little help

squishprincess
squishprincess Posts: 371 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
when increasing calories, do you do it slowly like 50-100 cals a week? how often to increase and by how much? i know i have to do it until i find a happy medium because everyone is different. just a bit lost as to how much to start with. all i ever taught myself was how to lose now i'm not sure about stablising that loss

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    yep in crease by 100 cals per week till your weight loss stops
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    The first time I hit maintenance I increased by 200 week by week as my weight fluctuates so much anyway I would never notice 100 cals. I've nibbled a few extra pounds off here and there since and just gone straight from deficit to maintainance calories when I hit my new goal.
    My intake varies enormously from day to day anyway (low days following an intermittent fasting routine and high days with large amounts of exercise calories to eat back) so I'm probably more accepting of natural fluctuations than someone who tends to eat the same amount every day.
  • squishprincess
    squishprincess Posts: 371 Member
    i don't really mind fluctuations as long as it's not a ton of pounds going up and down. i fluctuation as it is now, due to low days as well and exercise or water retention/if i'm regular, haha. i just want to be reassured that i'm not gonna gain a whole buncha weight, but i would like to stop losing as of now. i'm even okay if i gain a couple pounds back, i just don't want to mess up and gain like 15-20 pounds back. but i'll do the 100 calories a week thing. thanks!
  • grannieannie11
    grannieannie11 Posts: 4
    I've only got half a stone to go to goal, but I will continue to weigh myself every week. That wasy, if I do gain a couple of lbs, the following week I will make sure I lose it again! I also do 5:2, so have 2 low cal days and 5 normal!
  • 5stringjeff
    5stringjeff Posts: 790 Member
    I increased by 100 daily calories per week, and stayed within 1-2 pounds of my goal weight the whole time.
  • mymodernbabylon
    mymodernbabylon Posts: 1,038 Member
    I increased at first 100 calories and then went up another 150 and then another 200. I'm still trying to figure out my maintenance calories - sticking with this # for a few weeks to see if I stay around the same weight (1-2 lb same weight over time). If I don't gain, then I'll go up another 100-200.
  • squishprincess
    squishprincess Posts: 371 Member
    alright it seems that those numbers are pretty safe to try out. also i won't be fasting as i have dealt with EDs and feel it would cause relapse. i just want to normalise and maintain. :smile:
  • dopeysmelly
    dopeysmelly Posts: 1,390 Member
    I've increased by about 100 calories every couple of months while I was losing. Now I'm at the upper limit of where I want to be I plan to increase by 100 calories every month, and start eating back 50% of my exercise calories when I do a serious workout. My weight fluctuates with my TOM so I don't really get a full picture of what's happening until a month is over. The weekly increase doesn't work for me, so I just wanted to suggest an alternative.
  • RaspberryTickleChicken
    RaspberryTickleChicken Posts: 629 Member
    edited October 2014
    squishprincess wrote: »
    when increasing calories, do you do it slowly like 50-100 cals a week? how often to increase and by how much? i know i have to do it until i find a happy medium because everyone is different. just a bit lost as to how much to start with. all i ever taught myself was how to lose now i'm not sure about stablising that loss

    Congrats on your achievement! (*)

    I'd caution you in with upping the calories.

    Depending on your height it has potential to backfire.

    A few of us 'fun size' (5'2" & Shorter) have found that our bodies just leveled off naturally without adding calories back in (we just carried on as normal once we reached our goal weight). A few who tried to add calories back in gained the weight back (some in entirety).

    There's no blanket answer for everyone. I'd suggest going to this site iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ and get a general idea of the daily caloric intake based on your height, age, & activity level.

    Good luck!
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    edited October 2014
    I think it depends on whether you were losing quickly or slowly at the end - which depends on how lean you are as well as your height. A 500 calorie deficit for someone tall isn't the same as one for someone who is petite.

    I'm tall and was losing very, very slowly at the end. I was at a 500 calorie deficit, increased by 250 and didn't gain or lose weight, so stayed there for actually a whole year. Then I dropped another 5 pounds so upped it another 250 and have been stable again for six months.

    As people say, it's always a work in progress. It changes with your age and I also feel my metabolism has jumped up a bit, even though I've logged my steps (fitbit) since being on maintenance and have always felt comfortable eating back those calories.
  • squishprincess
    squishprincess Posts: 371 Member
    edited October 2014
    hm that it is true, i'm pretty much just 5ft and very petite. i'll try to take it a lot slower, but still feel i need to increase. my weight loss has been pretty slow, unless i'm in a depressive rut where i start losing a lot, but that's due to mood and lethargy and when i regain normalcy it starts to return. thanks for the alternative suggestion about the whole month thing versus week. i'll just have to experiment. heck, if i start gaining lots i'll know i'm doing something wrong and reevaluate. won't be the end of the world.

Categories