[sacha]

Well, I have. I am 130 and 5'5/30 years old with 2 kids. I was 120, 23, no kids at original goal. I have "regained" but I survived 3 pregnancies without a ridiculous permanent gain so I think that's still maintenance. We need to be realistic with time. Age does not mean we will gget "fat" but we will age naturally and there are changes that are okay

[ChrisMohr]

Hi all,
I'm 6'3"+ in height. At my worst, I was at 237 several years ago. My lowest adult weight was a couple years ago at 179. Now I'm at 208, at my very worst and soon to be losing to get below 200. My normal range for the last two years (not counting occasional forays above during the holidays) is around 195-205.
My wife Karen is a great maintainer. When we married 31 years ago, she was around 137 (she's only 5'3"). She got down to 115 in 1984 and stayed in the 113-120 range for over 20 years with almost no exceptions. Three years ago, her cholesterol went up and she went down into the range of 102-110 and has not gone over 110 even during the holidays! And her cholesterol is below 200 as a result. She made it through menopause and into her 60s with no weight gain, actually a weight loss. We both exercise a lot, and she is the more disciplined of the two of us. And she too is human. Last night she had a rare cheesecake binge!
Maintenance for me is about narrowing the weight range. I used to lose 40 pounds over 6 months then gain it all back over two years. Pretty unhealthy. Now I gain and lose in closer to a 10-pound range. Feeling a little bad that I'm out of that range today, but on January 2 we will get back on track, and by the summer I'll be back in the 190s I'm confident.

[lin43]

Originally Posted by ChrisMohr

Maintenance for me is about narrowing the weight range. I used to lose 40 pounds over 6 months then gain it all back over two years. Pretty unhealthy. Now I gain and lose in closer to a 10-pound range. Feeling a little bad that I'm out of that range today, but on January 2 we will get back on track, and by the summer I'll be back in the 190s I'm confident.

What an insightful comment! I think it's pretty accurate overall, too. Years ago, when I read the book Thin for Life I remember that one of the commonalities among many of the maintainers is that they had a weight maintenance range of 5-10 lbs. These were people that had maintained for five years or more (if my memory serves).