How the heck are you keeping it off ?!?

[Daves_Not_Here]

This inquiry is directed to those who have successfully (1) lost a significant amount of weight, and (2) managed to keep it off over time.  The first part is pretty easy, the second part not so much.

If you have been successful at maintaining your target weight for more than a few months, could you please weigh in (yuk yuk) and clue in the rest of us knuckleheads as to how you have been doing it?  In particular, could you please share the key factors (diet, exercise, weight tracking, food logging, mental attitude, etc.) that you have found to be most important for your success?

(Tagging @Baltoscott, @Dominique, @AuroraKat, @SunsetRunner, @etvete, @EmjayH, and @tamado as it seems you have cracked the code, don't get a big head. Thanks to @shipo for his inspiring story and prompting this thread.  @WavyDavey doesn't count, he's going the other way, probably drives down the freeway backwards.  Apologies to anyone I missed!)

I believe that answering this question and successfully incorporating it in our lives would be one of the most beneficial and impactful outcomes we could hope to realize through our participation in this community.  So, no pressure!  Thanks!

[SunsetRunner]

@Baltoscott MFP tells me I've been tracking my food 134 days in a row. This gives approximately 4.5 months but I'm sure I've been tracking way longer and breaks in logging happened sporadically. It's interesting that you pointed out I'm an exception when it comes to logging the food and maintaining. That's why I think it could actually be one of the reasons why instead of maintaining I keep losing weight. Logging stops you from overeating and I think it may carry on a habit of "undereating". Logging food became my normal. I just log what I eat and I'm quite detailed about it. Moreover, I prepare all food. It means when I want a sandwich I have to make a bread if I want spaghetti I have to make pasta etc. Most of the food I eat is homemade with just a few exceptions which I simply wouldn't be able to make myself.

An interesting thing I found is that I may be under-logging calories just by a food-waste. I don't mean here throwing food into a bin. I mean here that when you cook the amount of certain ingredient may get reduced. As an example, Today for lunch I made simple 10-minutes wholemeal flatbread. The flour is quite rich in calories and especially - carbs. But some flour stuck to my fingers, some got stuck in the bowl and all that got washed with water. Some of the olive oil stayed on the surface of the spoon etc. An "effective" amount of ingredient is less than I logged. For some it won't be significant ( for example mushrooms ), for others even a little bit of an ingredient excluded from the recipe may bring significant change ( walnuts, almonds, olive oil, flours etc. ). In other words, I log no what I eat but what I would have eaten 🙂 Such differences may be crucial when it comes to over- or under-eating during maintenance and logging may be bit treacherous here 🙂

[Daves_Not_Here]

@Baltoscott -- I agree with you in being surprised that more people don't log their eating on an ongoing basis.  In the past, I've struggled to eat intuitively without gaining, even with all my activity, so I assumed others would face the same difficulty.  However, most continued to weigh often, which probably provides the necessary feedback.

[Irishgirl68]

@SunsetRunner    Alas, no Krispy Kremes in the UK!....

However, I can recommend the homemade hot donuts made right in front of you on the beach in Skegness.  Bit of honey or powdered sugar on top for 40 pence.  OMG, it was worth the trip and the calories.  Cheers...

[SunsetRunner]

@Irishgirl68 well, we have Dunkin' Donuts 🙂

According to my records, I pretty much overeat most of the days. Today result - 50.5kg. Within 4 weeks I lost 0.5kg. Doesn't look like much but I'm 2.7kg below my target which I achieved at the beginning of September. and Trendweight shows I'm losing approx. 200g a week. Fitbit must be way off with estimated calories burnt. Before it worked for me quite well but now I don't really trust this number. My meals visually are huge ( although energetic value isn't so large, but neither am I ) but this seems to be not enough. I try to slightly overeat almost every day compared to what Fitbit shows me ( which pretty much matches math of calories I should be burning considering my lifestyle, height, weight and age - in that matter the tracker doesn't seem to be much off ). I stick with my plant-based diet but add lots of foods full of fats ( nuts, olive oil, olives etc. ). I wasn't expecting losing weight would become a problem for me. Rather like most of the people, I was afraid of going back into my old weight multiplied by 2 ;). I'm not sure what I am doing wrong here. I feel like I keep eating and eating. Rarely I have even time to feel hungry. Going back to eating take away junk foods is not an option here. I may increase meat but I have my reasons for limiting it drastically 😕