How to exercise after you've lost weight.... for the rest of your life.

Monster2

New member
So,.... have any of you guys given any thought as to what sort of exercise plan you're going to do after you've hit your goal? Right now... I'm shooting for 5x. workouts per week..... then maybe up to 7... but after a year... or so...
:smilielol5:
I think I'm going to shoot for maybe 3x per week... or just walking the dog regularly. (probably combined with some upperbody training)
Thoughts?
 
I'm at 2 a week now because I'm cutting... well, 2 full body strength training + maybe a bonus cardio/rehab type work if the hubby wants to go on one of my off days.

I'll probably end up at 3 days a week once I'm at goal, again with bonus days depending ;)
 
So,.... have any of you guys given any thought as to what sort of exercise plan you're going to do after you've hit your goal? Right now... I'm shooting for 5x. workouts per week..... then maybe up to 7... but after a year... or so...
:smilielol5:
I think I'm going to shoot for maybe 3x per week... or just walking the dog regularly. (probably combined with some upperbody training)
Thoughts?

Hey Monster,

Funny you should ask that question. I am 10 pounds away from my goal and I have been thinking about this quite a lot lately. My exercise of choice starting my weight loss journey was running. I am still doing that but added weight training and boot camp to the mix. I think the problem is two fold. One, is how am I going to eat. It is really hard to eat normally when you have been eating healthy for a long time. Now I can have a piece of cake but do I really WANT it. Can I stop at one piece? Will that trigger the old habits? Two, is how much do I want or need to exercise. I think since I have seen real results exercising that I will continue doing what I am doing. The exercise will allow me to eat a little more as long as I don't eat a whole cake that is-lol. I think I have to change my mental approach to eating and exercise and realize I have to exercise AND watch what I eat all the time ( probably for the rest of my life) as it is so easy to get back into bad habits. Believe me when I say I have lost and gained several normal sized people in my lifetime-haha. So what is going to be different this time is that I am going to make a conscious effort to exercise and eat properly. Sure I can have A piece of cake but I will exercise a little harder to burn off the calories. I don't know if this will work but I am going to try it anyway. I am going to train and exercise just as hard as I am now( or maybe harder as I want to tone things up) and I think I will be able to eat more but I am going to monitor it as well so if I go up 5 pounds I lower the calories and increase the exercise. Right now I doing some sort of exercise 5 days a week so I guess that is what I am going to continue to do. Thanks for asking such a great question. It will be interesting to see what others have to say about it.
 
This topic is of interest to me as well, and I'd be curious to see what people say.

Health professionals recommend that we as healthy adults get at least 30 minutes of exercise 3 to 5 times a week. It apparently helps ward of all kinds of diseases and illnesses. I think I could easily do that for the rest of my life if that exercise were running, which I've found I love.

However, over the past few months I've worked hard at including weight training in my exercise program and I'm pretty proud of the results I've gotten so far. But I really don't care for weight training for some reason. But I worry if I stop, what will happen to all my lovely muscles? Will they just disappear - POOF! And be gone? I really don't think weight training is something that I'll be able to keep up with long term though because I don't really enjoy it all that much.

Currently I run 4 times a week, and lift weights 3 times a week. But I'm still trying to lose another 5 to 10 lbs. Long term maintenance? I have no idea what my excercise routine will look like for that...
 
Hey everyone, I don't know if you'll want to read the full article, but I'll post it anyway.



So here is a brief quote out of ACSM's latest position stand on how to lose weight and maintain that weight loss:

(PA = Physical Activity)

"Moderate-intensity PA of 150 to 250 min·wk-1 with an energy equivalent of ?1200 to 2000 kcal·wk-1 seems sufficient to prevent weight gain greater than 3% in most adults and may result in modest weight loss. "

"On the basis of the available scientific literature, the ACSM recommends that adults participate in at least 150 min·wk-1 of moderate-intensity PA to prevent significant weight gain and reduce associated chronic disease risk factors. It is recommended that overweight and obese individuals participate in this level of PA to elicit modest reductions in body weight. However, there is likely a dose effect of PA, with greater weight loss and enhanced prevention of weight regained with doses of PA that approximate 250 to 300 min·wk-1 (approximately 2000 kcal·wk-1) of moderate-intensity PA."

