Dreaded maintenance phase upcoming

[CallawayGolfer]

So a little about me, I’m healthy and active, golf, hockey, gym etc. 5’10 54 years old current BF% is 26%, LBM =145 lbs. Just lost 30 pounds (started at 225) and hit my original goal weight.  I’m seriouly considering another 8-10 pounds of weight loss for a couple of reasons,

1) I like the way I feel and wonder if I would feel much better at 190 or 185.

2) And probably most important is that I seem to be able to lose weight but the last time I did lose weight, I slowly gained back all the weight back at about 6 pounds a year.

Recognizing my lack of tracking calories in and out while on the gain back was likely the biggest contributor, I now worry about the maintenance phase, if anyone has some useful information I would gladly read it and incorporate your experiences into my program.

In losing the weight I did maintain about 2.5 pounds per week for the first while and then slowed it down over the last month.

Any info would be appreciated.

thanks

Brad

[SunsetRunner]

@CallawayGolfer Congratulations 🙂 It's been several months since I reached my goal and like you, I was afraid of what was going to come next. So here's what I did:

1. Didn't stop to log my food. I cook - I log, I eat out - if possible, I log etc. I managed to log 252 days in a row ( before I broke my combo being on holiday 😞 ). It became my habit.

2. I stayed active but my goal is an overall improvement not weight-loss anymore. It's a habit too.

3. I watch what I eat but...

4. ..I don't beat up myself for eating something "less healthy" from time to time 🙂

5. I check my weight daily, log it into Trendweight and observe the trend line. It may help turning on early alarm bell.

6. I still log my food... oh, I did mention that already 😉

It looks like you already know what is a culprit in your case. I believe that if not logging I would bounce back to "the original me" in no time. I implemented lots of changes and made them my "new normal". That's why I don't recognize my current phase as "maintenance" anymore ( is there anybody who also doesn't like this term? 🙂 ).

[Esya · Accepted solution]

Don't think about maintainance as "being done". You will never "be done". The changes you implemented are a lifestyle change and the skills you learned you can keep using during the maintainance phase. It is still the same journey, just a different phase. Keep doing what you are doing, just change your calories deficit to a maintainance level.

[DrYouTao]

Hey Brad,

This is a mathematical/statistical modeller working in the pharmaceutical/healthcare industry. I've lost about 20kg or 44lbs in my 20's and I can relate to your experience.

You are experiencing Adaptive Thermogenesis, a natural control mechanism everyone experiences during and after weight changes (loss/gain). There has been much research in this area since the groundbreaking progress in 1990's that first demonstrated its clinical significance in weight regain after weight loss. 

I've written a 3-min read lately ( https://www.letsgobeyond.co.uk/blog/3.-how-can-you-keep-your-weight-off ) about the following:

1. What is AT?

2. Who should pay attention?

3. How much is it?

4. How was AT discovered?

5. How is AT regulated?

6. What are the influencing factors?

7. When does it matter?

8. How do I know if AT affects me?

9. What can I do about AT?

10. How can PhD Fitness help?

Let me know if this answers your question.

Tao