i have been maintaining a 70lb loss for a year as at jan. 31. ...my average weight in 2011 was 126 and i currently weigh about 130. what i'd like to know is for those of you who successfully maintain a large amount of weightloss (40lbs or more) who has:

put a few pounds on (less than 20lbs) and were able to re-lose it?
put a few pounds on (<20lbs) and were able to re-lose it plus a couple extra?
put a few pounds on and used this new weight as their new maintenance weight?

if you were able to re-lose it, how difficult was it?

i ask because the research that is out there that speaks to weightloss mgmt points out how challenging weight(loss) mgmt is and how hunger hormones change during and/or after weight loss. ...which i am now experiencing the pleasure for myself: keeping meticulous info on what i consume (weighing and counting every bite), how much i work out, and researching nutrition/weightloss/fitness topics almost daily. i don't think a day will ever go by where i don't think about food. *side note: google: fat trap ny times...an article they published about weightloss + maintenance on dec. 28 its worth a read.

With the holidays behind us, i am focusing on getting to my original goal weight of 118lbs. i want to know how realistic/difficult this is.

my goal is to burn minimum 2000 cals/day and intake no less than 1500 and no more than 1800 with a target of about 1700. ...my average in as at sept. 1 was about 2100 cals and my average out was about 2000 (see the couple lbs i've gained since hitting goal of 125 last jan) so i hope that my deficit will be sufficient and maintainable without triggering any binges as this is also another concern now that i am where i'm at.

i am also practicing at quitting sugar (sucrose/fructose and chocolate). since jan 1 i've been doing ok and find that my cravings for food in general are subsiding. ...sugar, salt, (bad) fats, and anything processed served in a box or a can or a freezer are the arch nemesis's of weightloss and weightloss maintenance, i swear!

the loss is important because i want to run a full marathon by october in under 4hrs and am currently training to run a 10k under 50. ...the lighter you are the faster you can be.

maybe i'm covering too many topics in this post, so i apologize in advance for my digression, but i appreciate your thoughts/feedback.

I lost 40lbs, made it 7 years, then regained 40lbs with pregnancy (about 15lbs excess). I found it exceptionally difficult to lose, but that was more to do with dealing with parenthood rather than physical difficulty

I am in that predicament right now. I need to lose about 15 pounds to get back to where I was maintaining. I started on Jan 1, 2011 and have lost 3.4 pounds. I don't know if it is any more difficul to lose again as it was the in the past. Maintaining does take constant effort. When I fail to count calorie and fail to keep a food diary and when I don't plan my meals I will gain.
I read that article and don't agree with it, it pretty much states that we are doomed to regain.It is all up to us , if we regain it is because we have fallen back into old habits. Maintaining takes effort but it is worth it.

There are pros and cons to it.

The pro is obvious - you've done it before, you know you can do it again, and sometimes you know how to do it right (sometimes it's done by crash plans and I guess those people struggle harder).

The cons- I found it much harder when older, with a husband and child. When I was young and single, I had a lot more time for "me". I could work out when I wanted, I didn't have to worry about feeding others. Me, me, me. I can't do that anymore. And of course, age makes it harder to lose weight (although not by much, I am not 30 yet, but I can imagine women 40-50+ start feeling the metabolic changes)

From my experience (taken from myself and others), you probably will not lose much weight if you are training for a marathon. When one runs long distances, the body literally holds onto the pounds to reserve energy for the future - running such long distances is actually quite stressful for the body, physiologically speaking.

You may have to think about what you are more interested in: running a marathon or losing the 10lbs. I know exactly how tough it is getting thinner to run faster when one is already relatively slim. Of course shorter distances won't be an issue. It seems to become problematic for weight loss typically around the 9-10 mile mark.

Again, that is just something to think about. Everyone is different - maybe you will be able to do both at the same time. I just wanted to let you know that this is a problem for many and to not be discouraged. I think it can be SO discouraging to be creating a HUGE deficit through calorie restriction and exercise and to not see any loss on the scale.

I haven't found it extremely difficult to lose weight again when I was focused. Yes, it was easier to lose at 20 years old rather than 30 but I get results when I am focused on what I am doing. I wish I was one of those naturally slender people with a crazy fast metabolism but genetically I am not so I have to boss my appetite and body weight around. It's not always easy but it's possible.

I would think as long as you don't have anything metabolically wrong that you can see results if you set your mind to it.

also keep in mind that you probably experienced some metabolic adaptation... in other words, you ARENT burning as many calories as you think you are... the body is SMART. it does NOT WANT fat loss, and when one goes into a deficit, the body WILL ADAPT to the amount of calories you give it. It does so in many different ways.... slower Heart rate, lower body temperature, slower growth of hair/nails, loss of period, these types of things...... if you dieted down for a long time at, say 1500 or 1700, your body may have adapted and turned that into your new maintenence.... in other words, it learned how to survive off of that many calories, does that make sense? Some people call this starvation mode. Its not... that is a myth...... but metabolic adaptation is very real.


Also, DITTO what UNNA said about running vs fat loss......
You MAY want to try backing off the training for a month, dropping your cals lower, and see what that does...... this is personally the only way i can lose weight anymore

Wow, I probably could have written this. My eating was also emotional and out of boredom. Very rarely am I actually truly hungry. I suspect if I was raised to listen to my hunger cues instead of raised to eat because food was there that I would not have had a weight problem (or maybe I would in the other direction).

