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I have / had the same concerns, and I have invested a lot of thought into sustainability.
For me, that means what I eat during dieting is, by and large, the same things I will eat afterwards (and before, for the most part, less bags of crisps, bars of chocolate, all the patisserie, and butter with everything).
When I come off the diet, all I'm doing is being less exact on my meals - no more weighing and logging, but still keeping an eye on portions.
It helps that I'm a big CICO proponent - eat less, lose weight.
Diets that substitute and radically change what you eat are antithetical to good dietary practice, and while they work (because restrictive diets mean less calories in...) they're not so great for ongoing maintenance, unless you keep them up in perpetuity.
Everyone's MMV, of course.
NotThamesWater-
This was really helpful for me - thanks. I’m a CICO person too. Sounds like we have a similar psychological approach - I just can’t figure out how I want to ‘introduce’ the extra calories now I’m in a healthy/sustainable routine which is below maintainable calories. Might just play with a post workout shake - which will help with recovery/body composition too (which have so far been secondary goals to just shedding some weight.)
In somewhat comi-tragic news, having hit goal weight, I’ve also tested +ve for Covid19 so now 0 exercise, and I am ravenous all the time weirdly.
kkg337
Confession: I'm terrified of stopping dieting. I've shaken out from 93.5kg at the start of the year back to 80kg now, which is a much better size for me. I've actually done it really painlessly through a small consistent breakfast, huel for lunch and then a 'normal' dinner of 6-1000 calories leaving me at 15-1800 calories a day, good for a 500ish deficit, more if I exercise.
So far so good.. I'm a very habitual/impulsive eater so getting into a diet routine which psychologically worked was really transformative. I'm very concerned that once I start giving myself an inch (as I've very much earned the right to!) I will start taking a mile, and end up right back where I started. I don't really even crave junk/snacks at the moment, but I do know how hard it is to stop once I start..
Any advice beyond regular weighing from people who have successfully avoided the dreaded yoyo?