Suggestion Box – Let’s Improve The Maintainers Forum!

[Meg]

The Maintainers forum began in the fall of 2003 when Mel and I and some other old-timers who had reached goal were talking about the need for ongoing support for weight loss maintenance. It was a shock for us to realize that maintenance took at least as much effort, planning, sweat, and self-discipline as did the initial weight loss. Not the message that we get from the popular culture and media!

So we approached Suzanne 3FC about adding a new forum dedicated to maintenance and we were off and running. Of course, six weeks later we had a huge server crash and our first posts were all lost (except for a few I had saved in Word) but we picked ourselves and kept on going.

So here we are, four and a half years later, still going strong. I couldn’t be prouder of the group we have here and know that it has so much to do with my own personal maintenance success. Maintenance can be a lonely place to be in a world that assumes that the hard work is over once we reach goal, so it’s wonderful to have a group that understands exactly what we deal with on an everyday basis. Got to say, I’m particularly impressed with our younger members who took the reins and got their weight issues under control while they were young enough to have the rest of their lives to enjoy years of being fit and healthy.

But even a good thing can get better, so I thought it was time to take a look at this place we call home and think of ways to make it more supportive and better at helping us through all the years of maintenance. And that’s what this thread is all about – how can we improve the Maintainers forum? Anything goes!

Let me throw out some ides that I’ve been kicking around, then you all can add your suggestions, and we can all brainstorm about changes we want to make. Please, everyone, feel free to contribute, even if you’re just a lurker or not at your own personal goal yet! The mantra of the Maintainers forum has always been that the Maintainers forum is for everyone who is even thinking about maintenance, so all comments are welcome!

Maintenance 101 or Maintenance FAQs: I’d like to add a sticky or even a subforum about transitioning to maintenance: how life changes (or doesn’t) after goal, calories, exercise, journaling, etc. We frequently get questions from people getting close to goal and I thought it would be useful to pull all our thoughts and experiences together into one easily accessible place. Creating it would definitely be a group effort!

The Maintenance Library: The Maintenance Library has a lot of great but unused potential and I’d like to revive it. Originally the focus was going to be on books and articles about maintenance but surprise! there aren’t many of them. Walk into Borders and good luck trying to find a book about maintenance! So let’s expand the scope to articles, books, and web sites that pertain to weight loss, maintenance, exercise, and psychological issues. After all, don’t we always say that maintenance looks just like losing, with a few more calories? Everything that’s relevant to weight loss is still relevant to those of us who are maintaining. I’d like it to be a place where everyone feels comfortable posting about something interesting that they’ve read or seen, even if it’s not specifically focused on maintenance per se.

And let’s start reviewing books! Our Wndranne wrote up quite a few very helpful reviews of books that she’s read and I’d love to get others involved too. I read a lot of books about nutrition, exercise, and weight loss and I bet a lot of you do too. The reviews don’t need to be long or fancy – just a synopsis of what you read and what you thought of it. It would be great to get informal discussions going about books that several of us have read.

As for more formal book discussions, we’ve had two so far: Thin For Life and Rethinking Thin. If anyone can think of another book that might lend itself to an organized discussion, please suggest it.

In sum, I’d like to have the Maintenance Library be a one-stop resource for reading material and associated discussions about all aspects of weight loss and maintenance.

Recipes: Right now, 3FC doesn’t have an official recipe library due to all the different plans that people are following. What works for one-plan is verboten on another! However, it seems like our Maintainers posters are following the same general calories counting/personalized plans for maintenance. Personally, I’m always intrigued by the fabulous meals that Allison, Jessica, and Glory (just to name three of our creative cooks), are always posting about. So we recently added a sticky for Our Favorite Recipes. Do we want to keep a recipe sticky, like we have now? Do we want to expand it to a subforum with categories? Is it useful or redundant?

