Hey maintainers, I am still in the losing phase but I wanted to ask all of you about how you maintain and what it was like when you were approaching your goal.
I changed my eating habits at the beginning of May and I have lost 30 lbs thus far and I have had much less struggle with the diet than in the past. I sometimes overeat on Sundays (lots of desserts at my house then) and it will occasionally bleed into monday but it is nothing like the overeating that was occurring prior to losing weight.

My questions for you are as follows:
During your weight loss phase did you commit to it and never looked back or were you slipping up here and there?

As a maintainer, do you find that the internal struggle over food is the same as it was when you were heavy (I am referring to the guilt of overeating and at times, feeling out of control)?

I have never even been within 30 lbs of goal so I really don't know what it is like. I slip up a little now and I was not sure if this eventually gets better, worse, or stays the same.

Thank you for your feedback!

Hey Sunshine87!

Of course, it's different for everyone, so no one can tell you for sure how it will be for you. That's part of the fun, so to speak--finding out for yourself.

I think almost everyone goes off the beaten path occasionally while losing weight. When I lost 50 pounds originally, I was a calorie counter, and there were days when I exceeded my target because I decided I wanted to eat something high-calorie. But I didn't let that turn into a few days.

For me, maintenance was the bigger challenge. I maintained my goal weight for a year and a half, and then I began to regain slowly. I fought and fought with it, but eventually I regained to where I was within 15 pounds of my original start weight. Needless to say this was frustrating and discouraging.

I can single out a few "causes":

- One was simply that I had reached "diet exhaustion" trying to do the same thing over and over and being unable to stay with it. I was convinced that I "should" be able to eat a certain way and lose, and that I "should" be able to stay with it because I'd done it before.

- Another was thinking that I "should" be able to eat at a certain level and not gain. I based this on what online calculators told me was a maintenance level for someone of my age, weight, height, etc. It turns out that I, personally, can't eat at that level without regaining.

- Another was not understanding that sugar and carbohydrates make me want to eat MORE sugar and carbohydrates. Once I slip into overeating certain foods, it is very hard to stop, and weight gain becomes almost inevitable. I am not a binge eater, but I have been known to have seconds of foods for which I should have skipped the firsts. If I do this for several meals or days of meals... well...

So that has been my experience. I never, ever thought I would regain weight the way I did. I thought I had the answer. But, I didn't after all! As you can see, I'm currently working my way back down again, using a different program.

Good luck to you!

Jay

During your weight loss phase did you commit to it and never looked back or were you slipping up here and there?

I was pretty single-minded about it until the end, when I burnt right out. It took me as long to lose the last few pounds as it did to lose the first 35 or so. Looking back, I wasn't eating nearly enough calories for the amount of exercise I was doing, so I think that's partly why I burnt out.

As a maintainer, do you find that the internal struggle over food is the same as it was when you were heavy (I am referring to the guilt of overeating and at times, feeling out of control)?

Generally, I have felt more in control except for intense emotional distress, when everything goes out the window. For example, early this year I had 2 family deaths, 1 family cancer diagnosis, the studio I worked at closed down unexpectedly, and a few other awful things happened...I shoved food in my mouth nonstop, until I was 12 lb over maintenance weight! Luckily, stepping on the scale snapped me out of it and I've not only lost that, but am going down further than my original goal! I'm pretty sure this won't be the only time I'll have an up and then a down, but each time, I learn a little bit more about my needs and my triggers.

I don't believe in "slipping" when I eat a cookie. As a matter of fact I LOVE DESSERT. I love it so much that if I had to be overweight to eat it...then so would be it! Fortunate for me...it IS possible to have your "cake" and "eat it too!"

That said...I don't punish myself for eating foods that I like or even eating it in abundance.

It's all part of the plan that I like to call, "LIFE".

One meal/day of eating over maintenance calories will not make you regain all the weight you've lost. Several days/weeks/months of eating like that will.

As a maintainer, I find it easy/breazy cuz I continue to eat the way I did when I was losing weight...only now I eat more of the same foods/snacks. I've always allowed myself one cheat meal per week and daily desserts into my calorie counting program. Now that I'm in maintenance, when I eat goodies like fresh baked toll house cookies (baking some in the oven right now...mmmmm), my body doesn't freak out and bloat up. It's used to it. I'll have about 3-4 cookies as a snack after lunch or dinner and that's that. No weight gain. No mental torture. No saddlebags!

