Hello maintainers,

I just returned Thursday night from my 1st biz trip in several months, and the 1st one while on maintenance. While trying to lose, I pretty much resolved to eating very (very) low calories and exercising every day. I tried to get a good, high protein meal at the hotel in the AM and then chose to skip lunch (or eat a protein bar) and stick with protein/non-starchy veggies for dinner. It was tough - and my mood was not pleasant - but it seemed to work. I rarely gained while travelling, and if I did, it was water weight which would go within 1-2 days.

This trip, I worked out HARD each morning (felt great!), ate normal to high calorically (including a slice if pizza!), made sure to watch the starchy carbs (of course), and even enjoyed a bit of a splurge meal at a lovely Mexican restaurant. I TOTALLY expected a gain when I returned (water weight), but to my surprise, I am now at my lowest weight since HS (140.5).

To the point: should I expect this is a bit of a fluke & will come back on? I would LOVE to get to 135 (although I've only ever vocalized that here & to my husband), but have been trying to just adjust to my new body as it is now. I still feel like I'm in flux. Exercise is greatly changing my body still even though my weight has been pretty consistantly around 143-144.

Thoughts on how to keep this?

Thanks.
Cheryl

Cheryl, I have no suggestions about how to "keep" this loss but I find that I often lose after a higher caloric meal than normal. Maybe our bodies need that once in a while...

Hi Cheryl in MN!

I am in pretty much the same situation as you. I was maintaining at around 140, and this summer was away from home for six weeks, living in a borrowed apartment to do some research work. I didn't have a scale, and it was VERY hot (it was an unairconditioned apartment in Athens, Greece) to do my regular exercise, even through I had brought some resistance bands. I basically only had an hours' worth of walking commute every day. So I was very careful with my calorie intake, and when I got back I was at 136, even though I ended up quite squooshy in my upper arms. I've been back to doing my upper body resistance exercises since then and keeping up with my cardio (about 30-50min 4-5x a week) and haven't gained. And my arms have got back most of their definition, thank God.

I think at this point exercise can make a lot of difference, especially resistance exercise. Even if you don't lose poundage, you end up more compact, and look better. And it's much easier now than it was 40lb ago! I've started a C25k running program, just because I can.

What's working out hard? I'm your height and close to your weight and I'm coming out of maintenance kind of to try to get to 135 as well and am losing at 1600-1800 while training for a half marathon. I'd be losing really well, but I'm having a little trouble with binging on the weekends. So far I've lost about 6 lbs. I was maintaining 148-153, now I've been hovering at 145-147 because of the binging. If I could get a better handle on my binging I know I'd probably well on my way to 135 right now.

I think if you keep your cals where they are and kick up the exercise you will lose a little more. If you can't keep up the exercise then shave a few cals off. Good luck!

Well, ladies, your wisdom is truth. 3 days no exercise AND much lower calories (1500-1600/day) = weight gain for me. I'm back to 143 as of this AM. It is pre-TOM, so I know that plays into it, too, but sheesh. To boot, I've kept my carbs lower than usual, too (around 100g/day vs. 200g/day) and very low sugar (<20g/day).

ncuneo, I should have clarified that my workouts were hard for me as I am no where near your fitness level (you rock, by the way!). I was going strong for 60 minutes each morning: 30 minutes running + 25 minutes strength training (circuit-style, no breaks, free weights & just using body weight for resistance) + 5 minutes of cool down. For most of you on here, I realize that isn't much, but for me, it is a really good workout. I can barely squeeze in 30-40 minutes of exercise at a time when I'm home, and that is only if I can make myself get out of bed at 5am (which lately, is a huge accomplishment).

Anyway, I appreciate your comments. I guess I was dreaming a little. The delrium of seeing that 140 is gone & I have been adequately slapped back into reality. I should be satisfied with myself & happy to be in much better health physically than I was a year ago. The rest is more vanity than health related anyway...

Thanks, again.