Maintaining- easy as pie?
 

Am I the only one? I maintain for months without ever even trying. I haven't put on a pound since Christmas (the last time I exercised or counted calories) and I've actually LOST weight. I think my body just gets used to whatever amount of food I was eating before and sticks to it. Does that sound right?

I don't want to jynx myself in the future, but I'm not all that worried about maintaining at all. I used to think, 'how the **** am I going to do that? It's impossible!' but I've managed to do it several times without cc or exercise. I always thought I was just lucky as all get out and that the NEXT time I WOULD gain something back, but I really haven't.


EDIT: Do you guys think it's a good idea to just...stop cc for a while? Since I'm on adderall again, I don't really eat all that much, so there's no real worry of going over. I'm not just going to start eating whatever I want though, I'm still going to have to be aware, especially now since I'm eating less because I have no appetite.

Go ahead, post this in the Maintainers Forum on the site.

I dare you.

I double-dog-dare you.

:devil:

as long as i'm eating healthy, i usually maintain pretty easily. i tend to eat the same foods, same amounts. once in awhile i have to calorie count and measure my portions, relearn, check i'm doing it correctly. so much i never knew about using less fat. or cooking without olive oil, using chicken broth instead.

That's exactly why I posted it here LOL.

It seems to me that:

Magnitude of loss/lowness of preferred BMI x time span in which you plan to maintain (forever?) = Increased difficulty.

But this is based on my experience. I know for a fact that it was agonizing (not too strong a word) for me to maintain at less than 110 & I suffered a lot of mental & physical stress to do that.

It's easier for me to maintain where I'm at, but it's still not easy.

From what I've pieced together from postings here & also, based on my imperfect understanding of the human body, it may help to be younger, and to not have let things go on badly for years & years before trying to fix it & keep it running in top condition.

Then there is the psychological aspect, which is enormous. I can't even begin to touch on that.

If you are able to maintain the losses you've had so far, then that's excellent. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Be happy. We can always use more happiness at 3FC.

Exactly.

And no worries, I won't move this to maintainers... though I can't guarantee more of them won't find it and have something to say about it. Let's just say that not everyone has the same experience you do...

i think it's easy, for now, because i'm still at a pretty high weight. mentally, i'm comfortable enough with this size to maintain for awhile here, besides increasing muscle. lost alot of muscle from not having 'real' workouts in the past 2 months. but once i'm at a healthy weight, and intending to stay there, it will be harder. my expectation will be higher, and longer term.

I don't really see why they would feel the need to say anything about it at all. I never said losing weight was easy. I've cried and binged and given up just as many times as the rest of you. I just said that maintaining seemed to just happen naturally for me. I guess if one of them wants to start something over it though, I'll just ignore them. It's not as if I said maintaining is easy for everyone and should be.

I didn't intend for that to come out *****y if it did.

The body likes balance. It always strives to keep everything in check. As long as you eat approximately the same and adjust your intake when you see a change in weight, then maintaining is the result.

However, things WILL change. Life's like that, lol. Aging, personal crisis, increasing reliance on food as a soother plus a myriad of all the things life is made up of will alter this particular moment of balance. It'll be up to you to decide when to take action to balance it all out again.

I got over confident of myself when I maintained a 120 pound loss for 7 years. I thought nothing could ever bring me back to obesity. <insert insane laughter here>. I went through a very bad time in my life and one day, many years later, I saw 317lbs on my scale dial. I went from 147 to 317 within 13 years.

I am not saying that this is the same for anyone else. Nor is what you want to do in any way wrong. All I am saying is that the best course of action while maintaining is to stay aware of creeping behavioral tendencies, of weight changes and most importantly, how you think...your mindset about it all. If you know the reason you made it to 186lbs, then perhaps it is an easy adjustment for you to make to maintain your weight and your loss to date.

But you are not at goal , yet. How is that maintaining ? Yep, you guessed it I am a maintainer and I still count calories.

Good for you yhahmd....that's wonderful!

But unfortunately I can't say the same....I am at this maintenance thing for almost 2 months now and I still count because I know that if I don't I am going to balloon back up to 198lbs.....

Oh, no, I'm not at goal yet. I seem to take breaks every few months and just maintain. So it IS maintaining, just not maintaining my goal weight. I should really stop taking so many breaks, but I'm not in a huge rush.