For a moment, I thought I was writing this post. When you said that you eat more on Sundays, and it sometimes spills into mondays....oh boy, story of my life When I was losing weight, I would let myself eat a little worse on the weekends, making that my motivation for eating well all week. Sundays are usually my whatever, I'm gonna have it days. Now in maintenence mode, Sundays are still my snacking days (I even call it "snackin sunday"). Spilling over to mondays...and now even sometimes tuesdays. Hence, I'm up 10 lbs in the last 6 or so months. I'm trying not to let one bad day get to me. I think this is tons harder at goal weight than trying to lose weight. I had no problems with food and guilt and bad eating days getting the best of me when I had the power of the scale number going down to cheer me back up. But when I don't get that reward now, seeing the scale fall and fall and fall....it's just so hard to motivate myself to be good.
My advice, if I could only follow it myself, is have those fun days. It keeps you sane. haha. Just remember to back to healthy eating the remainder of the days

I find myself completely freaked out about maintenance because the last time I lost 50lbs and actually made it under my goal, I hadn't really thought about maintenance. It was harder for me than I assumed or realized. I took for granted that I would be fine and my overeating days were behind me. I was too cocky and in 3 yrs, I regained 40lbs. This time around, I have an actual maintenance plan already in order to prepare but I am still quite scared that the same thing will happen again. I read the maintainers board a lot for helpful tips.

During your weight loss phase did you commit to it and never looked back or were you slipping up here and there?

It took me 2+ years to lose all the weight. The first year I struggled some and went on and off calorie counting. The second year was easy. I accepted the new way of eating. Also, in the second year I switched from just calorie counting to changing to a clean, vegetarian diet. That made a huge difference for me in how I felt about eating.

As a maintainer, do you find that the internal struggle over food is the same as it was when you were heavy (I am referring to the guilt of overeating and at times, feeling out of control)?

Not at all. I basically never overeat. I don't consider having 1 cookie or 1 piece of cake or 1 dinner of cheesey mexican food and margaritas to be overeating. I take great care to listen to my body and I convinced myself a long time ago that overeating sucks. So I don't eat past the point of fullness. It makes you feel like crap, so why do it?

I have never even been within 30 lbs of goal so I really don't know what it is like. I slip up a little now and I was not sure if this eventually gets better, worse, or stays the same.

I don't believe in "slipping up". I eat what I want as long as it's in a moderate quantity. Even if I do eat something not that healthy, I know it's fine because it's the exception not the rule. It's actually good for your metabolism to eat more once in awhile.

Not sure I can really be considered a maintainer since I haven't hit goal but I have been within in the same couple of pounds for about 6 months and really haven't actively been trying to lose since I am pretty happy where I am.

That being said, one thing I do on a fairly regularly basis is measure and/or weigh my food to make sure I am still keeping my portion control in check. Large portions are what got me to where I was. If you have a large meal or eat something off your plan take it for what it is, an opportunity to get right back on plan, don't feel guilty. I think that did change for me. I would feel guilty at my HW when I over ate but that did stop me from doing it day in, day out. Now I simply brush it off and get back on track.

Hi Sunshine.

I've been doing maintaince for a little over 2 years now, and I still have to catch myself pretty often. Heck, sometimes I end up falling before I catch myself, but the important thing is to get back up again...and so far I have. To answer your questions...

During your weight loss phase did you commit to it and never looked back or were you slipping up here and there?

When I decided to lose weight I went into it full steam ahead. I can count on one hand the times I went over my calorie count for the 16 months it took me to lose the weight. I just wanted it really badly, and I didn't want to linger in clothing sizes. I went from a size 30 to a 6 so that's a lot of in-between clothes even if shopping at 2nd hand or discount stores. Basically I was too cheap to buy but a few things in each size, and I didn't want to roll one clothing size over into a new "season". I wanted to save my money for a new goal wardrobe, (That I now have...too much of! lol ) I also quit smoking and drinking alcohol withing the same time period. I was a real *itch for a long time. (Some people would say that I still am. )

As a maintainer, do you find that the internal struggle over food is the same as it was when you were heavy (I am referring to the guilt of overeating and at times, feeling out of control)?

Actually when I was heavy, I didn't have guilt over food. As weird as that seems, I didn't. I ate what I wanted, when I wanted and never thought twice about it for a long time. I now have all kinds of guilt when I overeat, but I'm pretty good if I just treat myself now and then...no sweat there. I'm usually in control, but I can still binge like there is no tomorrow if given the right situation, and it makes me pretty darn sad, mad and emotional.

During your weight loss phase did you commit to it and never looked back or were you slipping up here and there?

The first 60 lbs. came off in a year, but after that I slacked off, and it took me a long time to lose the rest. However, I always knew that I'd make it, and I've been maintaining for almost five years.

As a maintainer, do you find that the internal struggle over food is the same as it was when you were heavy (I am referring to the guilt of overeating and at times, feeling out of control)?

I still have the internal struggle, but I've learned to recognize some triggers (like pain). I don't feel all that guilty over overeating because I know I will be able to lose it. Skinny people overeat, too. Like many maintainers, I have a "red line" weight so if I get to that, it's time to go into weight loss mode. The out-of-control thing only happens during times when I'm extremely upset. When my DH had a mastectomy in April, I found myself eating the entire time he was in surgery. But again, that kind of stuff is short-lived, I forgive myself and then go about the business of losing any weight I may have gained.

I think things get better, but they don't magically disappear. You just learn how to recognize what's going on and do something about it, IMHO.