Why Maintenance Feels So Boring (And Why That’s the Point)

00:00Maintenance doesn't give you that same rush that fat loss gave you. Fat loss is so exciting. Every week the scale drops, you're close to it better, people are complimenting you when you walk into the gym or your friends are like, holy cow, you look different from the last time that I saw you. You feel like a total badass. But in maintenance, the scale stays the same, your progress photos probably barely change, and you're doing the same things without that dopamine payoff on a daily or weekly basis.

00:30What's up, you guys? Hey, everyone. Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkie Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. And on this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikkie Stott, and welcome, my friends, to episode number 285. And today, what we're going to talk about is not sexy. It's not flashy. It doesn't go viral on social media.

01:10It is, I want to talk to you guys about like the phase after fat loss. I want to talk to you guys about maintenance. And before we even dive into this topic, I want to give you guys a story because maybe some of you guys will resonate with this. Back in the days of me bodybuilding, this is one phase that I could never, actually, I shouldn't say never because I finally have. I couldn't seem to grasp how to conquer it. I couldn't seem how to grasp how to get through it successfully.

01:41When I came out of my first bodybuilding show, I gained back 25 pounds in one month because I went back to old habits. And then all I knew how to do was to go back into losing the weight and getting ready for another show. And then after that show, I did better than the last, but I didn't quite conquer how to reverse and how to stay in maintenance. And then I went back into dieting for my third show. And then I finally, that's why I'm not, shouldn't have said never, but I finally have been able to conquer this phase and feel like I totally understand and get where you guys may have been dieting and then gaining the weight back and then dieting and gaining the weight back.

02:30It's essentially what I did three times. And then in this phase, like this is like truly like maintenance is where the real flex is. If you guys can master this phase, it is truly such a flex to your fitness journey. And so that's why I want to talk about it with you guys today is really diving into what nobody tells you about maintaining weight loss until it feels, it's really boring. It's really boring. I'm going to be the first one to be real, real with you. It's boring AF because there's no dramatic transformation.

03:06There's no dopamine rush from the scale dropping. There's no like, look how far I've come photos every single week. Like you're looking at the before and after and you see a change like either week after week or every two weeks. It's just you. It's just your body. And it's honestly like you keep questioning like now what? Now what? Now what? But like I said, mastering maintenance is the real flex. It's the phase where you truly lock in your results. Like I can say now for the past eight years, not seven, eight years, I've truly locked in.

03:40Like I just took off. I put on social media on my story the other day. I just took a week off last week. Just like I just wanted to take a week off. And I went back to the gym on Tuesday and I didn't lose any progress. And I also didn't stress over the fact that I just took a week off. Like it's a totally different mindset. You truly do lock in your results and maintenance. And it's honestly like the one most women never make it through successfully. And I want you guys to be able to make it through successfully in maintenance. Because I've seen it so many times working hand in and hand out with my clients over the past couple years.

04:15The mindset, the now what? Like I said, the spiraling back to old habits and not truly being able to just like be okay with the boring aspect of maintenance. So today that's what I want to dive into you guys. Like first I want to talk about what maintenance actually is and isn't. I want to talk about why it feels boring and why that's the point. I want to dive into the mental challenges that come up when you're no longer chasing that fat loss. And then how to turn maintenance into like one of the most powerful and empowering phases of your journey.

04:49Because truly maintenance is probably going to be the phase that you stay in majority of the time. Because you're going to dabble into fat loss. Maybe you guys will go up into like a building phase and a surplus. But majority of the time maintenance should be where you hang out. So let's get something really clear first and foremost. Maintenance isn't like quote unquote you're not doing nothing. It's not like you hitting a pause. It's not like you coasting. It's not you losing your drive or you settling.

05:22Maintenance is specifically a strategic phase where once you've come out of a fat loss phase, you're stabilizing your new weight. And you're also giving your body a break from the stress of being in a caloric deficit. And you're reinforcing the habits that got you here to this point. This is where a lot of people I believe stumble is they go into losing the weight. They jump into a new quick fix fad diet.

