Can you lose weight while setting goal to maintain?

Losewtforlife4him
Losewtforlife4him Posts: 423 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Have any of you continued to lose weight while setting your calorie goal to maintenance? I still have about 10 lbs I would love to lose but don't know if it's realistic. I'm 44 yrs old, 5'6, and 142 lbs most days. Thoughts?

Replies

  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    edited July 2016
    Yes, if you underestimate your maintenance calories. But maybe I don't understand the question...
  • lulalacroix
    lulalacroix Posts: 1,082 Member
    The only way you could lose weight on maintenance would either be if your numbers are wrong or if you aren't eating your exercise calories.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    It takes some people a few months to figure out what their maintenance calories are. Mfp tells me mine are around 1900 calories, but from experience it's closer to 2200. Keep upping your calories, once you've stopped losing weight you will know you've found the calories you need to maintain your weight.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Ummmm...if you do it right no

    Because the definition of maintenance is ...well...maintaining isn't it?
  • Jolanta615
    Jolanta615 Posts: 2 Member
    Can someone tell me if it is worth to buy premium and why? Many thanks
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Sued0nim wrote: »
    Ummmm...if you do it right no

    Because the definition of maintenance is ...well...maintaining isn't it?

    This. If you're losing weight while 'maintaining' then your calories are too low
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Jolanta615 wrote: »
    Can someone tell me if it is worth to buy premium and why? Many thanks

    Please start a new thread :)
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Losewtforlife4him wrote: »
    Have any of you continued to lose weight while setting your calorie goal to maintenance? I still have about 10 lbs I would love to lose but don't know if it's realistic. I'm 44 yrs old, 5'6, and 142 lbs most days. Thoughts?

    As already said, maintenance is keeping your weight stable, and if you have set your calorie goal correctly and log correctly, you will maintain your weight. It's sort of the premise. I'm not sure if I understand what you are asking.

    What you may be experiencing, is that some numbers are off, either you're eating more or less than you think, or you are more or less active than you think, or you aren't measuring your results correctly. To see a real weight trend, you need a lot of quality data points over a long period.

    What you may be asking, or what may be a tip, is a method of weight loss that isn't much used, but it can be effective: Set your calorie goal to maintenance at your goal weight. This means that you are eating at a deficit now, but also the same amount of calories that you'll need to maintain goal weight when you're there. This will be slow and take patience, but maintenance is even slower and takes a lot more patience than losing weight.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    The people who keep losing are the ones who basically don't dare eating more because they are afraid of gaining.

    If you do it right, nope, you won't lose more.
  • kwtilbury
    kwtilbury Posts: 1,234 Member
    Absolutely. Set your goal to maintenance, then eat 10-20% fewer calories each day. Easy peasy.
  • ericatoday
    ericatoday Posts: 454 Member
    Yes as long as you dont eat your exercise calories you can lose some weight. 10lbs idk
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I'm not sure what you mean...if you eat to maintenance, you're going to maintain...that's why it's called maintenance. Are you talking about setting to NEAT maintenance and then exercising? Not sure exactly what you're getting at.

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