I'm one of you now. Advise me.

barbecuesauce

It took about 11 months, but I've finally lost 70 pounds! I went from a BMI of 32.3 to 21. I plan to recomp now.

Please tell me:

1. Your best advice for keeping slim
2. Your biggest maintenance pitfall
3. How quickly you brought your daily calorie intake up to maintenance level

Thanks!

Pinnacle_IAO

WELL DONE!


I have found that maintenance is every bit as challenging as losing weight.
I have been in this mode for almost 3 years after losing 100 pounds. I no longer log in foods or exercises, because I naturally track everything in my head. It works.

My suggestion is for you to set new, higher goals. You mentioned recomp.
That is what I have been doing with good results.
My body fat dropped from 23% to 15% but very slowly!

Good Luck - friend request sent!

loulamb7

1. Your best advice for keeping slim - Keep tracking/logging your calorie intake
2. Your biggest maintenance pitfall - Old habits never die, they're only dormant or under control.
3. How quickly you brought your daily calorie intake up to maintenance level - About 2 months

Recomp is a great goal but it is a long, slow process. What's you plan for recomp?

sashayoung72

I have never stayed at maintenance, slipping and falling, so when I make it I will

1. Keep logging
2. Keep checking items on scale
3. Do not trust that you can guesstimate and slip further and further away. (my big downfall)

griffinca2

You may have to play w/what MFP gives you as far as maint cals/macros. Right now I'm eating slightly below what they recommend; you'll have to figure out what works for you. Also, don't forget weight lifting and your cardio. There is a recom thread here under Maintaining so you might want to read thru it starting on page 1. Good luck.

nxd10

Congratulations! Keep doing what you're doing. The easiest thing to mess up on when you up is to add more carbs when you add more calories, instead of more protein and fat. Don't do that.

Remember your goal is to STAY at this weight, not GET to this weight. So every day you're still in your zone is a triumph.

Start or keep exercising. I recommend a fitbit.

ExRelaySprinter

1. Staying slim - keep exercising or stay v. active
2. maintenance pitfall (for me) - would be not logging & weighing food
3. I actually still don't know "exactly" what my maintenance cals are (TDEE)....but eat around 2000 calories a day and exercise at least 5 days a week. And it seems to be working (2 months later).

bioklutz

1. Your best advice for keeping slim
Pick a weight range that you can comfortably maintain. Make sure that range accounts for TOM, water weight gains, enjoying an occasional bigger dinner. It is typically a 5-10 pound range for people. If you ever hit the top or bottom of that range take action - but not anything drastic. Maybe cut 200 calories/day until you are in your range again. If you hit the bottom of your range you may need to evaluate what you think your maintenance calories are.

2. Your biggest maintenance pitfall
I'm not sure. If I follow my advice for question 1 I shouldn't have any pitfalls.

3. How quickly you brought your daily calorie intake up to maintenance level
It took me about a month and a half to figure it out. I added 100 calories at a time. If you have been losing on average half a pound a week than you can kinda guesstimate that you can eat an extra 250 calories a day.

I think recomp is a good idea. New goals are great for staying interested!

atypicalsmith

Get on the scales every morning. When you get to a 2 pound increase, curtail your calories until it's back to where you were.

macgurlnet

1. For me, continuing to log has been the most helpful. At some point, I may stop, but it's nice having the app do the math for me I also try to get in at least 5k steps each day and 10k 3-4 days a week, minimum. Oh, and don't panic when you see upward fluctuations - check your sodium and carb intake, give it a few days back on your usual foods, then consider making adjustments. I went up 2.5 pounds and stayed there for almost 2 weeks thanks to TOM and eating out more than usual. It finally went away last week.
2. So far the only issue I've had was initially thinking "oh, you can eat over a little and it will just slow the loss down." I still do eat over on occasion but it balances out since I'm naturally under on other days.
3. I went right in to maintenance. My deficit was only 250 cal/day at the time so I figured going right to maintenance would be fine. Thanks to my Fitbit, it was really easy to switch to maintenance since I had a pretty good idea of my average burn already. I still let MFP determine my calorie goal for the day and eat back my Fitbit adjustments, but I might try out a manual goal sometime for kicks.

~Lyssa

arussell134

First off - congratulations! Now you're at the part where the real fun begins - figuring out how the rest of your life is going to work. In answer to your questions....

1. Your best advice for keeping slim. Weigh yourself daily. I really believe this simple act each morning reminds me to make good choices for that day. You can also catch small gains before they turn into big ones. Of course, I do allow myself a 2-3 pound range to stay within. Second to that, push yourself athletically. For me, that's been running - I've decided to really push myself to run more competitively. This desire automatically fueled better eating/workout decisions. Find a sport or fitness goal that inspires YOU and pursue it. I believe this is absolutely KEY to staying fit.
2. Your biggest maintenance pitfall. I've actually not had an issue yet (it's been 8 months for me here, to date), but I would say - stay humble. Remember where you came from. Remember it can be super easy to head back in the opposite direction.
3. How quickly you brought your daily calorie intake up to maintenance level. Not long at all - maybe a few weeks, tops? During the last few pounds of weight loss, I started transitioning slowly to maintenance so there wasn't a big shift for me. Pretty seemless. I'm now a few pounds under my original goal.