05:53They get results. But at the end, they don't step into this phase. They don't reinforce whatever habits got them here. And then this is where it all falls apart. And in maintenance, you start to normalize the identity of the woman that you've become. Think of it like this. Think of it like you are pouring concrete over a foundation that you just built. You've spent months, maybe even years, losing body fat, building consistency, changing your habits.

06:28But if you go from that to zero direction or back to your old habits, the progress that you made is fragile at this point. And that's why so many women regain the weight. They go from this fad diet, this quick fix. They lose the weight. They finish the plan, whatever they were following. There's nowhere else for them to go. They leave the plan. They have zero direction. And it's just so normal for humans to go back to what they know is familiar. And that's why they go back to the old habits.

07:00And that's why at that point, when you finish a plan where you come out of fat loss, you are so fragile at that point. Especially if you've never experienced maintenance the right way. That majority people have never learned how to live in this in between. Okay? So I want to just straight up address the elephant that's in the room. Maintenance doesn't give you that same rush that fat loss gave you. Fat loss is so exciting.

07:30Every week the scale drops. You're close to it better. People are complimenting you when you walk into the gym or your friends are like, holy cow, you look different from the last time that I saw you. You feel like a total badass. But in maintenance, the scale stays the same. Your progress photos probably barely change. Your workouts feel very repetitive. And you're doing the same things without that dopamine payoff on a daily or weekly basis.

08:02And so this is where it gets totally entirely mental. Because you've been conditioned to believe we always need to be doing more. We need to be losing weight more. We need to be shrinking more. We need to be achieving more. We need to be chasing something. So when that chase ends, your brain starts thinking, am I losing progress? Should I cut it again? I need to go into a fat loss again.

08:33I need that dopamine spike. Why am I even doing all of this? And that's exactly where when people slip. They get restless. They stop tracking. They skip workouts. They start treating themselves more often on a daily basis to ice cream or to the treats that they weren't having when they were following this plan. And slowly but surely, this is where the weight creeps back on. Not because you guys weren't capable or they weren't capable,

09:06but because y'all got bored. Maintenance is boring. I will be the first one to tell you that. I will address that elephant in the room. It doesn't give you the same type of rush that fat loss gives you. But this in-between period where you're going from having all of this dopamine rush to then not, and we're going to address what happens in between the airs here, but this is where it gets mental.

09:36Because you're like, I need to be chasing something. How about you just slow down and you start to really stabilize this weight. You give your body a break. You reinforce these new habits. And most importantly, you take a second to look at the woman that you've become and you start to normalize that identity. How is she continuing to show up? How what got her here? She's planning her workout. She's planning her meals. The same repetitive stuff over and over and over again.

10:07So let's get a little bit deeper into this. Maintenance is where you start to face the comparison of like seeing others still losing weight. The self-doubt of wondering if you're even doing enough. The fear of losing all of your results or gaining that weight back. Like this is, think about it. Think about it because we've all been there. You guys have all been there. Think about the last time that you finish a quick fix or a trendy diet and you, it was cut off. There's no direction.

10:39And then think about that in between. You're like, oh my gosh, well, Susan's still doing this plan. So you're comparing yourself there. Or you're in the in between of like, you're not chasing anything. So am I even doing enough? I need to be doing more. Or like that fear of like, oh my God, I'm in the in between. Oh my gosh, like I had ice cream last night. I'm on the seesaw of me gaining that weight back again. You have the fear of losing the results. And then you have an identity conflict where you're no longer chasing this fat loss.

11:11You're no longer chasing this weight loss. So like, who are you? It's kind of like what I talked about in two or three episodes ago of breaking up with that dieter version of you. It's like, who are you if you're not chasing weight loss? So it's an identity conflict. And then you also lose this huge source of external validation. No, there's no more consistent like, wow, you look amazing or no more like dramatic check-ins or no more like, oh my God, the scale is going down again and again and again.

