3 lbs away from goal range

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ckfox95
ckfox95 Posts: 73 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
3 lbs until I hit my goal weight. I have actually surpassed my goal weight but wanted an extra 5 lbs for adjustment and wiggle room. I am still set at 1lb a week weight loss and its pretty much been working just fine. Since I'm close being 3 pounds away should I switch my rate of loss to 1/2 lb now or will upping the calories 100 put me into a possible gain now? What are the benefits or should just I keep plowing through these last few then begin maintenance? I'm so confused and I tend to overthibk everything. Thanks so much!

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  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    If you are currently losing at a pound a week (c.3500 weekly deficit remember) then no, adding 100/day can't make you gain fat.

    Yes IMO you should start reducing your deficit now by upping your calories.
    Otherwise you will get to 5lbs under and then still spend weeks reducing your deficit, searching for your maintenance level and losing yet more weight.

    Time to get out of dieting mode and focus on long term, healthy and enjoyable maintenance.

  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,757 Member
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    congrats. well done.
    Now for a new phase..for long-term hopefully
    100 cals won't slow you down much. If you wait too long you will give yourself a bigger window than you intended.

    Maintenance for everyone is a little different, but successful people tend to be consistent and do not bounce around too much. Good luck and enjoy the extra few hundred calories. Keep a close watch on the scale for the first little while and see if you can fine tune your exact requirements.
  • jessicarobinson00
    jessicarobinson00 Posts: 414 Member
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    As someone who stuck to the 1350 calorie diet until maintenance, I would say start increasing your calories now. I found it extremely difficult to transition between 1350 and 1700 overnight: It felt like opening the flood gates and for a short period of time I found myself overeating: AGAIN?!?! WHAT?!?!? Fortunately, now that I have been in maintenance for a while, I have found my maintenance calories to be much more than I thought: 1850-1900 range. HUGE pleasant surprise!
  • kschramm7
    kschramm7 Posts: 72 Member
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    I'm in the same place....made my goal weight a couple weeks ago, want to lose 5 more pounds so I have some wiggle room. I put my weight loss goal at .5 lbs a week, and MFP gave me 1430 calories a day (new to MFP...lost 76.2 lbs on WW).
  • Dootzy1
    Dootzy1 Posts: 2,200 Member
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    When I was about 5 lbs. above the top of my goal, I switched to .5 lb loss. It has been a good transition, to help "normalize" my behaviors as a maintainer. Right now I am 2-3 lbs. above the low end of my desired weight goal. Do not be afraid.
  • xKoalaBearx
    xKoalaBearx Posts: 181 Member
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    Those are all great suggestions. I would also add that you could try reverse dieting to ease yourself into maintenance. With reverse dieting you would slowly increase your calories... say if you started at 1200 calories then start with 1300 calories per day for a week or two... then 1400 cal/day for a week or two... then 1500 cal/day... 1600 etc. Then weigh yourself daily or weekly and stop increasing if your weight starts to consistently go up.

    I started at 1500 cal... and am currently at 2200 cal and still not gaining. It's been great! Good luck!
  • Owlfan88
    Owlfan88 Posts: 187 Member
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    xKoalaBearx wrote: »
    Those are all great suggestions. I would also add that you could try reverse dieting to ease yourself into maintenance. With reverse dieting you would slowly increase your calories... say if you started at 1200 calories then start with 1300 calories per day for a week or two... then 1400 cal/day for a week or two... then 1500 cal/day... 1600 etc. Then weigh yourself daily or weekly and stop increasing if your weight starts to consistently go up.

    I started at 1500 cal... and am currently at 2200 cal and still not gaining. It's been great! Good luck!

    @xKoalaBearx how much more have you lost, if you don't mind my asking? I keep upping my calories as well and have lost more than I intended, but I find it hard to add a whole bunch at once. I've been trying to look at it as a buffer going into Thanksgiving. I would love to think that this week coming up would give me a better chance to find my maintenance calories, but we'll be traveling and visiting family, so the calorie counts will be very much approximate.
  • ckfox95
    ckfox95 Posts: 73 Member
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    Thank you all for the helpful information! I forgot to mention that I wear an activity tracker and do a lot of cardio speed walking. I also use a recumbent bike so trying to figure out calories and exercise net/eaten/burned can get me quite confused. I agree with above poster that this may be a good week to try this all out as we are celebrating with two families two different days. I am quite nervous about how to handle the holiday eating. I almost feel lost without my food scale! I don't know if that's a good thing or bad haha!

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