Everyone will come up with different strategies that work for them in terms of weight maintenance, but basically for both health and weight management, you should be doing a combination of regular exercise and healthy eating. Just like most of you are doing now ;)

Hope that helps
 
To add to my earlier post , I think the hardest part is figuring out how to mentally handle going on maintenance. I have been eating a reduced amount of food and exercising regularly. I will continue to exercise but forcing myself to eat more food is the problem. I don't feel hungry anymore between meals so eating more food may be a problem. I know that I have to eat more or I will wither away-LOL. Well maybe not wither but I don't feel I need to eat more food if I am not hungry. Running and weight training add to the calories I can eat everyday without gaining weight and I know to build muscle I have to eat more ( especially protein) but I am kind of scared to add more food because I don't want to get into old habits again. I am an all or none kind of guy. When I started this diet I cut out all and I mean all cookies, cake etc. out of my diet because I knew that if I had one piece of cake or a cookie I would want another. I guess I could go through life not eating cake or cookies or whatever but I don't think that will happen-lol. It is so easy to just have a piece of cake but stopping is the problem I have. I am going to have to go into this blind and find out for myself what I have to do to stay where I am weight wise because I am NOT going back to where I was!!
 
Cowboy, I think a lot of people are in the same boat. You've been working hard at keeping your dietary habits healthy and doing all of this physical activity, so how do you balance that out when you no longer want to lose weight? Even eating 200 extra calories per day will help slow down the weight loss. That's one small snack or a bit of extra (healthy) food at a meal. If you do that for a few weeks and still find that you are losing weight, just very gradually add in even 50 extra cals at a time until you find your balance point. You don't need to suddenly add 500 extra cals per day, especially if you don't feel hungry :)
 
Cowboy, I think a lot of people are in the same boat. You've been working hard at keeping your dietary habits healthy and doing all of this physical activity, so how do you balance that out when you no longer want to lose weight? Even eating 200 extra calories per day will help slow down the weight loss. That's one small snack or a bit of extra (healthy) food at a meal. If you do that for a few weeks and still find that you are losing weight, just very gradually add in even 50 extra cals at a time until you find your balance point. You don't need to suddenly add 500 extra cals per day, especially if you don't feel hungry :)

Thanks. Yeah, I have already started to slowly add calories but it is still hard to wrap my head around it. You know the old " Well a little bit of this won't hurt me" way of thinking - that is the starting point for a lot of us to eating half a chocolate cake-LMAO. One thing I got going for me is that I have almost hit my goal so I KNOW what I have to do to NOT gain it back. I will just keep up the healthy eating and the exercise. Like you said I may add a healthy snack a day for a week and if that isn't enough I will add a little extra here and there to my meals. I know it won't hurt me to be underweight (wouldn't that be weird-lol) for a while until I figure out the way to eat for maintenance. Thanks for your help!!
 
Thanks. Yeah, I have already started to slowly add calories but it is still hard to wrap my head around it. You know the old " Well a little bit of this won't hurt me" way of thinking - that is the starting point for a lot of us to eating half a chocolate cake-LMAO.

I wish there was some solution out there for this so that I could say "it's so easy, just do...." Realistically, it takes sheer determination, and that's about the most helpful thing I can say :willy_nilly:
 
I wish there was some solution out there for this so that I could say "it's so easy, just do...." Realistically, it takes sheer determination, and that's about the most helpful thing I can say :willy_nilly:

Yeah, I know it isn't going to be easy. I have to set my mindset the same as the way it is set to lose weight. Each person is different and has their own methods for weight loss and maintenance. I just have to find mine. Since the question was asked by Monster though- I thought I would just see what other people that are currently on maintenance had to say. You know I have worked hard to get to where I am as have a lot of people that have reached or are in the process or reaching their weight loss goal- I am going to be really careful adding food though so the scale doesn't go up. Thanks again for your help!!
 
This topic is of interest to me as well, and I'd be curious to see what people say.

Health professionals recommend that we as healthy adults get at least 30 minutes of exercise 3 to 5 times a week. It apparently helps ward of all kinds of diseases and illnesses. I think I could easily do that for the rest of my life if that exercise were running, which I've found I love.

