Scared to death of maintenance, what did YOU do?

[DaddioM]

Hi,

I'm a couple pounds from maintenance, and am, seriously, scared to death of it. I've actually been eating to stay ABOVE my goal weight until I have a "plan".

I want to design something that is for ME...that will work for ME and I thought by getting your ideas, I might be able to put together the best plan.

I know I want to define what is a "cheat", when I need to "really" buckle down, when it will hurt me less to add carbs (e.g. b4 exercise), etc, etc.

I KNOW myself well enough to know that I can't just "add carbs in until I hit my carb tolerance level".

I need to have "some days" when I can just let loose (I've done that during the diet successfully and hopped RIGHT back on...my key is to plan them)..

Anyway...please tell me what YOU do. We're all human, so you prob had some slips, how did you handle them mentally and did you take any action as a result of them? Do you plan cheat days? Do you go off or stay on the diet on Holidays? ..on Vacations?

Anyway....ANYTHING would help greatly!!

Thanks soooooooo much,

Mike (the scared to death of maintenance dude)

[mb99]

Hi Daddio,

People who are not on maintence like to shriek 'I have to eat this way the rest of my life! If you don't eat the SAME WAY you lost the weight forever you will gain it all back!'. I think once you are on maintence you realise there is a bit more flexiblity. Yes, you will eat differently then you did when you put on the weight. But losing weight and maintaing it are at different places on a diet continum. And you have choices. Like calories or carbs. Or be hungry sometimes, or control hunger. etc. Or follow a steady plan, or continue to be restrictive and splurge.

I've actually been eating to stay ABOVE my goal weight until I have a "plan".

Do you think your life will be radically different in 2 pounds time? The reality is, that you have the rest of your life to fine tune your plan! Be aware then in 2 pounds time, you will be eating to a 'plan' that will change and evolve over time.

I KNOW myself well enough to know that I can't just "add carbs in until I hit my carb tolerance level".

Why is this? Is this a personality trait you are happy with? Is this becuase you are afraid? What are you afriad of? In terms of needing a 'plan' before you lose 2 more lbs, are you happy for that plan to embrace your fear as a permanent feature of your plan? I am not being overly critical, but rather then just stating the above these are questions you must ask and answer in designing a plan.

Have you read Atkins for life? Ideally, what you are aiming for is to progress through the ladder until the way you eat is not obviously different to other people. (although some people PREFER to eat at 30g etc for ever, I (and Atkins!) don't think that is 'ideal'... I am sure you will get some responses from others who disagree with us). Sure, there are some things you don't eat, like birthday cake, but on a day to day basis the Atkins maintence plan is a diverse plan - distinct from the strict early stages.

There are personal limits to this. In terms of 'eating indistinguisably from other people' - that doesn't mean you eat the same as them. And you might say - no bread for instance, if that sets you off. But maintence isn't about ground pork rinds either!

MY STORY -->

Started premaintence in February, went up to about 70g mostly eating fruit. Then in March entered maintence. My maintence has evolved over time: I gradually increased from 70g to about 90g, but added a large number of new foods.

Since then have upped carbs to 70-150 (cycle a bit) on a low GI plan. I do maintain an active lifestyle. This is important to health. I think it is vain to lose weight and then not do the most elementry thing to maintain health! So exercise! lol

My diet is so flexible that the things I eat are always considered choices, not cheats! I think if you eat wholegrain bread, oatmeal, apples, dark chocolate (less often!), low GI breakfast cereal, milk (moderation!), etc fairly often or even every day as part of a considered and managed program you lose the 'deprivation' mentality that is attached to strict rules, even if you have to watch your serving sizes. The only things I really don't eat is white bread, high GI white rice (I eat sushi), candy, sugar etc. I have had pasta a couple of times, but don't really eat that either cos of the carbs. So sometimes I might eat more carbs then usual, but I never really 'cheat' becuase there are so few foods I am not allowed. On my birthday I ate some icecream (one scoop) with fruit salad.. but again that wasn't a cheat.. it was a choice (over pavlova, cake, other offerings!)

For me, it is best to avoid the binge mentality. The 'I still stay fairly low - 40g of carbs' and 'oh I could never eat that many carbs! I have a slow metabolism!' and then just stuffing yourself becuase of a special occasion! We are all different. I prefer a level of control and flexibility. It took me a while to get here. I have been afraid. I was afraid of fruit! lol.

Good luck. Please feel free to ask anyquestions or clarify your situation!

