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~Maintenance Practiced~
The first time I was introduced to the concept of a maintenance break, I was about a quarter of the way through my weight loss journey. It was before the 60 day plateau to be sure. I "think" I heard it through one of the HSM podcasts, and my coach (who was not my coach then), had done more than a few recordings regarding "Maintenance Breaks".
The concept thoroughly intrigued me. So, of course I had to google it! lol.
I was only able to find one article about "Maintenance Breaks" at the time, but it was encouraging! It was a small study done on a small group of people. For every pound they lost, they had them eat at maintenance cals for 1 week before they were allowed to eat at a deficit. The results were stellar. They found all of subjects adhered to their maintenance cals and had a much less challenging time reverting to deficit cals at the end of their break. They also found the subjects were able to keep their weight loss off over a specified period of time. I can't find the article now, but of course these days there are more than a few articles about Maintenance breaks or "diet breaks" as some refer to them.
I like how my Coach refers to a Maintenance Break. She calls it "parking the car" and it is an essential part of learning how to maintain for life. She once made an excellent point.
"Look at it this way. If your goal is to keep the weight off for the rest of your life then technically you will be spending more time in maintenance than you will losing the weight. It stands to reason you want to know how to actually do it."
I can attest to the reality that maintenance is a skill and not as easy as one thinks when they're on the other side of their goal weight. The point of maintenance is not to gain, but the point of maintenance is not to lose, either. It literally is about finding a sustainable weight range, and maintaining within that range for the duration.
It means, regardless of the WOE (way of eating), someone better darn well know what their maintenance macros, cals, LCHF portions, or vegan/vegetarian/plant based portions are in order to maintain a weight range at ANY given point.
Statistically speaking, waiting to reach maintenance in order to learn how to do it has a VERY low success rate and contributes why 90% re-gain their weight back.
For this girl, hitting maintenance without having practiced it first was on par with throwing me out on a stage in front of 1000 people to perform a monologue after reading the script one time.
Albeit, what I might do to improvise is an amusing thought, but the scenario paints a recipe for disaster. When it comes to understanding how weight maintenance works, improvisation doesn't cut it.
Like any other refined skill, it requires practice. And, practice is acquired through action - not words or ideology.
However, after I joined the HSM community and had access to the resources and webinars. It quickly became clear to me there were a whole lot of other benefits to maintenance breaks. Notwithstanding,
-a metabolism boost
- prevention of diet/deficit burn out
- building self efficacy regarding eating habits
- preventing weight re-gain
- Learning delayed gratification and how to plan for fun foods rather than binge or cheat
I mean, think about it - if one knows how to consciously maintain their weight at ANY point in this process, then hitting goal and shifting into maintenance really presents little issue.
I can say on the logistical end of things, the challenge was minimal. Food still gets weighed and measured, logged, and tracked. Weigh-ins still happen weekly and exercise still happens 4-5 days a week.
However, part of the reason the challenge of maintaining has been minimal is in part due to the fact that I PRACTICED before I hit goal.
I followed my coach's suggested format. I took 2 maintenance days per week. That's right, you read correctly. TWO whole maintenance days. So, instead of a pound - I lost on average about .7lb per week. And, every 10 weeks - I took a 1 week maintenance break.
Ya want to know what's funny.?!
When I hit the week long maintenance breaks during my journey, I was petrified! But, it wasn't because I was afraid of gaining. Oh, no - I was actually afraid to lose. I mean the whole point is to maintain NOT to lose. LOL. It's not as easy as one thinks to jump up from deficit cals to maintenance cals. It's one thing to do it for one day, but to do it for a full week? Feeling bloated doesn't even scratch the surface people!
Who knows, maybe it's easier jumping from weight loss macros and or vegan/plant based portions to maintenance portions. It's hard to say, I've never actually seen a single person maintain a specified weight range for any extended period of time on those WOE's. Not to say it doesn't happen, I just haven't seen it.
For us, CICO folks - we definitely feel the extra cal increase for sure. After my maintenance breaks, I frankly felt thankful to go back into deficit cals by the end of the week, lol. I also felt relieved that I did it and self assured that weight maintenance is not only possible, but doable.
My coach lost her 170 lbs over a 5 year period with 3 children in between. She has no problem confessing if she hadn't learned to take maintenance breaks, hitting that goal was likely impossible.
But, really choosing to have a maintenance day, week, month and oh yes, even year is totally okay. It can often mean the difference between merely parking the car until one is ready to drive again or taking out a knife and slashing all the tires. Or, better yet - that point (and, we've all been there) where you pull out the gasoline and just torche it all!
What I have definitely learned is that folks have some funny delusions about what "Maintenance Breaks" actually are.
I can say from 2 years of experience what they are NOT:
-a maintenance break is NOT a reason to eat above or beyond the cals/and or portions that maintain the weight one is currently sitting at.
-eating maintenance cals, and or portions/macros is not a binge. Binging is eating beyond the amount that allows one to sit at a current weight range.
-maintenance does not mean one has quit. Quitting happens when one stops being diligent about their health, lets go of their healthy habits and ceases to focus on eating those cals/macros/portion sizes that allows them to maintain a current weight.
We celebrate folks that take maintenance breaks in the HSM groups. Even if they spent a year in that zone, because life threw curve balls. Each and everyone of those members have confessed if they had not consciously focused on maintaining their weight range for that period of time, they would have gained back what they lost, because that is exactly what they did in the past. The beauty is, the individual gets to decide when they're ready to take a deficit and even then, they get to decide what deficit to start with. It doesn't have to be -500, it can be -250. Or, perhaps like I did where there are 2 maintenance days couched in the week.
I mean really, there are so many ways to approach all of this even if one is not using CICO - but, knowing the maintenance cals/portions/macros for whatever eating plan one is on is key. And, the weight regain stats are a good enough reason to entertain the concept of practicing it. At least it was for this girl.
Oh, and I did totally freak out when I hit goal. LOL. But, it had nothing to do with how to maintain the loss. Honestly, it was adjusting to a whole new identity. I might pass a mirror and literally not recognize the girl staring back at me. I've had to replace every single article of clothing I owned including underwear and bras. Everything was so unfamiliar to this mind that had always identified with being "the fat girl". It was jarring to be sure. I practice a lot of self love and self care, especially during those first few weeks after hitting goal and really make the effort to learn who this girl is now. I can honestly say, I am less anxious and truly loving what this heart, body, and mind are becoming. But, emotionally it's been adjustment.
That being stated, while I was getting through those freak out moments, it was comforting to know the maintenance piece was one less thing I had to worry about. This skill had already been practiced many times.
- As the Zen Masters say "Before enlightenment, chop wood carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood carry water." How one wants to chop the wood or fetch their water is up to each individual, but it doesn't change the truth that one way or another it's gotta get done.
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