Good luck!

sashayoung72

sashayoung72 wrote: »

I have never stayed at maintenance, slipping and falling, so when I make it I will

1. Keep logging
2. Keep checking items on scale
3. Do not trust that you can guesstimate and slip further and further away. (my big downfall)

What The Crap? someone flagged me for abuse??? on this??? Well dang so freakin sorry

LivingtheLeanDream

sashayoung72 wrote: »

sashayoung72 wrote: »

I have never stayed at maintenance, slipping and falling, so when I make it I will

1. Keep logging
2. Keep checking items on scale
3. Do not trust that you can guesstimate and slip further and further away. (my big downfall)

What The Crap? someone flagged me for abuse??? on this??? Well dang so freakin sorry

Maybe it was a mistake? Nothing flaggable about your comment...I've gotten a few flags in my time for no good reason either and the moderators told me not to worry about them.

LivingtheLeanDream

OP
1 ) weigh in at least a few times a week. Don't freak out with gains that you know are likely to be sodium or hormone related. Have a goal range of say up to 5lbs +/- when you see yourself going above or below adjust intake as necessary.

2) pitfalls to date for me was on the early months when reverse dieting thinking I could eat what I dang well wanted to as I was very active! Lesson learned!

3) for a few months before I decided to maintain I actually was eating maintenance calories! This gal enjoys her grub far too much lol..but again as I tried to push my cals higher and higher overall it took me 4 months to find my actual tipping point when I gained/lost - I know! I'm a bit slow on the uptake at times!

Enjoy those extra cals

FitPhillygirl

sashayoung72 wrote: »

sashayoung72 wrote: »

I have never stayed at maintenance, slipping and falling, so when I make it I will

1. Keep logging
2. Keep checking items on scale
3. Do not trust that you can guesstimate and slip further and further away. (my big downfall)

What The Crap? someone flagged me for abuse??? on this??? Well dang so freakin sorry

I didn't see a flag in your post above. However, I'm seeing one for the one you made here. Either way, your posts are fine so I wouldn't give it a second thought.


OP, congrats on making it to maintanence. Just follow the great advice that others have posted here and you'll be fine.

sashayoung72

Thanks, It just hit me the wrong way, like "went on my permanent record" lol

kommodevaran

sashayoung72 wrote: »

sashayoung72 wrote: »

I have never stayed at maintenance, slipping and falling, so when I make it I will

1. Keep logging
2. Keep checking items on scale
3. Do not trust that you can guesstimate and slip further and further away. (my big downfall)

What The Crap? someone flagged me for abuse??? on this??? Well dang so freakin sorry

I (and maybe more) reported the flagging of that post (it really was flagged) as inappropriate, that flag was removed (yay) but now this one got a flag. Maybe you have a secret admirer

Liftng4Lis

WTG on getting it!

Pinnacle_IAO

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

OP
1 ) weigh in at least a few times a week. Don't freak out with gains that you know are likely to be sodium or hormone related. Have a goal range of say up to 5lbs +/- when you see yourself going above or below adjust intake as necessary.

2) pitfalls to date for me was on the early months when reverse dieting thinking I could eat what I dang well wanted to as I was very active! Lesson learned!

3) for a few months before I decided to maintain I actually was eating maintenance calories! This gal enjoys her grub far too much lol..but again as I tried to push my cals higher and higher overall it took me 4 months to find my actual tipping point when I gained/lost - I know! I'm a bit slow on the uptake at times!

Enjoy those extra cals

^^^^^THIS^^^^


And I would add...take it slow and enjoy the journey.

Bansh3e

Pinnacle_IAO wrote: »

WELL DONE!


I have found that maintenance is every bit as challenging as losing weight.
I have been in this mode for almost 3 years after losing 100 pounds. I no longer log in foods or exercises, because I naturally track everything in my head. It works.

My suggestion is for you to set new, higher goals. You mentioned recomp.
That is what I have been doing with good results.
My body fat dropped from 23% to 15% but very slowly!

Good Luck - friend request sent!

You look awesome at your age Mister!.Keep it goin! (no homo ) )

barbecuesauce

Sorry to abandon my thread! I didn't mean to start it and run.

Thanks to everyone for the advice! I plan to maintain within a very narrow range (hormonal and water weight fluctuations aside) but I don't know what the upper limit of that will be. Most people seem to lose after they maintain so I'm thinking 130 will be the high end, but I don't want to pressure myself.

Aside from continuing strength training, I think I'm going to start 30 Day Shred because I need to change up the cardio and that will at least keep me in the AC. I have checked out the recomp thread--thanks to those who suggested it--and intend to increase the amount of protein I consume, which won't be hard since I have more calories to play with.

Thanks again everyone!