[KoKo]

Daddio

This is probably going to sound totally STUPID, but....

It sounds to me like you're doing a fine job of maintenance already, if you are eating to stay a couple of pounds above your goal weight and managing it (and not gaining ). Going off track and getting back on successfully. So why not just keep doing what your doing, wouldn't that be maintenance?

[DaddioM]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the responses so far. I love hearing how you guys have done it for yourselves!!

Koko... I know myself... I AM a binge person (see 8 scoops of ice cream in my journal), and am actually ok with that...but...need to have controls around it, or I'm afraid it will be a little more, then a little more, etc. You're right, I have thought of what you said.... so I "expect" my maintenance plan to be similar to what I've been doing, but without the "rules" I'd be pretty good at convinceing myself more and more stuff was "ok".

MB99 and others... it is ok to assume that exercise will be part of my life forever (finally)... something happened to me on this path and now I LIKE it...go figure.

KEEP THE IDEA's COMING... When I finally have it I will post "Mike's rules for Maintenance Madness"

[LC Sponge]

Mike - I continued here instead so you'll possibly get a notification. Tell Wa'il the next time you 'see' him that the PM space isn't big enough for me to pontificate in. ;)

I recommend the book LC for Dummies - sounds stupid, but it's ALL about a maintenance plan. There is no staged loss, induction, detox stuff in it. It's just plain, sensible low carb eating. Gets you away from carb counting and looking at numbers of carb, protein, fat portions per day. I have found it an easier plan, especially for maintainers. Atkins never wrote enough about maintenance, because, quite frankly, that's not where the $$$ is.

The LC for Dummies 'plan' says "Go ahead and eat the danish - just count that as your carb allotment" It also gets you thinking more about calories. Another thing I recommend. Carb counting gets a person eating more protein and fats as a way to feel full, and stay the course. But once you get into calorie counting AT GOAL it's no longer about losing and you tend to have a different mind set. Besides, it gives you new things to learn and keeps the mind busy.

If you are that close to your goal, then you have already discovered exercise. One thing about low carbing, is that it is the "diet for the couch potato", and that's the truth. This is why everybody has a hard time with that 'last 10 pounds' - ya gotta sweat it off. Exercise helps keep it off, but I don't go crazy. I was (near the end) on the treadmill, running 6 km on the roads, doing weights, etc etc. Now I seek moderation in everything - food, exercise, etc etc.

I eat whatever I want (pretty much) now, even sweets. But I watch my portion sizes like a hawk. If I indulge today, I stay the course for the next few days, etc etc. If I go through a period of extra hunger, I start taking CLA - about 4.5 g a day (4,500 mg) and it helps stay the appetite.

When I travel, I eat at least one meal a day at SUBWAY for the salads and sometimes the Atkins wrap. This keeps me under control when I'm on the road, which is my most dangerous time. I travel on my stomach ;)

I don't plan my cheat days - I plan my "behave" days. I also make it a habit of, every day, at the end of the day, visualizing what I ate all day - all layed out on a table in my mind. I review it and think about it. Before dinner sometimes, I do the same visualization and that helps me decide how much of what I'll eat at dinner. Once I leave the table (on my behave days) after dinner, I tell myself that's all the food for today.

To get in the habit of all this - Weekends, I used to get up on Sat and Sun and prepare ALL my food for the day and put it in containers and look at it all. Ok, I'd say to myself, this is it for the day. I am never really hungry, more than the average person, anyway.

Don't be scared. You probably remember the same fear when you would start a diet back when you were fat. It's just another phase of life. Once you get past the post-loss depression (if you suffer it) you'll come out at a better place and feel comfortable with what you are doing.

There are enough people on the board who come back and say "I lost it all 3 years ago and put it back and now it's so HARD" - this is another truth. I swore that I would only walk this road once, the scenery doesn't get any better walking it more than that.

Good luck and hang in there.
Victoria

[DaddioM]

bump it up

[packergal]

I guess I kind of started a similar post so I'll just post to the original and we can keep on helping each other out.

Thanks for all the tips and support.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no longer of the mindset that I'll never eat x,y or z again in my life. Some places that is heresy but it's my truth. I just know I'll never eat x,y or z every day, all in the same day.

I'm going to see if my library has the LC for Dummies book. Sounds like the kind of information I'm craving. The lack of long term info seems to be a problem on most of the lc plans. When you start out, it's easy to learn so much, so quickly.

