Having a very hard time maintaining

aprilflower18232

I've been maintaining for a few months now...I've been trying to slowly add more calories in but I feel as though I'm still restricting myself too much because some days I have such a lack of energy and occasionally I binge and hate myself afterwards..last weekend I went away and pretty much ate whatever I wanted. Since then my eating has been less then stellar and I am so afraid of gaining my weight back

nxd10

In general, people who restrict themselves too much tend to let go and overeat when they give in. You have to find a way to meet your needs and feel comfortable.

When I hit maintenance, I upped my calories by 250 to see how that went. I also looked carefully at my diary to see where my big calorie sinks were. For me, it was milk, cheese, and bread. And handfuls of nuts when I got home from work! I didn't really care about those foods, but they used up a lot of calories that I wanted to use for things like small helpings of ice cream. Bread v. ice cream? A no brainer. I started eating low carb tortillas.

See if upping 250 over maintenance helps. I know some people go up slower than that, but I'm not that patient. Then add small helpings of things you really would enjoy. See how that goes. In general, I feel like I can eat anything I want. I just don't eat a lot of things that are very calorie dense. It's the first few bites that taste the best anyway.

If you can maintain there, try going up to 500.

snowflake930

It is a major concern of mine as well. Over 20 months maintaining for me now. I watch my weight very closely and allow myself a 5# weight gain limit. If I am up 5# I cut back on my calories. I have only gone down more than 5# once, so that is not an issue for me, but I kind of would rather be under than over. It is a constant battle for me.

ExRelaySprinter

What have you been doing exercise-wise?
As we all know, you can eat more if you do more exercise.
I'm maintaining on around 1900/2000 cals a day, due to the fact i workout 5-6 days a week.

AsISmile

What are your stats, and at how many calories are you maintaining?
I've already seen a few times that people are so stuck in the dieting low cals mindset that they try to maintain at a way too low calorie intake.