Trying to maintain

tamaraworrall

So I don't want to lose any more weight as I'm now 8 and a half stone .
I've had a total loss of 16 stone and 3 lbs in 56 weeks.
I've stopped some of the exercise I was doing but am still very active to the extent that I am still loosing a pound each week the last few weeks.
Whilst loosing weight I didn't get overly hungry or crave or miss anything but now I have noticed I'm hungrier especially at night and do have random cravings .
I'm trying to up my calories but healthily which I'm struggling with and am listening to people's advice but honestly I'm so scared of putting weight on or slipping back into my old habits which I know 99 .9 per cent i won't.
Sorry for the rambling on just needed someone else's opinion who has been through it

BurnWithBarn2015

Maintaining is nothing more than eating more calories

Congratulations on your weight loss, and just keep doing what you did while losing weight, only more calories to eat

So stay active, keep exercising, keep weighing your self and your food. And you will be fine

Enjoy!

tamaraworrall

Thanks it's the eating more calories thing km struggling with but it's still early days

spzjlb

Given your concern, I think that if you slowly increase your calories and keep logging carefully, you'll be ok. You never mentioned what your old habit are that worry you, but if it's junk food and sweets, maybe just keep those as rare splurges like you've been doing during the loss. If it's portion sizes, then keep measuring and weighing, according to MPF. Good luck - your success is inspirational!

tamaraworrall

Thanks my old habits were over indulging and eating crap and not exercising .just everything that could make you obese basically.
That's why I was so strict and cut everything out and didn't allow treat days.
I know I will get there ,it's just finding the happy medium and what works for me now

fldiver97

I hear you.... I kept losing a bit more than I planned and was a bit worried about maintenance. I increased my cals by 200, kept losing same as before, added another 150-200 for a few weeks now. I'm going to try adding another 50-150 for a little bit as my loss has reduced. I'll take my current weight as absolute low end of range and aim to stay within about 3-5 lbs more as high range. I feel good and for what it's worth I am still within 'normal' BMI

47Jacqueline

cutec527

I know exactly how you feel. It took me a long time to get my weight off and have so far maintained for over 6 months but I have noticed a lot more cravings since I started maintaining. I do allow myself certain indulgences but very rarely because I am so afraid of going back to my old habits. I actually finally broke down and adjusted my goal to matinence recently because I have a tendency to "overestimate" my calorie intake and was still losing. I have found that just adding a bit more to my portion sizes has seemed to even things out. I am still amazed that my whole outlook has changed since I started doing this so I guess most of what I learned along the way "stuck". Just add a bit to your diet each day and gauge what it does each week until you see it leveling off. AND good job for getting to matienence I don't know about you but for the first time in my nearly 55 years of life I feel wonderful

Owlfan88

I'm there with you. I was so worried about regaining the weight I lost, that I kept going down to a few pounds below my goal weight and then started slowly adding calories. I kept losing. So I upped my calories a bit more - but still losing. Finally I set my calorie goal to gain 0.5 pounds a week. I don't think I'm really losing any more, more like just bouncing around in maintenance. But I'm 10 pounds below my final goal weight of 140. I have since decided that maybe I would like to be more like 135-140, but I seem to be bouncing around 130. Maybe I need to set my goal as gaining a pound a week, so I will see more calories to start with? I really don't like going in the red (though I fully realize how ridiculous that is). I'm sitting here after dinner with 573 calories left, which seems like an awful lot!

tamaraworrall

I have loads of calories left at the end of each day. Close to 2000 and plus but I could never even eat that many

tulips_and_tea

tamaraworrall wrote: »

I have loads of calories left at the end of each day. Close to 2000 and plus but I could never even eat that many

Really??? What is your daily calorie goal and how much are you eating, if you don't mind sharing? That seems like a huge number. Some calculations may be off a bit. Congrats on your huge success though! Just want to make sure you stay healthy and don't lose too much.

neldabg

tamaraworrall wrote: »

So I don't want to lose any more weight as I'm now 8 and a half stone .
I've had a total loss of 16 stone and 3 lbs in 56 weeks.
I've stopped some of the exercise I was doing but am still very active to the extent that I am still loosing a pound each week the last few weeks.
Whilst loosing weight I didn't get overly hungry or crave or miss anything but now I have noticed I'm hungrier especially at night and do have random cravings .
I'm trying to up my calories but healthily which I'm struggling with and am listening to people's advice but honestly I'm so scared of putting weight on or slipping back into my old habits which I know 99 .9 per cent i won't.
Sorry for the rambling on just needed someone else's opinion who has been through it

Same with the hungrier thing. I think it's more mental for me though, and I think it's more so an increase in appetite.
I completely understand how you feel, and idk how your budget looks, but my Fitbit Charge HR has been a huge help in maintenance. Honestly, I'm still new to maintenance myself, so I don't have anything truly conclusive, but by eating within 100-ish calories of what Fitbit calculates to be my day-to-day calorie burns, I've been maintaining my weight thus far. On super active days, I'm pushing 2,000 calories, and I still maintain my 108-114 lb range. It is indeed scary, but just give it a go as best as you can. You'll see. If your calorie burns and food consumption are logged accurately, you definitely won't gain weight. Use MFPs to hold you accountable, and surely, old eating habits will not return.

tamaraworrall

It says 1720 without exercise but then I exercise a lot every day.
I would love a fitbit but out of my budget at the moment unfortunately.