible to be one single weight every single day.
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,337 Member
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    I hope this becomes active again because it's hard to find maintainers groups and isn't the goal of weight loss to maintain? We could all use some support & share no matter what stage we're at. It could also help those who are still in the losing stage some ideas & glimpses of what it's like to maintain.
  • Sinisterbarbie1
    Sinisterbarbie1 Posts: 712 Member
    edited June 2023
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    I am mostly doing the same thing that I did to lose, except at a very, very slightly higher calorie level (maybe 200 extra calories a day). So I am continuing to track my food and continuing to eat pretty much the same way I was eating. I have upped my exercise a bit because I lost more muscle than I intended to (I lost more than 40 lbs before joining MFP and 30 since counting some intentional regain), but with the extra calories and strength training that is coming back fine.
    I think the key is realizing that you don’t really make any significant changes in maintenance from the way you are eating when you are losing — if you have lost to a healthy weight at a healthy pace without cutting calories too steeply you won’t keep losing because your body will need the calories to maintain the weight where you are. That said, I eat what many people here would consider a low calorie level for maintenance
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,337 Member
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    Sinisterbarbie1 wrote: »
    I am mostly doing the same thing that I did to lose, except at a very, very slightly higher calorie level (maybe 200 extra calories a day). So I am continuing to track my food and continuing to eat pretty much the same way I was eating. I have upped my exercise a bit because I lost more muscle than I intended to (I lost more than 40 lbs before joining MFP and 30 since counting some intentional regain), but with the extra calories and strength training that is coming back fine.
    I think the key is realizing that you don’t really make any significant changes in maintenance from the way you are eating when you are losing — if you have lost to a healthy weight at a healthy pace without cutting calories too steeply you won’t keep losing because your body will need the calories to maintain the weight where you are. That said, I eat what many people here would consider a low calorie level for maintenance

    same here, I did nothing new except add more calories of the same foods I was already eating. I still weigh & log my food, I'm not good at guesstimating, I could very well gain weight if I don't keep intentionally aware of what I eat. I have learned more ,(I"m always learning) with experimenting, what things keep me satiated & have always added rather than took foods away.
    The thing that still can be a challenge for me is to stop eating when I'm done & get get seconds or something else but wait 20 minutes to see if I really want more. I ate healthy before but too much of it & ate till I felt full for many years so now I get up from table & do something else for a few minutes
  • best4menow
    best4menow Posts: 2 Member
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    I will be following this thread as I get ready for maintenance. Maintenance has always been the hardest part for me and I guess for a lot of people. I was on a different program for nearly a year and had lost about 80 pounds before I started with MFP. I have lost about 30 pounds since then. I try to eat well and I walk some every day. I have a knee that I hope to get replaced in about a month. I also have chronic back problems that sometimes means I have to do my steps in short spurts. In my whole life I have not been able to keep lost weight off permanently.
    I am determined to do better this time, but frankly maintenance scares me😢. I have less than 5 pounds to go to meet my goal.
    This is important to me to help keep my "numbers" in a healthy range for my age(76). Any help here will be appreciated.
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,337 Member
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    @best4menow I'm impressed you walking with your knee & back. Hopefully you'll have a full recovery with your knee. great you have 5 lbs to go. May I ask why do you think you gained back in the past & what are you doing differently now?
  • SummerSkier
    SummerSkier Posts: 4,810 Member
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    Evamutt wrote: »
    I hope this becomes active again because it's hard to find maintainers groups and isn't the goal of weight loss to maintain? We could all use some support & share no matter what stage we're at. It could also help those who are still in the losing stage some ideas & glimpses of what it's like to maintain.

    I am of like mind. I have been maintaining since 2017 and the only way I have managed to be successful is that when I was losing I focused on a PLAN for maintaining. Over all the years I had lost and gained and lost again I got really good at losing the same weight. However I never had anyone tell me that the most important part was not the losing but what you do after that matters the most. In that effort I try when I see folks successfully losing at work to have them ask themselves the same question. Are they just going to be done and go back to drinking a 5 pack of beer a day or what is their plan to keep this weight they worked so hard to lose off? I think it probably throws them a little because they are more used to people saying 'how did you lose the weight?' but if it can help one person avoid a rebound it's worth it.
  • rjmcintosh1597
    rjmcintosh1597 Posts: 3 Member
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    Yes, maintenance is my goal. I lost 40 lbs fasting in 120 days. I love my new body. I’m maintaining my fast schedule, upped my calories, occasionally eating outside my range, and seem to be maintaining my weight loss. This app says I’m under healthy eating, but I feel great and think it’s wrong for my chemistry. Some days I’m under on calories and others over, but not more than 200 calories either way. I’m simply not hungry. I’m a binger, having slipped a few times, I feel physically sick. Makes it easy not to binge.
  • chris_in_cal
    chris_in_cal Posts: 2,185 Member
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    caseythirteen wrote: »
    Our bodies don't operate on 24 hour clocks.
    This is kind of funny because "Yes" our bodies do operate on a 24 hour clock

    But I get the good point you are making, and agree.

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