Maintenance
Options
Philtex
Posts: 969 Member
I am shifting from loss mode to maintenance. I know from past experience that staying focused on weight management is difficult over the long term. Do you find maintenance to be harder than losing, or just different? If you can narrow it down to one thing, what is the key to maintenance?
1
Replies
-
Good luck!
I don't know if I'll ever get out of loss mode. lol0 -
You'll get there Greg. Just keep after it.0
-
I've been to goal weigh twice. Both times lasted mere days, before the yoyo back up. Good luck. I hope you write every last detail out here, I think that might be helpful. Writing stuff often helps solidify an effort.
How about writing out the top five non-negotiables you are taking on as a person in maintenance. Get them written down.0 -
chris_in_cal wrote: »the top five non-negotiables you are taking on as a person
Sorry Chris, but I don't know what you mean by that.
I maintained my goal weight for years before a major medical event derailed me. My success came from staying diligent at following my WW program. It is tough keeping your head in the game over a long term, but is the only way I know not to fall into old habits.2 -
I've been maintaining for ~15 years now (?!?!). In some ways it's easier, and in some ways it's harder than loss-mode.
Loss-mode can sometimes be viewed as a time-limited process. Thus, I can "white-knuckle" it for a few months, and then it'll be over. That is conceptually easier. Of course, that's not how it really should work though. In reality, it's about figuring out how to alter and limit your intake permanently. The difference between loss-mode and maintenance is just a couple of hundred, or a few hundred calories per day. Call it a cookie or two! Once you realize how similar those modes are then one realizes how one has to keep up the process that one used to lose the weight in the first place.
I think it was the other Brian (CSURamFan) that once told me that, rather than setting a weight-goal, you should instead figure out how an intake goal that you can live with for the rest of your life, and let that intake determine your final weight. I don't quite do that, but the point is a good one. Maintenance is about eating in a manner that is sustainable.
If I was going to give one key piece of advice, it would be to develop good habits (consistent with maintaining your weight) that you don't have to think about. If I have to think carefully about my eating, I feel like I've lost the game, because I can always rationalize a slice of pizza or a beer. However, as I've gotten into a habitual pattern, and taken active thought out of the equation (to the extent possible), it's been relatively easy to maintain (or even lose) weight.1 -
steve0mania wrote: »If I was going to give one key piece of advice, it would be to develop good habits (consistent with maintaining your weight) that you don't have to think about.
All well said Steve. I have developed good habits, but when I don't think about them I tend to backslide. Your key advice is a good thing to strive for.0 -
Since 2006. GW was 184 lbs. That was highest acceptable WW goal at the time. That’s too much now. Best now would be 174 ish. But I’m 179 ish and not willing to do much about it right now.
But that’s how it goes. It helps to keep an attitude of experimentation. I’m more focused on weight training & strength than the scale. But that’s right now. It will change. But be prepared for some stumbling around and some ups and downs.
Made GW and kept tracking for 5 yrs before I found I could go long periods without it. But have gone back several times when needed. I also kept attending WW meetings for nearly 10 yrs until we moved away. Didn’t much like the meeting in our new town & eventually quit WW. But I’ve found that counting calories on MFP works about as well as WW points.
But think I’ve made it work for 2 reasons. 1- food scale remains on the kitchen counter and gets used every day to help control portions. Even if I’m not tracking I’m aware of the numbers. 2- Found I had a real red line.
My red line turned out to be 186 lbs. That was WW goal + 2 lbs. That was where the Lifetime free ride ended then. So back when I was still attending meetings I hit a bad patch and was trending up. Showed up on the last day of the month to weigh in. I had about an 8 yr run on the line. Considered skipping out everyone in that meeting knew my story. The leader regularly pointed me out as a success story. If I skipped she would know. Better to step up and face it.
WI = 186 lbs on the nose. That week I turned it around and preserved my run. Like everyone I’ve told myself this or that is a red line. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. Just like losing, try to find routines you can live with. But think about where you are going to draw that line and how you will back it up. There will likely be a test. Good luck.1 -
Since 2006. GW was 184 lbs. That was highest acceptable WW goal at the time. That’s too much now. Best now would be 174 ish. But I’m 179 ish and not willing to do much about it right now.
