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Five Truths of Maintenance

Five Truths of Maintenance

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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18 Comments

  1. Em

    Love this article. I’m down 95 pounds, and while I still have a little left to lose, I am enjoying everything life has to offer now.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Congrats Em! That’s fantastic!

  2. Krissy

    Nice post. I’m not there yet, but I’m really hoping I’ll be able to maintain without counting calories forever. I’ll probably try the intuitive eating thing for a while and see how I do. But, I should probably get used to the idea of calorie counting forever. I was kind of hoping you would explain the secret to weight maintenance without calorie counting here. 😉

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Yeah…….I was hoping for that magical secret too. Unfortunately there isn’t one. Just hard work!

  3. Sophia

    Thank you so much for this post- it really spoke to me! I have been maintaining a 25 pound weight loss this past year, and I found this summer to be very tough. I completely agree with finding peace within yourself; people no longer comment on my weight loss and I need to remind myself that’s a good thing! I have also recently tried to change my weekly “treat” day routine into incorporating treats throughout the week (to avoid bingeing and deprivation) and I cannot believe how mentally difficult it is! Blogs like this are very encouraging.

    Lastly, congratulations on your maintenance and thank you for sharing your journey! You are inspiring!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Sophia–thanks for sharing your experience. It’s comforting to hear that others went through what I did and the comments were helpful and kinda of hard to give up when they went away.

  4. Karen P

    Here’s what keeps me on track. 72 pounds down, almost 7 months, thrid attempt at maintnence

    In order of importance and effectiveness.

    1. Not eating wheat at all, rarely processed sugar ( mainly primal paleo template)
    2. Daily weighing
    3. Daily walking
    4. Emailing my health coach weekly my weight to stay accountable
    5. Taking immediate action on any upward scale trend due to food.
    6. Tracking my food at times
    7. Reading weight maitnence blogs ( including yours!)
    8. Batch cooking on my days off to have non processed foods available for the other days when time is short.
    9. Sleeping enough
    10. Putting myself first in steps 1-9

    Good topic.

  5. Yum Yucky

    All of the points you’ve shared here should be part of a year-round “healthy lifestyle” class in schools. I remember when gym was everyday when I was kid. It’s shocking to me that my high school kid only has gym 2X a week, and can totally opt out of gym class as a senior. (but thank God he’s an athlete)

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I agree with you. Isn’t that sad? Truthfully I knew nothing about nutrition or calories or food until I started losing weight.

  6. Marilyn @ Lipgloss and Spandex

    GREAT post. I’m in a similar place–I’m pretty close to my goal weight, but it seems like it’s harder than ever. And I count calories as well. As you said, it’s something I’ll probably always have to do. Realizing that it’s a lifestyle change is both freeing and frightening at the same time. I’m not going to lie, there have been plenty of times where I thought, I can’t do this forever! Or I’ve wished I could just hit my goal weight and somehow magically I’d never have to worry about it again. But I know what’s worked, it’s not easy, and I’ll try and stick with it most of the time. 🙂

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I understand that, Marilyn and I’ve felt the same way. I guessed I just feel a combination of “I’m resigned to do this forever” and “I’m okay with doing this forever.”

  7. Alex @ Brain, Body, Because

    I love the idea of eating intuitively, but I think I’m like you – it’s just not for me. I have so many food hangups that need to be worked through first.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      It’s good you recognize it & are working at it!

  8. Biz

    I agree that nothing should be off limits, otherwise you just crave them and eventually cave. I am an emotional eater, something I really need to get a hold of – the extra licks and tastes while I cook my meals are starting to show up on the scale – not good!

    You should be so proud of yourself!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      The licks, bites, nibbles and tastes while cooking are THE HARDEST to resist!!!

  9. Sarah

    Still love this post. 🙂 Thanks so much for writing it as a guest post!!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Thanks for letting me share it with your readers!

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