Did you gain water/glycogen weight when switching to maintenance?

benevempress

There is a lot of talk on these boards about water/glycogen gains when changing from a calorie deficit to maintenance, and I'm curious as to whether this is a universal phenomenon that everyone experiences or if it is dependent on other factors. This is what I've seen in the message forums:

• Many people advise newbies to maintenance to increase their calories per day very slowly to avoid the water/glycogen weight gain that (apparently automatically) comes with increasing to maintenance calories. It isn't clear to me if this means the weight gain will still happen but it will be more gradual so it isn't noticable since the person is still in a deficit during the gradual increases or if it supposed to prevent the phenomenon entirely.
• One user told another the reason she was constantly hungry after 1.5 years of maintenance was because she never gained 5 pounds of water/glycogen so she's still depleted.
• At least one user said they didn't experience the scale increase at all.
• Other people said they purposely lost weight to below their target number to allow for maintenance at their target weight since they knew the glycogen restoration would put them higher.
• Others said they did get a scale increase, but it went away within a fairly short period of time (less than a month, I think).

Since I don't expect many MFP users are scientists who can answer my questions about how this works and I didn't find anything in a google search, I'm asking for your personal experiences.

1) Did you eat any particular "diet" while losing (i.e. Low Carb, Paleo, Vegan, etc.), and did this change when we went to maintain? In other words, did your food choices change (if you were Low Carbing during weight loss did you increase your carbs) for maintenance?

2) Did your exercise regimen stay pretty much the same during the transition to maintenance, or did it increase or decrease significantly?

3) How much of a net calorie deficit were you using before switching to maintenance (including exercise calories)?

4) When you changed to maintenance, did you increase calories all at once or more gradually?

5) Did you gain water/glycogen weight when switching to maintenance? If so, a) How much? and b) Did that added weight stay (you either adapted your goal weight to the new number or had to restrict calories to get back to the original goal), or did it go away on it's own as your body got used to the new level of calories?

Springfield1970

Great questions.

I've done pretty much all of them.
In a past life I've lost on low carb and been appalled how quickly the weight went back on. But this was before I knew about the glycogen thing.

I've also lost five pounds under what I needed, but because I wasn't on much of a deficit to start with I didn't gain much as I went to maintenance, then just went straight to a bulk.

I'm very into carbs and quite happy to have high water and glycogen weight as I'm only concerned with only fat loss nowadays.
I'm cutting very very slowly (100-200 calories unde my daily needs)and not expecting much water/glycogen gain at all if any, when I go to maintenance.
When I have a eat what I want day, I usually gain about 2% of my body weight but that goes down.

I don't know why people still struggle and panic about the concept of water/glycogen gain, there's so many posts about it.

stevencloser

benevempress wrote: »

There is a lot of talk on these boards about water/glycogen gains when changing from a calorie deficit to maintenance, and I'm curious as to whether this is a universal phenomenon that everyone experiences or if it is dependent on other factors. This is what I've seen in the message forums:

• Many people advise newbies to maintenance to increase their calories per day very slowly to avoid the water/glycogen weight gain that (apparently automatically) comes with increasing to maintenance calories. It isn't clear to me if this means the weight gain will still happen but it will be more gradual so it isn't noticable since the person is still in a deficit during the gradual increases or if it supposed to prevent the phenomenon entirely.
• One user told another the reason she was constantly hungry after 1.5 years of maintenance was because she never gained 5 pounds of water/glycogen so she's still depleted.
• At least one user said they didn't experience the scale increase at all.
• Other people said they purposely lost weight to below their target number to allow for maintenance at their target weight since they knew the glycogen restoration would put them higher.
• Others said they did get a scale increase, but it went away within a fairly short period of time (less than a month, I think).

Since I don't expect many MFP users are scientists who can answer my questions about how this works and I didn't find anything in a google search, I'm asking for your personal experiences.

