I'm not sure this is the idea of maintenance....

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pinkteapot3
pinkteapot3 Posts: 157 Member
edited June 2015 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I hit goal about 4 weeks ago and have been maintaining since, so have had about 500 extra cals a day.

I've barely made my meals any bigger, but am instead using most of the extra for snacks (*cough*biscuits*cough) and wine.

Working perfectly for maintenance as all within my cal goal, and my weight is steady, but probably not the best thing health-wise. :smiley:

How did you balance re-introducing treats that you had to give up while losing, vs increasing meal-size to maintain in a more healthy way?

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  • yesimpson
    yesimpson Posts: 1,372 Member
    edited June 2015
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    To add calories in order to maintain, I did things like reintroduce whole milk (which I prefer), include dessert/a bedtime snack on days I'd exercised, and beefed my meals up a bit generally by picking higher-cal additions:

    Breakfast - cereal, milk & fruit (I might add a slice of toast with Marmite)
    Lunch - sandwich, fruit, packet of crisps (I might choose Doritos over Quavers, which is a 90cal difference)
    Snack - nuts & a banana (previously wouldn't have had the banana)
    Dinner - spaghetti with veg & prawns (I'd add a slice of garlic bread, or a little bit of cheese)

    My pudding would be like a serving of ice cream, a chocolate mousse, custard & baked apple, or maybe I'd wait and have a slice of toast, a big glass of milk or a protein bar after coming home from the gym. So I kind of tried to just look for higher calorie options or extras to bulk up my intake without going overboard accidentally.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    Well done on reaching your goal :smile:

    I did the same as you to begin with but I ended up craving yet more sugary snacks and then gaining a little weight before having to rein my calories in again. I was eating an average of 2400 and still not feeling satisfied (around half of those with sugary snacks!). These days for me its all about having larger and more filling main meals. It took me a few months to find my maintenance cals - 2100-2300. My Breakfast/lunch is around 500 cals each and my dinners are around 700 cals....then the other cals I use up drinking copious amounts of milky tea/coffee and a chocolate treat/biscuit etc

    You'll feel more satisfied/full when you eat more balanced meals. But we all do enjoy little treats, and yes if they work into your calories then thats fine but for me I always feel better when I make better food choices :smile:

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    I guess my weight loss was slightly different - I reduced my "treats" but never excluded them. Also simply reduced portion sizes and snacks had to fit in my calorie goal.
    Spent twice as much per bottle of wine but drank half the quantity for example. :smiley:

    So really my core diet (noun) is no different - still what I would regard as healthy with a good variety, a lot of whole foods and home prepared meals, still hit my macros etc. Just have a higher calorie allowance which gives more scope for treats and making choices based purely on enjoyment and taste rather than calories. My idea of misery would be going to a nice restaurant and not choosing what I want to eat because it doesn't fit my calorie goal that day.

    I'm also more relaxed day to day about calorie limits and happily borrow calorie allowance from other days. A treat today might be earned tomorrow for example.

    Still regard treats as optional extras though, the first thing I would look at if my weight starts to drift.
  • alida1walsh
    alida1walsh Posts: 72 Member
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    I try to eat some healthy snacks such as carrot sticks and hommus and nuts but my sweet tooth always seems to win over and I have to slip in some dark chocolate. I also have full cream milk in my coffee.

    As long as it's balanced then it's fine ... though I think that extra chocolate cupcake I had this evening may have pushed things a bit too far (but yumm!)
  • AmandaHugginkiss
    AmandaHugginkiss Posts: 486 Member
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    So long as I meet my nutritional goals, I add whatever I want at the time. I mean, I didn't get fit so I could stay on a restricted diet with no happy foods for the rest of my life.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
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    Eh, I pretty much do the same. I added rice to my dinner and 300 calories to dessert. Maybe I'm not a great example though.
  • pinkteapot3
    pinkteapot3 Posts: 157 Member
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    I had some treats while losing - eg I can't give up chocolate completely so had one nice one from a box each evening. But, on 1,200 a day, I just can't have wine. I'm too hungry if I make room for it! So wine has been re-introduced. :smiley:

    I think I'll try gradually increasing meal portion sizes (lunch in particular is definitely too small - I'm always starving and grumpy when I get home from work until I eat dinner!). Just a bit though so I keep some of the snacks too. I'm sure there's a happy medium in the calorie split between meals and snacks - I don't feel like I've found it yet. :smile:
  • pinkteapot3
    pinkteapot3 Posts: 157 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Just been looking at my nutritional goals. I'm just using whatever default ones MFP gave me.

    I'm always slightly under on carbs and slightly over on protein, fat and sugar.

    Interestingly, I'm always MASSIVELY under on sodium (like I have a third to half of what they recommend). Might explain why I get foot and leg cramps?! (I run and cycle regularly)
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    pinkteapot3 wrote: »
    Just been looking at my nutritional goals. I'm just using whatever default ones MFP gave me.

    I'm always slightly under on carbs and slightly over on protein, fat and sugar.

    Interestingly, I'm always MASSIVELY under on sodium (like I have a third to half of what they recommend). Might explain why I get foot and leg cramps?! (I run and cycle regularly)

    @pinkteapot3 ^^ your lack of salt is the reason for your foot/leg cramps, my son is a cyclist, 50-100 miles at a time and has to take drinks with salt in them to stop experiencing these cramps.
  • pinkteapot3
    pinkteapot3 Posts: 157 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Funny - major health campaigns in the UK to get people to reduce their salt intake! I don't use much salt in cooking, and I don't sprinkle much on my food (I only put it on chips which I eat maybe once a week). My figures are off because I don't log it accurately. I'll use a bit more and track the quantity more accurately and see where that puts me. :smile:
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited June 2015
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    @pinkteapot3 for most of us we DO have to really watch our sodium but for athletes then you guys need it for your muscles :smile:
    I don't add it to anything either apart from chips, I've got so used to not having salt that I can't stand it being added to anything..weird but true! :/
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    I did mostly add carbs - cookies and treats. That was dumb. I need my carbs under 50% (better under 40) or I get hungry. Also, sugar makes me want more sugar.

    So I got smarter.

    Protein. In fact, more meat. Then once a week or so a piece of cake or cookie. And I added in cheese once in a while and sometimes a piece of bread or muffin. And milk once in a while.

    All the little things I'd dropped out to keep my calories down.
  • pinkteapot3
    pinkteapot3 Posts: 157 Member
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    Cheese is a good one - I've hardly had it at all while losing. I know it's still not the healthiest thing but no worse than chocolate and biscuits and at least I won't have sugar crashes from it. I have missed cheese...

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