Maintenance break-feelings so far

hannahsadler_tn

Hello all. I'm 5'3, starting weight 200, currently 185. I've been at a moderate deficit (eating around 1700 plus exercise calories) for about 9 weeks, lifting heavy 3x per week for 5 weeks and aiming for 10,000 steps or more every day. I read about maintenance or diet breaks on bodyrecomposition.com and was immediately intrigued. About 2 years ago I lost 60 pounds but didn't know how to do maintenance and I gained it back over the last year or so. This time around, I figure I would incorporate diet breaks to give myself practice eating at maintenance and seeing what that looks and feels like. I had a maintenance break scheduled for the first couple weeks in August but the last few days my energy levels were in the toilet, I was grumpy all the time, and I felt like my body was telling me it was time to take a break. So, I adjusted my schedule and started my maintenance break a couple weeks early this past Friday. I'm 4 days in and it's been interesting to say the least. For one, I've been extremely active over the past couple days (Pokemon Go, workouts, general activity level) and I've had to eat 2500+ calories every day to get to maintenance. I use Fitbit to track calories/steps, FWIW.

I feel awesome energy wise, but I just didn't realize how difficult it would be to eat at maintenance when I was being deliberate about my calories. I promise I'm not trying to whine about eating so much, but when I've been averaging a 350-750 calorie deficit every day for the past few weeks, it's a lot of calories.l to adjust up to. I am getting to enjoy more treats which is good, but I was already incorporating those into my daily intake anyway so it's just a little more of the same. On the plus side, my weight hasn't really fluctuated too much, I'd say it's gone up 2 pounds or so, which I contribute to glycogen stores and general weight of body waste from the additional mass of food. However, today my weight was actually .5 less than a week ago so that's interesting.

My workout this morning was BEAST, which I enjoyed immensely. However, I'm already tired of eating this many calories and ready to get back into a deficit, but I'm wondering if I've given my body enough time to regulate my leptin and other hormones back to normal. Everything I've read suggests 7-10 days for a maintenance break so I'm not sure. I'm also coming up on my TOM so I was thinking I would stick with maintenance calories until the end of that and get back on track by this weekend. Anyone have any advice and/or similar experience? I'm about 35 pounds away from my first goal weight so I have a while until I have to do maintenance for the long haul but I'd appreciate any insights anyone can give.

dubird

For me, when I'm short on calories and I've eaten what I should for the day, I add a soda or something like that. I don't keep a lot in the house as I'll eat more than I should, but a quick trip to the gas station for a soda and candy bar is all I need for that. I figure if I'd eaten like I should all day and have the extra calories, why not have something I enjoy? ^_^;

jemhh

OP, I always get to the "I'm ready to go back to cutting point" by Thursday at the latest of any break week (I usually start on Saturday and run through the next weekend for 9 days total.) I always make myself stick out the whole break though. I think my brain recovers faster than my body so I feel like I need that full time off. And I don't usually gain on a break either. I know that many people do but when in my big loss phase I just went right up to maitnenance for that 9 days and then back down, no gains, sometimes with losses.

hannahsadler_tn

I got on the scale this morning and weighed the exact same as I did on Friday morning, which was my first day of the maintenance break. I think you're right, @jemhh, about my brain recovering faster than my body lol.

AigreDoux

The thing I learned when I did my diet break a few weeks back is that I have a natural set point. I aim to lose at 1500 and maintain at 2000-2100, for reference. If I am eating mostly home-cooked whole foods, I am not hungry at a level of 1700-1900, and it is challenging for me to go above that with healthy foods. I found that amount quite satisfying.

Now, I am just as capable of eating a huge helping of pasta, ice cream, or brownies just like anyone else. So I had a two days where I ate 2500 or more (because it was my birthday and I had fried clams and ice cream cake and drinks).

So I have a feeling that maintenance is, for me, going to look like a small deficit during the week (1700-1900) and a little more freedom on the weekends (2300-2400, prob).

hannahsadler_tn

@AigreDoux Thanks for the insight! I've read a lot of posts on here about people who do the calorie cycling where they eat less throughout the week and balance it out with higher calorie days over the weekend. That really appeals to me and it allows me to be flexible when going out with friends, celebrating, etc.

tahxirez

I had to get comfortable with calorie cycling as well. You'll drive yourself batty if you try to eat your exact goal every day. When I first started maintenance I tallied up a week's worth of calories to see if I had met/exceeded/undercut my total weekly goal. Or just take a quick peek at MFP's weekly graph. Having that high calorie weekend freedom definitely makes life more enjoyable and helps your friends realize you are perfectly healthy human who is not starving herself in a closet (maybe thats just me.)

mom23mangos

hannahsadler_tn wrote: »

@AigreDoux Thanks for the insight! I've read a lot of posts on here about people who do the calorie cycling where they eat less throughout the week and balance it out with higher calorie days over the weekend. That really appeals to me and it allows me to be flexible when going out with friends, celebrating, etc.

That's what I do.