I never blindly start eating what I want when I want, and I check the scale MAYBE three times a month, because for whatever reason I stay within the same 2-3lb range. I don't really know why.

But now that I'm on the adderall, I just don't see a reason to keep counting calories. I don't have to worry about over eating because I don't have an appetite. Should I still be counting them?

I will say... I have learned to bite my tongue when it comes to saying any part of this (losing weight/keeping it off process) is easy. Because I'll have several "easy" days in a row and feel smug about it (like the cat that got the canary) and then BAM! I'm faced with a really challenging bunch of days or weeks. Just when you start thinking it's easy... it's not. LOL I don't jinx myself anymore, and don't take those days for granted. They come and they go!

Don't worry, you aren't coming out *****y at all.

It's just that many people have a lot of difficulty maintaining weight loss and there have been many discussions among maintainers about whether maintaining is easy, hard, etc.

I think I had the opposite experience from you. I lost 125 pounds and it didn't really seem that hard. I was in a zone. Then I maintained that loss for a couple of years. Then the weight started coming back on (yeah, look at me use passive voice and make it seem like I didn't play a role in it), and now I've gained back 50 pounds. For me, maintenance has not been an easy road. I lost my mojo.

So, believe it or not, it's a subject that is very emotional and can be very touchy, which is why people might want to say something about it.

And again, if it's working for you not to count calories, then don't count. Just be prepared to change strategies if not counting stops working.

Also, FWIW, I believe anyone who has lost a pound and kept it off is a maintainer. You are definitely a maintainer.

Congrats! All I can say, as a maintainer for a little over a year, that it would be great to have the same scenario that you are having! Kudos to you! And I don't mean that sarcastically. Every day is an on going battle with food for me, to the point where if I even look at a hamburger, I gain 5 lbs back. HOWEVER, I am pleased to say that through discipline and consistency I have been able to avoid bad food situations. Long story short, I think the main thing I need to work on is that I made a lifestyle change, I didn't diet. And sometimes, it'd be nice to accept that and not think that I'm dieting for the rest of my life!

In regards to your calorie counting, I would only count them to ensure that you are getting enough so you can still function in a healthy, happy way! :) I count calories every day. If something doesn't have the calorie count, I don't eat it! So enjoy your new lifestyle, and congrats again for your accomplishments!

If I could maintain easily, I wouldn't be at 3FC.

Maintaining is easier than losing!:( Can't wait to maintain...almost there!:D

I've pretty much always heard the opposite around here. I'd love it if it were easier, though!

I found weightloss to be a BREEZE compared to maintaining. It took a lot of dedication and work to lose, but I also was very focused on the task. That's quite a mindset to have to maintain for life, though. I do hope for you that you find it just as easy to maintain as it is to lose, but that was not my experience. Sometimes I would gain weight and know why and have to find it somewhere within myself to lose it. Sometimes I had no idea why I gained weight so it was trial and error to lose it. I used to have no problem making this the priority in my life and that's why I think I was successful. 7 years later I think I'm doing great, but it has been far from easy.

I can eat MORE calories and exercise LESS while maintaining. How could this NOT be easier than losing:?:

perhaps because, we aren't as focused on eating and exercising the way we are when we are actively losing weight. little slip ups of eating slightly more, or exercising a bit less are less noticed. then the weight creeps up.

also, some people may have unrealistic expectations that the scale should stay the same all the time. but it's normal to fluctuate within a certain number of pounds. varies with the person how much. 2, 5, 10lbs.

Now HERE's where I believe the problem lies.;) I read too many times about how people gained 3 lbs following dinner out with some friends...as if it were 3 lbs of FAT!

That's why I think it's IMPORTANT that we establish a LIFE LONG eating pattern while we are losing weight. This way, the transition into maintenance will not be a shockingly different way of life. It should virtually be the same with the exception a few more calories eaten, and less exercise performed. I LOVE the way I eat. Gourmet all the way for me....I have no reason to want to change this. I allow myself my favorite fatty foods one meal per week...soooo...no need to binge/gorge on that type of food in maintenance. I will EASILY transition with diet...and exercise, well, I run 19 miles/week....running 9-12/week to maintain will hardly be difficult.

I think it's important to look at your calories as a weekly effort...not a daily one. If you eat more than you KNOW you should have...just cut back during the week...in the end it's your weekly calories that count.

