When did you switch to maintenance?

kgirlhart

My goal weight is 135. I am planning to have a maintenance range of 135-140. I have gotten down to 141, although today I am at 142. My question is when to transition from a deficit to maintenance? I have a deficit of 250 right now, but I sometimes have a larger deficit than that if I don't eat back all of my fitbit adjustment. I do usually eat back at least half of it, but I honestly think I could eat back more of it. I'm not really sure if I should wait until I reach 135 to change to maintenance or if I should go ahead and change it now. I have seen some people say that after they got to maintenance it took them a while to stop losing because they had trouble upping their calories. I have also seen some say that they gained when they first started at maintenance because of water weight. I'm just curious to hear what you all experienced when you transitioned to maintenance.

kirstenb13

I did the first one of your options, my range is 150-155 and I switched to "maintenance" when I consistently hit below 155. But I increased calories slowly (still not quite there) and am now at about 149-150, where it seems to stabilize right now.
I never experienced the weight gain after you eat "normal" again, but that's probably because for me maintenance was not a major change in eating, my main meals are still the same, I just added in some more calorie dense foods and treats. Definitely didn't go back to my old way of eating.
I guess it depends what you see happening to you, will you have trouble upping calories or not? Are you having trouble sticking to your deficit now or is it still easy? Those things would decide it for me, but I don't think there is any harm in slowly switching to maintenance now, if it doesn't work you can always start a deficit again.

goldthistime

I just hit 142 lbs, with a goal of 140 lbs, and I have switched my MFP calorie goal to maintenance, but it is my objective to eat closer to my 250 calorie deficit whenever I'm comfortable doing that. I like the idea of going even more slowly at the end.

ETA: I think I will continue past 140 down to 135 or so, but happy to do so over the course of the next year.

kgirlhart

I am a little worried that I will have trouble adding calories. I'm pretty happy eating where I am and I don't feel hungry or deprived. Some days I do better about eating back my exercise calories than others. I'm almost thinking that if I switch to maintaining and don't always eat back all of my exercise calories I will still have a small deficit. I guess I am little nervous about gaining weight when I stop eating at a deficit even though I know in my head that I just need to trust the math.

zyxst

I switched when I hit my GW of 140. I gained a few pounds because it happened when my ToM hit with that weight gain.

shmulyeng

I think most people gain back a bit when switching to maintenance. I gained back about 5% of my loss. I think I switched to maintenance a bit too early. I'm not back to loss mode so I can finally reach my second goal. This time around I plan on going 5 pounds past my goal before switching to maintenance.

silvilunazul

Adding calories is extremely easy, trust me, haha. Handful of nuts does the trick In my case I am still transitioning through "reverse dieting". Once I add more calories I find it extremely difficult to reduce them again if one day I want to eat less. I have normalised the extra food super quick. So I think it is good to be cautious and do things progressively.

_piaffe

shmulyeng wrote: »

I think most people gain back a bit when switching to maintenance. I gained back about 5% of my loss. I think I switched to maintenance a bit too early. I'm not back to loss mode so I can finally reach my second goal. This time around I plan on going 5 pounds past my goal before switching to maintenance.

This was me. GW was 145. Really, I wanted (still want) to weigh no more than 145. What I did not appreciate enough was that maintenance is a range. You will gain scale weight as glycogen replenishes and your body adjusts - so if a ceiling number matters to you, diet down below your goal ceiling weight.

I got to 144 and switched over to full maintenance / recomp (or so I thought) way too quickly. Spent a month bouncing between 146 and 149 and feeling like I was out of control, causing me unnecessary stress and anxiety.

Your question: "My goal weight is 135. I am planning to have a maintenance range of 135-140. I have gotten down to 141, although today I am at 142. My question is when to transition from a deficit to maintenance?"

My answer, if I were you: keep dieting down to 135 / 136 (the low end of your range), then taper off the deficit phase by slowly upping calories to just below maintenance.

kgirlhart

_piaffe wrote: »

shmulyeng wrote: »

I think most people gain back a bit when switching to maintenance. I gained back about 5% of my loss. I think I switched to maintenance a bit too early. I'm not back to loss mode so I can finally reach my second goal. This time around I plan on going 5 pounds past my goal before switching to maintenance.