Dh took me to the free weight room this weekend. I'm usually a resistance machine type of gal and the FW room is kind of intimidating so it was good to go with him. I'm more sore than I have been in months, so that's a good sign.

I keep trying to tell myself not to sweat the ending because it's really just the beginning of my new life or reclaimed life. I had pizza this weekend. A month ago that would have freaked me out that I was going to bloat up. I'm trying to ease myself into a stress free woe that will no longer feel like I'm trying to lose weight. I'm actually just trying to be healthy!

Brenda

[packergal]

I should say too that I am placing limits on myself. WRT the pizza, I realized that when I was skinny earlier in life and I'd go out for pizza with friends, I'd never eat more than 2 or 3 slices. Dh & I hit a point where we'd order pizza and eat way too much. So now I put a limit. If I want pizza -- fine. But controlled servings. Does that make sense?

Question too about eating low GI vs eating low carb == for maintenance. Say for something like bread. Do you look for the lowest carbs or the highest/best grain. I've started to notice that many of the breads marketed to the low carb community don't have as much fiber as some of the "plain old" hearty whole grain varieties. However the plain olds are higher in overall carbs per slice. So where do you draw the line? I have maybe 1-2 slices of bread a month so it's not daily or major. My kids have learned to like "the oatmeal stuff" better than white bread so it's as much to their benefit as mine.

Just wondering the consensus on this too! Thx.

[cheez whiz]

I have been LC for over two years. I can never have the cheat days. I know that in myself. So with that said I stick to the LC products and make my LC sweet things and I'm fine in maintaining.

For me I could never ever try a real piece of Pizza that would do me in. So for me I went up in carbs about 40 a day and I can maintain. It seems to me the guys can go up a lot higher lucky you.

[LC Sponge]

I personally go for the higher grain and don't worry about the carb count.

As more and more "low carb" products come out, I'm more suspect of other additives. Just like when "low fat" came out they started putting in the sugar". I steer clear of additives wherever possible.

The low carb got the weight off. Now that my body is in balance, I have to change how I eat yet again. Ergo, "maintenance". I don't even really think about it as "low carb" maintenance although I do stay relatively low carb. I think of it more as "Educated Maintenance". That really is another learning hurdle that defines "success" in a different way.

P.S. I also believe that another reason so little has been explored/written about maintenance is that low carbers' maintenance plans are going to be quite varied. With some sticking to the low carb bars/products and others going the route of a more weight-watchers type program, etc, etc.

[packergal]

I do feel very fortunate that I can eat some higher carb foods from time to time and in moderation and not experience repercussions. I realize not everyone has been so blessed. I guess it's part of what got a lot of us into this weight mess in the first place -- everyone metabolizes differently.

I agree with becoming wary of the lc products showing up. More & more the labels read like a latin exam. I do buy a few things (like Carb Options French dressing since I grew up with Western) but part of my concern too has been "what happens when the low carb push is over and they start to disappear?" I need to know that I can function with normal foods.

I have LC for Dummies reserved at the library so I'm looking forward to getting the call to pick that up.

As far as the men vs women thing, tell me about it! Dh low carbed before me and dropped about 50# in 4 months. He is amazed that it has taken me twice as long to do the same. I just keep reminding myself that at least I'm doing/have done it. This is where I worry about being too maintenance oriented with 10# to go and it taking that long again to rid myself of those. But I also see the benefit of taking it slow at the end and learning your body's clues.

Thanks for all of the support/ ideas/ experience sharing. I guess that's how we figure out what to try to see what's going to work for each of us.

Brenda

[Itty]

Hi packergal

I am going away to the cottage until Aug 20 (no electricity!!) so I would love to hear what you think of the LC Dummies book. I love dummies books because they are so entertaining to read! I am up to 140 now, and my weight is slowly slipping away because I have no real idea how to maintain.

Love to know what you think about the book

Mary

[DaddioM]

Hi everyone, how cool would it be if we could keep this thread alive and current for all of us struggling with maintenance.

Regarding breads: I buy "Nature's own" LC bread. It has a lot of fiber and doesn't (as far as I can tell from the label) contain any bad stuff to make it LC. I could probably have other breads for breakfast without impact, but I know my body likes to store away the carbs it doesn't use immediately, so I want to stay LC on those things I can.

I've started creating my own little "plan" based on what I've learned from everyone and know about myself. I guess I'll have to organize it and post it here. It's called "Mike's rules for Maintenance Madness!" I have a preliminary version a few posts ago in my journal.