11:42There's no more like huge milestones. It becomes this like internal validation that you need to be giving yourself, which is so much harder, so much harder. Can you still show up? Can you still go to the gym and train hard? Can you still eat like it matters when no one is clapping for you? When you're not getting that external validation?

12:13That's the question. And that's why I say maintenance is where the magic happens and maintenance is where champions are made. Because it's not just about physical results anymore, my friends. It's about your identity. It's about integrity. And it's about your ownership and you taking responsibility for where you are at in this part of your journey. This is why maintenance is so important. And I want you to start changing the narrative of maintenance is boring.

12:50Nothing happens in maintenance. This is like what I've talked about so many times before on the podcast or warrior babes. If you've heard me in the community call saying this is the bottom of the iceberg that nobody sees that needs to be worked on. This is the integrity aspect of your journey. This is you taking responsibility for where you're at in your journey. This is the willpower, the discipline, the ownership. When the time gets tough, are you still showing up stuff that nobody is going to see?

13:24It is like the reason why we're champions are made is because they are giving themselves the internal validation of what's going to keep them showing up on a daily basis. It's like the behind the scenes aspect of you're working quietly in a room. Ain't nobody going to see that until the success shows it. You guys see on social media how I can show up on my Instagram story and be like, yeah, I took a week off, but I didn't lose any progress.

13:54You're seeing the success aspect of it. But you're not seeing that's why I opened up this podcast by letting you guys in and know and a reminder if you didn't know or you forgot or maybe you haven't heard that story before. I struggled with this phase hard getting 25 pounds back and then going back into me chasing fat loss again. Because I was like, I need to, who am I if I'm not chasing it? It was a part of my identity at that point. And then it's really becoming self-aware of like, okay, I didn't do that right this time.

14:28There's so much more that I need to learn and figure out and then taking the actions to actually implement, figuring it out in your day-to-day journey. So off on a little rant there. But I hope that you guys get that. It sinks in deep because maintenance is a part of your journey where not many people, again, they're not going to see the outward successes of you accomplishing maintenance until you've

14:59maybe successfully accomplished it from being in it for a long period of time. And your actions are just now a reflection of who you are, if that makes sense. Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause? It's time to take control. If you're between 45 and 65 years old and tired of struggling with body fat and muscle loss, Warrior Babe is here for you. At Warrior Babe, we've helped over 18,000 women just like you lose body fat, build toned

15:31muscle, and understand their bodies better with personalized plans based on hormone and thyroid testing and more. Imagine knowing exactly what your body needs to see real results and results that last. Look, don't wait anymore. Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit warriorbabe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation. That's warriorbabe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. What I want to this is this is a trap that I was trying to explain to you guys with like

16:06how I was stuck in fat loss and then gaining it back and fat loss and then gaining it back and how I've seen so many women over their years go into these quick fix fat diets, things that aren't sustainable. They lose the weight. And then when I finish that, this is where the trap is. They finish that type of phase. And then they either like me too, I try to keep dieting. Or what I did is I stopped tracking and I went back to old habits. Or you think that you think they're in, they think they're in maintenance, but really just

16:43floating with no structure whatsoever. And I've seen personally, like one of my clients back in the day really struggle with that aspect of thinking they're in maintenance, but they're just floating. There's no structure going on trips every weekend. But hey, I'm taking, or, you know, I'm not working out as much this week because we traveled, but, but we're good. We're good. We're maintaining. Yeah, you're maintaining, but you're also, there's no structure to your maintenance. And I'm not saying that there's needs to be like a hundred percent structure.

17:15Like as if you're in a fat loss phase, you can have some leniency here, but more importantly, it needs, what needs to be integrated and established solidly here is the habits that got you to this point to be in maintenance of the fat loss, a phase that you're in. So these, these three things I just said, you try to keep dieting, you stop tracking, or you go back to old diet or you go back to old habits, or you think you're in maintenance and you start just floating where you're really just floating.