However, over the past few months I've worked hard at including weight training in my exercise program and I'm pretty proud of the results I've gotten so far. But I really don't care for weight training for some reason. But I worry if I stop, what will happen to all my lovely muscles? Will they just disappear - POOF! And be gone? I really don't think weight training is something that I'll be able to keep up with long term though because I don't really enjoy it all that much.

Currently I run 4 times a week, and lift weights 3 times a week. But I'm still trying to lose another 5 to 10 lbs. Long term maintenance? I have no idea what my excercise routine will look like for that...

Well, one thing to keep in mind is that while you may not want to do zero strength training, if your goal is simply to keep your muscles where they are, it takes a lot less work. For maintenance you can do a third of the volume that you'd do for gaining, and as long as you don't go longer than 5 days in between workouts, you should be ok. So, if you do 30 reps for each exercise - say 5 sets of 6 - you can do 2 sets of 5 and still maintain. I find scheduling twice a week is probably easier than trying to figure out 'every 5 days' but it kind of depends on what works for you :)

I'm the opposite though, lol. I enjoy the weight training, and I HATE running!

Yeah, I know it isn't going to be easy. I have to set my mindset the same as the way it is set to lose weight. Each person is different and has their own methods for weight loss and maintenance. I just have to find mine. Since the question was asked by Monster though- I thought I would just see what other people that are currently on maintenance had to say. You know I have worked hard to get to where I am as have a lot of people that have reached or are in the process or reaching their weight loss goal- I am going to be really careful adding food though so the scale doesn't go up. Thanks again for your help!!

So, I've been struggling with maintenance for about 6 years now. And I do have some tips! Unfortunately, I didn't say 'struggling' because I'm going to paint you a picture of how easy it will be ;)

One thing about adding extra food in - the best thing that I've found is to put constraints around it. I.e. I don't just go "Oh, I'll have fries with that today!" There have been studies that suggest it actually takes less willpower to predecide certain things... so I'll say "Ok, I can have two 'treats' this week. If I get offered a third... I just say no." I also usually schedule my treats after my strength workouts to maximize the strength gaining aspect. Depending on how well things are going, I may allow extras - but only if I've weighed myself at least 3 times in the past week or so, and am ok with the results.

As an example... I was very very strict for about a month before my trip to Disney World, but in exchange allowed myself a pass not to stress over it then in exchange. I also allow myself a restaurant meal of whatever I want + dessert for my birthday, anniversary and Valentines-Day. I also get one Reeses Peanut Butter egg around Easter - generally after a workout. I also schedule one of my workouts for Saturday because we often have company and lots of food (even if it's generally healthy food, volume goes up when it's sitting around!)

Another trick is that even on maintenance I sometimes do bulk and cut phases. I.e. to give myself a break, I eat more and deliberately try to gain muscle. Then I 'diet' to get rid of the extra fat that came with the muscle. I up my workouts during the bulk phases etc. so I can basically let down my hair a little on eating, but no that 1) it's finite and 2) it's actually serving a positive purpose so I don't have to get all guilty over it. (It is generally better to be at your lowest weight before bulking rather than trying to lose even more on top of it - but... that doesn't mean it's a rule, especially if you feel like the 'all' part of the diet is getting to be too much.)

Also - don't throw away your scale. It's a bad sign if you know you haven't been eating great, but you don't want to step on the scale to see just how bad you've been... just look so it can give you the reality check that yeah, you've had your break, now it's time to buckle down again.

Or you could have a pair of 'test pants' I suppose :) Instead of getting on the scale, test for tightness of pants! Make yourself wear them more often so it reminds you to watch it!

I've also been experimenting with a pedometer (work gave it to me!) to get a feel for the calories out side of it and it's actually been pretty useful. I've only had it about a month though, so I can't say how it will work long term.
 
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Well, one thing to keep in mind is that while you may not want to do zero strength training, if your goal is simply to keep your muscles where they are, it takes a lot less work. For maintenance you can do a third of the volume that you'd do for gaining, and as long as you don't go longer than 5 days in between workouts, you should be ok. So, if you do 30 reps for each exercise - say 5 sets of 6 - you can do 2 sets of 5 and still maintain. I find scheduling twice a week is probably easier than trying to figure out 'every 5 days' but it kind of depends on what works for you :)

I'm the opposite though, lol. I enjoy the weight training, and I HATE running!