Whoever shows up and views this...PLEASE leave us with your thoughts.

Mike

[LC Sponge]

Brenda - don't worry that lc products will disappear any time soon. We are riding the crest of a wave that has a long, long way to go! Science STILL knows little about nutrition, because it is so controlled by powerful lobby groups and their interests. That's how the "low fat" craze started. Remember when eggs were "bad" for you? Now with low carb the chicken farmers must be making a bundle!!! If I knew then, what I know now!!! I'd be one rich chicken farmer!

[Itty]

The chicken farmers coullllld be making a mint, except for the Avian Flu which meant so many millions of chickens in BC were culled ... well, I guess that means other farmers in other provinces can up the price of chicken!

[mb99]

Hi Everybody,

I agree with the comment made that the diversity in maintence plans means that we are often left with little guidance.

Re Breads: I buy a low GI bread, whole grain. For me, bread selection has been a got reflection of how my maintence has evolved. I used to buy the lowest carb variety on the market here. However, my bread is now 13g a slice, but lower GI and higher in protein and fibre.

By not chosing the absolute lowest in carbs product on the market, as I did during weight loss, I have been able to consider other health/lifestyle factors. For example, I ate yougurt during weight loss and bought the type based purely on carb count. Now, I've gone up a couple of carbs a serve in preference for higher calcium content and taste.

Re Low-carb Products: The comment often made in the general forums here is 'these products may be great for maintence but are way to stalling/high in carbs for now'. The image people seem to have is that once they have lost the weight,then they can feel free to eat (in moderation?) cookies and ice-cream low carb. For me, I think that low-carb products really only have a place when you are so carb-restricted that you need variety! E.g. Why would I buy low-carb desserts, when I can now eat sweet fruit every night?

The higher-carb option is often healthier. I think using lots of low-carb products during maintence can mean making poor use of your enlarged carb allowance, or not extending your carb allowance for natural, healthy, foods!

[LC Sponge]

Luckily it only takes an egg 30 days to hatch and the poulet starts laying eggs daily about 5-6 months after that. Meat birds are ready to harvest in 6-12 weeks after hatching. Even such a huge slaughter will be nothing more than a blip in the industry's production.

[packergal]

Ok, I've been pouring through LC for Dummies. My first glance through wasn't very impressive but I had some time with a sick child this afternoon and gave it a better look. I'm impressed! I copied down the food lists and rules and think I'll switch over in a few weeks. Technically the name is "Whole Foods Eating Plan." That's just what it is.

Basically there are lists of foods that are "free" to the point that you're not hungry. They include lots of fruits & veggies, lean meats, & low fat cheeses. (yes, it's hard to type "low fat"). Each meal should include 1 meat and at least 1 serving each of fruit and veggies. The free foods are deemed low glycemic load. These are also called the "green light foods."

The yellow light foods are your starchy carbs. You can have 3-5 of these a day. Cereals, breads, potatoes, etc fall into this category -- oh yes, the much missed banana is there too. A starchy carb serving is approximately 15g net carbs so you're in a range of 45-75 net carbs PLUS your free carbs.

You then hit the treats section. They give you a chart to show where carb levels count. A treat less than 5 net gms does not count against your 3-5 carbs unless you're having too many in a day. Otherwise you can evaluate your food and decide if you're going to trade a cookie vs a banana or whatever.

2-3 low fat dairy servings a day are encouraged. Fats are 8 servings a day (serving being 5gms) and fiber is preached.

Admittedly, it's not Atkins! But it seems like an easy way to live long term and maintain without counting every carb. At $22 list price, it's kind of pricey since most of it explains (yet again) the science behind blood sugar/insulin/refined carbs etc. But definately worth getting at the library and giving a good look through.

Still not sure when I'll start converting, but at least I see my plan is there. I had 1-2#/month loss from Mar-June and then 4 & 3# months in June & July. Aug is dragging, but I started free weights this month so I'm expecting some is new muscle since my clothes fit the same or better. Anyway, if Aug continues at this pace, I may be ready for a change up after Labor Day.

Brenda

[DaddioM]

Hey Packergal, I like that the book breaks down the GI index for you. Anyone know of a site or a post that has a comprehensive list of GI's for foods (similar to the atkins list on carbs for food).

I want to know the GI's for my workouts as well.

Mike

[packergal]

Mike --

I think there's a www.glycemicindex.com site that I saw somewhere.