17:47There's no structure whatsoever. These three paths will lead you to the rebound weight gain, to frustration, to shame, and then to starting all over again, because you never learned how to stabilize calories at a healthy level. You never learned how to eat, to perform and fuel, not just for fat loss. And you never trusted the process without immediate results. And I let that one just like hit you, hit you hard there in a way that I hope that it lights

18:19off some light bulbs. You didn't learn to trust the process without immediate results. Again, going back to you're not getting the external validation that you were getting. Now you need to learn how to have the internal validation of trusting the process without having any type of the scale dropping or the drastic before and afters or closed fitting differently. Maintenance, you maintenance guys, hear me loud and clear. Maintenance is a skill.

18:51And it's one of the hardest to master because it requires doing everything right that got you to this point, but without obvious payoff. But when you do master it, when you do lock it in. Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause? It's time to take control.

19:23If you're between 45 and 65 years old and tired of struggling with body fat and muscle loss, Warrior Babe is here for you. At Warrior Babe, we've helped over 18,000 women just like you lose body fat, build toned muscle, and understand their bodies better with personalized plans based on hormone and thyroid testing and more. Imagine knowing exactly what your body needs to see real results and results that last. Look, don't wait anymore. Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women.

19:55Visit warriorbabe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation. That's warriorbabe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. You are going to feel, and I'm speaking this from experience, you're going to feel so grounded. You're going to feel so confident. You're going to feel so in tune with your body. It's unbelievable. And you're going to feel so capable.

20:26And you're going to feel so free from the cycle of starting over, starting again. So free from that. So, as always, some tangible takeaways for you guys to take away in the podcast. What can you start actually, what should you actually be doing in the maintenance phase? This is how I would approach it if you were inside a worry-baber, if you guys are working with one of our coaches. And you're probably going to, I'm probably going to sound like a broken record, but what I've learned in the coaching space is us coaches repeat things over and over and over and over again.

20:59We say the same things over and over again. And sometimes it's just in different, it's the same concept, but just in a different maybe explanation. And eventually it's going to land. Because maybe I said this six months ago in an episode, or maybe even three weeks ago in an episode, but y'all were in a different space then. And that's okay. Maybe now it's going to resonate differently for you. Because maybe you're six months into your journey and things are just having, you're having aha moments and things are feeling different.

21:30That's typically what happens. So, first, you're going to focus on non-scale goals. How many times have I said that before? Anyway, if the dopamine came from the scale, we need to shift you getting dopamine from somewhere else. So, maintenance is a really good phase for you guys to focus on how much muscle am I building? A really good time for you guys, now that you're having more food or eating more food,

22:01you're going to feel the strength hit different in the gym. So, can you focus on some PRs? Or are you doing more push-ups than you did before? Are you doing more pull-ups than you did before? Can you focus on fixing your sleep or digestion? Because when you're in a calorie deficit, sleep and digestion can be one of the first ones to get hit with it being altered and not for the better. Can you focus on, okay, well, in fat loss, I was really nailing my macros and focusing on hitting my macros. Can you guys focus on nailing your macros maybe 80% of the time where you actually pull back and you allow more flexibility in it?

22:41Those are some non-scale goals to focus on. And then the second thing I would say is like, can you fuel your body? Like, and I say this lightly because some of you guys don't want to be a performance athlete, but just to optimize your body, you're no longer trying to restrict. I look at it as like you're performing for longevity. It's all about optimizing now. So how much better can you feel when you're truly fueled? Because in a calorie restriction or calorie deficit, you may feel good, but you're not going to feel optimized is what I'm trying to say.

23:13And then another thing is obviously like, again, like tracking your biofeedback. How is your energy? How's your mood? How's your strength? How's your sleep? How's your recovery? How's your cycle health? How are your relationships? Because they all tell you how your body is adapting to this phase. Another thing is like, okay, in this phase, you're starting to stabilize the identity that got you here. You're starting to reinforce the habits that got you here. Let's practice long-term living. How can you go on vacation but still stay consistent?

