How to stop losing and maintain

[elcee 3,341]

Well this is one of those questions that I probably thought I would never be asking. Does weight loss eventually stop by itself or do you have to consciously change things in order to maintain?

I’m not quite at the maintenance stage yet but I’m not far off. I currently weigh 52kg and am at the stage where if I lose a couple more kilos that would be good but if I don’t I will still be happy. Last time I saw my surgeon he told me that he doesn’t want me to get below 50kg or he might have to start force feeding me and I think he was only half joking!

I currently don’t track but just try to make healthy choices in appropriate sized portions. I also don’t avoid carbs.

Advice from those who are maintaining will be appreciated

[Healthy_life2 8,324]

23 minutes ago, elcee said:

Well this is one of those questions that I probably thought I would never be asking. Does weight loss eventually stop by itself or do you have to consciously change things in order to maintain?

I’m not quite at the maintenance stage yet but I’m not far off. I currently weigh 52kg and am at the stage where if I lose a couple more kilos that would be good but if I don’t I will still be happy. Last time I saw my surgeon he told me that he doesn’t want me to get below 50kg or he might have to start force feeding me and I think he was only half joking!

I currently don’t track but just try to make healthy choices in appropriate sized portions. I also don’t avoid carbs.

Advice from those who are maintaining will be appreciated

My dietitian’s food plan changed for maintenance mode. She increased my calories and carbs (low glycemic) to slow/stop my weight loss.

Maintaining calories and carbs will be in your own range. Mine are about 1300 to 1450. I'm active and burn a lot of calories. People that are not as active may maintain with lower calories...All depends on the person.

[elcee 3,341]

8 minutes ago, Healthy_life2 said:

My dietitian’s food plan changed for maintenance mode. She increased my calories and carbs (low glycemic) to slow/stop my weight loss.

Maintaining calories and carbs will be in your own range. Mine are about 1300 to 1450. I'm active and burn a lot of calories. People that are not as active may maintain with lower calories...All depends on the person.

Thats the thing - I don't currently track, I don't actively diet, what I eat currently satisfies me and I don't feel like I need to eat more. So wondering what and how I will need to change for maintenance. It will be ironic if I haven't needed to track to lose but may have to to maintain

[Healthy_life2 8,324]

15 minutes ago, elcee said:

Thats the thing - I don't currently track, I don't actively diet, what I eat currently satisfies me and I don't feel like I need to eat more. So wondering what and how I will need to change for maintenance. It will be ironic if I haven't needed to track to lose but may have to to maintain

You are at a healthy BMI of 22. Don’t let it go to 18 (underweight) Its up to you on how you want to approach maintenance. You can increase your calories on your own without logging and see if it works. If you start dropping underweight, you may need to log for a while to see how much you need to eat to keep your weight up.

At the end of the day its all about being healthy. You will find your balance with this.

I’m five years out and maintaining. I maintained with ease my first two years out. Third year I gained 16 -ish *lol* and worked it back off. I was one of those people that said “weight gain will never happen to me” I hope not dieting and not tracking works for you long term.

[ms.sss 15,561]

I'm also trying to ease into maintenance too and I guess right now I'm doing it trail and error...but I do track my calories and macros.

My plan is to increase my daily calories by 150 every couple weeks and see if I lose/gain/stay the same. I'm not really sure what to do about my carb intake though...I was under 20g a day when I was trying to lose, but I'm not sure I want to up that number just yet. I'll play it by ear I guess.

The one problem I have is that I still can't really eat much in terms of volume, and I'm not necessarily wanting to eat. It's hard to switch gears like this!

In your case, where you don't track, it may be a little harder to manage or determine what your maintenance lifestyle truly is. Maybe you can add more foods like avocados and nuts to your diet and see where that gets you?

[catwoman7 11,211]

I decided to enter maintenance after a DEXAscan. I thought I had about another 10-15 lbs to go, but my body fat according to the scan was 22%, and the technician said no - it was time to think about stopping. My PCP said the same thing. She doesn't like her older patients (which is evidently me...) dropping too low and having no cushion if/when they get sick. So I started coming up on calories until I found my "sweet spot", which for me is in the 1500-1700 range. As long as I stay within that range, I can maintain my weight. If I have more than that more than a couple of days a week, my weight starts inching up. So it's trial and error. Keep in mind, though, that most of us (not all....but most) do have a 10-20 lb bounce back after we hit bottom, so you may want to account for that when deciding where to stop. It's not inevitable, but it does seem to happen to the vast majority of us.