THIS DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PAINFUL...:D

WE MUST LEARN TO LOSE THE "ALL OR NOTHING" ATTITUDE...

THIS IS ABOUT "MODERATION" NOT "DENIAL" NOR "OBSESSION"...I absolutely refuse to think about food this much in maintenance...if I don't know portion sizes and the difference between high quality whole foods and crap by the time I get to maintenance...I probably need to get my head examined, buy a couple of cheeseburgers and call it a day...:rofl: (just kiddin on the cheeseburgers..lol!)

This does not work for me. I eat more yes but I pretty much work out at the same level as I did when I was losing....

Everyone is different though and this might work for you joyfulloser.

At the end of the day its calories in vs calories out. To lose weight, calories out must be less than calories in. To maintain, calories in must equal calories out....

I would still count your calories, especially because the aderall is making you lose your appetite. You may be eating too little and your metabolism may be slowing down.

I think the experience of maintenance is a lot like the experience of having a baby or getting married. :) While we're waiting for the baby or wedding (or maintenance) to come, we plan and imagine what life will be like afterwards. But until it actually happens -- until we live it day to day, week after week, for the rest of our lives -- we just don't know what the reality is!

I certainly can understand why someone who is in the weight loss phase would think that losing is easier than maintaining. It makes logical sense, after all! But the sad reality is that many more people are successful at weight loss than at maintenance. And that most people who lose weight will regain it. No one who reaches their goal ever thinks they'll regain the weight, but almost everyone does. I think that speaks for itself about the challenges of maintenance.

So to anyone still in the weight loss phase, please wait until you get to your goal and spend a year or so there (or five or ten) before you decide which is harder. Maybe maintenance will be easier than losing for you -- I hope so! -- but perhaps at that point you'll have a better understanding of why so many maintainers say this is indeed the harder challenge. :)

I think Meg just spoke to this point, but I'll see if I can explain... at least from my experience. Yes, in maintenance I got to eat more. And then after a couple of years, I let myself eat even a little more, and started gaining weight. I never just eliminated all my good habits and go back to life before weight loss (although in stress, that does happen more and I care less about what I put in my mouth).

The reality of my situation is that most of the time I only eat a few hundred calories over maintenance calories. But do the math: 250*7 = 1750 calories extra/week. That's a half-pound of weight gain a week... and 26 pounds a year. I gained 17 pounds last year, so I wasn't even much more than 200 calories/day on average over maintenance.

That's why maintenance is hard for me. I basically have been eating just a little bit more and gained back 50 pounds in 3 years. (Actually many days are like that, some are under maintenance and more than a handful are probably way more calories than I should ever have).

I think this is why Meg says give maintenance a year or two, and then see what it's like for you. My story is just one. We are all different.

This is all very interesting. Thanks for posting your personal experiences!:) It sounds scary when I think, "most people don't maintain"...this is scary TRUTH!:eek:

That said, I have maintained for many years...actually, most of my 44 yrs of life. However, over the years, there have been times in which I gained more than I'd like to. I've narrowed down the problem to this: ALL or NOTHING attitude. That's been a "killer" for most people I know as well.

I've learned so much from others experiences here at 3FC and appreciate all the different experiences and points of view.

I believe it is better to make a "plan" on how to succeed rather than just wait and "see what happens". Someone wise once said, "plan to succeed or you plan to fail".;)

Hmmmm...this gives me a great idea for a new thread. "What's your 'plan' once you reach maintenance?":D

That's a good idea and one that persons in weight loss mode should really do. When I was close to my goal I decided that my plan would be to increase my calories and keep the exercise the same. And it has been working so far. Should my life circumstances change where I will not get to work out as much as I do, the plan will have to change again. That's the reason, this is a lifetime journey....not a sprint or a race....

I am maintaining pretty easily too!


Sadly I am maintining at 288, and am not attempting to maintain, but hey, it's better than gaining!!

I like this plan!!!:carrot: I love running so much...I'd easily run an extra couple of miles for an extra slice of carrot cake!:p

My plan is to increase my calories to 1900-2000 cals/day and decrease my running from 19 miles/week (5m, 5,m 4m, 5m) to 12 miles/week (4 miles x 3 days). I'll see how this works, but if I've gotta move anything, I'll start with increasing my running.:D