23:46Obviously with flexibility. Don't get me wrong there. How can you live your life while you're still honoring your habits? Because that's real freedom. And then this is where you start to truly normalize this identity. It's like you start saying things like, I'm a woman who takes care of her body year-round. I'm not just someone that focuses on, oh my gosh, it's somewhere I need to get ready. I need to get body ready. I need to feel good in a two-piece bikini. I love that. But how can you take care of your body year-round?

24:18And then you just start saying things like, I'm capable. I'm strong. I'm stable. I'm able to do this. Because that's who you are now. So those are things I would want you to start focusing on. And what we would focus on if you were working with us inside of Warrior Babe. Non-scale goals. You are now learning to optimize your body and feel how it feels to be truly fed in maintenance. You're tracking biofeedback. But you're also here. This is where you're, this is really important. Like you're practicing long-term living.

24:49You're practicing the true freedom of you reinforcing what you learned in fat loss. You're stabilizing this new identity. You're truly practicing and honoring how to live your life while you are honoring what got you to this place and honoring your habits. Green flags. When you are absolutely crushing maintenance, you've kept your weight between three to five pounds. And you've kept that for like three or four months. You're eating more than you did in your cut and you feel so much better.

25:20Your strength is increasing. You don't panic over food or social events. You feel new. These are all green flags that you're crushing the maintenance phase. And let me remind you, because let me pull you back to my story. Took me three times and finally nailed down maintenance. One, I completely stumbled. And you guys probably will too. The first time you ever go into it and truly are aware that you're trying to tackle maintenance. The second time you're going to do better.

25:51And they always say the third time's a charm. And I believe that if you're willing to learn from your past mistakes. So again, green flags. You don't panic over the scale. You feel neutral around the scale. You don't panic over food. Your habits feel like a lifestyle now, not like an effort. And then you're not obsessed with the results. You're anchored into like, this is just the process. This is just the journey. And these are the things, my friends, where I feel like we could do so much better in the fitness industry. Because these things that I just said, these don't make headlines on social media.

26:27These don't make headlines on Facebook or on Instagram or on TikTok. But they're literally the backbone of you having lifelong success on your fitness journey. So let me end this with this for you guys. If you are in maintenance right now and it feels boring, good. That's okay. It's supposed to be boring. Because boring equals sustainable. And sustainable equals you being powerful.

27:00And you being confident and capable. You've already done the hard work of losing weight. Whatever way which you lost the weight. Now, the real flex is you keeping it off without obsession. Without punishment. Without swinging between this all or nothing. And it's truly your chance to build stability, to master your mindset. And to live a life where results don't rule you. They support you. So let me make this a reminder to you guys that maintenance isn't the end.

27:35It's the beginning of the life that you're working at for so long. Again, like I said earlier, maintenance is where you live majority of the time if you're doing it the right way. So I want that to be a rewritten narrative in your mindset. It's not this, I need to live in fat loss all the time. It's how can I be and learn to be in maintenance in a healthy way. Okay? So guys, if this hit home for you, if this episode resonated with you, please take a screenshot. Post it on IG.

28:05Tag me at Nikki Stott. Tag the at The WarriorBabe Show. Let me just know what resonated with you the most in this episode. I would love to hear that and see it and read it and maybe hit you back in a DM. And if you're unsure whether if you're doing this right, like we are here at Worry Babe to help you guys and lock it in for good. And for you guys to get off of this 5-year, 10-year, 15-year, 20-year hamster wheel of losing the weight, gaining it back, losing the weight, gaining it back. And just being here to hold your hand in maintenance and being able for you guys to solidify what this phase can actually do for you.

28:40All right? I love you guys and I will see you in the next episode. Hey, really quick before you go, I have one small favor to ask. If this episode brought you value or sparked something in you, take just a moment to hit that review button. Your rating and review make all of the difference, helping more women discover the tools they need to transform the fitness and their confidence. It takes less than a minute, but it can change the path of someone else's journey. Thank you so much for leaving that review. I appreciate you so much.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.