How to maintain no gain
August 5, 2020 4:23 PM Subscribe
So I’m nearing my goal weight after a year of low-carb (but not keto) and intermittent fasting. Now I want to plan what maintenance will look like. How do you maintain your weight? What is the range you aim for? Is there an app that really helps you?
I feel confident that I can sustain my current eating plan forever. The IF is easy for me, I don’t miss carbs too much and I’m not so strict that I ever feel deprived. I’ve lost weight before and this time feels different because I’m not waiting for the day I “get off” this diet. This is the way I eat now.
I weigh myself daily and use Happy Scale to track. Have you used it in maintenance mode? I’ve Googled but I can’t find a lot of detail on how it works when it’s not supposed to be tracking loss trends and milestones. If you use another app, I’d love to hear about it.
I read the maintenance chapter of The Hackers Diet and think the 5 pound window sounds reasonable: if I get more than 2.5 pounds over or under my goal weight, I need to take special action. Is this how you do it? Do you have another trigger? What is “special action” to you?
Anything else I should be thinking about or planning?
I feel confident that I can sustain my current eating plan forever. The IF is easy for me, I don’t miss carbs too much and I’m not so strict that I ever feel deprived. I’ve lost weight before and this time feels different because I’m not waiting for the day I “get off” this diet. This is the way I eat now.
I weigh myself daily and use Happy Scale to track. Have you used it in maintenance mode? I’ve Googled but I can’t find a lot of detail on how it works when it’s not supposed to be tracking loss trends and milestones. If you use another app, I’d love to hear about it.
I read the maintenance chapter of The Hackers Diet and think the 5 pound window sounds reasonable: if I get more than 2.5 pounds over or under my goal weight, I need to take special action. Is this how you do it? Do you have another trigger? What is “special action” to you?
Anything else I should be thinking about or planning?
I do think the techniques for maintaining weight are somewhat personal, you really have to find what works for you. The main thing that works for me is: accountability. In this case it means tracking everything I eat each day, I've been doing this since February and it has been very successful.
Having said that, the app I use is Omada and it's a perk I got through work, so not everyone can just install it I guess, but I really love the way they ask you to categorize. There's no calorie counting, just tracking breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in terms of meal size (Small, Medium, Large) and "healthiness" (Not very, Somewhat, Mostly).
Diving into your question about a "special action", here's what I do when I sense that I need a bit of realignment. I eat only avocados and sweet potatoes for 1, 2 or 3 days depending on how much "realignment" (i.e. weight loss) I'm aiming for. As a supplement I also mix up a supergreen drink and pop an activated charcoal once a day.
For me, the psychological effects of this ritual meal are as important as the physical effects. I find I am more mindful a few weeks after this "special action" than I would be otherwise.
posted by jeremias at 5:37 PM on August 5, 2020
Having said that, the app I use is Omada and it's a perk I got through work, so not everyone can just install it I guess, but I really love the way they ask you to categorize. There's no calorie counting, just tracking breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in terms of meal size (Small, Medium, Large) and "healthiness" (Not very, Somewhat, Mostly).
Diving into your question about a "special action", here's what I do when I sense that I need a bit of realignment. I eat only avocados and sweet potatoes for 1, 2 or 3 days depending on how much "realignment" (i.e. weight loss) I'm aiming for. As a supplement I also mix up a supergreen drink and pop an activated charcoal once a day.
For me, the psychological effects of this ritual meal are as important as the physical effects. I find I am more mindful a few weeks after this "special action" than I would be otherwise.
posted by jeremias at 5:37 PM on August 5, 2020
Check out "Eat Like a Bear" of Facebook. My friend, Amanda, runs it. She has a pretty large following with lot of success, information, inspiration and support. Tell her Bear #12 sent you
posted by goalyeehah at 5:44 PM on August 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by goalyeehah at 5:44 PM on August 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
High protein (start your day with a protein shake)
lots of water
low sugar
Fruits and veggies.
you can do it.
posted by evilmonk at 7:26 PM on August 5, 2020
lots of water
low sugar
Fruits and veggies.
you can do it.
posted by evilmonk at 7:26 PM on August 5, 2020
I use an app called "Food Diary." I switched to if after the USDA ended Supertracker because it was a lot like Supertracker; simple, comprehensive, user-friendly and very versatile. They say you can't fix what you don't measure. When I started paying attention, I was 6', 220 and had an A1C of 7.5. To be honest, after looking over years of using it, I see I had low calories but high carbs which contributed to high A1C and higher weight gain than I wanted. Realizing carbs is the issue, the net carbs function is my new friend and I totally have it and weight gain under control.