[Biddy zz 🏳️🌈 1,003]

Just before I plateaued, I started to really worry about how I was going to STOP losing. But - well, it just happened by itself.

It was emotionally hard giving up the ‘every day 100 or 200grams lost’ satisfaction, I can tell you! I did consciously pick up my diet a small amount - fruit or yoghurt after dinner - and relaxed a bit around the odd snack. I have been pretty stable for 9 months now...

[KCgirl061 1,532]

My husband and I have been discussing the same thing. I'm at a 22 BMI right now and have approximately 15 pounds yet to lose before worrying that I am underweight. But my husband considers me underweight already and wants me to stop losing. But I'm not sure how to make it stop. Doesn't the weight come off during the honeymoon phase no matter what we eat? Thats how people get into the trap of "I lost all this weight after surgery eating XYZ so I must be doing something right" Right now I don't always track my food but when I do I end up around 1000-1100 calories.

I'm perfectly happy to sit and wait for the 10-15 pound bounce back. That will put me right back at my goal weight.

[KCgirl061 1,532]

10 hours ago, ms.sss said:

I was under 20g a day when I was trying to lose, but I'm not sure I want to up that number just yet.

This baffles me, how do you keep it so low? Are you doing Keto?

[GreenTealael 25,330]

My body also decided to slow down on its own but im not as restricted as most with carbs (mostly from vegetables) or fats

[ms.sss 15,561]

1 hour ago, KCgirl061 said:

Are you doing Keto?

No, no Keto, I would never be able to reach the fat requirement AND keep my Protein at 60-70g.

1 hour ago, KCgirl061 said:

how do you keep it so low?

Well first, I should have probably specified that I'm talking NET carbs, so I don't count fibre towards my carb count. And since I don't eat any bread, Pasta, rice, root vegetables (except the occasional carrot or radish), added sugar, nor fruit (except the occasional berry) I can consistently be under 20g of net carbs a day.

I basically eat alot of protein and salad, and its funny because when I do get the rare craving to eat something, its for meat or salad.

[FluffyChix 17,415]

1 hour ago, KCgirl061 said:

My husband and I have been discussing the same thing. I'm at a 22 BMI right now and have approximately 15 pounds yet to lose before worrying that I am underweight. But my husband considers me underweight already and wants me to stop losing. But I'm not sure how to make it stop. Doesn't the weight come off during the honeymoon phase no matter what we eat? Thats how people get into the trap of "I lost all this weight after surgery eating XYZ so I must be doing something right" Right now I don't always track my food but when I do I end up around 1000-1100 calories.

I'm perfectly happy to sit and wait for the 10-15 pound bounce back. That will put me right back at my goal weight.

Darlin' this is a fallacy. The surgery works to some extent on its own IF you follow the rules and depends quite closely to the amount of metabolic derangement you have. I have had to fight tooth and nail for every pound, but I'm an outlier.

IMHO, wl stops for most when you are in equilibrium. But if you are still eating wl mode calorie levels of 650-850 like many of us, then you probably will need to up your cals to around 900-1200 as a start.

Congrats on your fabulous success!!

[KCgirl061 1,532]

13 hours ago, FluffyChix said:

Darlin' this is a fallacy. The surgery works to some extent on its own IF you follow the rules and depends quite closely to the amount of metabolic derangement you have. I have had to fight tooth and nail for every pound, but I'm an outlier.

IMHO, wl stops for most when you are in equilibrium. But if you are still eating wl mode calorie levels of 650-850 like many of us, then you probably will need to up your cals to around 900-1200 as a start.

Congrats on your fabulous success!!

Thank you, and I'm sorry - I certainly don't mean to offend you or anyone else. I forget that I'm a bit of an outlier myself on the other end of the spectrum (having lost nearly 94% of my excessive body weight) and that others have had to work harder than I've had to to lose their weight.

Edited May 30, 2019 by KCgirl061

[FluffyChix 17,415]

12 hours ago, KCgirl061 said:

Thank you, and I'm sorry - I certainly don't mean to offend you or anyone else. I forget that I'm a bit of an outlier myself on the other end of the spectrum (having lost nearly 94% of my excessive body weight) and that others have had to work harder than I've had to to lose their weight.

Aw hon. Congrats on your fabulous success and work!!!! No offense taken! WE are all on our own path and journey and it's just such an individual experience!