Diet break or early maintenance

victoria_1024

So background is I've lost 75 pounds since February and technically met my goal weight as I am now at the top end of a healthy bmi. I would like to lose another 10 pounds. However I'm only 5'2.5" and losing weight now has brought my calories down so low! Which isn't that big of a deal for the most part, but I'm going through a very stressful family situation which is Making it difficult for me to lose, even at a slow rate. And with upcoming holidays I know that will add to the challenges. I'm considering just hanging out at maintenance for a few months and in the new year trying to work on those last few pounds. I'll continue to log and exercise though. Has anyone done this? Did it work for you? I'm so afraid if I stop I'll lose momentum and never get back to it. At the same time I'm worried if I push too much now I'll start going back the opposite direction. Maybe a break would be nice. Any thoughts or experiences?

Francl27

IMO? Eat at maintenance for your goal weight. But personally, unless you're particularly hungry or something, I'd try to stick to it, so it will be easier not to gain during the Holidays.

For what it's worth, I took a diet break 1.5 year ago when I went on vacations (didn't really have the choice, to be fair) and never managed to get back into it afterwards because it somehow stimulated my appetite and I've been too hungry since to lose (only 3 pounds from my goal though so not a huge deal, I guess).

victoria_1024

Francl27 wrote: »

IMO? Eat at maintenance for your goal weight. But personally, unless you're particularly hungry or something, I'd try to stick to it, so it will be easier not to gain during the Holidays.

For what it's worth, I took a diet break 1.5 year ago when I went on vacations (didn't really have the choice, to be fair) and never managed to get back into it afterwards because it somehow stimulated my appetite and I've been too hungry since to lose (only 3 pounds from my goal though so not a huge deal, I guess).

Thanks! I would say I'm pretty hungry. Even aiming for losing a half pound per week puts me at 1350 calories, which I'm struggling with. So then on work out days I am fine, but non workout days I'm starving and stress myself out trying to get a workout in just so I can eat more. My husband recently had heart surgery so his coworkers have been doing this meal train thing to help us out, which is wonderful but has taken away my control of how many calories I'm eating. Plus just the stress of caring for our 4 young children alone while he recovers makes me want to snack more and gives me less time to workout. But I don't want to fall into bad habits during this time either.

DancingMoosie

I agree. Reverse diet up to maintenance for goal weight. On days that you feel extra hungry, eat maintenance for current weight. If you don't already, try to add in some strength training. You may be surprised at how many calories you can maintain on. Try not to stress about it. Stress raises cortisol which can wreak havoc on our bodies and actually make it more difficult to lose. Instead of worrying about falling into bad habits, try to create new good ones. Maybe yoga could help to de-stress. Good luck!

JJLive

You could also average the week. 9450 calories for the week. Just "carry over" any extra calories you had/burned through exercise to the days you don't exercise. You'll still lose weight.