Would love to get some feedback from people in maintenance (or others who may have valuable thoughts!). I lost 55 pounds over the last two and a half years. For the first part of this year, my loss has slowed drastically. While I would still like to lose probably another 20 pounds, I've decided for now (maybe the next few months?) I'm going to take the pressure off and make a commitment to maintain instead of setting more weight loss goals. I have weighed myself daily for the last year, and I know I'll need to continue doing that.

On my current plan (5:2, form of intermittent fasting) I've found maintaining to be pretty easy. I know I could lose on 5:2 again with some additional changes (and maybe a third fast/week), but I'm not willing to let further calorie restriction or dietary changes interfere with my workout routine or social life at this time, to be honest. I've been really enjoying running lately and I just can't eat less and have enough energy to run!

I'm at my lowest ever adult weight. BMI says I'm overweight, but in reality any further loss would be for vanity as I'm a perfectly healthy young adult (I also know weighing less will make certain activities easier/more fun, like running, rock climbing, and backpacking). I'm moving to Colorado in the next month or two, and I think once we get settled there, that might be a good time to get back to it.

Have any of you ever purposefully switched to maintenance before reaching your goal weight? Did you set a timeline for yourself? How did you get back to it? I'm afraid of committing myself to maintenance and never finding the "right time" to get back to losing.

But overall I guess I am just looking for support, that it's "okay" to just stop for a little while. I know that sounds silly, but for some reason its been difficult for me to accept even though its what I want.

As I get closer to goal (which I am not sure I will ever reach) I find myself sitting pretty for often months at a time before taking deep dives to try and get closer to goal. I don't set any timelines but times just come when I grit my teeth, dig down and try to lose another 5lbs. This normally involves cutting something from my maitnenance diet. As I get close to goal, losing becomes very hard. From a single change in my diet I can get another 5lbs at best. Not like in the old days when a single change would get me a 4lb/week loss for months!

The other trick you might try is to do the occassional run but then to not eat back. I know it is hard but this can be effective every now and again. Running is a great excuse to eat, but it is just that....an excuse. I know because I do it.

Ok, obviously not a maintainer, but I see absolutely no reason to not take maintenance breaks here and there. it's good practice. It allows your journey to take a more natural path and it's also sending yourself the message that for now this is "good enough". It doesn't have to be perfect!

For sure you are healthier and fitter now than 55 pounds ago. Treasure that and never lose sight of that. Health is the goal and maybe at some point you'll feel your health would be better if your weight was lower, but it's not to say it's not healthier than before... and your body appreciates that!

Ian, thanks for your feedback! I was hoping you would post.

The occasional cuts are a good point...I do this sometimes with drinking (1-2 weeks without drinking instead of my usual weekend drinking) but I haven't done that in a while. Not sure what I'll be willing to cut down the line but can't hurt to think about it, and continue eating those things for now haha

As far as eating back, I don't intentionally eat back calories, though I have noticed an increase in hunger which I try to keep in check. I mentioned it in relation to my diet because I simply cannot run the morning after a fast day (where I only eat 500 calories), so if I add a third fast day, that's three mornings/week that I can't run. I try to schedule my meals/snacks around a run so that I'm not adding extra, but maybe I'll just need to pay more attention to how much I am subconsciously adding to my diet. I'm quite green to running and have added a lot of mileage the last month so hopefully that will level off?

I think I just need a mental break from thinking about all these things. Always trying to find the next change to make is exhausting. But maybe one morning I'll wake up and be ready for it again.

berry - thank you! Maybe I will call it my maintenance hiatus. I typically take two week maintenance breaks every few months, which I look forward to and my body needs, but I think I need this to be longer. And I needed to hear that its okay.

Being on this board surrounded by people who just seem to keep going or quit makes me feel like an odd duck. I'm not giving up but I'm not moving forward (down?) heh

I'm in the same boat. I'm about 25 pounds down, and I'm maintaining (pretty easily) in the mid 180's right now. So far, so good. I'm a lot healthier, feel better, clothes fit better etc. My ultimate goal is 170, but I'm not in awful shape right now.

I'm not giving up, and pretty well figure I need to keep trending down, but I'm also not knocking the pretty effortless maintenance at the moment. I haven't decided to cut/pursue more loss hard, but I'm about to start a summer shape up program put on by one of my favorite fitness bloggers, (her winter one moved me significantly forward towards my goals earlier this year, so I'm hopeful!)

Not done, but not going nuts about it either. If that helps to sum it up.