Meet A Maintainer: For a long time, I’ve been kicking around the idea of profiling one of our regulars each month. Personally, I’m just fascinated by the stories and backgrounds of our members and love to learn more about their life stories and struggles/triumphs with weight issues. It would be purely voluntary, of course, and we certainly wouldn’t invade anyone’s privacy. It would just be a chance to get to know each other a little better.

Exercise: We have an 3FC Exercise forum, but do we want a separate section here in Maintainers that focuses on exercise? We know that exercise is a vital part of maintenance, probably even more so than for weight loss.

So those are a few of my ideas and now I want to hear yours. As you can see from the main forum list, the Maintenance section currently has three forums: the Maintenance Library (with a subforum for the Rethinking Thin discussion), Living Maintenance (with a subforum for Introductions), and the Body Image and Issues forum. We’re open to suggestions for new forums, subforums, and other reorganization ideas. Would a sticky be better if it were expanded to a subforum? Is something not working well? How can we tweak what we have? What do we need to add?

The bottom line is that this is OUR forum – for all of us. And we can make our little Internet home be as supportive and useful as it possibly can be. So please put your thinking caps on and post away, no matter how silly or odd you think your idea might be. After all, the goal is for every one of us to beat the dreadful odds about keeping weight off for life. Someday I want every single member of 3FC to be posting here with us, so let’s make the Maintainers forum the very best it can be!

[paperclippy]

I have to think about all the ones you suggested, but off the top of my head, how about a forum for maintaining through health issues? This could include everything from injuries that make it hard to exercise to pregnancy, thyroid problems, chronic illness, depression, etc. Or even maintaining through major life changes: moving, changing jobs, getting married, having kids, divorce, etc.

[junebug41]

I like the Meet A Maintainer idea because people are often curious about this particular "species" and often don't know where to look.

I really, really like the FAQ and 101 idea. For example, the topic of loose skin pops up daily and the easiest way to provide people all that info is to direct them to the Skin FAQ. I think it would also draw more folks to the maintainer section as they look for info. I think first and foremost (aside from our own support), the maintainer's section is a great facet for providing information on experienced maintainers. There is such a range of bad and false stuff out there that I truly think you guys are a fabulous resource for squashing misconceptions. You are educators on the topic and there could definitely be more ways to bring people to the forum and cut the intimidation (not that the maintainers themselves are intimidating, but you know what I mean).

[junebug41]

Originally Posted by paperclippy

I have to think about all the ones you suggested, but off the top of my head, how about a forum for maintaining through health issues? This could include everything from injuries that make it hard to exercise to pregnancy, thyroid problems, chronic illness, depression, etc. Or even maintaining through major life changes: moving, changing jobs, getting married, having kids, divorce, etc.

I love that idea. I myself have often wondered what happens when such-and-such event happens, like pregnancy, for example.

[alinnell]

Meet the maintainer. That sounds like a winner.

And thanks for the kudos on my recipes (can I suggest adding Mandalinn82--she has some great ORIGINAL recipes). My recipes are generally copied from Cooking Light (not a bad source, just not my own!).

I like the idea of the topic of exercising as a key to maintaining. I know that my exercising has allowed me to keep off my 30 pounds (well 25 anyway!). Lord knows where I'd be if I weren't exercising!

[Meg]

GREAT idea, Jessica! It seems that relapses tend to coincide with life changes and illnesses, so that's definitely a time when people need extra support.

[paperclippy]

Maintaining FAQ - I like this idea. Would it just be a list of things or would people ask and we answer?

Maintenance Library - it's already there, we may as well use it!

Recipes - not sure. There is a food subforum of recipes, but it doesn't seem to be super-active. Or would ours be more like recipes that we use regularly while maintaining?

Exercise - also not sure. What would be different between it and the exercise forum?

Meet a Maintainer - sounds like fun!!

[rockinrobin]

Gosh, Meg. Thanks so much for taking the time to get all your ideas out. I know that had to be majorly time consuming.

Speaking of time, I'm a bit rushed and didn't get to fully digest all that you put out there.

