Has anyone tried maintaining in the middle of weight loss?

Docbanana2002

I've taken breaks of a week or two along the way, for various reasons--holidays, vacations, recovering from a cold, weeks when I was just tired of restricting and wanted to have some treats. I trained for a 10K and intentionally slowed my weight loss down so I had plenty of fuel for my runs. I've never taken a longer break primarily because I'm motivated to just get this done so I can move on the next phase. I have some fitness goals that are on hold until I can reach my goal weight (like training for a half marathon).

That being said, I am definitely planning a "maintenance break" when I drop into the normal BMI range-I'm 5 pounds away. I might stay there forever, might try to drop a pound here and there to get into the middle of the normal BMI range. Might try a recomp. Not sure. I'll focus more on body fat % and fitness goals though, since my primary reason for losing (health) has been addressed.

mjglantz

amazon35 wrote: »

I was thinking about it today. I may decide to try and maintain for 6 months after my first 100lbs. Just so my body and mind can have a break and get adjusted I guess. I'm also thinking it'll help me make this a permanent change. Then after the 6 months jump back on it and loose the last 40-50lbs but do it super slowly until I figure out what weight I want to stay at. Does this make sense? Has anyone done this?

I think I kind of did that. My initial goal was 174-175 and when I got there I upped my calories, but kept losing. When I got to around 173 I had a heart attack and that was the wake up call to get to a "normal" BMI I'd reached my original goal in Oct and the heart attack was in Feb. After I reached my new goal of 162 I kept losing even though I kept adding in calories. I think the cardio and weights was what did it.

ncfitbit

OP, thanks for asking this question! It's good to know what others have done. I'm trying to figure this out right now.

barbecuesauce

ncfitbit wrote: »

OP, thanks for asking this question! It's good to know what others have done. I'm trying to figure this out right now.

Yeah, same. I've been feeling guilty for eating close to maintenance every day. Even at a BMI of 23.2 and single-digit pants sizes, I still see a fat girl in the mirror. So I'm glad to read about other people who stopped actively losing during their loss--it alleviates that guilt somewhat.

amazon35

Thank you guys so much for the responses!! I just wanted to make sure I wasn't setting myself for failure. I have decided that this is what i'm going to do. I think 140lbs loss deserves 3 legs to reach my goal.