Hi there! I hope you don't mind me poppin in. I read here everyday, you are a great group! I am about 15 - 20 lbs away from goal. I do just find on my eating "plan" but I wonder if the mental part will change when I get to maintaining. Is the reward of weight loss what keeps me happy and content with my eating? Will that change when I don't have reward? Did you find it easier to lose or maintain? what advice do you have? How did you figure out what calories it took to maintain?

I am constantly thinking of maintaining, because I already know I can lose weight, but I want to kep it off forever! My plan is to continue with running for exercise. I keep trying to add in weight lifting, but I am not consistant yet. I am eating between 12-1300 cals a day and losing about 1 lb a week. So I was thinking that at maintaining I would up my calories slowly to see where I need to be. I want to eat good food for the most part, not very different than I am now, but have a little leaway once a week or so. Does this sound realistic? Thank you. Jelly

Think of it like this: your REWARD is NOT gaining the weight BACK!

You can definitely eat more than 1,200-1,300 calories on maintenance. It all depends on your body and level of physical activity, but some of us are able to eat in the range of 1,500-2,000 calories a day while maintaining and working out daily. Once you hit goal, you will no longer be trying to create a deficit, so you will be able to eat more. Some people can eat around 500 calories more a day while maintaining because they made a point of keeping a 500 calorie deficit every day while losing weight. And yes, of course you can have treats, as long as you control the portions, just like with weight loss

Your reward is keeping the hot, fit body that you achieved through weight loss. Fair enough?

I agree, the reward is staying fit and trim and not gaining back the weight.

And it really is no easier to maintain than it is to lose. (Sorry.) I've basically maintained for about a year (although I'm still not at goal--I haven't lost anything substantial in a year). It is a constant struggle--I have to watch everything, weigh everything (actually and figuratively) and be diligent all the time or I will gain.

Hmmm. Yes and No. Certainly the reward is not regaining any weight and I've found also that there are plenty of rewarding changes in the body from on-going cardio and weight lifting. My body is still (and probably always will be) a work in progress, even though I'm not trying to drop pounds.

Maintaining is a lot like losing. I still exercise a fair bit and I still count my calories. That said, I maintain on 2000-2500 a day, so I have lots and lots of leeway with my food. I don't need to be hungry or feel deprived or whatever, and in this way it is much easier. BUT, part of this is that I've made a commitment to myself to eat lots of healthy food and to make nutrition a priority in my life. I still eat fattening things periodically, but I'm comfortable with getting some unhealthy calories because a. I have enough calories to spare, and b. because the overwhelming bulk of my calories come from vegetables, lean proteins (and wine.)

I wouldn't say it's difficult, at least not for me. It just requires focus and commitment. (And sometimes it can be tedious, always counting calories and having to figure out how to make sure I get enough veggies in interesting ways.)

One of the rewards for me is that I'm in better shape now than I have been in years! And that's because of the exercise as well as the weight loss.

The way I figured out how much to eat on maintenance was by setting my FitDay for no change in weight. That gave me the number of calories I could eat. I took it slowly, though, because sometimes FitDay can be off a bit. And then I recorded everything I ate, just like I did while losing.

Jay

Oh I'm finding REMAINING at the same healthy weight very, VERY rewarding. Every week that passes and I am within a pound or 2 of my desired weight it's a victory and EXTREMELY satisfying.

Every morning when I go to pick out my clothing for the day and I go to my closet to "visit" my beautiful clothes, that's rewarding. I walk around day in and day out feeling that I'm living some kind of dream, that too is a reward. I feel so thankful that I have gotten down to a healthy weight. It's all like a gift or a prize for me. Sometimes it seems surreal. STAYING this way is more then rewarding enough for me. To live each and every day without all the worries of being morbidly obese is a blessing for me. I adore, simply adore this new life of mine and I never, ever want to do anything to jeopardize that. So even though there is no longer the "thrill" of seeing the scale plummet, seeing it not go up is just as marvelous.

In certain ways I did find it easier to lose. For me, there was such a sense of urgency to lose the weight. Once I made the decision to do so, I was so gung ho and determined to get the weight off, that I had super control. Stepping into maintenance, well the urgency was gone and I've had more then a few days of "off" eating. But that is to be expected and that's actually turned into my "maintenance plan". Those days are not so terrible, nothing like the old days. Those old days ARE history. I will never, ever eat like that again, mindlessly. Adding in those "splurges" has been a little scary for me at times. But, I now have the confidence that when I do go off plan for a meal that I can bounce right back. It does not stretch into weeks or even days.

Every one has different ways of maintaining. For me it is almost identical to losing. I still plan all my meals and snacks. I still count calories. I've been eating the same healthy foods, in the same amounts, but every now and then I have a splurge or like I said above, an "off plan" meal. This has been working out well for me. Some people like to raise their calories for each and every day. I haven't really gotten to that point yet, don't know if I ever will. When you do raise your calories, I'd go veerrrry slowly. Really test the waters before you dive right in.

You've done such a phenomenal job with losing the weight, and it sounds like you really have your head in the right place as far as maintenance goes. You'll be fine. Just fine. I wish you continued success.

Oh and please come join us in our weekly maintainers chat.

Oh Robin. Your post, simply touching. I'll have this in my head tomorrow morning when I go to the gym.

Robin, I think it's time to add another picture to your before/after gallery. You've lost 20 pounds since the last photo--I want to see you in your waif reincarnation.

I've actually lost 35 pounds since the last picture here. Would you believe the only reason I haven't posted more pics, is because with the last few pounds off recently, all my pants are now swimming on me? And I haven't had any luck finding new ones that I love. I think I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and have my current ones tailored. When I get a pair that fits me well, I'll be posting new ones. Thanks for asking.