So, I've been struggling with maintenance for about 6 years now. And I do have some tips! Unfortunately, I didn't say 'struggling' because I'm going to paint you a picture of how easy it will be ;)

One thing about adding extra food in - the best thing that I've found is to put constraints around it. I.e. I don't just go "Oh, I'll have fries with that today!" There have been studies that suggest it actually takes less willpower to predecide certain things... so I'll say "Ok, I can have two 'treats' this week. If I get offered a third... I just say no." I also usually schedule my treats after my strength workouts to maximize the strength gaining aspect. Depending on how well things are going, I may allow extras - but only if I've weighed myself at least 3 times in the past week or so, and am ok with the results.

As an example... I was very very strict for about a month before my trip to Disney World, but in exchange allowed myself a pass not to stress over it then in exchange. I also allow myself a restaurant meal of whatever I want + dessert for my birthday, anniversary and Valentines-Day. I also get one Reeses Peanut Butter egg around Easter - generally after a workout. I also schedule one of my workouts for Saturday because we often have company and lots of food (even if it's generally healthy food, volume goes up when it's sitting around!)

Another trick is that even on maintenance I sometimes do bulk and cut phases. I.e. to give myself a break, I eat more and deliberately try to gain muscle. Then I 'diet' to get rid of the extra fat that came with the muscle. I up my workouts during the bulk phases etc. so I can basically let down my hair a little on eating, but no that 1) it's finite and 2) it's actually serving a positive purpose so I don't have to get all guilty over it. (It is generally better to be at your lowest weight before bulking rather than trying to lose even more on top of it - but... that doesn't mean it's a rule, especially if you feel like the 'all' part of the diet is getting to be too much.)

Also - don't throw away your scale. It's a bad sign if you know you haven't been eating great, but you don't want to step on the scale to see just how bad you've been... just look so it can give you the reality check that yeah, you've had your break, now it's time to buckle down again.

Or you could have a pair of 'test pants' I suppose :) Instead of getting on the scale, test for tightness of pants! Make yourself wear them more often so it reminds you to watch it!

I've also been experimenting with a pedometer (work gave it to me!) to get a feel for the calories out side of it and it's actually been pretty useful. I've only had it about a month though, so I can't say how it will work long term.

Thanks for the great tips Jeanette. I had a plan in place to try for the maintenance - it was almost like your post-LOL. I know I will have to watch what I eat until the day I die but I decided I would do everything in moderation. That has been the downfall of previous attempts at maintenance-moderation.-that and the lack of exercise. That is not going to happen this time. I will be watching things like 'treats' and laying on the couch so that they don't get to be a habit. Thanks again for your insight!!
 
Jeanette, that was some great advice! There's nothing like learning from other people's experiences!

One thing I would keep in mind though is that the "maintenance phase" for strength & muscle mass does not last forever. You can maintain at 1/3 the volume of resistance training for at most 4-8 weeks, I believe, before your strength and muscle mass start to decrease. The "use it or lose it" principle definitely applies to muscles :). Eventually your body will adapt to the decreased load on the muscles.
 
Hehe, happy to help! And it may not be easy, but it IS doable! I may have drifted up and down of the years, but I have never gotten NEAR where I was at the beginning :D

I just wish there was a magic switch I could hit to make it all easy but... they say you don't appreciate it as much if it comes easy ;)
 
Jeanette, that was some great advice! There's nothing like learning from other people's experiences!

One thing I would keep in mind though is that the "maintenance phase" for strength & muscle mass does not last forever. You can maintain at 1/3 the volume of resistance training for at most 4-8 weeks, I believe, before your strength and muscle mass start to decrease. The "use it or lose it" principle definitely applies to muscles :). Eventually your body will adapt to the decreased load on the muscles.

