How do you "Maintain" ???

So, on VSG main there was a very spirited thread that raised a few questions that I thought would be a great discussion for this forum.

Maintenance can be kind of tricky and pretty wide open unlike WL as there really are no set "plans".

Also from my experience and observation maintenace can be a moving target at times.

Seasons, activity, events, vacations, work, stress any number of things and changes can throw us off.

We lost the weight so maybe we can be more engaged with life which puts us out there to navigate though the obstacles of life which can be challenging.

Most of you that have maintained probably have your own strategies and tips.

- How do you maintain?

- What is your range of weight +/-

- How many pounds over your range raises the red flag 

- How do pull back a few pounds?

- If you go under, what do you do?

These are just a few questions, if you have more...... speak up ! Your the maintainers !

frisco

Great question... and if you aggregate the responses might be a neat thing to post to the main forum as a "reference"

I maintain by:

- logging food every day, same as Weight Loss Phase

- exercising according to a plan, with goals

- having body fat percent checked every 4-6 months

- weigh myself every day

Weight range is +/- 5 lbs - that seems to accommodate hydration swings.  As I've continued to work out and add lean mass, I've had to increase my maintenance weight a bit, from 175-180 to 180-185, the result of resistance training adding some muscle.  I'm due for another body fat percentage check to make sure I'm not fooling myself, but I've gone up 5 lbs or so and pants still fit.

Pounds raising red flag: any over my upper range.

Pull back:  I set my calorie target in Livestrong 100-200 calories lower.  I don't hit it hard, i tweak.  My believe is that in maintenance, sudden moves are bad - up or down.  I look at longer-term trends, if they're up, I dial back.  If they're down, I dial up.  Hard to find an exact stable point, but right now it seems like 1200 calories a day after deducting exercise seems to work pretty well.

Under hasn't been a problem, but I'd follow the same protocol.

Tom,

I'm curious - how / where do you have your body fat percent checked?  I did a Dexa scan once, but it was pretty expensive, not something I'd want to shell out for several times a year.

I did DXA at a sports clinic, and it was about $100.  I've done BodPod as well (at a health club) and they charge $75 for two of them.  So I plan to do DXA once a year and supplement with BodPod... I'm trying to get a read on how they correlate.  DXA is supposed to be more accurate, but I need a doctor's order.  Last year BodPod read about 3 to 4% higher than DXA, so I like the DXA better  :) - but they weren't at the same time... they were a few months apart.  Next time I'm going to try to do them in the same week to see how close they are.  Again, the trend is important... but also I want to know how realistic it is to lose more weight - if i'm at 10% BF, i'm not losing any more... If I'm at 15% i could get a little lighter for cycling season.  I'm just not sure right now - my last BodPod was 16%, but the DXA 4 months prior was 11%.  

Time for a recheck soon!

I got nothing. But, I'll be glued to this thread. 

Morning everyone:

Have been MIA.  And of course, pride goeth before a fall.

Am 9 above goal.  Frisco thank you so very much for posting this.    I have not been coming here as have been thinking... oh, I got this covered.  Oh yeah!!!!!!  covered with fat. 

So this morning, before I read this post had decided that am going back to basics.  And will start the pre-op diet that I did before had the surgery.   I need to stop the lying to myself and stop the cycle of ' how much can I get away with'    Oh, upon reading this doesn't it sound more than childish.

I like the quote, not quite sure from who, that we should be finding out just how little food we can eat rather than how much.

Now I know it is 'only' 9 pounds but believe me it feels like the 100 that have lost.  Feel bloated and unhealthy and over full.

To all of us struggling with this battle am cheering us all on.

I am very new to maintenance.  I am still finding my way.  I have found I can't "get away' with things I did in weight loss. I feel like I may need to actually be stricter about sticking to my "rules" even though my rules may be less strict now.  Does that make any sense at all? 

Anne

hmmmm, talking about how i maintain is like talking about how i lead my life because its such an integral part of how i live daily. 

what I  do is weigh daily, check in here  on  OH to stay in touch with others with the same project,, and  eat pretty much the same thing for breakfast and lunch. gy in am and lunch is some string cheese, jerky, tuna plus carrots or grapes.    easy portable food for studio.

i keep a variety of things for dinner with sleeved hubby. frozen chicken breast with various sauces,  cheese burgers without bun, scrambled eggs with turkey bacon, egg drop soup with shrimp or a sliced up steak. plus we always have a bag of sugar snap peas from costco which hubby likes raw. we get quite a few costco pre cooked products. sometimes the occasional splurge on fresh crab or local smoked salmon.

i often stop at the store on the way home from work to pick up a dinner item, frequent trips more and more to the organic stores.

ok here is the contoversial part. every day when i get home i have some red wine and a few nuts. i find this surpresses my appetite and so we dont have dinner until a little later.  a later dinner helps me not do a lot of evening snacking.   my dr. says the daily wine is ok for me as my weight has remained stable but for many people it is an appetite stimulant .

i tracked food religiously until a few months ago when i was traveling a lot. i will pick it up if i gain weight. (hopefully).

by eating these same things i know i am getting a good amount of protein but probably fall short some days and should have a shake once in awhile. need to find some new ones i can stand.

i dont exercise as i should but do wear a fitbit and just try to get in more walking.

my official rule is to stay under 125 but 123 makes me real nervous.

thats about it, one foot in front of the other..    diane

I found my maintenance went in stages. The first year of it, I was really still in weight loss mode just not losing anything. But mentally I was in the same place as I was when I was losing.

Now, 5 years out from surgery, I'm in a totally different place. Basically I just do my thing and keep an eye on how my clothes fit and how I feel and what my eating is like. If it gets kind of crappy, I try to rein it in and eat healthier not matter if I'm gaining or not. If my clothes get tight, I cut out some stuff.

I do weigh, but at this point the scale and reality don't really match very well. My weight can be up and my pants can be falling off because I'm strength training. It can be down but I know I'm not fit or eating well so I've probably just lost some muscle which is actually bad, not good.

I am curious about how many g of protein you all get these days. diane