Using FITDAY for maintenance
 

How often is fitday used for staying on a maintenance plan?
I've reached my intermediate goal, and obviously don't want to backslide,
but at the same time do I need to track daily eats and activity the same way?
It's fun but at the same time it is a burden.

Or should I just eat what appears to be my requriements, and weigh weekly and start using Fitday again if I need to drop a pound or two?

After 7 weeks of dieting I'm actually more concerned that I may undereat than overeat, since I'm accustomed to less and not as hungry as often!

I think the answer is different for everyone.

I've been maintaining for over a year and I still use it. It's easy for me to have a rough idea of calories in my head, but I still like to see the breakdown of carbs-fat-protein, because getting that straight was what helped me get to my goal for the first time ever.

But, that's just me. Other have stopped tracking. The problem is, if they stop, they usually aren't logging on to let us know how it's working out.

I'm thinking it's trial and error...try something, and if it works for you, keep doing it. If it doesn't, well, do something else.

Yeah, can see how it goes. Right now I'm in a habit of doing it and feel like I'm neglegtful when not updating. So will keep it going for now!

Thanks,
FIN

I plan to keep loggin indefinitely. I've seen what happens when I don't. Seriously, how much of a burden is it? I don't think I generally spend much more than 5 minutes actually logging food and exercise a day.

Regards,
Michael

My two cents
 

Hello FIN, Cassie and Michael....

I want to be a successful maintainer so I try to look at the really big picture and for me, here it is...

Over the years I allowed myself to slide into bad habits, making bad choices and self-medicating with food and booze to fight off my deepening depression.
When I made the conscious choice to get healthy again, FitDay played a huge role in my success. Understand, it was all on me to develop and stick to a plan targeting renewed health and having FitDay here with all the tools made tracking foods, nutrients, activities, moods and such, very easy and fun. It helped me to maintain my focus and I will use it in the same way to help me maintain my focus while I maintain my health and weight. An additional benefit is the existence of this forum to allow interaction and support among the great people of this community. I plan on being a part of this group and when asked, I always refer others to FitDay. The nice thing is it is here to use if you want to use it, no hassles, no attitude. The choice is yours. Whatever works for you. I wish you the best in continued health and happiness----------------Albie :)




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Well said, Albie!

I've related before how I used FitDay to take off a couple hundred pounds back in '01-'02. Of course, I stopped using it, once I'd reached "success" . Well, it didn't take long for old habits to rear their ugly heads and all 200 plus a few came back.

I know there may be many, perhaps the majority of users who may be able to eat "normally" once they are at their goal weight. But I don't know if folks like myself who, for whatever reason, have an addiction/obsession with food will ever be able to.

Personally speaking, and after being "on plan" for almost 14 months now, I'm in this for the long haul.

Regards,
Michael

Although I'm not there yet I have read many accounts of people who found maintenance to be harder than the initial loss. I think some of this can be attributed to the attitude that a diet is just a short term plan (like Micheal describes) instead of approaching the process as a healthy longterm lifestyle change.

Another part is that while you are losing you have goals and are constantly working toward those tangible goals. Once you acheive your ultimate goal weight your focus tends to get fuzzy. I believe that having new goals in mind once you reach your maintenance weight can help. Maybe that means having a goal that your weight will not fluctuate more than 5 pounds from your low or setting fitness goals (faster walks/jogs, lifting heavier or for more repetitions, Couch to 5K...) that keep you focused on becoming even healthier at your new lower weight.

I know that I can never return to the way I used to eat. If I do I will balloon right back to that all time high and be in even worse shape than I was when I started this process.

I agree!

I can kinda keep a tally of calories in my head, but when I log EVERYTHING on fitday and actually see every calorie and my pie chart!----What a difference it makes. Every calorie adds up fast!!! :eek:
I NEED fitday! lol

Like Cassie I have maintained the loss for over a year. Unlike her I don't feel quite as compelled to keep a detailed log... BUT I do check in a couple of times a week or maybe for a month now and again to make sure that my brain and tastebuds stay calibrated. More often than not I find that I am drifted back into old habits and FitDay is just the tool to get me back on track.

I also love the calories in/calories burned feature. I am well aware of the difficulty in using the activities section, but after a year and a half, I have it pretty well calibrated for me. This feature has been really helpful when I am trying to reach a specific fitness goal.

Plus, as Albie mentioned, all the great people I have met and gotten to know on the forums keeps me entertained, inspired, and in touch.

When I hit my target weight, this is what I'm going to keep in mind. I think this makes the most sense to me.

One thing I will do is to continue to use FitDay during the transition from calorie deficit to maintenance. Once I get used to the increased calories I may taper off from logging every day, but for sure I'll continue tracking my weight and logging that into FitDay. This way I'll be able to keep my head in the game.