1) Did you eat any particular "diet" while losing (i.e. Low Carb, Paleo, Vegan, etc.), and did this change when we went to maintain? In other words, did your food choices change (if you were Low Carbing during weight loss did you increase your carbs) for maintenance?

2) Did your exercise regimen stay pretty much the same during the transition to maintenance, or did it increase or decrease significantly?

3) How much of a net calorie deficit were you using before switching to maintenance (including exercise calories)?

4) When you changed to maintenance, did you increase calories all at once or more gradually?

5) Did you gain water/glycogen weight when switching to maintenance? If so, a) How much? and b) Did that added weight stay (you either adapted your goal weight to the new number or had to restrict calories to get back to the original goal), or did it go away on it's own as your body got used to the new level of calories?

1) No, just calorie deficit
2) Stayed the same, possibly went a bit harder because of increased energy
3) 500
4) All at once
5) Yes. a) about 8 pounds b) can't tell because I went into a bulk soon after.

Francl27

Don't think so. I was 2 pounds from my goal so I just basically started eating to maintenance a couple days a week and I went from losing 2-3 pounds a month to losing nothing, and just gaining and losing the same 2-3 pounds over and over again for 1.5 year... But now I'm still 3 pounds heavier after the Thanksgiving-Wedding-PMS-Christmas horror from 3 months ago, so maybe?

For the deficit, I honestly have no clue. I've been more active but it seems my TDEE decreased by 100 or something in the last 6 months (even with the added exercise) because I should have lost a couple pounds again but I never did (I typically have a small 700-1500 calorie deficit every week... supposedly).

So basically... I have no clue.

jeepinshawn

benevempress wrote: »

1) Did you eat any particular "diet" while losing (i.e. Low Carb, Paleo, Vegan, etc.), and did this change when we went to maintain? In other words, did your food choices change (if you were Low Carbing during weight loss did you increase your carbs) for maintenance?

2) Did your exercise regimen stay pretty much the same during the transition to maintenance, or did it increase or decrease significantly?

3) How much of a net calorie deficit were you using before switching to maintenance (including exercise calories)?

4) When you changed to maintenance, did you increase calories all at once or more gradually?

5) Did you gain water/glycogen weight when switching to maintenance? If so, a) How much? and b) Did that added weight stay (you either adapted your goal weight to the new number or had to restrict calories to get back to the original goal), or did it go away on it's own as your body got used to the new level of calories?

1. Ate what I wanted carbs and all, just stayed within calorie goals
2. increased, I was eating so few calories at the end of my weightloss I couldn't do much exercise other than walking.
3. 1000 calories a day
4. All at once
5. Yes. 4lbs and it went away after a week all on it's own.

sijomial

1) My main weight loss was following the 5:2 IF protocol. Also lost with other ways of eating. Never gone low carb. Never gone for big weekly deficit / fast loss. Same food, different quantities.
2) No significant change in exercise volume - always high.
3) Various deficits but mostly 1lb week, has been as slow a pound a month.
4) Tried both. No difference seen.
5) Never get a glycogen/water weight bounce - just normal fluctuations.

Key points:
Part of my exercise is endurance cardio (cycling) so keeping glycogen levels up is important for performance.
I never go for extended periods in a big calorie deficit.
I never go for extended periods without odd days at (at least) maintenance.
I don't go low carb.
I accept that weight fluctuates for all sorts of reasons and don't seek to micro-manage my weight.

heybales

1 - No changes either direction.
2 - usually get better performance with less deficit, especially endurance, as those muscle glucose stores are willing to top off totally rather than at some lower level.
3 - 250 calories usually on average, so usually not much water weight to gain from increased stores.
4 - pre-maintenance my program was couple days eating at maintenance, rest at varying level of deficit, so body already used to it.
5 - 1 lb, but since endurance & performance went up too - probably more related to that.

That weight is going to stay as long as your are doing the workouts that asks your body to keep it.

