Need some help with maintaining!

dilynnlew

dilynnlew

New member
Hi all...
I am 35 pounds lighter than I was in January...and I am now happy with how I look and feel. I would like to maintain this weight loss...but I am having a little trouble with this concept.

I am SO scared that I will start gaining the weight back. I have tried increasing my calories...but don't really know how much I should try to eat each day.
I also have not really modified my exercise routine either. I walk most days, usually on the treadmill for about 3 to 3.5 miles...fast walking with some jogging mixed in. My usual schedule is 5 days of workouts, then take one day off. I also do light weights with my arms 3 days a week. Should I cut back on the number of days I am working out, or just work out for a short period of time each day?

I weigh myself twice a week and I am still losing small amounts of weight. I really would be happy to stay at this weight...I don't want to lose any more.

Some help and advice from you experts, please?? My current age is 49 and I am 5'2" tall, and my current weight is 119.8.
How do I get over this fear of putting the weight back on? It does not help when I read all the posts from people who have gained it all back! YIKES!
 
Maintaining is hard work. I lost my first 80 ish pounds and then maintained for a year. I think part of me was scared to lose more and scared about the possibility of not being able to lose more. :) It's scary all the way around.

The thing is, there's no magic formula, just as there wasn't for you to lose. If you don't want to lose more weight, you're going to have to start eating more. How much more? Dunno. Start adding in calories - healthy ones. See what happens. If you put on a few pounds then you can tweak some more.

I personally chose to eat more rather than cut back on working out. Working out has SO many other health benefits than just losing weight and I'm not willing to give those up.

FWIW.
 
Thanks for your reply, Kara.
You are so right about maintaining being scary! I just can't wrap my head around the idea that i have actually lost 35 pounds and I am now smaller than I have been since, well, not sure when. I so fear that I will start eating and just not want to stop. Logically, I know I can stop this from happening. I also know that with my level of exercise and activities, it probably could not happen...at least not overnight, LOL! I just can't get past this fear in my head....I work in a school...in fact it was a weight loss challenge there that started me on my way to losing the weight. I have this nightmare that when I return to school in August that I will have gained back all that I lost and everyone will saying "I Knew she couldn't keep it off!"

I do agree that I would rather try to modify diet, rather than exercise. It has become such a habit...I just don't feel right if I don't do something for exercise daily. I feel sluggish and tired. And, like you said, there are other health benefits to working out as well. I do take days off to rest, however.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond to my post. I has helped much!
 
Glad I could help. :)

One thing that I had to realize about maintaining ... and that I suspect that I will go through again when I hit my 2nd goal ... is that this is how it works for "normal" people too.

I know when I was at my heaviest, it used to really piss me off to hear my skinny friends complain about how they'd "gained some weight" or that their (size 2) jeans were tight and that they needed to "diet". But the truth is ... what they were doing was FAR healthier than what I was doing. They were "maintaining" w/out ever having to go through the "losing" part. :)

I've found that the concept of "my jeans are tight so I need to cut back" is actually ... normal!

That's not to say that I go through a binge and lose cycle ... I still work hard to eat healthy and work out. But I am far more aware of when my clothes are a little tight and use that as a prompt to cut back on my portion sizes, eat a few more salads, and pay more attention to what I'm eating overall.

I no longer think of someone saying "gosh I've gained a few pounds - I need to eat salads for lunch this week" as being stupid or odd or whatever. I think of it as a healthy mindset.
 
:party:Congratulations on your 35 lb loss! I totally hear you on the fear of regain...BRRRR! It is chilling and sobering and very scary to me, especially as I have lost and gained in my past.

However, what I am doing totally differently this time is absolutely keeping up with my exercise, no matter what! For me, that is the most important. I am also not going hog wild on my eating, continuing to make wise choices but not as strictly as when I was losing. In fact, I'd still like to lose another 20-25, but right now will be happy to simply maintain. Sometimes life is stressful and the best I can do is to just hang on!:svengo:

Best wishes to you on this next part of your journey. Don't give in to your fear - confront it and beat it! There is NO reason for you to gain back what you've worked so hard to lose. You are stronger than you ever imagined! :smash:

Cheers
ABBA
 
thanks for the encouragement, Abbagirl. It came at a good time. I am feeling discouraged the last couple of days. I saw an ortho for a knee problem yesterday, and he has me cutting back on my treadmill workouts and I start some physical therapy next week for my knee. I am going to try to still walk, but on some days he told me to just work out upper body and then some days ride a bike...in other words, more cross training. This all just feeds into my fears...I am afraid I will not be burning as many calories and therefore the weight will be packin' back on!!

Today was a day off from exercise and I ate WAY too much, I fear. I was feeling very stressed about some things and ate sweets, which I don't normally indulge in:{ I will weigh in tomorrow morning and face the music!

Again, thank you for the pep talk! It sure is a daily battle...and some days I am just so tired of fighting...
 