Now, I'm 178 with an A1C of 6. Along with regular exercise, and over time, I have trained myself to know how much I need to eat, how many calories I need to burn and what number to be below. It comes with time and practice. You just get a sense after awhile. My weight has been steady to the pound for the last year. I eat what I want, but I run it through my app to decide on the portion size. I, like we all, have had some personal losses that threw me off the regime and hurt my own health. I'm back to it now. People always talk about the "work" aspect. Saving your own life is work but it doesn't have to be drudgery. The accountability aspect is key. Being grateful to have health when so many don't is the reality check, honestly.
posted by CollectiveMind at 9:05 PM on August 5, 2020
Now, I'm 178 with an A1C of 6. Along with regular exercise, and over time, I have trained myself to know how much I need to eat, how many calories I need to burn and what number to be below. It comes with time and practice. You just get a sense after awhile. My weight has been steady to the pound for the last year. I eat what I want, but I run it through my app to decide on the portion size. I, like we all, have had some personal losses that threw me off the regime and hurt my own health. I'm back to it now. People always talk about the "work" aspect. Saving your own life is work but it doesn't have to be drudgery. The accountability aspect is key. Being grateful to have health when so many don't is the reality check, honestly.
posted by CollectiveMind at 9:05 PM on August 5, 2020
I use the Lose It! app to track calories, like I did when losing, but I’m not that consistent. Honestly I just weigh myself every day— I know what a sensible +2.5/-2.5 lbs range is, so if I start going over that I cut back a bit. I have changed my overall diet a few times— used to eat small breakfast/lunch/dinner, then started taking a pill in the morning that needs to be on an empty stomach so I do lunch/fika/dinner. The biggest change from weight loss to maintenance was having one meal of the day be slightly more substantial.
posted by stoneandstar at 9:05 PM on August 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by stoneandstar at 9:05 PM on August 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
I weigh myself daily and only have an upper limit, and if I hit it, I eat very low-carb and skip breakfast (old-school IF, ha) for a few days. It’s a nice round number and I’m usually 2-3lbs below it. Even separate from my weight, if I’ve been eating heavily for a day or two I’ll have a light/healthy day - mostly because it feels good to do so. My highest weight was about 25lbs heavier than this, about 12 years ago. I’ve maintained this weight ever since.
One thing is that you may have your mental idea of your goal weight, but your body has its own innate point at which it will want to stop. Could be lower or higher than what you have in mind. At this weight, maintenance will be easy through healthy eating and exercise.
You may find that as your body finds it’s healthy weight, you just stop losing. You may be able to eat exactly as you are and maintain at that fit trim weight.
posted by amaire at 9:15 PM on August 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
One thing is that you may have your mental idea of your goal weight, but your body has its own innate point at which it will want to stop. Could be lower or higher than what you have in mind. At this weight, maintenance will be easy through healthy eating and exercise.
You may find that as your body finds it’s healthy weight, you just stop losing. You may be able to eat exactly as you are and maintain at that fit trim weight.
posted by amaire at 9:15 PM on August 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
I lost 150 pounds 17 years ago and can say that you seem to be well positioned to maintain. Key indicators: you plan on sticking with the way of eating you used to lose the weight. You've been practicing that way of eating for a year. You anticipate fluctuations and have a plan for correcting.
Depending on your body and how much weight you lost, the ±2.5lb window may be too small, or it could be just right. I have a ±10lb or so window. Also, there may be seasons to your maintenance across a year and as you age. Exercise or lack of it will affect your metabolism and eating strategies, too. I'm sure you're well aware of all this.
I don't weigh myself because I can obsess about numbers. (The Smart Scale seems pretty neat in this regard, though.) Part of maintenance is also maintaining sanity around how you feel about your body—transitioning to an acceptance of yourself instead of a change/better mindset (at least for me, anyway). I do have measures such as certain pants getting too tight that I will use as indicators to change my eating/exercise behavior for a while so they fit better.
I guess the only other thing I'll add is that your goal weight may or may not be right for your body. The weight we pick to stay at may need to be reconsidered as we grow into understanding our own body and personal health.
posted by 10ch at 6:40 AM on August 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
Depending on your body and how much weight you lost, the ±2.5lb window may be too small, or it could be just right. I have a ±10lb or so window. Also, there may be seasons to your maintenance across a year and as you age. Exercise or lack of it will affect your metabolism and eating strategies, too. I'm sure you're well aware of all this.
I don't weigh myself because I can obsess about numbers. (The Smart Scale seems pretty neat in this regard, though.) Part of maintenance is also maintaining sanity around how you feel about your body—transitioning to an acceptance of yourself instead of a change/better mindset (at least for me, anyway). I do have measures such as certain pants getting too tight that I will use as indicators to change my eating/exercise behavior for a while so they fit better.
I guess the only other thing I'll add is that your goal weight may or may not be right for your body. The weight we pick to stay at may need to be reconsidered as we grow into understanding our own body and personal health.
posted by 10ch at 6:40 AM on August 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
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