Every end of fall entering winter I'll lose some weight after last running race and that training is basically done, switching to more lifting mode. Body doesn't need those stores anymore.
And as I switch from lifting to cardio focus in spring, gain it right back.
And if winter was bad while lifting with unintended bulking (in wrong way for some of it), that winter weight too.

Don't worry about.

You do cardio and your body also increases your blood volume for cooling and dealing with extra arteries supplying oxygen to more used muscle.

Is that bad weight you should hope to get rid of, even if mainly water weight?
Of course not, it's the side effect of your body improving from the exercise you are doing.

Except it - merely proof you are doing workouts right.

Besides - are you inviting people in to see you weigh naked in the morning that it matters exactly what the scale says? or doing MMA or such with weight class?

Fast water weight lost when starting a diet will mostly be gained back at the end - both water weight.

sijomial

heybales wrote: »

Besides - are you inviting people in to see you weigh naked in the morning .

Isn't that the primary use of the internet?

heybales

LOL - for some it seems. At least the public pics aren't totally naked. The PM'd ones, ehhh....

piperdown44

[/quote]

1) No, just calorie deficit
2) Stayed the same, possibly went a bit harder because of increased energy
3) 500
4) All at once
5) Yes. a) about 8 pounds b) can't tell because I went into a bulk soon after.[/quote]

About the same here. Only difference is on #5 and I gained 6lbs and then went on a bulk.

benevempress

Please allow me to clarify that I am not worried about it at all. I'm well acquainted with the idea that just as my weight loss was not linear and had ups and downs, so will my maintenance weight.

I'm interested in the concept since I hadn't heard about it before I started reading the MFP boards. The so-called "whoosh" effect is another one that was new to me, but there is a long string about people's experiences with that so my curiosity was satisfied on that topic. Now I'm just trying to see what real life people have experienced regarding increasing calories after being at a deficit for a long time. When I hear about something new I am the sort of person to wonder, "If that is true, I wonder what causes it. Are certain circumstances more likely to lead to this effect?"

Thanks for indulging my "inquiring minds want to know" curiosity.

nxd10

I did not. I had slowed a LOT on weight loss before dropping those last 5 pounds and hitting maintainence. I upped by 250/day when I did hit it. I never gained anything.

ahoy_m8

1) Same, macros roughly equal
2) Same
3) 250
4) Gradually
5) No. I think it's because my deficit was small to begin with and I tapered. If I eat a big carb meal, though, I see it on the scale the next couple days. That has nothing to do with transitioning.

I agree with Springfield. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being fully hydrated and glycogen stocked. That's awesome!

macchiatto

A few years ago I did the Dukan Diet (low carb/low fat/high protein) and when I switched to the Consolidation stage, I actually lost another pound or two. That really surprised me. Before babies, I lost 20 lbs with WW and I think the scale went up maybe 2 lbs when I switched to maintenance.

This time around I'm doing a low carb/high fat/adequate protein diet. I bumped up my calories 100/day a week or so ago and will go up another 100 calories next week and continue like that til I hit maintenance. The scale did bounce up 1-2 lbs (it's been waffling up and down day to day in a 2-lb range) but that's it. I'm staying relatively low carb/high fat though since this way of eating helped with some of my health issues (aching joints, reflux, PCOS/irregular cycles, etc.).

pineygirl

benevempress wrote: »

There is a lot of talk on these boards about water/glycogen gains when changing from a calorie deficit to maintenance, and I'm curious as to whether this is a universal phenomenon that everyone experiences or if it is dependent on other factors. This is what I've seen in the message forums:

• Many people advise newbies to maintenance to increase their calories per day very slowly to avoid the water/glycogen weight gain that (apparently automatically) comes with increasing to maintenance calories. It isn't clear to me if this means the weight gain will still happen but it will be more gradual so it isn't noticable since the person is still in a deficit during the gradual increases or if it supposed to prevent the phenomenon entirely.
• One user told another the reason she was constantly hungry after 1.5 years of maintenance was because she never gained 5 pounds of water/glycogen so she's still depleted.
• At least one user said they didn't experience the scale increase at all.
• Other people said they purposely lost weight to below their target number to allow for maintenance at their target weight since they knew the glycogen restoration would put them higher.
• Others said they did get a scale increase, but it went away within a fairly short period of time (less than a month, I think).

