Hi ya'll! I'm new to maintenance (as you can tell by the title of my post). I'm so happy to be here...and have long awaited this time. The time where I can eat more and exercise less. Don't get me wrong. I NEVER want to go back to my old way of eating. I'm too spoiled now to ever go back. I appreciate quality foods and as such hope to eat it for all eternity.

That said, I've been hearing alot of comments from other members about the difficulty of maintenance. For the LIFE of me, I can't see it.

Hoping that some of you long term maintainers can shed some light on this issue. I feel I must be missing something.

My plan is to maybe drop one more pound (just to get to an even 60..what the heck, right?) Next, I will eat my regularly scheduled GOURMET low/moderate calorie meals, however, I will add an extra day of cheat meals. Like a chinese food night or a pizza night both in the same week. I already have things like pies, muffins and ice cream incorporated into my diet (yes, even going to baskin robbins on occassion and eating a full pint of my favorite icecream..YUM!)

Next...I will reduce my running days (to save my knees...I'm 44 yrs old now and would like to walk upright by the time I'm 54) I currently run 5.4 miles 4 days/week. That will reduce to 5.4 miles 3 days a week. If I continue losing weight, I will drop it 2 days/week (10.8 miles). Easy breezy....right? Discuss.

So whatuch guys think about my MAINTENANCE plan? Sooooo stoked! WoOt!

I have found maintenance to be more difficult than the losing phase. Having the mindset that, "now I can eat more of what I want because I'm at goal" is a recipe for disaster. You really can't eat a lot more than you did while losing and if you're like most people who have issues with food, you should really stay away from treats as much as possible while maintaining too. I almost always pick fruit over sweets, I stick to fish, chicken, salads and whole grains. I'm not saying you can't indulge on occasion, but (in my case) it is more of a rare occasion. If I let myself think like I used to, that I've got it under control at goal weight, I'll be back up over 200 lbs before I know it.

I found, over the years that I could lose. I just couldn't maintain that loss.When I got to goal last time I asked the people who had maintained for a long period of time how they did it .Their answer was they maintained the same way they lost. What a concept ! I followed their advice, I still count calories, I still keep a food log, I still plan all meals ahead of time. It works. I find that when I stop weighing daily and when I stop counting calories and when I stop planning my days menus, troubles lie ahead.

Ditto.

I had the same attitude when I started maintenance, just keep doing what I'm doing but more treats - how hard can that be??? Well it is very hard, for me anyway. Probably because I want treats all the time so I'm constantly having to tell myself no and the internal struggle leads to binging. I indulge, don't get me wrong, but I want to indulge more often than I should. I love healthy food most of the time, but sometimes...oh boy.

Then there are all my emotional eating issues that were disguised by my determination to lose weight. So now I need to deal with that and that is hard.

I could go on and on about why it's hard for me, the fact is maybe it will be hard for you maybe it won't, only time will tell. All that matters is that you find a maintenance plan that works for you. I'd caution you on adding cals AND decreasing exercise, I'd only do one of those or only one of those at a time. There are tons of other forms of exercise that are great for your knees, I've recently fallen in love with yoga.

Anyway, good luck and congrats!!!!

My only suggestion is to do anything slowly. Want to increase your meals? You said include an extra cheat meal per week. That sounds fine, but keep a close eye on the meal/calories/scale for the next few days afterward. Of course, you may be one of the lucky ones that still loses on higher calories!

Want to decrease your running (I had to for my knees, too!)...again, watch the scale.

What I've found, and I'm no expert, maintaining is just as much work as losing weight. I need to be very diligent during the week so I can have fun meals on the weekends (when I like to entertain).

My maintenance started about 5 years ago. I was pretty good for the first two years and then gained 5 pounds. And then 5 more the next year. I really got lost and here I am on my way back to maintenance. It's a hard mindset to have--you have to watch your diet for ever.

This! This is the key. I cannot stop watching what I eat. Sure, there are cheat meals and sometimes an occassional cheat day but I ensure that I get back on the wagon shortly after. So far its working - almost 6 months in.

May you not live to regret writing these words.

It's like balancing on one foot for long periods of time.

The hard part is the "forever" part, which I deal with (as I do with many things) by trying not to think about it.

It's hard for me to accept that by being fat for so long, I really screwed up my body, permanently & irreparably, and it's always going to want to revert back to fat storage mode. That it takes very little to put it back there -- much, much less than it does for other people. I can simulate the appearance of someone who's been at a slender healthy weight all her life, but underneath the surface, there's always going to be a tremendous effort at self-monitoring & working for it.

(Regrets, I've had a few.)

Take it from someone who just came back to 3FC after losing maintenance focus... it happens.

I had gotten down to a little TOO thin, so I actually had to try to put a little weight back on. Well, that was fine and I sat at my ideal weight for maybe 6 months... but then -little by little- old, bad habits began to creep back in.

I started drinking less water. Then I started working out less. Then I stopped paying attention to my "full" signals. Then I started munching late at night.

Lucky for me, I caught myself before things spun out of control (I always said if I ever hit the 130 mark I went too far and I needed to go back to 3FC... and here I am)... but I still have 8 lbs to lose again and I have to revert back to my old vigilance.

There's nothing bad about eating more and exercising less . . . until you start gaining weight. If your plan for maintenance works out without you gaining any weight, great! But sometimes you think, oh, I can add this much more food and exercise this much less and I should still maintain according to this calculator, and then it turns out not to be the case. The amount of food you can add back varies tremendously from person to person. One person can add back multiple treat days, where the same amount of food for another person could make them gain 1lb/week.

The hardest thing about maintenance IMO is that it is not a constant. There is no calculator or formula that can tell you how much you can eat and exercise to maintain your weight -- you have to just try it and see. Then 5 years down the line, the same thing that worked for the past 5 years might suddenly stop working and you have to figure out something new.