Well, amazingly, when I weighed in this morning, I had lost a pound. Happy about that, considering my diet the last few days. I worked out this morning also, so it has been a good day, so far. Of course, evenings are when I start feeling the urge to "munch"!

I just need to realize that this is going to be a daily battle for the rest of my life...
 
My tactic was always to make up for overeating. So if I would have a bingey weekend, I would eat a lot less on Mon-Wed. Worked like a charm and didn't require being extra careful.
 
When (not 'if'!) I reach my goal weight, my plan to maintain is kinda simple. I'd ignore my weight for a month, and intake whatever I want. At the end of the month, I'd weigh myself, and if I gain (which is likely) I'll diet again until I'm back down. Wash, rinse, repeat. This way, I have my freedom, AND if I get off track with my dieting, I'll be able to catch it quickly. Perhaps, some day, I'll just "know" how much I should and shouldn't eat. Until then though, I'm going to keep myself in check.
 
Wild Vulpix said:
When (not 'if'!) I reach my goal weight, my plan to maintain is kinda simple. I'd ignore my weight for a month, and intake whatever I want. At the end of the month, I'd weigh myself, and if I gain (which is likely) I'll diet again until I'm back down. Wash, rinse, repeat. This way, I have my freedom, AND if I get off track with my dieting, I'll be able to catch it quickly. Perhaps, some day, I'll just "know" how much I should and shouldn't eat. Until then though, I'm going to keep myself in check.
Click to expand...

Be very careful with this approach. The key to maintenance is usually monitoring one's weight on a very regular basis, like daily or weekly. That way you can get a reality check that much sooner and nip gains in the bud ASAP. It is easy for some people to gain upwards of 10 lbs in one month after dieting. And trust me when I say dieting does not always work. I lost 30 lbs doing what I'm doing now, but 2 years ago the weight STOPPED BUDGING. The new 5 lbs I gained in the Fall will NOT BUDGE. Sometimes your body changes after dieting and usually after dieting and then increasing calories, you are very likely to gain weight. Its best to be strict about maintenance for at least 6 months to give your body a chance to change/lower its weight SET POINT. Otherwise, the body's overwhelming inclination is to regain every lost pound. You must fight this until your body is used to being at the lower weight (which takes upwards of 6 months).
 
I'd ignore my weight for a month, and intake whatever I want. At the end of the month, I'd weigh myself, and if I gain (which is likely) I'll diet again until I'm back down. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Click to expand...
I also have to say that to me this doesn't sound like a sensible or healthy way to go.

I've maintained a nearly 80 lb loss for about 18 months now and I know that if I took the route described above, I would not have succeeded in my maintenance. Eating "whatever I want" w/out being conscious of how much or what you're eating is, IMO, a recipe for disaster. I'm not saying you can't relax and be less vigilant, but for me "eating whatever I want" is what got me to 250 lbs in the first place.

I would rather nip things in the bud sooner than find myself at the end of the month up 15 lbs (which is entirely possible) and have to fight to get them off again.

Just my opinon based on my experience ... others may disagree.
 
Agreed with Kara obviously. And you may want to look at how people of average weight do things. They dont binge for a month at a time and then go on a diet. They might binge for a few days and then make up for it. But binging for a month is just going back to old habits and nothing will change. Obviously you ate what you wanted before and that caused you to be overweight. So why would anyone think they can go back to eating what they want and expecting a different result this time??
 
I agree, Blancita...

I look at my weight loss journey as a "lifestyle change". I do NOT want to go back to the old habits of eating and sedentary living! I know this is for the long haul...not goin' back to 156 pounds (or more)!

And, I certainly would NOT go a whole month without checking my weight. At my height, I could easily put on 10 pounds, or more. I have been weighing twice a week...and that has been working well so far. If I see an uphill swing, I start cutting back on the food, and, or increase my activity level.
 
As long as you monitor regularly you don't need to be scared! It doesn't come back on overnight, it creeps back on so just watch for that. If you gain, do what you did to lose until it's back where you want.
I would not cut back on exercise at all. In fact as the weights get too easy, increase them and build more muscle! I would add more food instead, but keep it healthy, don't add junk. Body builders often drink 4 or more protein shakes a day, eat egg white and veggie omelettes, etc and they look awesome! Raw almonds are a great healthy snack but all nuts are high-calorie so that could help add healthy calories.
 
The way my weight came on was I was unaware of my weight. I would weigh in probably once a year at a doctors visit and that's it. Now I check every day. I think if you do that and eat a bit more there is no reason to be scared.

Also, do you eat 3 meals a day. Personally I only eat two. My plan to maintain is to go back to three and see how that works out.
 
A little update...since I started this thread: I am still maintaining my weight okay. In fact it has pretty much landed and stayed around 115-116 the past couple of months. It is still a daily struggle...but perhaps getting a little less stressful and scary! Just depends on the kind of day I am having, LOL!
I do weigh in twice a week and keep a close watch on my weight. I also work out 5 to 6 days a week. So far, so good!

Di
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top