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Maintenance Calorie Trajectory ---> Week 21 --->Restaurant Night Edition
I haven't done a special maintenance cal edition in a while. As y'all can see, I subtracted 100 cals from Mon, Wednesday, and Thursdays target. And, I subtracted 200 from Tuesdays calorie goal. This leaves me with 2,464 cals to play with for restaurant night, which is the approximate amount of cals I like to eat when I go out.
I also wanted to provide folks with a link to my health and weight loss coach's latest article, entitled
4 Lessons I Have Learned from Losing 170 lbs and Maintaining It for 7 Years!
https://www.halfsizeme.com/4-lessons-i-have-learned-from-losing-170-lbs-and-maintaining-it-for-7-years/?fbclid=IwAR1PHFG7ETyRgWDFcyG3t1jnJxTuHX_8VirTejrCnnowa8evW-TdSkE3XrE
As I'm celebrating my 5 month maintenance anniversary. She is celebrating her 7 year maintenance anniversary. I definitely aspire to be there for sure.
As I was reading it, I took note of one lesson that is probably the most challenging for maintainers to accept including this girl. And, that is the possibility of weight regain. We're not talking about the kind of regain where one gains it all the weight back, and them some. This is a bit different. This is the kind of regain, where one loses 100 lbs, regains 20 lbs, but is able to maintain and keep 80 lbs. off successfully.
This is the point at which the essential distinction is made between the attainable weight vs. the sustainable weight. It's one of the tough conversations we consider within the HSM community.
The attainable weight represents our ideal weight. It's the weight most of us attach to some image we have in our heads of what we're supposed to look like when we hit goal. The attainable weight is usually also the weight range one finds themself yo-yoing back in forth, running in and out of a deficit, because the cals are just restrictive enough to cause over eating due to genuine hunger. It rarely has anything to do with being healthy as most of us have already proven we can have healthy hearts, livers, and sugars at weights higher than of our BMI. In short, the attainable weight is not the maintainable one. This is not an accusation - I've been there myself, folks.
Then, there is the sustainable weight. In fact, the range I maintained back in my 30's for over 3 and a half years can be considered a sustainable weight range. I actively maintained between 162-168 lbs. I wore a size 12. Ate moderately, but without feeling hungry or restricted. My health markers were good, considering I smoked a pack a day. And, though the 160's was above this girl's BMI, the weight range in no way hindered by ability to be active and mobile. Actually, the smoking did that, go figure! lol.
No, I don't smoke cigarettes anymore.
The next question, considering my weight is currently 12 lbs under that actual goal weight listed on this site might be,
Um...err, do I consider myself at a sustainable versus a maintainable weight?
My answer
I. don't. know. :-)
Folks, I never even dreamed when I began this journey in February of 2017 that I was going to hit 138 lbs. The only time in this girl's life she was ever at this weight was likely in 7th grade!!! And, that was on the way up! LOL
The only reason, I ended up here is because I chose the reverse diet method after hitting 147 lbs. and decided to transition slowly into maintenance cals. It just so happened that approximately 1700 cals/day feels sustainable. I'm not starving. I do feel hungry on the low cal days as I zig zag the weekly allotment. However, if I ensure the protein is up on those days (i.e. Saturday, and Sunday), I'm good to go.
How can this be? How is it that this weight feels as sustainable as 162 lbs did?
Well, there's likely a good reason for this I haven't touched upon to often. It can be said, before I began this journey, this girl definitely qualified as a heavy drinker. After I left the field of social work - I went through a pretty rough time emotionally and definitely turned to alcohol to numb and cope. Most specifically, wine. I don't know that I started out heavy. However, over a 7 year period, the amount I was consuming increased to about half a magnum per night of wine. It wasn't one of those circumstances where I got the shakes or anything. I never drank during the day, but it can be said, drinking had become a habit. And, it definitely contributed to a 40 lb weight regain.
My theory is that 138 lbs maintenance cals feel sustainable at this point, because most of what I was actually ingesting while carrying excess weight came from alcohol. For the record, I never gave up wine. Oh, heck no! I love wine. However, I now drink a very measured 6-7 oz. glass/night. I actually feel hungover and get a headache off of 2 glasses. Something I never dreamed possible either, but am humbly thankful for.
Couple these cals with my current activity level, sans the excess alcohol and ya have a sustainable weight for the time being.
That's right - you read correctly. For. the. time. being.
We don't live our lives in a vacuum. Life is what happens when we're making other plans, and the individual that manages a chronic condition like MS knows that truth perty darn well.
138 lbs may be sustainable now, but who knows there may be a point where it isn't. So, this is why I keep the initial goal weight of 150 lbs on this FS site. It's my wiggle room, my number of grace, and yes a back up safety floor if the current one should fall out from beneath me.
Bottom line - I much prefer to maintain at the initial goal weight if it works best at some point, then gain back all 72 lbs. I know health markers are okay at 150 lbs. 150 lbs is a size 10. 150 lbs. still comes with a good liver, heart, and sugar level.
I can tell ya right now, It isn't easy to write this, because I love this weight. It feels good and this girl's ego LOVE'S her size eight jeans, and size M shirts. However, I rather give those things up then yo yo up and up and up until I'm right back where I started.
Anyhow, for the time being this is VERY THANKFULLY not the case and apparently this body concurs because it's holding steady at this low. Oh, and just to make folks aware - I do gain as high as 144 in fluctuation throughout the week. So, 138 lbs is not static by ANY means. This body just enjoys gravitating to this low on Sundays and Mondays.
That being stated, I will be waiting until Monday morning next week to weigh in since I'm eating out on Friday. A 2,400 cal day (even when planned) is going to show up on the scale. So, next weekend's weigh in will be pushed back a day and we're likely to see fluctuation up, which is okay because it's been allotted for.
Anywho, take a gander at the article if you're interested in checking out some tips and perspectives about how to maintain long term. I wish all of you a wonderful, blessed week. I'll catch up next weekend :-)
Week 21 of weight maintenance - Restaurant Night Edition
Monday - 1586 --- Target 1698
Tuesday - 1525 --- Target 1868
Wednesday - 1586 --- Target 1698
Thursday - 1586 --- Target 2038
Friday - 2464 --- Target 1698
Saturday - at Target 1349
Sunday - 1517 --- at Target
Average TDEE 1698
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