But that’s how it goes. It helps to keep an attitude of experimentation. I’m more focused on weight training & strength than the scale. But that’s right now. It will change. But be prepared for some stumbling around and some ups and downs.
Made GW and kept tracking for 5 yrs before I found I could go long periods without it. But have gone back several times when needed. I also kept attending WW meetings for nearly 10 yrs until we moved away. Didn’t much like the meeting in our new town & eventually quit WW. But I’ve found that counting calories on MFP works about as well as WW points.
But think I’ve made it work for 2 reasons. 1- food scale remains on the kitchen counter and gets used every day to help control portions. Even if I’m not tracking I’m aware of the numbers. 2- Found I had a real red line.
My red line turned out to be 186 lbs. That was WW goal + 2 lbs. That was where the Lifetime free ride ended then. So back when I was still attending meetings I hit a bad patch and was trending up. Showed up on the last day of the month to weigh in. I had about an 8 yr run on the line. Considered skipping out everyone in that meeting knew my story. The leader regularly pointed me out as a success story. If I skipped she would know. Better to step up and face it.
WI = 186 lbs on the nose. That week I turned it around and preserved my run. Like everyone I’ve told myself this or that is a red line. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. Just like losing, try to find routines you can live with. But think about where you are going to draw that line and how you will back it up. There will likely be a test. Good luck.
This is very practical information. Your comment about keeping an attitude of experimentation is helpful. I, too, am working on strength training to maintain muscle mass, essential to stay independent as we age.0 -
steve0mania wrote: »If I was going to give one key piece of advice, it would be to develop good habits (consistent with maintaining your weight) that you don't have to think about.
All well said Steve. I have developed good habits, but when I don't think about them I tend to backslide. Your key advice is a good thing to strive for.
I think I may not have explained myself well. In my mind, "habits" require no thought. Your comment that you backslide when you don't think seems to prove my point. Much of my intake is so routinized that it requires absolutely no thought. For example, every morning I measure out a cup of cereal and a half-cup of skim milk for my breakfast. If I had to think about what to have for breakfast, I would quickly rationalize pancakes or French toast with butter and syrup every morning!
Conversely, I have had to occasionally break bad habits. For example, I was in the habit of having some sort of candy for dessert every night. I didn't really think about it, but instead just went for some Skittles after dinner every night. Obviously that was not consistent with my desired weight.
Anyway, my point is that the less I have to think the better.1 -
A couple of thoughts on maintaining - and yeah, it’s a bit long . . .
First, there’s a hidden distinction between a diet and dieting. To me, “dieting”is a verb. It’s the act of making choices with a goal of losing weight. It’s not explicitly good or bad, but people tend to make short term choices in that process. “Diet”, on the other hand, I use as a noun that describes “a pattern of eating”. To me, that’s absolutely neutral - it’s just the way a person eats. I think it’s helpful in maintenance to think of your “pattern of eating” rather than dieting.
Second, it’s helpful to not think about your weight as a number, but as a range. If you got here, you already know your weight can hop around with what seems to be no apparent reason. Being in maintenance doesn’t change that. It’s (to me) healthy to have a fear of regaining, but not to the level of paranoia. Get used to the idea that your weight is a range, and don’t change things just because there’s a change within that range.
Third, if you’re a person who needs specific goals, think about setting goals that relate to your health or wellbeing or fitness rather than your weight. For example, increase the number of sit-ups you can do to improve your core strength. Perhaps focus on your diet to get some troublesome blood work to improve. Maybe take up yoga for increased flexibility and peace of mind. Whatever you choose, find something that challenges you to better yourself the way losing weight challenged you.
Fourth (and final in this dissertation) is consider setting up some boundaries for what’s acceptable, and some plans for what you’ll do when your weight is not acceptable. People occasionally refer to these as “Green/Yellow/Red” zones. Green means steady as she goes, Yellow means a need for caution, and Red means stop what you’ve been doing. For example, at a goal weight of 180, my Red zone might start at 180 (so I don’t give up the two pound grace window). At that point, I'd limit myself to daily points. Yellow might be 177, so if it goes over that, I’d want to avoid wandering out of the Blue Dot range any given day. Green means under 177, and I might try just to make good choices with occasional indulgences that don’t throw me off track.
Hope these help.1