Since I don't expect many MFP users are scientists who can answer my questions about how this works and I didn't find anything in a google search, I'm asking for your personal experiences.

1) Did you eat any particular "diet" while losing (i.e. Low Carb, Paleo, Vegan, etc.), and did this change when we went to maintain? In other words, did your food choices change (if you were Low Carbing during weight loss did you increase your carbs) for maintenance?

2) Did your exercise regimen stay pretty much the same during the transition to maintenance, or did it increase or decrease significantly?

3) How much of a net calorie deficit were you using before switching to maintenance (including exercise calories)?

4) When you changed to maintenance, did you increase calories all at once or more gradually?

5) Did you gain water/glycogen weight when switching to maintenance? If so, a) How much? and b) Did that added weight stay (you either adapted your goal weight to the new number or had to restrict calories to get back to the original goal), or did it go away on it's own as your body got used to the new level of calories?

1. Not really a particular diet. Lower carb, but not low carb. Carbs were and still are around 30 to 40% of my macros. Fat is 30 to 40% and so is protein. It varies from day to day.

2. Exercise regimen is the similar or maybe slightly less intense cardio now. I lift heavy 3 times a week and do cardio about 5 days a week. I also go for walks a lot with my 19 month old DS.


3. I was around a 750 daily caloire deficit on average. Some days 1000, some 500, but it averaged out to 750ish.

4. I switched gradually. Went to a 500 daily it for a few weeks, then around 350, then around 250. Then maintenence. It would appear by my diary that I'm still at a 250 deficit, but I leave that as a buffer for inaccuracies in logging and my fitbit. So far I'm maintaining, but still might be losing fat (recomp).

5. I overshot my goal to account for this, but I didn't really put back as much water as I thought I would. Maybe 2lbs. But I fluctuate within those 2lbs daily. Some days I'm 105, some 106, some 107. Depends on the time of my cycle too.

mommarnurse

Let's think of the simple science behind this. This phenomenon is based on the temporary storage of water which is always temporary and not actually fat stores. The only thing that would cause the latter is an excess of calories which, in maintenance, one would not actually have. Therefore, the few lbs seen increased on the scale is really not permanent, will go away shortly and after all, insignificant.

For what it's worth, I did see the scale go up. About 3 lbs and slowly toggle back down over a few weeks.

sijomial

mommarnurse wrote: »

Let's think of the simple science behind this. This phenomenon is based on the temporary storage of water which is always temporary and not actually fat stores. The only thing that would cause the latter is an excess of calories which, in maintenance, one would not actually have. Therefore, the few lbs seen increased on the scale is really not permanent, will go away shortly and after all, insignificant.

For what it's worth, I did see the scale go up. About 3 lbs and slowly toggle back down over a few weeks.

@mommanurse
No - the discussion is not about fat or calorie excess and the water/glycogen doesn't go away, it's the body returning to normal.

bioklutz

benevempress wrote: »

1) Did you eat any particular "diet" while losing (i.e. Low Carb, Paleo, Vegan, etc.), and did this change when we went to maintain? In other words, did your food choices change (if you were Low Carbing during weight loss did you increase your carbs) for maintenance?

2) Did your exercise regimen stay pretty much the same during the transition to maintenance, or did it increase or decrease significantly?

3) How much of a net calorie deficit were you using before switching to maintenance (including exercise calories)?

4) When you changed to maintenance, did you increase calories all at once or more gradually?

5) Did you gain water/glycogen weight when switching to maintenance? If so, a) How much? and b) Did that added weight stay (you either adapted your goal weight to the new number or had to restrict calories to get back to the original goal), or did it go away on it's own as your body got used to the new level of calories?