And thank you too Kim Renee for your very kind words.

Jelly, the more I think about this question, the more sure I am that maintaining and therefore BEING that fit, thin, active, healthy person, is indeed more rewarding then losing.

Hi Jelly and to Maintainers! Of course we don't mind you popping in -- we'll only mind it if you leave again! Major kudos to you for thinking about maintenance before you're at goal, and that's the reason that you belong here now. So stick around and keep posting, OK? We'd all love to get to know you better.

Your plan for maintenance sounds exactly right. Keep up the exercise (and get consistent with weights -- you'll love the results!) and slowly up your calories to find out what your own maintenance range is. As you can tell from our members here, it varies drastically. I'm more like a max of 1600 calories with intense exercise to maintain; other lucky ducks can go a lot higher. But so long as you're tracking and being honest with yourself, you'll quickly discover what works for you.

The biggest surprise of maintenance for me was that it really isn't any different than losing. I eat the same foods, in the same amounts, still weigh and measure portions, write it down, and do at least as much exercise as I did when I was losing. My strategy is like Robin's -- occasional treats or splurges, mixed in with mostly low-calorie days. It's funny, but I have my Fitday running all the way back to June, 2001, and a day in my life now looks just like a day in my life then. Very, very little has changed.

As for the focus and dedication needed for maintenance ... well, you probably know the statistics about keeping weight off. Not so good. It can be hard to sustain the commitment over the weeks, months, and years, especially when the compliments dry up, everyone forgets you were ever fat, and they assume that it's effortless to keep the weight off. It's easy to slide into complacency and start getting a little too lax with eating, or abandoning some of the tools and habits that got one to goal.

What keeps me working hard at maintenance (and I agree with Allison that it's hard work) are both the joy I get from my life now (so beautifully described by Robin) and the memories of where I was. I think you're right that maintenance is a mental game and so I never want to lose the fear of going back; I never want to forget the pain and misery of my obesity.

I think you're setting yourself up beautifully for maintenance and we'll be cheering you on every step of the way.

Hi jellybelly,

Welcome and congratulations on your weight loss! A lot of the maintainers have said what I would like to say already (probably much more eloquently than me). But I would like to add another reward. In addition to what Robin posted about enjoying her beautiful clothes, it is wonderful to me to wear the same clothes for a full year, two years, three years. When I pull out my jeans in the winter it is amazing to me that these guys also fit me two winters ago when I bought them. Though for budgetary reasons I'm only building up my 'new' wardrobe slowly, I feel like I'm scrambling for clothes and settling much less often.

Maintenance is hard. I posted this in a thread yesterday: I still deal with some of the issues I dealt with at heavier weights: boredom eating, emotional eating. But I've corrected a lot of the problems, too: I'm under less stress, get more sleep, work out much more now, overall eat healthier and more fruits and veggies. But like weight loss, you will figure out what works for you - how you best "do" maintenance - and make it work for you.

A lot of benefits have been listed already. I agree with every single one listed. I feel better, healthier, more capable, sexy. I feel strong. Yes, there is hard work involved, but it's worth it. 500% worth it. I think that your plan - to eat about what you're eating now, with a little room for a treat - sounds good. I don't know about being "happy and content" with your eating (I still want French Fries and pizza and ice cream, and I do have them, once in a while!) but maintaining your weight loss is its own reward. You sound very motivated - keep it up! I hope to "see" you around. Good luck losing your last 15-20 lbs.!

Megan, you're so right about the rewards of having clothes that fit, season after season. Of course, it makes it easier to justify investing in clothes! I love the fact that *everything* in my closet fits and nothing is too big -- and nothing is too small.

My worst clothes habit when I was heavy was buying things a size too small because I "knew" that I'd diet my way into them. Duh - it never happened. And when I finally got serious about losing weight, I blew by that smaller size so fast that I never got to wear any of it. So out it went to the consignment store with tags still on.

I didn't mean to make it sound like I hate the food I eat, or that you would too. I really love what I eat. I have come to appreciate, enjoy, even crave a lot of tastes that are considered 'healthy', "only things health freaks like", "only things granola-heads like", and if I don't eat vegetables and fruit and enough fresh food I honestly start to crave it. I just meant that, occasionally I do still want "junk food", and don't think that occasional desire will ever go away for me. Sometimes I happily substitute - e.g. fruit for something sweet, oven fries for french fries, or realize I'm really just tired or bored. Sometimes I do have a little junk food. But I do love all the 'healthy' food that I eat! (Why waste your time eating food you don't like?)

I can relate to what you are writing about. The single most true fact in life is everything changes. I have read many blogs about fellow dieters who struggled to keep the weight off. There are many factors involved. Emotional and physical changes can effect your way of life. One awareness is of those loosing weight by dieting, jogging and exercise. Several regained their weight and lost hope and ate to salve the disappointment when they became injured and could no longer jog or do aerobics. For myself I have found that I have a very low tolerance for sugar. I also have a problem with all artificial sweeteners except liquid sweet n low. I had to learn this by trial and error. If you are loosing 1 pound a week while eating 1200 to 1500 calories you might try to determine the number of calories you use exercising and subtract that from your calorie intake. Fitday has an exercise calorie calculator and it is free. You might stop running for 2 weeks without changing you food plan and see if you maintain or gain. I read an article that said people who are not over weight burn more calories than a person the same size and activity who are over weight. You might look at what made you over weight in the first place. Is it a family thing? Are you an emotional eater? I hate exercising but I love the out doors. I just bought a kayak and plan to paddle for at least a couple of hours as many days a week as I can. I am lucky because I live near Humboldt Bay. I hope this was helpful.