What IS "successfully maintaining"?

I was wondering what is considered to be "successfully maintaining"? Is it always staying at an exact weight? Is it flucutating five pounds? ten pounds? twenty pounds? Is it constantly gaining and then loosing those pounds? Is it never having to worry about gaining? What is it? I know it probably varies from person to person also. I hope this doesn't sound like a naive question. I just don't want to have false expectations and feel like I'm just "not gettin' it". Thanks bunches! God bless! Cindy

I certainly don't have the answer.  I have never maintained any weight loss over the long haul before.  I do think that the key is really your ability to lose the weight immediately aftrer moving up the scale a few pounds and not letting the gain build until you are obverweight again.  I would think that somewhere around the 5 lb mark (up or down) would demonstrate excellent weight maintanence.  I hope to keep this weight off for good.  I got a self-hypnosis CD today that was recommended from a colleague and am trying this as a strategy to keep my head in the right frame of mind to maintain my loss.  I'll post with the results sometime in the future.  Good luck.

Great question Cindy!!! For me, successful maintenance is a combination of everything that I said. I don't mind a flux of 5lbs up, but I weigh daily so that I can stay on top of things and if I do see that gain, I try to work it off immediately. I wish I could say that down the road I will be one of those "normal" people that don't worry about gaining weight, but I don't think that I'll ever see that kind of confidence in myself. I feel as though I  need to monitor everything~the scale, my diet, my exercise routine, water intake, etc~to keep things where they need to be. Also, successfully  maintaning (to me) means being able to do this over the course of the years to come~long term, for the long haul, hopefully (God willing) forever. Now that's not to say that I will never fall off the wagon, but when I do, I hope that I remember where I came from, how hard I had to work and how much I enjoy the success of it all so that I can jump back on that wagon before its too late!

Cindy; For me, it's staying within a 3-4 lb. range. I try to stay between 135-139. On average, I weigh every other day. The days that I'm closer to 139, I star****ching things a little more closely. When I'm 135, I don't worry about it.

Cindy, it isn't a naive question, in fact it's a great question that I'm sure many of us have wondered about.  For me, successfully maintaining is a 5 lb variance from my personal goal.  When I get to the higher limits of the 5 lbs, then it is time to reign in my choices. Dana

I will post what I consider to be successful maintainence for me- I  have been at a fairly stable weight for 3 years, I had surgery 9/25/2002  ( I pray I can continue to do this well) I am at a comfortable weight for ME. I am 4'11" and weigh 135-140.  That puts my BMI into the overweight zone at 27 ish.  However my   body fat measures out to 23% which is on the lower end of average for a 46 year old woman.  I eat really well , 1500-1700 calories a day divided into 6 small meals a day , including aproxamately 6 oz lean protein, 3 servings of dairy, 3-4 veggies and 2 fruits and 3-4 high fiber whole grain servings a day. I eat the occasional cookie - yes,  a real cookie - sugar and all.  I occasionally eat some SF Jello or pudding or an occasional NSA ice cream. Other wise I don't eat sf candies etc - as the sugar alcohols kill me and they are very high calorie and very low nutrition and I need all the nutrients I can get to be strong and healthy.  I exercise just about every day for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, weight training, - 2-3 X week, high intensity cardio 3-4 X week,  and yoga 2 times a week.  I am focusing on health/  fitness more than the scale even tho I do weigh almost every day. I think that focusing on eating for health and exercising for fitness daily - every day- for the rest of my life is my KEY to maintainece. Maintaining is a lot harder than losing was.  I consider good maintainece staying in my 5 pound range. If I go over 140 I watch it and straighten up my act, because if I do and I am honest with myself I know EXACTLY why I am at 141.  when I have fluctated out of this range I was eating too many Christmas cookies , I knew to cutr it out., or after plastics when I was retaining water I cut myself some space to rest and heal and tried not to go on the scale. When I went under 135 I was sick, with a bowel obstruction, and my face looked old and sunken in so I did not want to stay that low, so I pumped in some protein shakes to regain a little when I was able to eat.  Hope this helps!

I consider myself to be successfully maintaining when I stay within a 5 pound range of my goal weight.  The goal is 135.  I usually hedge up no further than 140 and down no lower that 130.  As I bouce up and down that 5 pounds it keeps me honest.  I know when I have been eating too many carbs or not eating enough.  I know when I have been lacking with my exercise and when I need to rest a bit. I had to adjust my eating habits once I got to goal to keep from falling down lower, I hit 125 and had to get "my pig on" to bring it back up.  I figured out how to gain 10 pounds fast.  That was a lesson in it's self - oh how hard they are to lose and how easy they pile back up. I still hit the scale almost daily - it keeps me  honest and on track.  I have accepted that this will be a journey for the rest of my life and I will have to be vigilant daily to stay here.  When I hit the top range of my 5 pounds I get to walking - good cardio 3 - 5 miles a day at a fast pace melts it right back off.  I have learned my body and it's responses and now we work together to sustain in a place where I am most comfortable.

Hey Cindy! Great question! I'm 5.5 years post.  I had a check up w/ cardiologist this past week and as he exclaimed (and I blushed) - "Wow!   you're within .8  (Eight tenths!!!) of a pound from over 2 years ago!  That's ____ good! That's fantastic! You look amazing" Okay, so, for me "successfully maintaining" is staying within "ideal" range (159-162) and blood work that indicates HEALTHY.  (meaning I'm working to eat BALANCED & exercise) Just got blood work in - I'm lower MIDDLE of all ranges , except EVER SO SLIGHTLY anemic.  Up the iron and I'm good to go. For the record - my lowest weight was 128 size 2/4 --- GROSS!!!! I looked emaciated.  My body FEELS so much better when "she's" rounder!  And she "hums" at size 10/12... I think you'll most certainly  KNOW if you pay good attention to "her"!!! Take care!

I am 2 years 4 months out and I stay within 5 pounds. I am 5'8" and my goal was 150. I did get down to about 144 and it did not look good on me. To many people telling me I looked sick. I also weigh every morning to keep track. I workout 3 days a week about 1 1/2 hours. I don't like to work out and I am trying to find the schedule that I can do and will stick with it. My trainer says I need 5 days a week but I don't want to do that much. I will do every other day. If I can stay at my weight thats what I will do and not give it up.   I still get sick if I eat to much so when I am full I do not take another bite. I know what will happen if I do its being sick for a least 2 hours. Dumping has  been a major pain but it has been a BIG learning tool for me. I have stayed at the same weight for over a year and 1/2 never thought I would see that happen in my life time.