maintaining is harder than losing

Lou1973

Silver Member
Before I start I want to emphasise this is not a criticism of VLCD’s.

I was posting on my blog today updating on my current diet (not a VLCD) and I started rambling about why the last two times I have lost weight I put it all back on again – during the ramble as my brain skipped from one thing to another I detailed what happened the last time I got down to goal weight

I made a reference to a comment made on here (thank you to whoever posted it) – about once you’re at your ideal weight weigh every day and the morning you go over your max acceptable weight you sort it out that day - no matter what's going on don't procrastinate, get focussed and sort it.


I’ve been thinking (and wishing) I’d done that last time and the truth is I did weigh myself every day but when the scales crept up I didn’t take action that day instead I'd lulled myself into thinking - you've only got 7lb to lose - you can do that in a week on cambridge do it next week. Then it was a few more lbs so I'd start on cambridge but having the will power to get over those horrible side effects in the first few days just wasn't there when I only had a few pounds to lose and I'd succeed on day 1 then blow it on day 2 - coz I could always do it next week and it'd only take a couple of weeks to lose so plenty of time before that event/ that holiday etc. right? Wrong! Basically the circle continued until I was almost 3 stone heavier than when I finished the cambridge diet.


I’m on a different diet this time that I don’t find requires quite so much willpower and I’ve made a promise to myself that once I get down to goal I'm going to have a maximum weight and that the day my weight goes over my acceptable max it's straight downstairs onto plan for a couple of weeks.

To reiterate what I said at the beginning this really isn’t about knocking VLCD’s and I know many of you have lost loads of weight doing them and managed to maintain it which is wonderful. What I’m hoping you’ll get from my reflections today is if the weight starts to creep back up please don’t procrastinate and think I know there’s an easy fix I’ll do it next week - do it that day – and if you find you can’t stick to a VLCD because the motivation isn’t there then choose another route – but please, please don’t keep knocking your head against the same brick wall starting a VLCD diet every Monday and blowing it every Tuesday again and again as every week you’ll feel like a failure and could easily find yourself like me 3 stone heavier

Good luck to you whatever route you are choosing to go down to lose your weight and maintain when you get to goals
 
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I so agree that in the early stages of maintenance you do really need to deal with any gain immediately, before it is too hard to deal with.

Personally, I'm don't believe VLCDs are the way to go to get rid of any 'small' gain. It's the wrong mindset for maintenance, and I believe it makes the whole process harder in the long run.

As for the title. Well, maintenance can be harder than dieting sometimes, though it does get much easier. It's just that it's such a different 'journey', and it's hard to get out of dieting mindset, especially if you've been there for so long, and can only think dieting on/dieting off.

Maintenance is living like a slim person. Slim people don't diet, so you need to work out how to lose any small gains without dieting (bit of a knack there :D) until eventually, if you get the technique right, you find you do it subconsciously.

Good post :clap:
 
i've been through the lose it on vlcd, not do a good job maintaining, than slowly over a period of time have a few stones to lose.... this time i also have chosen a non vlcd route to lose the last stone, because liek KD says i need to learn how to eeat and live like a slim person, i too am hoping i do it long enough that i start to do it subconsiously!

In the past i have lost the weight and gone back to eating like i did before losing the weight.....hense y i gained weight back... this time i am learning to eat less, so i think it will prolly feel liek i'm on a diet for the rest of my life cos i am hoping not to go back to eating the amounts i have eaten in the past x
 
KD, I so know what you mean about the dieting on/dieting off mentality. I have yo-yo'd for years, each time 2 stone off, weight loss stalls, then put it all back on again within a matter of weeks plus a few extra lbs for good measure. A year ago I thought "stuff this for a game of soldiers, I'm just going to accept that I will always be fat and just get on with it". What then happened was as soon as I released myself from the dieting mindset my weight stabilised naturally for the first time in 15 years. I was a fat person finally thinking like a thin person - no more last suppers and cramming it in before I "started again on Monday" - it was just a shame that my stabilised weight was just under 15 stone! Conversely I'm now doing a VLCD as I need to lose weight for health reasons but haven't got the mental energy to go through the long drawn-out "normal" dieting process again, but am hoping that I can recapture my "year off" mentality when I get to goal but am a bit doubtful about it :(.
 
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this time i also have chosen a non vlcd route to lose the last stone, because liek KD says i need to learn how to eeat and live like a slim person,

I have to say, I did VLCD down to goal, The two months reintroduction of food (cambridge way) was enough to help me learn to eat properly....then of course, maintenance to help perfect the technique :D

Don't think I would have had the patience to swap diets right near the end. Just wanted to get all the excess weight off and on with getting to maintenance quick :D

i am learning to eat less, so i think it will prolly feel liek i'm on a diet for the rest of my life

I hope you don't, because that will be a struggle, to try to do it forever.

No more last suppers and cramming it in before I "started again on Monday" -

Yeah. That's it isn't it. The great thing about finishing with diets for good, is that because there is no 'diet on', I don't have a 'diet off' either.:clap:
 
I have to say, I did VLCD down to goal, The two months reintroduction of food (cambridge way) was enough to help me learn to eat properly....then of course, maintenance to help perfect the technique :D

Don't think I would have had the patience to swap diets right near the end. Just wanted to get all the excess weight off and on with getting to maintenance quick :D

i did LL... and was doing great got to goal... and became ill..... with a really bad infection..... was in hospital for 10 days than took me a month/6 weeks to completely get better.... just couldn't get back into it enough to go through the full RTM stage....
 
i did LL... and was doing great got to goal... and became ill..... with a really bad infection..... was in hospital for 10 days than took me a month/6 weeks to completely get better.... just couldn't get back into it enough to go through the full RTM stage....

Sounds like you made the right move for you then :clap:
 
i have to agree that i don't think cd is really the way forward for small losses. at least not the ss options. a lot of people seem to use cd as a crutch, eat to gain a bit, cd to lose a bit. and although cd is a valid and healthy way to lose a lot of weight fast, i don't think sole sourcing is going to work for small losses because, as you say, you really really need the motivation to stick with it properly...

i bow to cd for the good it does for people, and i want to become a counsellor myself, but i feel i will always have to be careful because i am a foody. i have always been a foody and if i don't hold myself on a tight leash i will always remain one. i don't want to feel like i'm on a diet for the rest of my life though, and am hoping that moving up the plans will help with this :)

abz xx
 
i agree, one thing i DO NOT want to do is to start relying on CD as quick fix and thinking 'oh, i can eat for this month cos i'll go on CD for a week and lose it'. i am determined to follow the plans all the way up and hope i never start relying on CD as counterbalance to overeating.

In a few months i want to be eating properly for most of the week and be able to enjoy one meal out with my family a week.
 
i agree, one thing i DO NOT want to do is to start relying on CD as quick fix and thinking 'oh, i can eat for this month cos i'll go on CD for a week and lose it'. i am determined to follow the plans all the way up and hope i never start relying on CD as counterbalance to overeating.

So my thoughts too. Hope this period of time away from food will be my learning curve to new habits and attitudes.
 
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