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I have a huuuuge DON'T: wait until you've gained more than 2-3 lbs to take action. I know most people say their weight fluctuates a lot, but mine doesn't (call me weird, but if I eat at maintenance level every day I won't see more than 1 lb difference). So, note to self for next time I'm at goal: 2 lbs above goal means red alert!!

Nice thread Here are a couple of mine.

Do: The Math

We all balance our food and exercise in different ways, but it all comes down to math in the end. Pay attention to what you're eating and how much you're moving. I don't journal every day anymore, but I always keep at least a running rough estimate in my head. The times I've stopped doing this, I've gained weight. Period.

Do: Plan ahead

For me, going into each day/week knowing (basically) what I'm going to eat and how I'm going to move leads to much better choices than when I wing it.

Don't: Keep elastic waisted anything in your closet Okay, work out pants are okay, but that's it.

In adddition to the good suggestions already, I'd like to add:

DON'T compare your weight, frame, rate of weight loss etc to someone else. WE are all individuals.

DO plan for maintenance. Do the research to see how it is almost exactly the same as what you did to lose the weight. (It is not about weight loss... but weight control.)

Here's my don't:



Heh. Thanks Meg!

Anne

I love your don't, Anne!

As a "relapsed" maintainer, I'll second everything you've mentioned. My two big things are

Do: Plan Everything: food, exercise, rest

Don't: Live in Denial When you see that scale moving in the wrong direction - take action!

I realize now that I had never planned for maintenance. I just got to a decent weight/size, and ate and exercised the same as I had been while losing. This worked fine for about 18 months when 3 things happened:

(1) I lost my "controlled" environment. In 2000 when I was finishing my journey downward I was living in Seattle while my DH was in a cancer treatment program. We lived there for 8 months (Jan-Aug) virtually isolated from family, friends, and social events. We seldom went anywhere and so as long as I shopped well, I could eat right. Plus, I wasn't working. Most weeks I had plenty of time to exercise. There was a small gym in our apt building, a running track in a park a few blocks away, and given the traffic/parking situation I walked a lot of places. After awhile I got the opportunity to do temporary work which as a benefit let me join a really nice big gym in the same building for reduced rates. I ran a lot in the 8 months we were there, including several 5K races.

(2) In the late summer of 2001 I developed PF in my left foot. I had continued running and taking aerobic classes when we moved back home the year before and maintained my weight loss. Once I had the PF, I was unable to run, and basically stopped exercising, though I continued - mostly - to eat right.

(3) In the fall of 2001, I changed jobs. The job I'd had before I went to Seattle and when we came back was very active. I was an IT Tech in a building that was a converted old school. It's 3 stories, with only one - very slow - elevator in the center of the building. I was all over the building fixing people's computer problems, and unless I had to move a PC I used the stairs. I was up and down them all day long, and lifting lots of computer equipment. In October 2001 I changed to my current job - which I love much more - as a library director (which is what my degree is in - but life, as we all know, takes some interesting turns along the way. It's a whole nother story!). But this job requires a lot of sitting at a computer, sitting in meetings, etc. I walk around and stand a fair amount, but nothing like my old job.

Add to the above that we were now back home, living among our friends, going to social events again. After a year or so DH was able to go out again. I got less diligent about eating (never having actually been told much about maintenance). Slowly but steadily the weight came back. And I didn't weigh daily. It took a couple years before I went back to exercising regularly, and even longer before I "woke up" and realized that I had regained much of what I'd fought so hard to lose. Denial is a powerful tool. And even then it's taken me much much longer to get the fat moving than it did 6-7 years ago. Sigh. You'd think at my age I'd be smarter.

Now however, I've realized that no matter what I cannot just throw in the towel and let the pounds come back again. I have to do this the rest of my life if I want to enjoy the rest of my life. I see people my age (61) who are in much worse shape than I and I don't want to be there. To be fair, I was just on a vacation with Elderhostel in April and most of those folks - all 55 or over - were in great shape, able to hike several miles at 5K-6K feet. And so was I - made me feel great! I want to keep feeling this way. My new hero is the geologist on the Elderhostel trip - he's 78 and still hiking most days!