Brenda

[UpTheHill]

Hi Mike -

This is my maint plan: http://forum.lowcarber.org/showpost.php?p=2297796&postcount=87

It is working great so far.

Lynda

[DaddioM]

Brenda, thanks for the index! Just what the doctor ordered.

Lynda, thanks for sharing your plan!! I haven't read through it in detail yet, but I will!! It looks a LOT more organized than what I've got so far!

Did you start with ALL those items or have you been adding to them over time?

Mike

[adkpam]

Well, I've been Maintaining since the first of the year, and this summer I hit my upper carb limit...gained five pounds.

Since I really haven't been eating so differently from before, I might've figured out where I've been going wrong and seeing if I'm right. If so, these five pounds will go away.

*Ice cream! There's a local ice cream shop that is only open for three months in the summer and I've been Indulging. Too much, obviously. So this will take care of itself by Labor Day...portion control will work for me here the rest of the year.

*Wrapping too much! There's a couple of sandwich places where I've been grabbing regular wraps for lunch. Easy solution: I have put a package of Toufaya wraps in the fridge here at work. I will roll one up into a paper towel before I go to the place, and have them make it with my low carb (7 net) wrap instead of their (27 carb) wrap.

*Cashews! Note to self: take the can off the little table near my chair and put it back in the cupboard.

So in my case it isn't that I'm grabbing everything around now that I'm in "maintenance" it's that I've been grabbing too much of certain things. Well, I wanted to see what sort of limits there are..and I found out.

Oh, and I'll try to exercise more. We've had a very rainy summer, and that's been interfering, for certain.

[UpTheHill]

Hi Mike -

The list of things to do to keep the weight off are either the same or slight variations of what it took to lose it in the first place. For example, the 10,000 steps per day. Part way throguh my weight loss I had to up exercise to a minimum of 10,000 steps per day to keep losing, and actually was running 15,000 - 17,000 to keep my weight loss rate moving through the last several pounds. Now I just make sure I always have at least 10,000. (BTW, the last day under 10,000 was Feb 2.)

Same with Fitday PC - I needed to use it to lose the weight, but shoose to continue it to help me keep the weight off. Same with weighing every day, etc.

The big thing was to realize that if I stop doing the things that made me successful in losing, I'm going to have a much harder time being successful in maintenance. And I know that if I stop making weight a priority, I can easily gain 5 lbs a month. I just don't ever need to go through needing to lose a ton of weight again.

I need to add one more thing to the list. "Tuck in my shirt every day." I've got a couple of hundred people at work who know that if they ever see my shirt untucked, they should ask why. :) The weight chart on the file cabinet is also a good one for creating motivation to maintain.

Lynda

[kristenv]

I am in the position as you in newly exploring OWL/premaintentance. I just wanted to suggest a book that I read back when I started this WOE called Living the Low Carb Lifestyle by Jonny Bowden.

It had alot of good info and covered more long term eating on this WOL.

Great suggestions!
Good luck to all!!
Kristen

[DaddioM]

I'm getting a lot of great suggestions from y'all. It's helping me and I hope it helps others that are beginning maintenance also!!

More ideas are VERY welcome!!!!!

Mike

[KatyDee]

I have been on Maintenance for almost 9 months. I have never counted carbs on Maintenance. I, too, was terrified to increase my carb intake as I so much didn't want to gain the weight back.
I eat 1 or 1 1/2 slices of Oroweat carb counting bread each day, a low carb bar, usually Atkins and now, Genisoy. I eat a Skinny Cow fudgesicle every day, almost. Very often, 2-3 times a week, I eat a big bowl of strawberries and cool whip. We now put nectarine in our salads.
But mostly, we eat chicken or meat with a salad/and or vegetable dish for dinner. We once in a while, share a bag of microwave popcorn or have a half ear of corn.
What I have learned about Atkins:
-wine is fine, once or twice a week
-caffeine is fine for me, daily
-if I stick to the diet closely, it doesn't hurt to have a cookie occasionally. Actually, I have lost a pound or two after cheating, if I only cheated rarely.
-pizza and pasta taste so pasty and gummy after not eating white flour for so long. I no longer love this stuff and have no trouble doing without.
-I exercise more if I eat too many carbs. As a result of walking my buns off, I only gained 1 pound on two different cruises, without "suffering" too much and eating limitted carbs.

Just to say maintenance isn't THAT scarey.
Katy