switching to maintenance temporarily

jennamalboeuf612

I have lost almost 30 pounds since March. Having never been anything but overweight I really don't know what my ideal weight is, I do know I don't fall into the typical body type to rely on a BMI calculation. I'm at the point now where my wedding is in 6 weeks and my dress is being fitted this weekend. This of course means that I'm going to have to maintain my weight since once the dress is altered I need to stay the same size so that the dress doesn't end up too big. My worry is that at 1200 net calories a day, I have still had instances where I've plateaued and instances where when I've "fallen of the wagon" for even just a day or 2 I've seen my weight start to creep back up. My worry is that if I bump up my calories to maintenance, I'll end up gaining instead of maintaining, but since for the most part I've been losing quite quickly I can't stay on my current calorie allowance without continuing to lose.

My question is, is it really safe to up my calories to maintenance and expect not to gain when I've had instances where I've gained with even just a couple of days of not following my calorie limits, or is it better to gradually increase my daily calories, even though this would leave me in the weight loss range for a while and I can't afford to do either once the dress is fitted?

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cwolfman13

you are going to gain some scale weight...you will replenish chronically depleted glycogen stores...glycogen has mass and thus weight...that obviously is going to show up on the scale. You're also eating more...so you will have more inherent waste in your system...that waste has mass and thus weight that shows up on the scale....

Not all weight on the scale is fat...

That said, it is generally advised to up your calories slowly...with dieting, your metabolism has adapted down...upping your calories slowly will allow your body and hormones to adjust rather than just shocking the system.

terbusha

Great questions here. Don't just jump your calories up to PREDICTED maintenance. You'll likely gain weight. It's best to increase your intake SLOWLY with a reverse diet. Check this out and let me know what questions you have. I've done one in the past and doing another round now. It works great.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3gTGLulLnI

FitPhillygirl

Try increasing your calories by 100 at a time and see how you do. If no weight gain you can increase to another 100 calories.