I see ppl who took all the weight off 2 years ago and still maintain.
I see ppl who took all the weight of, gained it all back, and are trying to lose it again.
The main difference I see between the two groups is moderation in eating. Like, eating 3,000 calories on your eating day balances out when you fast for 5 days … but when you trained yourself to eat 3,000 calories in a day, and then you stop fasting … it doesn’t seem to go well.
Am I right here? Can those with long term maintenance share why you think you’ve been successful keeping the weight off?
I’m 60% to my goal. I’d like to fast in a way that sets me up for success in maintenance. Thank you!!!
(Yes, I’m posting in a couple groups, i want a broad range of experience)
So I’m 2 years or so into maintenance, meaning I hit my goal weight two years ago and wanted to be done dieting. I had spent 13 months doing the fasting and reducing calories and then counting calories and exercising and the lengthening the fasts, shortening my daily window and trying to cut out sugar and processed foods. After 13 months, I touched where I thought I would never touch and I was tired and I knew I was done.
What I couldn’t do was go back to being who I was. I couldn’t be the guy who ate donuts because they were free. I couldn’t be the good time guy who drank IPAs at the local brewery. I was the new sober guy. I couldn’t be the guy who made 30 nuggets for his two children and got to sneak the last 16. Or the guy who just happened to be at the grocery store where they have the good fried chicken and right at lunchtime, too.
So I set different goals not related to weight. Not related to calories. I wanted to work on body transformation. So my new goal was “fit at 50” which in December 2020 was 21 months away.
So that’s what I’ve been doing. Continuing the lifestyle, continuing the sobriety, working on my fitness. Running. I still get to eat 3000 calories a day because that’s what I burn.
In these two years I weigh about 10 pounds more than the lowest weight I was. And that’s OK. I get to eat bread. I have the water weight back on. I crossed last week. I’m fit at 50.
I have new goals now. This summer one of my goals became running 16 miles a week. I still fast every day. I do not eat after dinner. I don’t eat sweet things at dinner. I have a pair of pants that is my guidepost now. If they get tight, I ease it off a little.
I don’t get to be a pig. I had to go back on the austerity diet when I got up to 215 last spring after a surgery. I felt crappy and decided to go again and touch the number (199). It was about 3 weeks and I did it with ever more austerity than usual because I knew I could. Fast, exercise, eat very little, drink warm water. Cut out everything. A skinny person version as opposed to another long haul like I’ve had to do many times previously.
Hope this helps.