1) No special diet
2) No changes in exercise
3) 0.5 pounds/week
4) Gradual
5) No big increase just normal fluctuations. In fact it took me about a month to find out I was still losing weight and needed another 100 extra calories.

I do have some large swings in water weight at maintenance though. It usually happens after I have a much larger than normal meal, a really high sodium day, or if I drink alcohol.

trina1049

1. Simple calorie deficit with moderate carbs. Early in my diet I did a 30% carb/35% fat/35% protein. As I exercised more (weights + cardio) I changed my macros to 40% carbs/ 30% fat/30% protein.
2. Slight change in exercise by reducing cardio by 1 hour per week. Current schedule on maintenance is weights 3X and cardio 3Xs per week. I use a Fitbit and always do a minimum of 15,000 steps per day (including exercise).
3. While losing I had MFP set for 1200 cals/sedentary (I'm old, 66 and petite, 5'2.5") and ate back 3/4s of my exercise calories averaging around 1600 to 1800 calories per day.
4. Recently shifting to maintenance added a whopping 128 calories for maintenance (1328) plus exercise calories. I'm still eating in the same range of 1600 to 1800 calories depending on exercise.
5. Fluctuated up about 2 lbs and I'm waiting to see if that drops back down. I'm currently at 127 lbs.

mommarnurse

sijomial wrote: »

mommarnurse wrote: »

Let's think of the simple science behind this. This phenomenon is based on the temporary storage of water which is always temporary and not actually fat stores. The only thing that would cause the latter is an excess of calories which, in maintenance, one would not actually have. Therefore, the few lbs seen increased on the scale is really not permanent, will go away shortly and after all, insignificant.

For what it's worth, I did see the scale go up. About 3 lbs and slowly toggle back down over a few weeks.

@mommanurse
No - the discussion is not about fat or calorie excess and the water/glycogen doesn't go away, it's the body returning to normal.

That's what this discussion is about, though. What are you trying to say exactly? The body is in a constant state of balance, while losing weight or not glycogen stores/use, water retention ETC. All ebb and flow on a daily basis. I do not believe it's "returning to normal" the water comes and goes and it's a temporary reactive mechanism (the few lbs seen increased on the scale after going to maint.) Such as how we see an increase on the scale after a hard weight lifting session or consuming a large salty calorie-dense meal.

heybales

I believe @sijnomial was merely pointing out the OP was only asking about the idea about glucose stores - not the natural daily water fluctuations, not deviations from average sodium levels, not retained water for lifting repair - merely glucose stores on average.
So not even the daily fluctuations of those stores based on having perhaps a huge carb day compared to normal, or big endurance cardio day.

Merely the fact when you go into a diet those don't top off in the muscles to where they could be outside of a diet.

And when you stop dieting the body is willing to top them off again, and if doing more exercise now than prior, perhaps more than you had.

Obviously as some above have shown - skid into goal weight with minor deficit and you may not observe the effect because you've already topped them off.

sijomial

mommarnurse wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

mommarnurse wrote: »

Let's think of the simple science behind this. This phenomenon is based on the temporary storage of water which is always temporary and not actually fat stores. The only thing that would cause the latter is an excess of calories which, in maintenance, one would not actually have. Therefore, the few lbs seen increased on the scale is really not permanent, will go away shortly and after all, insignificant.

For what it's worth, I did see the scale go up. About 3 lbs and slowly toggle back down over a few weeks.

@mommanurse
No - the discussion is not about fat or calorie excess and the water/glycogen doesn't go away, it's the body returning to normal.

That's what this discussion is about, though. What are you trying to say exactly? The body is in a constant state of balance, while losing weight or not glycogen stores/use, water retention ETC. All ebb and flow on a daily basis. I do not believe it's "returning to normal" the water comes and goes and it's a temporary reactive mechanism (the few lbs seen increased on the scale after going to maint.) Such as how we see an increase on the scale after a hard weight lifting session or consuming a large salty calorie-dense meal.

