Made it to goal weight and am transitioning to maintenance

brittbrogan02
brittbrogan02 Posts: 4 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I am at 1200 calorie intake and have lost 15 lbs however am nervous about the drastic increase in calories I can Intake and am nervous about gaining weight? Any experiences or advice from anyone??

Replies

  • PamOliva
    PamOliva Posts: 101 Member
    I made my goal Nov 8 and am staying within 2 lbs of that now. I personally don't count calories (and focus on portion control instead). Since hitting goal I eat the same way as I did in weight loss mode about 4 days a week and eat more (plus some guilty pleasures) the other days. The point is that the majority of the time I eat well and this works for me as I was very accustomed to the way I was eating for weight loss (about 8 months before goal). But now I get to splurge a little. Hopefully this will continue to work! I understand the nervous part. I was scared too but this is what I figured out for me.
  • Jdc021
    Jdc021 Posts: 19 Member
    Thanks for the advice on here. I am just starting to maintain. I am on 2280 calories. I burn several hundred calories exercising seven days a week. I did go under my goal weight after reaching it My main goal was getting off diabetes medicine. The weight goal got moved by the doctor after I came off it in November. But I am at the goal. I will check back for any further tips on here.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    HappyCampr1 wrote: »
    This is a helpful link about the transition to maintenance. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/993576/why-you-gain-weight-if-you-eat-more-than-your-cut/p1

    If you've been eating 1200 calories for a while, you will see some water weight gain when you increase your calories. This is normal and will go away once your calories stabilize. You can minimize the weight gain and the shock of the scale if you increase your calories slowly. Add 100-150 calories a day to your goal, eat that for a week, then do the same the next week. Keep doing that until you reach your estimated maintenance level. Once you get to what you think your maintenance calories are, stay there for at least three weeks to allow your body to get used to those calories. Then see whether you're still losing or gaining weight there. Adjust as necessary at that point.

    Remember that your goal weight should be a range and not a specific number. My range is 145-150 pounds. I weigh daily and use a trending app like Happy Scale to keep me from reacting to every up and down in the scale. If my weight trend goes to the top of my range, then I'll know it's time to start cutting calories again.

    Welcome to Maintenance and congratulations! Hope this helps.

    @HappyCampr1 Wow, that's a great link/OP! Bookmarked. Thanks! I needed to know that. (To lose to ~5lbs under your goal weight to allow for the glycogen & water stores to rebuild when you don't eat at a deficit.)

    And that's a great post. Again, thankyou.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    HappyCampr1 wrote: »
    Orphia wrote: »
    HappyCampr1 wrote: »
    This is a helpful link about the transition to maintenance. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/993576/why-you-gain-weight-if-you-eat-more-than-your-cut/p1

    If you've been eating 1200 calories for a while, you will see some water weight gain when you increase your calories. This is normal and will go away once your calories stabilize. You can minimize the weight gain and the shock of the scale if you increase your calories slowly. Add 100-150 calories a day to your goal, eat that for a week, then do the same the next week. Keep doing that until you reach your estimated maintenance level. Once you get to what you think your maintenance calories are, stay there for at least three weeks to allow your body to get used to those calories. Then see whether you're still losing or gaining weight there. Adjust as necessary at that point.

    Remember that your goal weight should be a range and not a specific number. My range is 145-150 pounds. I weigh daily and use a trending app like Happy Scale to keep me from reacting to every up and down in the scale. If my weight trend goes to the top of my range, then I'll know it's time to start cutting calories again.

    Welcome to Maintenance and congratulations! Hope this helps.

    @HappyCampr1 Wow, that's a great link/OP! Bookmarked. Thanks! I needed to know that. (To lose to ~5lbs under your goal weight to allow for the glycogen & water stores to rebuild when you don't eat at a deficit.)

    And that's a great post. Again, thankyou.

    Thanks. I think the idea behind the recommendation to slowly increase is to help offset the glycogen/water gain. If you increase suddenly to maintenance, you will indeed see the full increase in water weight. If you increase slowly, you're still eating at a deficit, just less of one. The idea is that by increasing your calories slowly, the glycogen/water gain combined with the deficit will balance each other out. It's really just personal preference, I think. Although for people who are at the very low end of BMI, losing an additional five pounds may not be a healthy option. In that case, the slow increase would probably be better.

    Indeed, and well said. I'm aiming for the middle of my Healthy BMI range, so going 2kg below that before increasing calories is still healthy.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    Congratulations. Just keep doing what you're doing. I lost slowly at the very end but didn't experience any gain. Four years and counting!
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    nxd10 wrote: »
    Congratulations. Just keep doing what you're doing. I lost slowly at the very end but didn't experience any gain. Four years and counting!

    @nxd10 Wow, yay you!
  • brittbrogan02
    brittbrogan02 Posts: 4 Member
    Thank you guys for all the advice and great info!!
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    HappyCampr1 wrote: »
    This is a helpful link about the transition to maintenance. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/993576/why-you-gain-weight-if-you-eat-more-than-your-cut/p1

    If you've been eating 1200 calories for a while, you will see some water weight gain when you increase your calories. This is normal and will go away once your calories stabilize. You can minimize the weight gain and the shock of the scale if you increase your calories slowly. Add 100-150 calories a day to your goal, eat that for a week, then do the same the next week. Keep doing that until you reach your estimated maintenance level. Once you get to what you think your maintenance calories are, stay there for at least three weeks to allow your body to get used to those calories. Then see whether you're still losing or gaining weight there. Adjust as necessary at that point.

    Remember that your goal weight should be a range and not a specific number. My range is 145-150 pounds. I weigh daily and use a trending app like Happy Scale to keep me from reacting to every up and down in the scale. If my weight trend goes to the top of my range, then I'll know it's time to start cutting calories again.

    Welcome to Maintenance and congratulations! Hope this helps.

    +1 :smile:

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