Do you have more info on this? Everything I've read was that if you continue to put stress on your muscles, you'd keep the strength/muscle. I'm not suggesting you do pink girly weights twice a week ;) I've just heard that high intensity lifting twice a week without huge volume is enough to push your body into the 'use' part rather than the 'lose' :)
 
Do you have more info on this? Everything I've read was that if you continue to put stress on your muscles, you'd keep the strength/muscle. I'm not suggesting you do pink girly weights twice a week ;) I've just heard that high intensity lifting twice a week without huge volume is enough to push your body into the 'use' part rather than the 'lose' :)

I think as long as you use the same weight, you can maintain better than if you use lighter weights. There is still a lot of debate over whether one set is as good or better than multiple sets for weight training in general. My point I guess was more that if you train to be able to do 30 reps of something, then go through a maintenance phase only doing 10 reps of a certain exercise, eventually your body will adapt to only being able to do 10 reps of that exercise easily. If you try to go back to 30 reps all of a sudden, it'll be somewhat like starting over.

Does that make sense, that seemed long-winded :)
 
I got to my goal weight and maintained it for almost two years. I had a baby recently so I'm back on the weight loss game for now, making steady progress though...

Anyway, I've found the best thing for maintaining is finding exercise that you like doing. It's also a good idea to keep setting fitness goals for yourself rather than simply weight loss goals. For example, if you like running, try to improve your mile time or sign up for some races. Join a sports league. Try to increase the amount you can lift when you're weight training. Whatever you do, it's important to maintain your healthy lifestyle and not let yourself slip back into old habits. For eating, I found that if I stuck to my diet during the week and then let myself go a little more on the weekend (nothing crazy though) I was able to maintain my weight with no problems.
 
If there's one thing I've learned over years spent on my own personal weight-loss roller-coaster ride, it's that sustainability is key.

These journeys too often begin for the wrong reasons. How many times have you heard: "One day I looked at myself in the mirror and I didn't like what I saw..." So what happens when that person looks at themselves in the mirror and does like what they see? Mission accomplished! Back to the couch!

So starting out on the right track is important for sustainability. You're doing this because it'll make you feel better physically and mentally, as well as improve your long-term health. How you look in the mirror is merely a symptom of a larger problem.

Other keys to sustainability:

1 - A reasonable diet.

Face it. We aren't going to eat rabbit food the rest of our lives, "treating" ourselves to a precious sugar-coated morsel once a week, logging every calorie we intake, and preaching to our friends over a salad (sans dressing!) at dinner as we secretly covet the lobster bisque they're enjoying.

Set some reasonable rules about what you will and will not eat and leave it at that. Saying no to fast food and fried chicken is one thing. Eating a pack of saltines and calling it a "snack" is another! Relax a little!

2 - A varied routine.

Another barrier for sustainability is boredom. A boring routine is easy to stray from. Branch out and try new things. You'll get healthier and you'll have more fun! More importantly, you'll have activities to turn to if you get injured, become bored with a certain activity, or if you find yourself without access to an activity. You need a better fallback plan than falling back onto the couch!

This is for life. Remember that. You're not trying to fit into a dress, lose your freshman 15, or smile at yourself in the mirror. You're in it to win it, to be healthy and live well.

That sounds a lot easier to me than "I'm in it to never eat chocolate again (except on X day!), to develop chronic inner monologues to combat ice-cream propaganda (Yeah, I said it! Ice-cream propaganda!), and to tote around a pair of pants 10 sizes too large as a reminder in the event that my will wavers when the girlscouts come a-knockin'!"

Keep it reasonable and it becomes a lot easier to see this as a lifestyle change rather than as a temporary foray into masochism before you break down in a hail of tears and let the world know how much you love donuts!
 
I think as long as you use the same weight, you can maintain better than if you use lighter weights. There is still a lot of debate over whether one set is as good or better than multiple sets for weight training in general. My point I guess was more that if you train to be able to do 30 reps of something, then go through a maintenance phase only doing 10 reps of a certain exercise, eventually your body will adapt to only being able to do 10 reps of that exercise easily. If you try to go back to 30 reps all of a sudden, it'll be somewhat like starting over.

Does that make sense, that seemed long-winded :)

I think I understand what you're getting at, but that sounds more like muscle endurance, whereas I was talking about actual muscle mass :) From a weight maintenance perspective I'm more concerned about body composition more than how many reps I can do for a DL :) For muscle/strength gaining I've heard that 30 to 50 reps total (split up into sets of 3 to 10) is ideal, but maintenance doesn't require as much from the perspective of CNS adaptations and muscle size. Although I've heard some people have a hard time keeping bicep and calf size without more volume - but that's not something I've really worried about for myself :)
 
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