How have you maintained weight loss?

[dustyflipflop]

I lost a a good amount of weight last year in lockdown. It was through a combination of calorie counting and 45 min workouts 3 times a week when I had all the time in the world for it. The weight melted off.

I stopped last Sept and over the past year steadily gained nearly a stone back
The calorie counting is unsustainable and I don't want to go back to it as I know I will have to change what I do to maintain the loss. I'd rather start as I mean to go on.

I'm not overweight but I know if I leave it much longer I will start creeping that way and it's a long way back.

I have a big sweet tooth and get very tempted with the contents of the cupboard around 4-5pm. I never really know what to cook but I have 2 small DCs and a DH and it needs to be pretty family friendly as I don't have time to cook separate meals.

If you have successfully kept weight off over a long period of time without having to exercise 3-5x a week what did you/ do you do that works?

No sugar. Lift weights. Loads of veg. High protein. 15k steps a day. No alcohol.

Op I could have written this post myself, exact same situation. I'm watching with interest.

Being busy, 16:8, portion control, fuckton of veg (esp raw veg), deliberate workouts 5 days a week on top of everyday activity - and getting used to the idea that exercise isn’t just for weightloss.

Low carb for me, I’ve done this for about a decade, put weight back on three or four times in that period, maybe a stone and a half, two stone, but I just get back on it and it melts off, so generally it’s a few months of it going on and then coming off, so not a long term thing. Overall I maintain for years on end.

So this time i put about a stone and a half on (I don’t weigh myself I go on clothes size) during lock down this year, early spring I kinda let go, and I started back two months ago and am back to normal now, I’m a size 10-12, more a ten at the moment and five eight, when I started two months ago and I was a good fourteen. I exercise five to six times a week.

It helps all my work clothes are a ten to twelve and when everything opens up again (my job normally involves overseas travel in normal times) I will be wearing them again, so it was important to me to get it sorted quickly as real life was looming. 😂

Last night DH and I went out to a Ribs night at the pub. I scoured the whole menu, and decided I'd actually LIKE the chicken Caesar salad. It honestly seemed like the nicest, freshest option,

DH had a whole huge rack of ribs.

I also decided that I'd rather wake up fresh and zingy today, so I just drank Diet Coke.

I had the Caesar dressing on the side (still ate most of it), and ate all the lettuce first so I was too full to finish the croutons.

I wanted pudding, but avoided Sticky Toffee (genuinely not a fan) and had ice cream, again, stopped when I was getting full.

A lot of it is learning not to "push through the pain barrier"! Stopping even you've had enough is amazing. I genuinely can't eat as much as I used to,

I exercise for an average of 5 hours a week - a mix of running, studio classes and weight training.

I weigh myself, record daily and react to the trends.

I eat between 1400 and 1600 calories per day, 5 days a week and am more relaxed on the other 2 days, although I make sensible choices (such as those described by @AlbertBridge).

If I do end up having a very rare big splurge, I get back on the diet until I'm back at my happy weight.

This is to stay at a BMI of 21.5, 24 might be less strict but I'd feel uncomfortable and my clothes wouldn't fit.

This is life for me now and I'm happy with it. I'm 57 and feel fabulous - much better than I did as a 40 something obese person. I don't miss overeating.

Well done to everyone!

I weigh myself every day too, @Stilltalkstotrees 😊

I learned that from The Scarsdale Diet. He says weigh every morning, and as soon as you go 4lbs over your ideal weight, you go on a diet to lose it before that 4lbs becomes 8lbs, then 10lbs, a stone, 3 stone...

Lots of good tips for me - I am in a similar situation OP. Lost 3 stone, put 10lbs back quite rapidly on when I stopped counting.

I am back counting everything and weighing everyday to shift the 10lbs again (plus ideally 7lb more). My long term plan is to exit counting everything is by stopping counting at weekends but continue weighing everyday. Then stop counting on Mondays and see how that goes. Then Tues and so on. I hope that means I can spot easily when I am going off track and still counting some days means my eye remains attuned to portion sizes. Maybe I will end up still counting a few days a week to keep my skills up.

The only cardio exercise I can tolerate are daft online aerobic classes like Cherorobics (to the music of Cher) or 90s boyband workouts. I use Frame for these but some free stuff is in YouTube. I am a dreadful dancer but no one can see me.

But I also started cycling a lot in lockdown as a form of transport. So actually I do that a lot now but it is mentally filed under transport rather than exercise. That seems to help- and now I can cycle 20-30km happily to get somewhere I need to go.

To maintain weight I turned to a plant based diet. I know it's not for everyone but for me it's been a revelation - I no longer am restricting myself to good/bad foods - I can eat ANYTHING plant based (including biscuits, ice cream, bread etc etc). It hasn't been an effort at all, it's really a diet of abundance!

If I want to lose weight, I do 5:2 and within a few weeks I've lost a few pounds.

Everyone calorie counts though.

They might not be weighing out and portioning foods but subconsciously most “skinny” people keep a track of what they eat and adjust meals - so if they’ve had KFC for lunch then they might have salad for dinner.

Consciously they haven’t said I’ve eaten 1800 calories at lunch so I’ll only eat 500 at dinner - but it’s definitely a subconscious mental decision.

