I posted this on the Maintenance Monday thread, so I'm sorry for the redundancy.
TL;DR: My life has been very steady right now, making weight loss very simple and straightforward. However, I anticipate many lifestyle changes and don't see myself counting calories in the future, and I'm unsure if I will be able to maintain my weight successfully. Any and all tips are welcome.
I'm not at maintenance yet, but at the rate I'm going, I should be there by the end of this year/beginning of 2021. From what I understand, maintenance is difficult for many people because there is no positive feedback of seeing your weight drop, and many just go back to their old habits.
With this knowledge in mind, I think about my plan for maintenance pretty often. Right now I'm eating 1400-1500 kcal a day, and I track my calories using approximations/measuring cups (no food scale). Although a food scale would make things a lot easier, I intentionally chose not to use one because I won't be able to use one in the future (college student on meal plan + frequent travel), and it has been going pretty well. I have built many healthy habits and found nutritious foods that I love, I've grown to love exercise and leisurely physical activities (biking, skateboarding, swimming), and most of all I have learned how to cook (which has been AMAZING!).
I've been really enjoying these lifestyle changes, but once I return to school it will be difficult to keep them up. For one I won't be able to walk around the canteen with a food scale and measuring cups to portion out my food, and our dorms don't have kitchens so I will not be able to cook for myself (sad), therefore, I will have to rely on student cafeteria food and my perception of what an appropriate portion is. Luckily, they list the ingredients used in each meal, so I will be able to be aware of what I'm eating (although unaware of calorie counts).
My plan is to slowly increase my calories to figure out what my maintenance calories are, eat at maintenance while tracking for about a month just to know what maintenance feels like, and then stop counting calories and hand over the reigns to pure self control... I am honestly a bit scared to not track my calories, as I've been doing it for several months now and it keeps me accountable. To I plan to weigh myself weekly, and if my weight surpasses/drops below a certain range, I'll know to eat less/more in order to get back into what I deem an acceptable range. I also plan on exercising 5x a week because I genuinely love it, though it is sometimes difficult to make time for working out as a full time student, I will 100% commit to this; exercise has been instrumental to my physical and mental wellbeing. I also trashed my gym membership (expensive as hell!) and only do at-home workouts w/ just a yoga mat--this gives me no excuse not to exercise when traveling.
I'm just pretty worried because I travel quite a bit and will continue to in the future (In 2019 I lived in 3 diff cities and 2 diff countries), although I'm not traveling currently because of COVID-19. My academic life is also extremely demanding, and in the past I always put my academics before my health (not good, and I will try my utmost to not do this). Losing weight has not been easy, but I can say it has been pretty simple given that I've been living at home for several months, I can cook for myself, I have not been traveling, and I am not currently in school. However, in the next few years my lifestyle will change a lot and often, and I'm nervous about being able to maintain through these lifestyle changes.
I know there is no use in being nervous about something that hasn't happened yet, but I am just trying to mentally prepare myself so that I can succeed and keep this weight off. I never want to be overweight again if I can help it.
Have any of you guys been successful maintaining your weight without tracking calories and/or while experiencing frequent lifestyle changes?
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