My husband had a very long plateau for several months when he was about 5 pounds from his goal weight. He eventually did lose the rest of the weight (he hadn't been tracking and when he started tracking he quickly got to goal). Anyway, that has been over a year now. He calls that long plateau "practice maintenance." While he didn't set out to do it, he thinks it was helpful to him because he did learn exactly what he needs to do to maintain a loss.

In my case, I am 3.6 pounds away from my WW goal weight which is the top of the normal BMI range. I actually imagine that I want to lose another 10 to 20 pounds below that to be at the body composition I want (I'm more focused on the body composition than the final weight). I've already decided that once I get a couple of pounds below 146 -- so about 5 more pounds from now -- I'm going to work on maintaining for awhile and just working on body composition. If I lose a little during that, it would be OK but won't be goal. Then after I do that awhile I'll start working more on fine-tuning and getting exactly where I want to be.

I took a year long maintenance break at 155-160 for graduate school. I did eventually make it to goal (135-140), and maintained my ultimate goal easily for several years.
How I ended back up here....well I have no idea lol!!! I think it was as easy as I stopped weighing in every day + a little migraine med... Not kidding! I'm never giving up nearly daily scale again even maintenance does take a little thought even if you think you've got it down after a few years and get a big head like I did! (I gained it back fast, in 6-7 months )

Good luck to you!

Thank you all for your experiences and thoughts! I told my boyfriend my plans and I'm going to step back from some of the weight loss challenges and what not on this forum, but set a maintenance goal for myself. I'll still weigh daily, continue with my two fasts a week, etc. So yes like you said HIheart it still takes thought! But it feels like less pressure and that's just what I need right now. I will revisit at the end of summer

I am still in Phase 1 and am happy that I lost close to 40 pounds. My goal weight is 10 pounds away and I am stuck. I have not been 100% perfect on Phase 1, but pretty good. My coach told me that I should not focus on a number and be happy at my current weight. She told me to consider starting Phase 3 -- skipping Phase 2. Has anyone done this and still lost weight? I am going to try to stay on Phase 1 through the end of July and see what happens before moving to the next phase. Thanks!

susie, your question may be best asked in the IP forum! Good luck to you!

I know this post is a few weeks old, but wanted to let you know that I took a "maintenance break" -- for years -- and it was perfect for me.

I lost the bulk of my weight in 2011 and I started traveling a lot over 2012 & 2013 - both for pleasure and business. I found myself going down, only to gain it back while traveling, so I kinda stopped trying to get to my "goal weight" for a bit and just concentrated on maintaining 150. I've basically been within a few pounds of 150 since late 2011, and only now, after gaining more than I'm comfortable with after a grueling 2014 which ended in a total knee replacement in December (youch!). I went back up into the low 160s and didn't like how my clothes were feeling - decided a few weeks back to pick up with the "active weight loss" again so I could hit my ultimate goal weight by the end of the year.

Honestly, giving myself that time to maintain and enjoy all the progress I'd made was a gift. It really taught me that even if I gained a few pounds on vacation, I knew how to take it off and maintain, and I kept doing it over & over. I've been actively losing again now for about 5 weeks now, and I'm already down 8 lbs and trying to decide what my "ultimate goal" is. Maintaining for this long has boosted my confidence and it has also taught me how to live normally - so when I gain a few, I don't freak out anymore and I don't let it turn into a slippery slope anymore.

I've been basically maintaining my weight loss for over two years now. For me, life got super complicated and stressful which led me to decide that I would rather be a successful maintainer than a failed dieter, especially as far as I had already come.

Three habits which I feel very strongly have let me to maintenance success:
1. I get on the scale every single day.

2. I post here at 3FC every single day.

3. If the scale starts rising over a period of a week to 10 days, I get very serious about bringing it down, especially knowing it's a short term reigning in.

As of today, I am 3 pounds up from my ticker.

most interesting is that I have continued to shrink in size over these past few years. People who haven't seen me for a while always notice that I'm smaller and often I will pull something out of the closet I haven't worn for a while and will notice the same. It lets me know that as I continue to focus on eating very healthy that my body is still responding in a positive way, most probably replacing fat cells with healthier mass.

I'm feeling like my time may be coming very soon to work on another three or 4 pounds.

Best wishes!

Lunula and Lexxiss thank you so much for sharing your experiences!!!

In the last few weeks I think I have started to embrace it more. I now have a very stressful move behind me and have still maintained. I am so proud of myself. It really showed me how much I've learned about my body and eatng habits. I also am totally impressed with my fitness levels...two of us moved everything from our rental truck to our apartment and I didn't get out of breath once. Plus the number of times my bf warned me that something was suoer heavy and I managed to carry it anyway!

However, its summer and there's so many wonderful, active things to do in our new home...so I have a feeling the weight will come off naturally.