Maintenance time! Anyone up for a support thread?

[AutisticLegoLover]

Is anyone up for a weight maintenance thread? This week I reached my goal weight of 54.5kg/8st 8lb and am now needing to maintain it and it would be great to have company to help keep the good habits in place. My aim is to keep to a kilo either side of that weight.

If you're looking to maintain please come join me😃

Just me then 😬

Seeing as there's only me I'll use this for my own weekly accountability. I plan to weigh on Fridays and continue with eating more healthily, smaller portions and being very active. Although it's the school holidays for 2 weeks now and I doubt I'll be walking my usual 10 miles a day. I'll use my gym ball to make up for it. I usually gain about 3-5lbs in the holidays but it disappears quickly once school is back.

First weigh in: 54.4kg

I saw your post and would have posted but I'm not there yet! Still have some weight to lose! I am beginning to think about maintenance though. Congratulations on your weight loss and good luck with maintaining.

@ScottishBeth thank you and I hope you'll join me soon! I've never really done maintenance before. After having ds 8 years ago I was 9 st 3lb for ages then last year I reached peak lard and decided I needed to stop making excuses, stop eating so much and get it shifted. This is the lowest weight I'd been in over 20 years and it will be interesting to see how easy it is to maintain it. The summer holidays will be the biggest challenge there but I've totally changed my eating habits so I'm hoping it won't be too difficult. I need to tone up now. There's still plenty of wobble about. I'm very stubborn and can get obsessed so I'm determined not to be someone for whom the weight goes back on because diets don't work. I've not dieted as such though, just changed my habits.

You've done really well. I still have 7kg to lose before my BMI is in a healthy range so it's likely to be a few months before I'm there. I think you're doing the right thing actually thinking about maintaining though. I've been wondering if naturally slim people have to make an effort to keep their weight in a certain range recently. Going to ask my thin friends about it! But will also ask people who've lost a chunk of weight. It is such a minefield!

I've been at maintenance for about 18 months now and I'm won't lie it really messes with your head when you first start! My biggest advice is to remember that being at maintenance does NOT mean maintaining your lowest weight. I spent ages trying to stick at that number and it's totally unrealistic. I have also found that tracking towards the lower end of my calories during the week allows for me to bring them up higher over the weekend which fits with my lifestyle. Congrats on the weight loss and good luck!

I’m hoping to be there by early August 🤞 so if this thread is still going …..

Morning! I'm sure this thread will be going if only by me 🤣 Good luck for reaching your goal-you can do it! I've found drinking plenty of water really helps shift it. Not stupid amounts but around a litre in addition to any tea or coffee or soft drinks. Now it's warm I drink more water than that but otherwise it's around a litre. I drink around 700mls of tea in addition to that. And I walk. Lots. 10 miles a day usually Monday to Friday. Weekends vary depending on what I'm doing. Can be next to nothing or can be 10 or more. If I'm slacking

On the walking I bounce on my gym ball whilst watching tv.

I would like some company/tips for maintaining after having lost 3 stone since the beginning of the year. I did track calories and also fasted to lose the weight and now I feel a bit stuck about h

Oops…

how to put the brakes on the weight loss whilst sticking to eating healthily!

@Savemesome congratulations on your weight loss! I think I've been eating better for so long now (since last September) that it's changed my mindset completely and I just don't think to eat a load of junk food and wouldn't be able to anyway. I get full quite quickly now. That being so I'm not too worried about regaining weight but I might if I'm not careful and slowly increase the amount I'm eating. I no longer want to get a take away pizza or Chinese and McDonald's doesn't appeal nor do big meals. I do enjoy chocolate and a 99 from the ice cream van or some popcorn or sweets. I love sweets!

54.35kg this morning.

54.4kg this morning which is a miracle after 3 weeks off with dc where I are what I wanted within reason. I expected a few pounds to be back on. I've started back on the normal routine today and am almost at 10 miles walked/24,000 steps.

54.1kg today and that's after 3/4 of a chip barm last night. I shared with ds.
I saw photos of myself yesterday and can't see myself as slim even though I am. It's weird.

@ScottishBeth how are you getting on?

I am maintaining when I still have 6kg to lose! But doing ok. Have overeaten the last couple of days, but today has been fine and I am still feeling motivated.

You're doing really well with maintenance! It's funny what you said about not seeing yourself as slim. I have had lots of comments but I cant see a difference at all.

@ScottishBeth slow and steady is the way to go even if it's included the odd staying the same for a while.
52.3kg couple of days ago which is an all time low and the result of a medical procedure but it's coming back up to target now.
All in all this maintenance lark isn't the hard work I thought it would be but it's early days. Think this is week 6 perhaps.

Hope you're well after your medical thing. It's good to read about how you are doing.

What are you doing differently now to when you were actively losing?

I'm eating the same foods but with kids added extras and not logging everything like I used to. Also not sticking to not eating after dinner although that's mainly down to various things messing with my routine. I think my food habits are well ingrained now so I don't overeat. If I want take away pizza I'll have it but not eat half as much as before. I don't eat big bags of chocolate in bed at night whilst reading but I do eat chocolate. I ask myself if I really need or want something outside of meal times and the answer is usually no but I do often just have it. I can't eat large quantities anymore. Being physically active makes a huge difference because my maintenance is around 1900 although I haven't calculated it for a while and I'm not logging so I've not paid much attention.

Not kids!

That sounds good. I guess the thing is once I reach my goals I can adjust things slightly. If in a week's time I've gained 1.5kg I can readjust and it won't be hard for it to come off. And yes, I have no intention of going back to exactly how I ate before. I always used to have a large meal plus 6 nuggets at McDonald's, I don't do that anymore and won't start again once I've reached my goal.