The OP is asking about one specific phenomenon not general weight or water fluctuations.

Glycogen and its associated water weight is in a constant state of ebb and flow depending on activity, exercise, feeding schedules and food choices.
When dieting that ebb and flow is typically in a lower range - as I had an atypical dieting strategy (see my first post) I probably have atypical results. As I do endurance cardio my range is probably larger than most as well.

When you go from deficit to maintenance the store of glycogen/water returns to a normal but higher range, it's not temporary.

Fursian

sijomial wrote: »

When you go from deficit to maintenance the store of glycogen/water returns to a normal but higher range, it's not temporary.

@sijomial, With this being said, do you think it is a good tactic that some people do, overshoot goal by some? So when the glycogen/water returns, they're at their goal weight, and not 2-5lbs or so over?

@benevempress, good thread and questions. I find all this stuff fascinating!

sijomial

Fursian wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

When you go from deficit to maintenance the store of glycogen/water returns to a normal but higher range, it's not temporary.

@sijomial, With this being said, do you think it is a good tactic that some people do, overshoot goal by some? So when the glycogen/water returns, they're at their goal weight, and not 2-5lbs or so over?

@Fursian That's one strategy. But one of many:
A slow tapering down of calorie deficit as you close in on goal.

Eating at goal weight maintenance calories all through your weight loss instead of taking a cut from TDEE.

Slow increase of calories once you get to goal - so you are still in a declining deficit which will mask any water/glycogen bounce.



The emotional impact of an unexpected rebound in weight also varies from person to person. I'm a daily weigher and fluctuations are expected and unimportant to me, the number on the scale is just data - that's not the case for everyone.

LivingtheLeanDream

1) Did you eat any particular "diet" ...? no, just stuck to my calories, ate pretty healthily though as I cook 99% of my meals and follow the 80/20 rule, 80% good nutrition /20 % whatever I want (usually chocolate /crisps)

2) Did your exercise regimen stay pretty much the same during the transition to maintenance, or did it increase or decrease significantly? My exercise has roughly been consistent even in maintenance, perhaps even a tad more than previous plus I have been consistently lifting - something I hadn't done much of until a year ago.

3) How much of a net calorie deficit were you using before switching to maintenance (including exercise calories)? I was losing on 1600-1800 cals and maintain on 2100-2300 - (gross cals) I use TDEE method rather than thinking of net calories

4) When you changed to maintenance, did you increase calories all at once or more gradually? I did it gradually and over a few months until my weight steadied at the middle of my goal range.

5) Did you gain water/glycogen weight when switching to maintenance? If so, a) How much? and b) Did that added weight stay (you either adapted your goal weight to the new number or had to restrict calories to get back to the original goal), or did it go away on it's own as your body got used to the new level of calories? as I increased slowly I didn't really notice the water weight, I still see highs (1-2lbs up) on a Mon and Tues each week from enjoying extra carbs at the weekend. Or if I have DOMS worse than usual that will reflect on the scales.

Fursian

@sijomial, thanks for your response!

A few decent choices there.

mburgess458

1. No
2. Stayed the same. I switch things up regularly, but not at the same time as going to maintenance.
3. Roughly 500 calorie deficit while losing. Towards the end wasn't losing quite a lb/week so probably less than that.
4. Increased by roughly 300-400 all at once thinking that was roughly my deficit at that point. Over the next 6 months I lost another 5 lbs so I probably could have bumped up a bit more.
5. Nope, lost another 5 lbs over 6 months. I didn't make any other changes and the weight loss stopped. I'm happy at this weight.

robertw486

benevempress wrote: »

There is a lot of talk on these boards about water/glycogen gains when changing from a calorie deficit to maintenance, and I'm curious as to whether this is a universal phenomenon that everyone experiences or if it is dependent on other factors. This is what I've seen in the message forums:

