[melissakp313]

Okay, you all reached your goal, now you are there...how do you maintain?????

I can lose the weight, gain the weight, but not a clue on how to maintain the weight!!

How do you all do it???

[hatgirlie]

Eat the same foods you ate to lose the weight, but a little bit more of the same foods. Bigger portions of the same. Keep working out. Always stay away from sugar and processed foods.

[Sheila53]

Really, there's not much difference except you can eat a touch more. Give yourself a "red line" weight (for many it's five pounds), and if you go over that weight, go into weight loss mode. Maintaining isn't about staying the exact weight every day.

[ncuneo]

It's a huge secret...ready...you do everything exactly the same. Sarcasm aside, I honestly do the exact same things I did to lose weight to maintain my weight. I weigh and measure all my foods, I still count cals, I exercise everyday probably more than I did when I was losing. The only difference is a few extra cals here and there.

Just like with weight loss there is no one size fits all solution to maintenance. Some people stop calorie counting and transition to a more intuitive style of eating. It's a process to find what works for you.

[melissakp313]

So form what I'm gathering is I can eat a little bit more. Working out is not my problem, I'm one who enjoys working out, food is my problem. I guess I tend to over indulge when I've reached my goal, and then I feel like its 2 steps forward, 5 steps back, ya know? But thanks you guys for your advice : )

[ncuneo]

Well...I discovered at goal I had a bit of this problem as well. But my problem really wasn't the food, it was mental/emotional. I'm not sure if you have any emotional issues when it comes to food, I knew I did, but didn't realize until hitting maintenance how deep those issues actually were. I guess this hits kind of close to home for me, because it is the current journey I'm on, which is learn how to eat like a naturally slim person, in other words eating when I'm hungry and stopping when I'm full. If I can't stop when I'm full then something else is going on.

There are many many ways to deal with this. At first I thought it was just a matter of setting "rules" for myself. But those rules led me to too much restriction which resulted in binging for me, but too much freedom results in binging as well. So it is a very delicate balance for me. I'm currently going through a little bit of self therapy with the help of some podcasts that were recommended to me.

I'm a bit on one extreme end of the spectrum, many maintainers maintain very easily just by using moderation, and for the most part I do this too. So during the week I eat pretty much like I did during weight loss and on the weekend I have a lot more freedom and pretty much eat what I want. So far it seems to be working.

[Bright Angel]

Originally Posted by melissakp313

Okay, you all reached your goal,
now you are there...how do you maintain?????

I can lose the weight, gain the weight,
but not a clue on how to maintain the weight!!

How do you all do it???

[COLOR="Blue"]There is a great deal of good advice from maintainers on this forum,
and it will probably help you to participate here frequently.

For me, there is very little difference between dieting to lose-weight,
and eating in maintenance.

I have to continue my focus.
I have made my dieting/maintenance/way-of-eating/lifestyle a hobby.
I think about, write about, and deal with that issue every day.