Recognizing Maintenance Weight: Body Signals?

AnnPT77

Before I say anything further: I'm not assuming there's any magic formula or trick to any of this, I'm just asking out of curiosity.

I'm getting very close to maintenance (as determined by original GW, current feeling/appearance, ideal bodyweight calculators, etc.). I'm at 131.5 pounds, and figure maintenance weight (or center of +/- range) is somewhere between 125 and 130. (I'm 5'5"; narrow-hipped, kind of boyish build for a woman; 59 years old; and have had bilateral mastectomies, to add some relevant info.)

Oddly (to me), even though I haven't been hungry much at all during my roughly 50 pound weight loss (since mid-April), it seems as if lately I'm feeling hungry much more often. No big change in way of eating, exercise, or the like.

This leads me to ask those of you who are maintainers, purely out of curiosity: Was there any way in which you felt your body let you know when you'd reached your "right" weight? If so, what feelings, sensations, or other feedback mechanisms were involved?

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Francl27

Yep. I'm 5'5" and my body is happy at 133 (I have a medium/large frame). My goal is 130 and I managed to get under once 17 months ago, when I was still losing pretty well (went down to 131.9), then went on vacations and haven't managed to even see anything under 132.9 since - if I gain a little bit of weight, I can lose it easily (I lost the 2 pounds I gained in my last vacation in 2 months doing nothing differently), but once I go back to 133, I just can't seem to go down more because I get hungrier the next month... even if I've been seriously ramping up the workouts.

I'm not really giving up though, but I'm relatively happy where I am so I refuse to be hungry all the time (and to give up my treats altogether, which I'd have to do, apparently) just to lose a couple more pounds. I carry a small deficit (1000-1500 weekly) but it's often wiped out if there's a special occasion or if it's PMS week (which has been horrible ever since I reached 133 pounds). And even then, I go to bed hungry probably half the time.

With the Holidays coming I'm just going to be happy maintaining, I think.

LivingtheLeanDream

Francl27 wrote: »

Yep. I'm 5'5" and my body is happy at 133 (I have a medium/large frame). My goal is 130 and I managed to get under once 17 months ago, when I was still losing pretty well (went down to 131.9), then went on vacations and haven't managed to even see anything under 132.9 since - if I gain a little bit of weight, I can lose it easily (I lost the 2 pounds I gained in my last vacation in 2 months doing nothing differently), but once I go back to 133, I just can't seem to go down more because I get hungrier the next month... even if I've been seriously ramping up the workouts.

I'm not really giving up though, but I'm relatively happy where I am so I refuse to be hungry all the time (and to give up my treats altogether, which I'd have to do, apparently) just to lose a couple more pounds. I carry a small deficit (1000-1500 weekly) but it's often wiped out if there's a special occasion or if it's PMS week (which has been horrible ever since I reached 133 pounds). And even then, I go to bed hungry probably half the time.

With the Holidays coming I'm just going to be happy maintaining, I think.

@Francl27 are you my twin? same here OP, except I'm shorter and seem to be settling around 132lbs. I enjoy eating maintenance calories too much to care whether I get to my coveted 130lbs. I keep a slight deficit during the week (1800-1900 cals) so on the weekends I can eat 2400.