I'm sure this has been asked a lot...

MarilynComplex

Okay quick stats before I start
Age: 21
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 154lbs
Lightly active and Female
I've finally hit a goal weight I'm comfortable with and intend to begin exercising more to tone my body. I've switched my goal on the app to "maintain" and seen a huge jump in the amount of calories I'm able to consume. Almost 400 more than I'm used to!
Needless to say I'm having difficulty meeting that calorie goal every day and have a few worries. I've noticed a slight decline in m weight after a week of maintaining (only about one pound) and am worried both about continuing to lose or gaining.
How do I get used to eating more? How do I actually maintain my weight instead of losing/gaining?
Any tips and tricks would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

sijomial

That all sounds normal.

If you have recently been losing at 1lb a week you will probably have to increase by 500/day.
Don't fret about tiny increments like a pound - that's a big glass of water. Look for trends over weeks not week to week.

Easiest way to increase calories is make sure you aren't eating/drinking "diet foods".
Calorie dense foods also help if you are struggling to eat a higher volume of food.

If you are hitting your macro goals but short on calories then a few treats will help, a nice reward for success.

TR0berts

Nothing to add - I'm just going to agree with sijomial.


OK, I will add one thing.

Most people maintain in a range - usually +/- 5 lbs. So there wouldn't be too much of a worry about weighing (for you, based on the stats provided) anywhere from 149-159. As long as you have a pretty good idea why your weight went one way or the other, as well as notice trends up or down, you can take a little action to lose/gain if needed.

nxd10

A big glass of milk will bring you up 400 calories. Or some toast and butter. Or a glass of orange juice. Or a few figs.

mitch16

I don't think it's bad if you "reverse taper" your diet... 400 calories would be a pretty big jump for me. Maybe try adding 100 calories each week to 10 days until you are at your maintenance goal. You might lose a little bit more weight before you hit steady state however.

bwogilvie

mitch16 wrote: »

I don't think it's bad if you "reverse taper" your diet... 400 calories would be a pretty big jump for me. Maybe try adding 100 calories each week to 10 days until you are at your maintenance goal. You might lose a little bit more weight before you hit steady state however.

This is often recommended, not only because it's easier than suddenly adding all those calories, but also because your muscles are going to start to store more glycogen now that you're not in a serious calorie deficit. Since glycogen is stored with about 4 times its weight in water, your scale weight will go up a bit. If you do a reverse taper, any increase will be relatively small.