Living Maintenance general maintenance topics and discussions

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Old 11-08-2014, 08:02 PM   #1  
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Default How many Maintainers have NOT regained?

Just wondering.... it's somewhat disheartening (not being judgey!) to read about the posts on regaining although i applaud them for trying again.

I'm in maintenance for probably 2 yrs or more (never really kept track) and i realize health and weight maintenance is a DAILY thing and would like to read some success stories on those here who have maintained for a long time and how long? I'm not talking about a regain/loss of the same 10 lbs or less but a significant regain....
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Old 11-08-2014, 11:13 PM   #2  
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While I've had some regain, it's been less than 10 pounds. I've been maintaining for over 7 years now. One day at a time. I'm currently under my redline of 125.
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Old 11-09-2014, 07:33 AM   #3  
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The question becomes, how do you define maintenance, and what is one maintaining, exactly?

I was 257 at one point., back in 2006. Got down to the 140s and as low as 138 by 2008. Got into strength training and less vigilant about my eating. Went up to 159. (It's important to me that the number begins with one this time around, not two!) Am now seriously embarked on working my way back down.

So I maintained a loss of 98 pounds since, oh, sometime in 2007 -- but no, I did not maintain the entire difference between my highest, 257, and my lowest, 138, in that time.

Am I still a maintainer?

I don't see myself as a failure. I am human. Life happened. I got promoted three times, a parent died slowly and horribly of cancer, my apartment was flooded out & gutted & rebuilt, I went through menopause, I got older, different joints flared up, I lost my hearing in one ear and my inner ear balance through a virus, I changed my physical training, I went through different ways of eating.

There are people who are better at this and maintain at a tighter range for longer periods of time.

I did the best that I could. I am trying to do the best that I can.

Last edited by saef; 11-09-2014 at 07:34 AM.
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Old 11-09-2014, 08:06 AM   #4  
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saef, the best you can do, is the best you can do. I think you are doing great, lots of determination and will power.
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Old 11-09-2014, 06:00 PM   #5  
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I also haven't kept track of a maintenance date - but it's been a few years. I stopped actively trying to lose weigh when I was hovering between 128-132, but I actually ended up losing a bit more after that.

I never had a significant re-gain - I definitely get myself in check when I notice my clothes starting to tighten (I don't weigh myself at all anymore. Long story but I get very neurotic when I do that, so I use the "pants-o-meter" )
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Old 11-09-2014, 07:50 PM   #6  
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I reached my Weight Watcher goal of 169 in October 2006. Not sure when I lost the remaining 8 lbs. to make it 100 lbs. lost, but probably sometime in 2007. Last winter I lost 17 more pounds. So I consider that I've been maintaining a significant weight loss since Oct. 2006 and have not regained in those eight years.
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Old 11-09-2014, 09:21 PM   #7  
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I've maintained a significant weight loss now for 5 years. In march of 2008 I weighed 333 pounds, by July of 2009 I reached my goal of a normal bmi of 156. I did go on to lose an additional 15 pounds, but had to fight like **** to maintain 140. I've gained and lost around 25 pounds several time in the last few years.

Like Saef, significant life struggles have happened over the last 2 years. Went through being the primary caregiver of my elderly mother and father in law, to losing them both this spring within a month of each other. Now we are going though their mountains of personal items saved in their one and only home of 64 years of marriage. Cleaning, sorting and dumping "stuff", and fixing up their house to put on the market. Many long trips, lots of eating on the road and much pain and sorrow, but every single day I wake up and try.

I've stayed between 155 to 165 thoughout the deaths, funerals and now the estate process. One of these days I'll kick it into gear and get back to a comfortable size 6 but until then I just refuse to give up. I will never become obese again.

Last edited by Lori Bell; 11-09-2014 at 09:24 PM.
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Old 11-09-2014, 10:24 PM   #8  
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well, to me, maintaining is not regaining most of the weight, or a *significant* amount of the weight back. To me i think that would be more than 25 lbs.

BUT.. like you all i haven't escaped lifes ills at all, in fact it seems my entire life has been hard which is why it took me until about age 48 to even CONSIDER going on a weight loss journey, i knew that if i went down that road i would have to want to commit for life, whatever that meant. I too have a plethora of health issues and the older i get, the more sorrowful and hard things happen, at least around here! But... at least for now and this is why i'm asking for those who have had victory to weigh in..i've managed not to stress eat like i used to and have maintained a "normal" weight for probably 2 1/2 yrs and want it to stay that way, want to be encouraged that i won't be one of the what...80% of people they say regain all of it back, i just don't want to be that statistic.

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Old 11-11-2014, 10:21 PM   #9  
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I achieved my major goal (normal BMI) in March, 2012, then revised my goal lower (135 lbs). Within days of hitting that one I became pregnant, and I gained close to 100 lbs in pregnancy. I was back down to a normal BMI within a year pp, and since then I've just slowly drifted back down without a ton of real effort. I was back in the low 130s this summer, and planned to try to maintain below 135, but I've (unintentionally) lost a few more lbs since then. So I don't really know when maintenance began for me. 2.5 years ago? This past summer? I'm not sure it matters in any practical way, but I like categories and definitions and things that make sense.

