Eating at maintenance to lose the last few lbs?

CleanBEAN1
CleanBEAN1 Posts: 15 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I only have 3 more pounds to lose to get to my goal weight, but I'm not sure whether I should eat at maintenance (while exercising more intensively) or eat 1200 and exercise less to get there. I know eating at maintenance while burning more calories through exercise will probably make the weight loss very slow and gradual, but is it the better option in the long term?

Replies

  • feisty_bucket
    feisty_bucket Posts: 1,047 Member
    Why not stick with whatever your loss plan was so far until you get to your goal, and then switch?
  • daaaaaanielle
    daaaaaanielle Posts: 114 Member
    edited May 2015
    I've seen a lot of people talking about when they move from losing to maintenance and a lot of people seem to gradually move to maintenance, ie increase their goal towards maintenance by 100 calories a week until they get there to ease their body into the change, and this means you should continue to lose weight during that time because you'll still be at a deficit, though less of a deficit. Once you hit maintenance, if you still have weight to lose, then exercising and eating back less of your exercise calories than you do now would work.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    As you get closer and closer to your goal, you're meant to lower your weight loss goal from 2 lbs/week to 1.5 lbs/week... etc until you're at .5 lbs/week. The smaller the deficit, the slower the loss. The slower the loss, the greater the percentage of fat lost, vs muscle mass.

    I like this method as it is a gradual transition to maintenance. In between ranges (like when I went from losing 1 lb / week to .5 lbs/week), I would add 100 calories per day until I was in the next range. I have 6 lbs left to lose (1.5 lbs until I'm in my maintenance range), so I'm only losing 2-3 lbs/month at this point.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    1200 is a massive deficit to lose 3 measly Lbs. I'd also suggest that 3 Lbs is well within natural weight fluctuations...it's probably going to make absolutely zero difference in the way you look. Personally, I'd just go into a re-comp and stop worrying about hitting some exact and arbitrary number on the scale. Once you get to maintenance you will quickly realize that your body weight isn't static anyway...you'll be up and down and all around everyday.
  • xMrBunglex
    xMrBunglex Posts: 1,121 Member
    Try Bob Harper's trick - keep your cals the same, but

    1. Don't eat complex carbs after lunch
    2. Don't eat anything for 3 hours before bedtime
  • daaaaaanielle
    daaaaaanielle Posts: 114 Member
    xMrBunglex wrote: »
    Try Bob Harper's trick - keep your cals the same, but

    1. Don't eat complex carbs after lunch
    2. Don't eat anything for 3 hours before bedtime

    Sorry that's total crap.

    You don't gain more or lose less by eating within 3 hours of bed time or eating certain foods at certain times.

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