You know what? I hope it works for you. I really do! For me, I didn't put back any of those sugary and carb-laden foods into what I ate, and I still regained. And also for me, if I ate like that for one week, I would be up 5 pounds by the end.

So--gosh! Good luck! Be sure to check in and keep posting, because many folks here are interested to see what happens.

Jay

GOOD STUFF LADIES..THANKS!!! Well...I just thought I'd add...I stopped counting calories for the last 5 pounds (which took me over 2 months to lose btw ), so I think I'll be ok just watching portion sizes and listening to my body.

I've also come to the conclusion that I am a mesomorphe prone to be naturally pretty lean and muscular with minimal effort. I really never knew this, cuz all I used to focus on was my thighs (which I always thought were HUGE), but now (after 44 yrs) have come to realize the reason I could never lose them was because they are MUSCLE!!! Duhhhhhhh!

As some of you have said, the tendency to overeat treats, etc can "sneak up on you", so I'll look out for that. Actually...that was one of my MAIN REASONS for incorporating my Jamaican food, pizza's & chinese take out into my weight loss regimen. It was important for me to be able to eat like I want to eat (I love food...especially sweets).

When I sit back and think of how I got fat, it's really not rock science. I quit smoking, gain a ton, went through depressing times, ate fast food/processed foods like it was going out of season and to an EXTREME EXCESS and whammmmo...gained 60 lbs in less than a year! For me, it's always been "ALL or NOTHING" or some other kind of extreme. I've tried every diet and/or supplement known to mankind. I've been a bodybuilder and/or a cardio queen, a gymrat/bunny and a couch potato. I really feel like I've come full spectrum in this and what is learned is:

This journey for me was about learning moderation. I CAN eat foods I love. I CAN eat carbs. Losing weight is FUN. I am a RUNNER and I like it! (who knew?) You don't have to workout 7 days a week, twice a day...you don't have to eat egg whites and celery sticks...you don't have to take all the latest GET SLIM FAST or LIPOSLIM supplements to get fit. HUNGER is NOT (I repeat), NOTTTTT a bad thing....it's your body's way to telling you..."hey fool...I pitty you if you don't give me some nutrients!" Exercise should not be WORK...it should be FUN! Moving is LIVING! You DON'T have to eat the ENTIRE PLATE full of food....you can have some more next week. Sodium is a flavor ENHANCER...and should NOT be used as your food's primary source of flavor!!! Oh and the list goes on and on...

Thank you ladies...you've given me alot to ponder over going forward and provide me with hope for the future.

You sound a lot like me. I think that when you really learn to love what you're eating and you aren't bemoaning the loss of infinite quantities of pizza and/or chips, that's when you win. I've only been doing the maintenance thing for a few months, but so far it's easy. I basically went from calorie counting to not calorie counting, but I did not reduce my exercise (because I love it and I am still working on toning/building muscle)

It took me 2+ years to lose all the weight I wanted to lose and that gave me plenty of time to adapt to my new lifestyle/habits. I have absolutely no desire to go back to sitting on my *** eating all day. What a waste of time that was!

I'm following Susie Orbach's Five Keys from her book "On Eating" and it works great for me.

1. Eat when you are hungry
2. Stop the moment you are full
3. Figure out why you eat when you aren't hungry
4. Savor every bite
5. Eat what you are hungry for

It's a great little book if you're looking for something nice and organic to incorporate into your life.

K8yk - Thanks for the tip! I like the sound of that book, with the exception of one rule..."Stop the moment you are full". That wouldn't work for me because by the time my brain realizes that my stomach is full...it's too late...I'm ready to BUST! I like monitoring "portion sizes". This way I assure that I never overeat or undereat. Below are some pics of the reasons why I know I love the way I eat and why I'll never go back to burgers & fries!

I have no clue of the calorie count of the below food entrees (estimate between 300-450 cals.) as I stopped counting calories over a month ago. I DO know that my pumpkin raisin muffins are 139 cals.

I have found maintenance harder than losing weight, also. Like has already been said, it is a long term commitment and things start to creep back in . And, things start to slow down as we age. I used to say "Wow, I can cheat on the weekend and eat a big meal and be fine even if I don't exercise as much! Wow, this is a no-brainer!" Not any more. It was super easy for the first year or two, then it wasn't so easy anymore. I hope that doesn't happen for you, but I have seen it happen with a lot of people who didn't make any changes and still logged, counted, exercised and restricted. Not just me. The calculators just don't work anymore, and my exercise doesn't seem to burn anything at all.

I also have a body type that is more pre-disposed to be slim. You can still override that pretty easily if you aren't careful.

Good luck to you, hope it works out for you.

Firstly, congrats on your loss!

Like Shannon, I found the first 1-2 years of maintenance to be fairly easy and then the creep started. I continued working out at losing levels but allowed myself more treats, and those treats became too many. As others have said I think maintenance is tough because of the "forever" thing. After a while staying on plan is tough! I think your plan sounds alright, but I would only add the cheat meal/week or take away a day of exercise one at a time. See how each thing affects your weight. If it's stable, make the next change. It's all about little tweaks to see what works for you. I would also suggest as others said, possibly finding new ways you enjoy to stay active that are easier on your knees if you don't want to run as often. Yoga, cycling, swimming, elliptical, strength training, etc. If I didn't exercise often, I know I would have regained all of my weight, not just some!

BTW, your meals do look delicious. Have you posted the recipes on 3fc anywhere? If yes, could you share a link? If no, could you post them in the maintainers favorite recipes thread at the top of the forum? I'm always looking for new healthy recipes! Thanks!