Hi! I am still losing weight and have a long way to go, but sometimes i find myself wanting to know which are the challenges and the hardest part of maintaining weight loss. I ask this because i would always lose weight but was never able to maintain and i'm pretty sure that the reason this happened was because at some point i would start to slowly just deviate from healthy eating and stop weighing myself frequently. What do you find to be the hardest aspect of maintaining your new weight? Thanks in advance!

I am finding maintenance pretty easy. The key thing for me has been that because I am not on a branded diet I have been able to experiment as I have lost weight with foods and exercise that work for me.

If I had been just eating a shake every day, I would have been able to lose but would have no idea how to maintain. Same with most of the other diets out there.

So if you are on a branded diet you might consider what foods you will eat on maintenance.

Of course there is always a chance that you can just keep eating what you are eating and your weight will bottom out and maintain by itself.

Exercise has really helped me maintain as well. So if you do not do that, you might want to start.

That it never ends.

I lost the weight initially back in 2007. You'd think it would get easier. In many ways, it never has. Not permanently, anyway. There are times when I'm on automatic pilot, but there are other times when I struggle with the rigidity that it seems to require, because it seems to limit & circumscribe my life and not allow much for growth and change.

Not getting complacent has been very hard for me. I've been more off track than on this entire pregnancy and it's killing me. But getting back on the wagon is a huge challenge, especially when you're still eating fairly controlled and restricted, just not enough to keep the weight off.

Some seasons of weight maintenance have been so easy for me, but lately it has been terribly hard. Not giving up and throwing in the towel in the face of this has been very hard for me, but very necessary.

Most people go about this backwards. They let the diet dictate maintenance. They base everything on the scale or a clothing size.

Unless you come up with a way of eating and exercising that allows you to feel satisfied, you may find yourself feeling unhappy, guilty, and stressed most of the time as you struggle to keep your weight at that arbitrary number you chose as your goal. Eventually, you may get exhausted from this struggle.

I speak from experience.

A better way to proceed would be to start NOW thinking about what and how you want to eat for the rest of your life. Don't get caught up in the idea of "forbidden foods." Don't set calorie goals so low that you are hungry all the time. Don't make your choices so rigid that every social opportunity becomes a stressful event.

Think NOW about what kind of exercise you'll do and how often. Don't think that you can exercise strenuously every single day without a break as a way of controlling weight.

You may find that you can't stay at that arbitrary, low number you chose as your goal and have a life, too. So be it. It's better to be a few pounds above that goal than to stress yourself to the point where you give up a plan entirely.

Thanks to all for the insightful responses! I thought i'd explain to you what my lifestyle is like. I usually have 3 meals (a big lunch and 2 smaller and yet satisfying meals) and 3 small snacks (fruits/iogurt). I do 20k on my stationary bike 6 days a week and i love it! This time i'm losing weight slower than i have in all my last attempts but withouth suffering or deprivation. I love sweets so i have some everyday but the portion is reasonable. I'll have pasta for lunch and then a big salad for dinner. My eating strategy is close to intuitive eating although i do have some flexible guidelines which i try to follow. If i have a binge episode (i've always struggled with binge eating) i don't beat myself down and just go back to eating healthy. I try to exercise a bit more when i binge, though. I'm trying to walk more and use my car less. I'm also going for long walks with DP who absolutely loves all things nature and exercise while i've been a more books-and-movies kind of person. I think this time i'm doing something that will actually work....!

Some very wise words from JayEll.

For me, focusing on activities other than food helped tremendously. Catching the ultramarathon bug made it even easier to maintain. In fact, I've been losing despite my sometimes very bad eating habits (too much junk still in my diet).

You sound very grounded and seem to have a good plan going for you. Long walks are great and it's wonderful that you get to spend time with your husband too. I would continue doing it forever if I were you!

Most days my good habits are in control of my life and it is mostly easy and everything on auto pilot. Frankly, I do best on auto pilot -- sounds boring, probably, but just cruising through with the same-old, same-old in the food and eating department is best for me, keeps me on an even keel.

Occasionally hard days crop up, particularly if I've stepped outside of my good habits, for whatever reason, then I start rationalizing more poor choices, than I can go through a rougher period.

Sometimes I willful "forget" that I don't do well with the idea of "all things in moderation" and I fancy myself "fixed" (in terms of my food problems), and that will lead to a rough patch.

I like everything said here.

Interessting reading the answers. I havd to approach this from more of an addictive point of view. I have to be ultra careful to not fall off the maintenence wagon. I know from past experience it is always a slippery slope for me.

So different people have different underlying reasons for the weight issues. For me, I will always have to be hyper-vigilant about maintaining. The secret to my success is never forgetting it. And believe me, it took a lot of decades to fully figure that out.

I did gain 3 lbs the beginning of June. But honestly some say the 3 lbs look better on me because I am in my 60s. So it becomes either a matter of making sure not to gain any more. Or to lose. My choice. But to remain vigilant. This is the only way I will be able to maintain

Arctic Mama, Haven't heard from you in awhile. Are you OK?

Maintaining your weight should be an easy task, if you are already used to eating healthy.

However... I do find it difficult at times to say "no" when, while having dinner with friends or family members, they keep bringing in more food, and cake, and they offer me soda or wine refills...

I know how my lifestyle will be like for the rest of my life (I hope) so the fact that friends and family will feel offended when I don't eat pounds and pounds of food at one meal is kind of a bummer.