What is Maintenance? The Truth About Life After Dieting

Maintenance isn’t about freezing your weight forever. It’s about living in a healthy range where your body feels good, with room to fluctuate without panic.

This is where the fun really begins. You get to experiment: add more protein, play around with carbs and fats, even try a small surplus to build muscle or a mini cut to dial things back. You can have weekends “off,” enjoy holidays, and stop stressing about every bite.

For me, it’s like an 80/20 balance. About 80% of the time I eat in ways that support my goals, and 20% of the time I let life be life; cake at birthdays, wine on Friday nights, ice cream with the kids. Not as a strict rule, but as permission.

Maintenance also gives you space to work on the mindset stuff: learning to trust yourself, love what your body can do, and create goals that fit your actual life. In other words: you get to make your own rules.

But what if I “fall off the wagon”?
If your 80/20 slips into 20/80, or you gain more than you’re comfortable with, that doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It just means it’s time to adjust, and yes, the tools I teach (like macro tracking) will absolutely still work for you. It’s like riding a bike after a break: a bit wobbly at first, but it comes back quickly.

Outside of big gains or losses, maintenance is everything in between. It’s not punishment or restriction, it’s the place where real freedom lives.

Want to see how maintenance works in real life? Read Why I Shifted To Maintenance, or grab my free guide below to start building your own maintenance plan.

Ready to start building your own maintenance plan? Grab my FREE Post Diet Guide To Maintenance 👇