I am 3# from my goal. One of the things I have learned is that eating off my program is for a very special event/holiday. I learned early on that eating differently just because we had more company doesn't cut it. I plan ahead and take food with me if going to any cookout or picnic situation so that I know there will be food that I can enjoy also. I never count on others to have the proper food for me. I know now which restaurants to choose, that have a variety of food that I can choose from. I don't want to ever feel deprived and get that "I deserve it" attitude that caused me to regain the weight that I lost in the past. I am trying to learn as much as possible about maintenance and this board has been a wonderful help. I want to stay looking younger, leaner and feeling healthier. I had been so sick for past 3 yrs. that I never want to feel that way again. The other big thing for me is learning that I needed to continue to weigh at least weekly and never go above a 5# margin before taking the weight off again. Many times in the past I'd go years without even weighing myself. I plan to still journal my food daily once on maintenance and journal my exercise. I don't ever want to be lax again and let my lbs. creep back.

Do's:

• Eat as many fruits and vegetables as you can stomach!
• Exercise 6 days a week, and take one active rest day
• Take up an active hobby and make active friends
• Get rid of the fat clothes
• Indulge once in a while on something that is really worth the calories
• Expect life changes that will require lifestyle changes
• Learn when to be flexible and when to stand firm

Dont's:

• Eat mindlessly
• Eat all the crap that people bring to work
• Forget your own story and your reasons for doing this
• Make excuses
• Expect perfection

DO recognize your trigger foods.

DON'T be afraid to not keep them around. (I was just reminded of this rule becuase my BF just informed me that "WE HAVE NOTHING TO EAT!"... nothing you can munch on...)

DON'T be afraid of your thinner self. DON'T apologize for not ordering dessert with everyone else or turning down seconds.

DO give yourself a chance to like the "good" food... you never know which random vegetable will turn into a staple.

I think I would modify this one a little. I give myself permission to take days off every once in a while, and I think it is an essential part of my maintenance. I would never take a whole week off, but I think for some of us taking a day off once every couple months is okay -- as long as I don't take two days off in a row. But I guess the thing is that when I take a "day off" it's not like I'm not thinking about food -- I make a conscious decision that I am going to eat whatever I want, but I still try not to OVEReat. Maybe that is what you meant anyway!

DO:

• Change up your exercise routine. As soon as I start to get bored of the same old thing, I start to put less effort into it and it goes down the tubes.
• Allow treats, but make sure you have planned for them.
• Keep an eye on the scale! You were right on with this one Meg!

DON'T:

• Be really hard on yourself if you screw up. So you ate too much pizza. Tomorrow is a new day and you can make up for it then! One mistake doesn't mean you have to gain it all back.
• Keep your fat clothes. If you have to buy something new when you outgrow your jeans, it will be a big reminder that you're gaining!
• Think that you have to eat or exercise like anyone else, INCLUDING other maintainers. What works for some people doesn't work for others!

I'm not a maintaier - YET! - but most of these do's and don'ts apply to the weightloss journey too! I'm printing them off.
Big thanks to Meg and the other contributors.

Yeah, that was the piece of the weight loss puzzle I missed for 20 years - maintenance is exactly the same thing as losing weight. I do exactly the same thing - food journal, count calories, make healthy food goals (5+ servings of vegetables a day), etc. The only difference is the number of calories per day is higher in maintenance mode. Everything else - exactly the same as weight loss.

DO - Commit to healthy living for your lifetime

DO - Stay accountable. I weigh myself once a week. If my weight is up by 2 lbs, I lower my calories for 1 week until my weight drops back to maintenance level. I have set a "warning bell" weight and I do not let myself go over it.

DON'T - Let a treat meal become a treat day (weekend, week, month, year)

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

That is the KEY to the whole weight loss puzzle, like you said. Wish we had a place here at the Maintainers Forum to engrave it:

Maintenance is exactly the same thing as losing weight.

Thank you!

DO keep journals and notes and things and DO reread them often.