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How do you maintain?

I feel like my blog has been neglected! I haven't been writing b/c honestly, I haven't been doing very good. I feel like I want to revert back to my "normal" eating habits of before losing, but I know if I do that I will gain everything back. I have been writing down what I eat, but not nearly as religiously as I did when I was losing. I find myself eating things I NEVER would have touched while I was losing, and I don't even WANT them. I just feel like I CAN have them.

So my question is, what do you do to maintain? How do you balance wanting 'normal' eating habits with not gaining weight? I've never been in a position like this. In my past experiences, I've either been losing or not thinking about what I was eating at all (and subsequently gaining.) I think I need guidance...

4 Comments

Comment by Erin on May 23, 2008 at 1:18pm: Maintaining is even harder than losing the weight, in my mind. It's a constant struggle between what you know and what you want....and oftentimes, the two don't overlap. I can't say that I have any tips aside from don't beat yourself up when you make a bad choice, and don't string bad choices together and go on a binge. Just consider it a splurge and get back on track. You can eat like "normal" once a week and not gain weight, but you have to counteract it with good behavior during the rest of the week. :) No worries-- you were strong enough to lose, so you will find your balance with the maintaining.

Comment by Karen on May 23, 2008 at 1:24pm: Sarah, I have been researching about losing weight and maintaining and I believe the best answer is balancing your body's energy requirements. At your maintenance weight, you must determine what calorie level keeps you at that weight. You can add more exercise or work to lower your body fat percentage at the same weight (thus raising base metabolism) to be able to increase this calorie amount and still maintain. Since age and genetics also play a role in whether a body is efficient or less efficient in burning calories, each person will have a different "normal" eating level. If you gained weight on what you consider "normal" eating habits, then you do need to adjust the balance between your calories and exercise. There's no good or bad food - as long as you find the level that's right for you - enjoy!

Comment by Jeni on May 23, 2008 at 9:56pm: I am not in your position but I would say...check out the normal and intuitive eating. Armed with some simple principles you can eat the things you want. I have just started down this path with a goal of weight loss and have had success. Jeni

Comment by gottahavefaith on May 27, 2008 at 3:55pm: I'm a new maintainer, too. I wasn't on WW, so maybe things are a bit different coming from that perspeective, but I think that you have to avoid getting into the mindset of "weight loss eating" v. "normal eating." If you are a maintainer, shift your focus to healthy eating and don't let yourself get too hungry. If you focus your diet on lean protein, whole grains, fruit and veggies, you should be able to fill yourself up without doing your weight too much damage. This has to be a lifestyle change for it to stick.

You say that you are eating things that you don't want. For me, a couple of culprits cause me to do that. 1. My meals aren't satisfying...either they aren't big enough or they don't taste good. 2. I'm deluding myself into thinking that I don't have to try anymore. 3. I'm not letting myself eat the treats that I DO want. As a maintainer, you might want to consider picking one meal a week to buy or fix yourself whatever you are craving. Don't go totally overboard, but eat a small helping of dessert or a piece of red meat or whatever you think would make you really happy. Knowing that I can eat tasty "non-diet" food sometimes helps me to resist mediocre junk food.

How do you maintain?

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