Weight loss maintenance

[Mayfly4]

Does anyone know of anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight and maintained that loss for more than a couple of years? I went to weight watchers for about ten years, lost weight and gained more each year. I'm now 6 stone heavier than when I started. I have family, friends and colleagues who have tried different methods and all have regained their weight. There is so much conflicting information around on what we should and shouldn't be eating, I don't know how to start. I would appreciate advice from anyone who has been able to maintain their weight loss. Thank you.

[Penel]

I lost two and a half stone about six years ago and kept it off until last year, when I put on half a stone. It's coming off slowly. I have found that I need to avoid sugar and processed carbs to lose weight and keep it off. I don't eat low fat or count calories, but watch my portion size. Have a look for Low carb/High fat diets. I can lose weight without feeling hungry.

The are others on this site who have lost weight and maintained it in other ways. Different things work for different people. Hope you can find what works for you.

[gingernut49]

Yes, I lost the three stone I needed to in six months up to April 2013 with the 5:2 diet and have maintained my weight loss ever since by just 'fasting' (500 calories) one day a week instead of two non-consecutive days.

The diet is based on an excellent BBC Horizon documentary that aired in 2012 called "Eat, Fast and Live Longer" and is available on BBC iPlayer bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b... if you're in the UK. I can give you a link if you're not.

There's an excellent book by Kate Harrison called The 5:2 Diet which was my 'bible' in my fasting days.

There are millions of success stories world-wide - it's said to reduce the risks of cancer, diabetes and dementia - and it doesn't cost anything to do!

[OlsBean]

I lost around 18 stone and I have managed to maintain that now for a couple of years.

Maintenance in itself has been a journey and a massive learning curve. I lost a lot of muscle during my weight loss which was then detrimental to maintenance, so I had to correct that firstly. I then tried several things, including continuing to Calorie Count alongside High Levels of daily Cardio, which at one point ended up amounting to anything upto 5 hours a day, including a 12km run every-morning. I managed to maintain but it was quite hard work and it got to a point where I literally killed my metabolism and I was eating less and less and doing more and more... it became if I am honest a bit of Prison Sentence, I was also concerned on how I was going to continue with such a strict regime as I got much older.

At beginning of this year I got interested more and more in the Low Carb High Fat lifestyle and did a lot of homework on the subject and kind of started experimenting on myself, the upshot of that is that since about May/June I have been following LCHF strictly, though strictly for me personally is probably not a fitting word because it feels the exact opposite it is working extremely well for me for maintenance purposes to date and I never feel hungry, my whole food obsession and relationship has changed for the better, I eat extremely well, I don't calorie count but as a rough guesstimate, most days I eat at least 3,000 calories and somedays more. I now only run every other day, if it's a weekday I do a 20 minute run, with 8 x 30 second sprints included and if it's weekend I do either a 5 or 10k run dependent on how I feel but more importantly my weight is the steadiest I can ever remember it being, really it is, I can guarantee it will be 80kg +1 or -1kg before stepping on the scales, which for me is epic and by far the biggest benefit.

Using the traditional method of continuing to calories count and exercise for maintenance worked for me also for a good year plus but like I say I had to be very pro-active about it and when I look back it was hard work, probably as hard, if not harder than weight-loss because unlike weight-loss you don't get the reward and high from losing. Also when I look back I was hungry a lot of the time, which meant deploying a degree of self control. I just could not see a future in it for lots of reasons and eventually killing my metabolism lead me to research other things.

I think it's just like weight-loss you just have to keep trying until you feel you have found what works well for you. just never stop learning and be willing to accept new ideas because remember what we understand about metabolic health is changing all the time, as more and more resources are put into research.

Good Luck.