A couple of things jump at me though.

I too don't see the need for a separate exercise section here.

Though I do love the idea of our very own (open and welcome to each and everyone here at 3FC of course) recipe section. This IS a big place and I tend to hang out here the most and therefore I know these people the most and would definitely like some tried and true recipes from the maintainers.

Love the "Meet a Maintainer" and the FAQ or 101.

I wouldn't mind if we had a sticky or something to that affect on hints and tips for KEEPING ourselves in control and STAYING within our red zone, not crossing over the red LINE. And how to get BACK that control, when we inevitably lose it. I don't know. Something like that. Maybe things to remember. A list of reminders as to why it's so WORTH it to do what we're doing. Like to stay in the same size year after year. Or maybe a list of before and afters. No, I don't mean pics. But before - Couldn't climb a flight of stairs without getting winded. After - no problemo. Before - couldn't shop in regular size stores - After - can shop anywhere, even the juniors.

I'm not making much sense. I gotta think about it some more.

[Kery]

A Maintainers 101 sounds like a good idea, as well as the "meet a maintainer" one. And the recipes! Yes for the recipes! It's always encouraging to see what other people eat as "normal meals that still aren't too heavy in calories/grease/whatever".

Jessica's idea is great, too. After all, it's easy to lose weight/maintain when things are going well in our lives. What's really tough and worth it is how to go on like this when things turn out for the worst or at least the unexpected (pregnancy = great, but not easy to deal with the cravings, or how sudden it can be, etc.).

[AnneWonders]

Just a quick comment that I really dislike subforums, for the simple reason that by the time I get down there, the "new" posts are no longer flagged as new, and I can never figure out what, if anything, I need to read.

I'll think some more about the reorg when my brain is less fried and see if I can come up with something constructive.

And thanks, Meg, for starting the Maintainers area in the first place, and for putting so much time in it.

Anne

[nineteen]

Ideas I really like:

~Book reviews
~"Meet a Maintainer"
~Maintaining through chronic illness
~Maintaining through major life change
~Recipes (we all need to add more!)

Thanks everyone for coming up with such good ideas!!

[ennay]

I like the profiles and FAQ section ideas. And the maintaining under crisis etc.

I think the Recipes should be a part of the food section, not just maintainers. This is actually something that I think could be beefed up across the site is a well organized recipe section

I dont think that there should be a separate exercise forum for maintainers.

Basically I think that separating the recipes and separating the exercises negates the #1 piece of advice that maintainers give out...which is that maintaining doesnt look that different from losing and that everyone becomes a maintainer the minute they lose 1 lb and dont gain it back. I think having separate redundant forums gives a ..."we are different from you" feel. jmo

[MariaMaria]

What are the usage statistics for sticky threads?

I suspect that most users don't read them both for (real or perceived) information reasons ("oh, that's old" or "oh, what I need is different") and because for most of us, part of the reason we're reading a forum and not just Googling for info is that we're looking for personal contact of a sort along with our impersonal information.

So while a sticky makes things easier for whoever's maintaining the forum, it's maybe not the best choice for a lot of the users.

[Mel]

The sticky usage is quite high for some especially if we link to them in our posts. It really helps those of us who answer the same question over and over again. You are right- This isn't a place where people just google for information, but a personal answer directing a poster to a sticky is helpful. If I had to retype the Excess Skin sticky every time someone asked about skin, I wouldn't be here very much longer! I'm sure many of the regulars feel the same way.

I like the recipe section, but again, we are all on so many different food plans, and there are so many recipe threads across this forum. Not sure what the solution is- there is a lot of duplication.

Exercise- hmmm....I'd give that a unequivocal no. We already have numerous exercise forums and sub-forums.

My personal favorite is the clothing thread

Mel

[Meg]

Originally Posted by MariaMaria

What are the usage statistics for sticky threads?

The Skin FAQ sticky has been viewed more than 42,000 times, so I've pretty confident that the people who need the info are finding it.