Regaining in my pregnancy was very, very upsetting for me. I felt like I had no control over my body, and it was so difficult to manage that emotionally after having worked so hard to gain control. The situation didn't FEEL temporary, and I thought all my hard work had been a waste. Thankfully, after gave birth I was able to go back to the habits I'd ingrained, and 75% of the weight came off with almost no conscious effort on my part. I wasn't thrilled with my weight at/around 150 lbs, but I could live with it, and was fine enough with it to put only minimal effort into losing further. It wasn't anything close to the gangbusters approach I'd applied the first time around.

The perspective of that entire pregnancy gaining/losing experience was good, I think. I am 100% certain that I never, EVER want to be obese again, and I will do everything I can to keep that from happening. A regain of 20 lbs from where I am today? Not at all desirable, but I could live with it. Obesity, that awful discomfort in my own skin - no. Not happening ever again.
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Old 11-12-2014, 06:52 PM   #10  
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September 2014 was 3 years of maintaining for me.

I stay within 2 pounds either way of my goal, a WW thing. I probably would not sustain this if weren't for the fact I still go to meetings, and 4 weeks ago, after the retirement of our leader, I took the leader position. I need the accountability and support, and am finding I'm really enjoying my new role. I would have never thought I would look forward to public speaking, who knew?

As far as what would be considered a maintaining number, I think is relative to the individual. Too many variables to say it should be 5 or 10 or 25 or whatever.
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Old 11-12-2014, 09:53 PM   #11  
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I only lost 40 pounds to begin with (162 to 122), and have regained ~5 pounds over the last 18 months, but have kept off 35 since 2010. And, I'm working now on getting back below my redline of 125 with a carb-cycling program I copied from Michele.

Long-term maintainers are uncommon but not exceptional. Recent stats say ~10% of dieters maintain within 10% of their goal weight after 10 years (substantially better than the prior figure I've seen, of 5% successful maintenance at 2 years. Something tells me that was a biased study).
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Old 11-13-2014, 07:26 AM   #12  
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For all of my adult life I've been up and down. From my highest weight of 180, I yoyo-ed back up to 160. Prior to the upswing that reached 160, you might have considered me a "successful" maintainer since the swings weren't as large. However, I never truly felt in control of the situation. This last time (coming down from 160) I lost weight using a very different approach (basically eating less often) and so far, maintenance has been much less of a struggle.

So, this go-round I've only been maintaining for a few months and I don't have a track record of success, but for the first time in my life I feel on top of it, have been maintaining successfully, and I'm hopeful that I might be able to ditch the yoyo strategy.

Last edited by yoyoma; 11-13-2014 at 07:27 AM.
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Old 11-13-2014, 01:32 PM   #13  
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I've been in maintenance for 2 years.

I haven't been tempted to return to the sort of eating and lack of exercise that allowed me to regain large amounts of weight in the past. I also don't have any impediment (illness or injury) that prohibit me from walking every day, so I would have to a have a life-altering happenstance to change my better health habits these days. I have my days where I eat whatever I want and calories be damned, but the rest of the time I find it hard to overeat high calorie food or binge endlessly/mindlessly without feeling ill. That's what keeps me in check.
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Old 11-19-2014, 04:25 PM   #14  
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My maintenance has been straightforward, though I suppose I've been slipping down a bit each year. It is easy to stick to, namely because I'm fortunate enough to have a pretty easy life, with the ability to regulate my routines and keep to them. I go to the bathroom, exercise, work, eat and sleep at the same times most days. I have plenty of time to prepare my own food and have developed a taste for balanced and nutritious food. My body likes healthy food and feels ill after too much junk or excessive caloric intake. Sometimes it feels like it's doing all the work for me.
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Old 11-28-2014, 10:35 AM   #15  
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I haven't posted here in a while, so "hi" to all!

OP, I lost between 40-50 lbs. (didn't have an initial weigh-in, so the best I can do is estimate). I've been maintaining for three years now. I stopped weighing myself several months ago because it was causing me to be anxious and I didn't want to live like that.

Over the past several months I've had to lower my daily maintenance calories by 100 per day because I noticed that I was was slowly gaining. I could tell by the fit of my clothes. I don't know whether my metabolism has slowed down, my body has gotten too used to my exercise routine (so more efficient & burning fewer calories), or I'm just less rigid with weighing and measuring (I suspect it's a combination of the last two reasons).

At this point, though, I still feel good about maintaining and am not panicking about the gain of probably under 10 lbs. After all, I can still wear all my clothes and my face looks better than it did at my lowest weight.

Like others, I've gone through some significant stresses: just had to put one of my dogs to sleep and the other, I'm afraid, will be shortly following him; this has been a major heartbreak for me as I do not have children, so my dogs are my "babies." As such, I'm still very proud of myself for staying on target with regular exercise and counting calories. I have not gone the route that I've frequently gone in the past of saying "to heck with it" and just eating anything and everything in sight. Could my eating be better? Definitely. But in evaluating my choices---more stringent eating/lower weight vs. looser eating/a bit higher weight---I chose the latter. The point is, though, that it was a conscious decision, and I do not feel as if I let go of the reins and was out of control. I think mindset defines maintenance success almost as much as the number on the scale.

Last edited by lin43; 11-28-2014 at 10:36 AM.
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