• Many people advise newbies to maintenance to increase their calories per day very slowly to avoid the water/glycogen weight gain that (apparently automatically) comes with increasing to maintenance calories. It isn't clear to me if this means the weight gain will still happen but it will be more gradual so it isn't noticable since the person is still in a deficit during the gradual increases or if it supposed to prevent the phenomenon entirely.
• One user told another the reason she was constantly hungry after 1.5 years of maintenance was because she never gained 5 pounds of water/glycogen so she's still depleted.
• At least one user said they didn't experience the scale increase at all.
• Other people said they purposely lost weight to below their target number to allow for maintenance at their target weight since they knew the glycogen restoration would put them higher.
• Others said they did get a scale increase, but it went away within a fairly short period of time (less than a month, I think).

Since I don't expect many MFP users are scientists who can answer my questions about how this works and I didn't find anything in a google search, I'm asking for your personal experiences.

1) Did you eat any particular "diet" while losing (i.e. Low Carb, Paleo, Vegan, etc.), and did this change when we went to maintain? In other words, did your food choices change (if you were Low Carbing during weight loss did you increase your carbs) for maintenance?

2) Did your exercise regimen stay pretty much the same during the transition to maintenance, or did it increase or decrease significantly?

3) How much of a net calorie deficit were you using before switching to maintenance (including exercise calories)?

4) When you changed to maintenance, did you increase calories all at once or more gradually?

5) Did you gain water/glycogen weight when switching to maintenance? If so, a) How much? and b) Did that added weight stay (you either adapted your goal weight to the new number or had to restrict calories to get back to the original goal), or did it go away on it's own as your body got used to the new level of calories?

1) No particular diet. I do eat most of my calories towards the end of the day, but that is still ongoing.

2) Exercise varies for me always, depending on time available. But that is also ongoing and not isolated to my weight loss period.

3) 500 or less usually, net. That varied some with exercise intensity. If I'm working out hard, I tend to eat to a smaller deficit to recover. If I'm just adding walking, mild workouts, daily activity level I can more easily eat at a larger deficit and not feel sluggish or hungry.

4) More or less all at once. I did taper down to a slightly lesser deficit (250 cals a day or so) near the end, but only after lowering my goal weight from the original.

5) No. Once I switched to maintenance the trends were the same. I so seem to slow my loss (when in deficit) or have larger fluctuations (when in maintenance) depending on how much strength and/or intense type cardio I do. I'm fairly certain this is partly due to drinking more water on exhaustive workouts, and partly glycogen stores being increased. But the swing up seems to go along with intense workouts, then swings down some with rest days or lighter days.


I do slightly "cheat" my maintenance calorie goal, but this is due to giving myself some extra wiggle room and not worry about logging real small stuff, as well as keep error from not weighing any foods in check towards the lower calorie goal.


I do think glycogen can get depleted over time, and not all people recover from it properly. But some people might not notice, because they aren't working out hard enough to let the depleted state really impact their workouts hard. After switching to maintenance I had a couple days close to a "bonk" event, but with lesser deterioration of my abilities. It was like hitting a mild wall. I could keep going, but not at pace so slow to be a real "bonk" but below my abilities still. I think lack of carbs during the recovery days eating and not keeping enough recovery time between more intense workouts was the primary cause.

Similar to protein for heavy lifters, there are studies on how quick one can replenish carb stores. And I think even at the amateur level we can see it in action. I'm sure if people were on a more aggressive deficit (as viewed as a percentage of body weight) then it would more likely show up at lower exercise intensities, as well as possibly for some people with macros that limit carbs.

CrystalFlury

1) I just tried to avoid eating out and cutting down on my dessert intake. I was strict about not going over my calorie goal for the day. I always ate my net calories, none of the oh well, I'm still eating 1200 even though I worked out and burned 300+calories. I also didn't cut anything out. I just tried to make more reasonable, healthy choices.

