Weight Watchers Maintenance Program

Hi everyone
I started WW 8 months ago and started working out 2-3 times a week.
I got to my goal weight...lost 52 pounds!
Been trying the maintenance program for a few weeks and my weight has been all over the place since then
it says you are supposed to stay within 1-2 pounds of goal weight. I've been within 5 pounds.
I lost 2.5 pounds this week, eating a lot of bad stuff.. and then the week before I was extra careful and gained 2!!!
Any advice for how to do maintenance?
Thanks!
Good luck to everyone on here!

Weight Watchers Maintenance Program

First, congratulations on all the weight loss!! 52 lbs is AMAZING!
My only advice is to play with your points to see where you stay mostly the same. Recognize that you will fluctuate with more or less activity, more or less food and the type of foods that you are eating, among other factors.
After a while, I think you will fluctuate less and less. Also, stick with the meetings- it keeps you accountable.
GL!

Re: Weight Watchers Maintenance Program

Congratulations on reaching your goal! That's quite a loss in 8 months. You should be really proud of your success.

I agree that maintenance is kind of trial and error. In the past, I've maintained easily (for years) by eating a LOT more than I could during my losing phase, but I know others say they can only go up a few points.

But I think the key is just to weigh in at least once a week... I know at Lifetime, you only need to do a monthly weigh in, but I think the weekly keeps you on track and allows you to make the "course corrections" that are necessary to avoid significant gain. I always felt comforted in the fact that if I went up a lb or two, I could always go back to "losing mode" for a week or so and take care of it.

For me, after about 5 years of successful maintenance (not counting my son being born in the middle of that), I gained over 25 lbs over a long period of time 2.5 to 3 years -- so probably not even 10 lbs a year or a 1 lb a month gain. But I know I could have nipped it if I had been more diligent about staying on the scale regularly, instead of having scale deniability! And I agree that sticking to meetings can keep your head in the game, which helps! I am about 4 lbs from my goal now, so I plan on keeping with the meetings and weigh-ins once I am back at it!

I also think, while for me, food is the key part of losing, exercise definitely helps with maintenance.

It takes awhile to get used to maintenance (and for your body to adjust) -- a lot of people tend to go to extremes by eating too much (reverting back to old habits) or being too restrictive because they are afraid of gaining back. But sticking to the good health guidelines and exercising portion control are good ways to stay on track, but you can definitely have a little more latitude on what/how much you eat. If you stick to the program nutritional fundamentals and are vigilant about regularly weighing yourself, you should be fine!

But remember, everyone's weight fluctuates normally a little bit... It's not like any of us can maintain a static weight. So I would not be concerned about one or two lbs up or down in maintenance. I know you said you've been within 5 lbs of your goal since you started maintenance, and I think 5 lbs is the limit/trigger where I would start being concerned about gaining (or losing) too much, and try to adjust my eating habits, but a few lbs up/down here or there would be comfortable for me in maintenance mode.

Re: Weight Watchers Maintenance Program

Thanks everyone!
I'm definitely still weighing in every week and I think maybe the reason I'm losing more some weeks than others is maybe because I'm overestimating for the stuff I can't really count as accurately?

Re: Weight Watchers Maintenance Program