question?

MoveitlikeManda

this might be a stupid question so just say so if it is lol

so, if the maintance calories for goal weight (for your height, age, sex etc) were say 1500, if you ate at that from the start would you just keep loosing weight until you hit the goal weight and automatically then be eating at maintance??

kommodevaran

Yes, and some people follow that method, but it can be very slow.

MoveitlikeManda

thanks for your reply, I felt really daft asking thinking I was way off the mark lol so atleast I know Im not crazy.

Im thinking of giving it ago and say see how things are going in 2months, then if I need to can recalculate then depending how fast/slow/if im losing

amusedmonkey

It would only work for well if you are obese. Once you get closer to goal weight your deficit becomes so small that it's easy to make mistakes and completely wipe it out. If you look at it theoretically, you will almost never reach the exact desired weight.

It's a good method to follow if you have quite a bit to lose though. A better method that is effective for a longer while would be to eat your goal maintenance minus 200 or so calories. This way you weight loss would gradually slow down, but it's still possible to reach your desired weight within a reasonable timeframe.

MoveitlikeManda

I have around 62kg to lose

sijomial

Eating at maintenance for your goal weight is the philosophy behind the book "The Lean Muscle Diet" by Lou Schuler (the guy behind the New Rules of Lifting) and Alan Aragon.

It means you practice the skills (both eating and training) for maintenance straight away rather than diet then have to learn to maintain. It also means you lose weight quickly at the start and the rate of loss tapers off the closer you get to maintenance. Well worth a read despite the slightly cringe making title.

MoveitlikeManda

thanks for that, will look in to it.

I said to my husband that if I did it this way bu the time I reach my gw I would then suddenly have to chane how much I eat and would be well used to eating the way I needed to be.

so thanks for all the replies and confirming what I thought because when I said it to myself it sounded daft like I was trying to fool myself lol

middlehaitch

I posted this the other day on another thread, but I think it is worth doing a repost for you.

I am small so my deficit to lose 30 lbs at 1lbs a week worked for the first 5 lbs. (1200cals)

After that my loss got less and less as my calorie needs naturally dropped along with my weight, and there was no option of dropping my calories below 1200.

By the time I was 5 lbs from goal it took 4-6 weeks to lose a pound because 1200 is so close to, actually was, my maintainance weight. (I slowly reverse dieted myself to 1350 over a year.)

To make those last few lbs I made sure I upped my daily activity, moving most of the day, and dropped about 50 cals from my exercise calories.

I had eaten back about 75% of my exercise calories the whole year I was losing.

It was nice just carrying on into maintenance and not having to change anything.
I worked out on average 60x5 a week a mix of resistance/strength and cardio. I continued the workouts into maintenance and if I decided not to work out I just dropped150-200 cals that day.
After a few months in maintenance I knew my intake well enough that I could stop logging.

Just my experience.


Cheers, h

KareninLux

Member

Eating at maintenance for your goal weight is the philosophy behind the book "The Lean Muscle Diet" by Lou Schuler (the guy behind the New Rules of Lifting) and Alan Aragon.

It means you practice the skills (both eating and training) for maintenance straight away rather than diet then have to learn to maintain. It also means you lose weight quickly at the start and the rate of loss tapers off the closer you get to maintenance. Well worth a read despite the slightly cringe making title.

Wow - have to consider this.