No one just eats what they want, whenever they want and maintains a healthy weight, it’s not some magic body type or mental outlook that magically allows you to eat everything and stay slim.

Everyone calorie counts though.

No they don't. I just (mostly) healthy food that fills me up and fast intermittently. If I put on a kg I eat less.
I have better things to do in my life than count calories.

I think that backs up what @DrWhoNowww said...
You are subconsciously counting calories - you fast intermittently to keep the number of calories down and adjusting your meals to reflect how full you are and what else you have eaten.

You aren't counting each calorie and recording it but you are readjusting your meals to fit into a "limit" whether you have conciously set one or not

You might think that is automatic behaviour but it's really not. For a lot of us, we have to learn to do that.

Counting calories is one way to learn to do that. Some people then master the feel of it - like you can do without counting explicitly - and some of us don't.

I lost 1/2 stone after 3 months of 5:2 - seem to have kept it off but dropping lunch Monday-Friday and just eating a piece of fruit/veg instead. Think it's helping to keep daily intake down. But it is kind of each to their own - I normally eat little and often and find no lunch manageable and stops me having afternoon slump, but others may find it harder.

In all honesty for me, I maintain my weight, following a considerable weight loss with body positivity. Not the infantilising, currently popular "body positivity" that encourages people to force themselves to love aspects of their body that they actually aren't happy with. But instead, I took up what was always my dream, fantasy sport and I love my body for letting me do it. I feed my body and train my body to keep my abilities to my absolute best. And I don't dissociate from my body as if it's somehow separate to me. I am my body and my body is me. I treat me well and I am then able to really do things that I love doing. I treat me well, with an eye on the future so that I can keep doing the things I love for as long as I can.

Kept up my exercise - strength/core/cardio HITT twice per week. But eat between 11am and 6.00pm most days. Keep lunch light and then eat normal tea but don't go mad in terms of portion size - prefer to eat well cooked and flavoursome food rather than loads of calorie counted food through the day. Don't routinely eat cake/sweet stuff - but drink wine and eat crisps at weekends and have nice things if go out for lunch or meal.

I've had to manage through a complete life upheaval in which I am with kids every other week so want to eat with them and together. Some time with family when I had to eat as they did, now time in own flat and with person I am seeing, so mixture on those week of no obligations so I can keep it light and simple and at other times having a luxurious date night!

Dumping breakfast helped actually and eating in the evening earlier to avoid raiding for snacks is good too.

@DrWhoNowww, totally agree. It's mindful eating in some shape or form.

Fasting drastically reduces calorie intake for the day/s you do it which offsets the calorie intake for the rest of the week. There are other various derivatives of this ie low carbs, no junk, limited alcohol, plant based etc but if you did add up the calories consumed it would be just enough to not gain weight.

The most 'naturally' slim person I know eats three decent reasonable meals a day, no snacks and is tea total. She eats to live, not lives to eat like those of us who struggle with weight.

The bottom line is most people will need to keep an eye on any weight gain and act accordingly and be mindful of what and how much you eat

By not going back to what I was doing before. I lost weight the last time around by cutting down on sugar and baked stuff in general and I've stopped calorie counting, at target and I'm still very slowly losing.

Have a read of Why We Eat (Too Much) by Dr Andrew Jenkinson.

It will explain why calorie counting doesn't help in the long run, and why it does interfere with your metabolism.

It's a really easy to read book.

@BIWI

Have a read of Why We Eat (Too Much) by Dr Andrew Jenkinson.

It will explain why calorie counting doesn't help in the long run, and why it does interfere with your metabolism.

It's a really easy to read book.

Exactly. No question of counting calories in that book.

No dairy, no gluten, no sugar.

I know it’s extreme but it’s the only thing that works for me. With these eliminated I can eat whatever I want in whatever quantity I want.

My sinuses are clear. I don’t get headaches and I’ve kept the 7 stone I lost off for 10 years without even thinking about it or killing myself in the gym.

I also don’t drink alcohol but that’s a I can’t stand the hangovers rather than a diet choice.

I also had a huge sweet tooth and could pack away a family size dairy milk but the thought of it now makes me want to throw up. It literally killed me to give up sugar. I had withdrawals for a couple of weeks and felt super ill but it is worth it.

Oh and just as an aside, although I joined the cult of slimming world and it did work for me, it was completely unsustainable in the long run.

I’m afraid I have to watch my weight like a hawk. If I overindulge, then I factor that in either with reducing intake the following day and/or an increase in exercise.

However, I am in peri-menopause, so maybe that’s a factor. For me, exercise is very important, not just to maintain weight but also muscle mass and bone density. I weigh myself most days apart from when I’m on holiday when I loosen the reins a bit (but I’m right back on top of things the moment I return). I never want to be in the position of having to lose several stone again, so would rather deal with a few pounds and keep a closer eye.

@joystir59

Weigh myself almost every day. Don't have any treats in the cupboard- I do treat myself but don't keep any treats in stock. Don't strictly calorie count but do think about what I'm eating and avoid eating empty calories and high calorie foods on a regular basis.

Same. I lost 1.5 stone which was a lot for me as I’m very short. I weigh myself nearly every day, and the only snack I’ll eat during the day is fruit. I’ve never been a breakfast person but I’ll eat a normal lunch and dinner (not calorie counting, but not a full English) and will even have a dessert most days. Just no snacks