This was me. GW was 145. Really, I wanted (still want) to weigh no more than 145. What I did not appreciate enough was that maintenance is a range. You will gain scale weight as glycogen replenishes and your body adjusts - so if a ceiling number matters to you, diet down below your goal ceiling weight.

I got to 144 and switched over to full maintenance / recomp (or so I thought) way too quickly. Spent a month bouncing between 146 and 149 and feeling like I was out of control, causing me unnecessary stress and anxiety.

Your question: "My goal weight is 135. I am planning to have a maintenance range of 135-140. I have gotten down to 141, although today I am at 142. My question is when to transition from a deficit to maintenance?"

My answer, if I were you: keep dieting down to 135 / 136 (the low end of your range), then taper off the deficit phase by slowly upping calories to just below maintenance.

This is probably what I will do. I don't mind being above 135, but I really don't want to be above 140. It is really strange to start thinking about adding more calories instead of eating less calories. I didn't expect to be this nervous about transitioning to maintenance. Thanks for all your answers.

neldabg

I know what you mean about people both gaining/losing once in maintenance. I decided that since it's easier to gain than lose, I would go into maintenance only AFTER I reached my goal weight. I reverse dieted, adding back 100 or so calories every week and eventually I ate back all of my Fitbit adjustments.

kgirlhart wrote: »

This is probably what I will do. I don't mind being above 135, but I really don't want to be above 140. It is really strange to start thinking about adding more calories instead of eating less calories. I didn't expect to be this nervous about transitioning to maintenance. Thanks for all your answers.

It IS strange, at first. You'll be fine. I too was nervous, but then things settled into place, and I've gotten into a better swing at maintenance. Enjoy eating at maintenance soon! ^^ Your workouts will be AMAZING!

Owlfan88

I would start by eating all your Fitbit calories OR switching to maintenance and not always eating back all your calories. It sounds like if you are a little worried about adding back calories, that you are likely to continue to lose. That's what happened to me. I had heard so much about regaining that I went to the bottom of my range, and then I couldn't stop losing. I lost an additional 13 pounds! It has been mentally difficult to put most of those back on. It's been 6 months and I've since decided that my goal range is now 5 pounds below where I thought it would be (and I'm still 1 pound below that). I've had to tell MFP my goal is to gain, so I see more calories to start with on my log.
If you plan to add calories gradually, you will likely continue to lose. Good luck.

joannemonette1

It seems that a lot of it has to do with age and genetics (how prone you are to gaining weight, etc). I think of it like an airplane coming in for a slow, steady landing. If you stop dieting right now, you're going to gain weight immediately. You need to slowly adjust into maintenance mode - week by week, a few calories at a time, while continuing to exercise. Give your body lots of time to adjust.

Whatever you do, just don't stop exercising. That's the key element in every part of the process.

llbrixon

I think I might just go onto maintenence because weight loss is so slow now. Last month's weight loss was very minimal if any at all. I will know for sure Saturday or Sunday about the weight loss for June. If I go into maintenance, I will just keep doing what I am doing with calories and exercise and if I lose a few more pounds that will be great. Now, I just need to convince my brain to do go onto maintenance.

sijomial

kgirlhart wrote: »

I am a little worried that I will have trouble adding calories. I'm pretty happy eating where I am and I don't feel hungry or deprived. Some days I do better about eating back my exercise calories than others. I'm almost thinking that if I switch to maintaining and don't always eat back all of my exercise calories I will still have a small deficit. I guess I am little nervous about gaining weight when I stop eating at a deficit even though I know in my head that I just need to trust the math.

Wonder why do you have this attitude to exercise calories?
They are just one part of your body's calories needs. No need to feel any guilt about eating them!

To me it would make more sense to eat all your Fitbit adjustment as that part is variable and in relation to your activity and play with your base calorie setting.

My experience - I slowly added calories when I hit goal and no weight gain. Eventual maintenance took months to find and final calorie goal was slightly higher than expected.

kgirlhart

Thanks @sijomial. That makes a lot of sense.

Eviedawson

In now days it is very important to maintain our body. Because health and fit body will help you to stay live long.

KareninLux

Just found this thread. Very interesting.

Diana_GettingFit

My range I want to maintain to is 150-155. I waited until I hit 155 to switch to maintenance. I'm at the high end of my range so I will be happy if I lose a few more pounds as I adjust.