I'm listening to my hunger cues right now and I find that the only time I'm actually hungry is in the morning, but a small breakfast satisfies me. Listening to my hunger cues has actually led me to eat too little and I find I'm dropping too much weight at this point. I really do have to make sure I schedule my meals and eat the right amount...whatever that is.

I'm hoping that if I keep the emotions and boredom eating in check that I should be alright.

I maintained a 65 lb loss for 3 years (222-157). Then, last year I got married and the prewedding stress + love chub caused me to regain 15 lbs. since the beginning of october i have lost the additional 15 lbs + 7 more.

How did i keep it off? I tracked everything and tried to stay active.

Was it easy to relose? No. However since i had lost the initial amount with just walking as my exercise and with los cal/ low carb, i stepped up my activity level and in turn my cals and the weight started coming off again.

For me, my challenge has been sticking with it even though the results are coming slower this time, but im feeling good since im seeing results again

thanks everyone; i'd like to clarify/comment on a couple items:

1) the article i sighted was meant to serve as an example of the 'findings' out there that point to the challenges faced by those who have lost a significant amount of weight and are working at maintaining it. my personal experience to date is that my sweet tooth became nearly rabid in december and as a result my appetite also increased. so the moral here for me at least is that i need to stay off of simple carbs simply because my appetite goes wild. the last 5 days off sweets, with more protein and healthy fats are proving successful, and i'm feel quite good on less than 1,700 cals/day with at least 45 mins of hard cardio and 45 minutes of strength training. I also do not own a car, walk everywhere and stand in my cubicle all day long. (my average in for 2011 was approx 2,000 in and out was approx 2,200 i understand that the body is HIGHLY efficient and for those of us who have lost weight, our metabolism also seems to slow in some cases up to 30%. obesity does not run on either side of my family and my parents are both fit and highly active)

2) re: marathon training: i agree. right now is my 'off' season so i'm taking the opportunity to reduce training and reduce calories to see if i can lean down by May when i start training for the actual 26.2mile run. right now i'm working at getting stronger (heavyl lifting + calisthenics + stretching) and faster (running hills + intervals on the treadmill) at a shorter distance (6 miles).

i don't want to stop training all together as even just the tapper of the last couple months has shown me how quickly the body de-trains. ...lol its pretty nuts! ...and i'm still in really good shape, but still. the change, though minimal, has been noticeable.

seeing as i haven't lost any weight since i hit 125 last January, and managed to maintain wihtin 5lbs for the year, i was hoping to find out from those who had reached a healthy weight, maintained it and gained back a little.

so after all that babble, an other way of asking my questions are as follows:

have you been able to lose the weight regained? How long were you maintaining before you started to gain? How much did you regain and then lose?
When you lost again, were you been able to get below your original goal?

If yes, please provide details as to what your challenges were and how you overcame them.

thanks again ladies- the info you share on these boards is always so helpful!

have you been able to lose the weight regained?
Most of it yes

How long were you maintaining before you started to gain?
7 years then got pregnant

How much did you regain and then lose?
Regained all (40lbs) and lost 30lbs so far. I am currently 128lbs at 5'5 so the rest was just vanity pounds.

When you lost again, were you been able to get below your original goal?
My original goal at 120 was rather low, so I am fine with the 120-130 range, this really doesn't apply to me

Challenges: very difficult baby/newborn, no sleep for one year, crappy sleep after 1 year (slept through 2x this week for first time ever at 19 months whoo hoo), eating my boy's food, not having the same time as before when childless.

Overcame it by just doing it - my plan, to eat less, to be okay with that, and that I just couldn't do the same thing with different results

I am sure I sound like a broken record but I would advise you to look into intermittent fasting.

I have been able to maintain my weight fairly easily by eating only two times a day.

That's TERRIFIC!! thank you for sharing; and good for you that's really cool!

I've read Brad Pilon's book and though I am convinced that it works, I'm afraid of triggering binges, which i've done in the past. Instead of doing full IF's I'm concentrating on delaying breakfast until 9:30 or 10 (I get up at 5:30) and perhaps on the days where I don't exercise i'm thinking about cutting breakfast out all together.

i also belive concentrating on eating high gi foods coupled with avoidance of anything processed and/or containing HFCS as well as staying away from white will help tremendously. that's what I was doing for most of 2011 and then milk chocolate and deserts showed up and BANG! my cravings were virtually uncontrollable. i've battled hard drugs (several months) and nicotine (12 years) ....I have an addictive personality. ...food/sugar cravings for me in late nov. were almost par with my cravings for more sugar/salt/fat. so IF may be too much for me to handle.

the good news is: i've identified where i've been going wrong and going off course. now its a matter of putting everything i was doing in teh first 1/2 of 2011 back into play. ...goes to show folks that maintainance = vigelance

thanks for input btw!

I don't do the Eat Stop Eat method. I simply sometime after noon and then stop eating around 8-10PM. Just depends on my schedule. I eat two big meals a day - and sometimes a snack. Somedays I'll over do it, so I'll eat a little less the next day.

Much like you - if I eat something sugary or salty or both I'll become quite hungry.