2) Yeah, basically the same exercise regimen. I've always rotated between Jillian Michaels' workout videos, running, elliptical, going for walks. I like to change it up because I get bored doing the same things over and over.

3) I was on 1200 cal/day setting for a very long time. I would always eat my exercise calories back and sometimes go over and sometimes under. It just depended on how I felt.

4) It took me until last March (2015) to finally just set my calorie allowance to more of a maintenance setting. I initially set it at 1750, but I was doing it mostly to *try* and recomp. That never worked thanks to me being inexperience in weight training... another story.

5) That's a kind of tricky question for me. My original goal was to be 140 lbs. I managed to get about 8-10 lbs below that and stay there for quite some time. I think it was in part because I stuck at eating very little and never really hitting a maintenance calorie-wise because I was worried about weight gain. I'm now at 140-ish give or take 3 lbs. up or down because I'm not always very good at keeping up my logging and I tend to slack in the evening.

I've been wearing a Fitbit Charge HR since Christmas time and am now seeing why I "gain" so easily. My total calorie burn most of the time is 1700-1800 (with exercise). To be honest, it's probably my own fault I stick where I am weight-wise because I "fall off the wagon" a few times a week.

cwolfman13

1) Did you eat any particular "diet" while losing (i.e. Low Carb, Paleo, Vegan, etc.), and did this change when we went to maintain? In other words, did your food choices change (if you were Low Carbing during weight loss did you increase your carbs) for maintenance? Not per sei...most people would probably describe my diet as being pretty "clean" though in that it consists largely of whole foods or minimally processed foods with the occasional smattering of "junk" here and there. I've been maintaining going on three years and I eat the same now as I did when I was losing weight...just a few more calories and I have a little more latitude for those treats.

2) Did your exercise regimen stay pretty much the same during the transition to maintenance, or did it increase or decrease significantly?I started focusing more on fitness objectives...my exercise activity increased with more calories to work with

3) How much of a net calorie deficit were you using before switching to maintenance (including exercise calories)?I wasn't doing the MFP method, I used TDEE and lost a good 1Lb per week on 2300 calories.

4) When you changed to maintenance, did you increase calories all at once or more gradually?It took awhile of just playing around with things...we aren't machines that require exactly XXXX calories...I just had to play around for about a month until I finally stopped losing weight.

5) Did you gain water/glycogen weight when switching to maintenance? If so, a) How much? and b) Did that added weight stay (you either adapted your goal weight to the new number or had to restrict calories to get back to the original goal), or did it go away on it's own as your body got used to the new level of calories?I stopped cutting at 180 Lbs...since going to maintenance my average weight has been about 183 Lbs but it can be as low as 178 and as high as 186.

Worrying about this is pretty much a waste of time...it's impossible to say what is due to glycogen vs what is due to other things that are just going to make your weight jump around....I'm sure jumping to 183 was party glycogen restoration, but that's something that's always in flex too, even in maintenance. It's more important for you to understand that having a goal of exactly XXX Lbs is pretty unrealistic considering that body weight isn't static....it will always bounce around...maintenance is a range, not a specific number.

heybales

Fursian wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

When you go from deficit to maintenance the store of glycogen/water returns to a normal but higher range, it's not temporary.

@sijomial, With this being said, do you think it is a good tactic that some people do, overshoot goal by some? So when the glycogen/water returns, they're at their goal weight, and not 2-5lbs or so over?

@benevempress, good thread and questions. I find all this stuff fascinating!

The other possibility that happens to many that have had exercise as a major component of new life losing weight.

You get to goal weight and realize it isn't about the weight anymore anyway - but rather the performance in exercise or the look from the improvements from exercise.

As such weight no longer matters as much as other more useful signs.

And even then if concerned about weight, or weight as a proxy to say body fat, is if the place you gain fat first starts to increase. For many that is waist - and easy to see and check.
If the pants start to feel tight for no known expected reasons - you trim a couple hundred calories for a couple of weeks - all good.