Do you gain when you go to maintenance?
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Nope, not at all.Do you gain when you go to maintenance?
I didn't go low carb and had a small deficit to lose the last few pounds. I also started to lose again a few weeks into maintenance, my calorie allowance turned out to be higher than expected.
Thoughts....
You really shouldn't let a tiny change of under a pound affect you, it's far too small a change and far too soon to draw conclusions. That's the equivalent of a big glass of water - remember weight changes aren't just related to fat.
At maintenance you have to keep a long term view of scale changes or it will drive you mad and make maintenance an unhappy experience - just when you should be celebrating your success.1 -
Nope, not at all.Do you gain when you go to maintenance?
I didn't go low carb and had a small deficit to lose the last few pounds. I also started to lose again a few weeks into maintenance, my calorie allowance turned out to be higher than expected.
Thoughts....
You really shouldn't let a tiny change of under a pound affect you, it's far too small a change and far too soon to draw conclusions. That's the equivalent of a big glass of water - remember weight changes aren't just related to fat.
At maintenance you have to keep a long term view of scale changes or it will drive you mad and make maintenance an unhappy experience - just when you should be celebrating your success.
Everything you say is very reasonable. I just need to figure out what is going on. I know it's possibly water...But the thought that it's also possibly fat is bothering me. I wish I knew. Why is it they can build a quantum computer but not make something that would tell people what maintenance definitely is? I think if I can go a bit under maintenance, I might be better at not caring about these inevitable fluctuations.0 -
Maintenance, by definition, is maintaining.
Most people fluctuate a few pounds one way or the other, and it's no big deal.
Decide where your "big deal" limit is (10 lb up?) and what you're going to do about it
(cut 250 cal/day until you're back under that 10lb limit?), then stop worrying.3 -
Plutodreams wrote: »
Nope, not at all.Do you gain when you go to maintenance?
I didn't go low carb and had a small deficit to lose the last few pounds. I also started to lose again a few weeks into maintenance, my calorie allowance turned out to be higher than expected.
Thoughts....
You really shouldn't let a tiny change of under a pound affect you, it's far too small a change and far too soon to draw conclusions. That's the equivalent of a big glass of water - remember weight changes aren't just related to fat.
At maintenance you have to keep a long term view of scale changes or it will drive you mad and make maintenance an unhappy experience - just when you should be celebrating your success.
Everything you say is very reasonable. I just need to figure out what is going on. I know it's possibly water...But the thought that it's also possibly fat is bothering me. I wish I knew. Why is it they can build a quantum computer but not make something that would tell people what maintenance definitely is? I think if I can go a bit under maintenance, I might be better at not caring about these inevitable fluctuations.
Maintenance definitely isn't staying exactly one weight from day to day or even within the same day.
You are new to this so need to use logic not listen to feelings or fear. Did you eat over maintenance enough to gain almost a pound of fat? Not very likely is it?
Maybe using one of the weight trending apps might help - it's the trend that is important not individual data points.
Either set an acceptable range that encompasses your normal fluctuations or as an alternative just set an upper limit that triggers you to either pay attention to your calorie balance or intervene.
It does get easier and becomes the new "normal". Give it time.4 -
OP I guess I'm confused why this is so stressful for you? You started eating at a deficit 6 weeks ago with less than 10 lbs to lose, already at a healthy weight. You lost 6-7 lbs putting you at the low end of the healthy weight range for your height. You said you were hungry all the time (not surprising since you really should have been eating back some exercise calories too for the running you do). You've upped your calories by about 400 since then time and gained less than 1 lb, which is well within the normal range of fluctuation for even if you didn't raise calories at all!
The fact is that this all comes down to estimates - how many calories you take in and how many you burn. Factor in the fact that there are extenuating circumstances that make your weight shift naturally and you're never going to get to a precise number that is constant every day. What will help is to give this time. 1800 is a good starting point for maintenance for you, I suspect it's actually too low. But the best way to determine your TDEE is from your own results, and that takes time. 6 weeks of a deficit and 1 week of increased calories is not enough time to make that determination. Going lower on the scale isn't the answer... You just need to trust in a maintenance estimate and monitor results for several weeks before you make a change.
Have you read the stickied most helpful forum posts at the top of each section? There's lots of good advice and answers to questions like the ones you're asking. Hopefully that will give you the confidence you need to stay the course (and maybe even consider adding some strength training!
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Plutodreams wrote: »
Nope, not at all.Do you gain when you go to maintenance?
I didn't go low carb and had a small deficit to lose the last few pounds. I also started to lose again a few weeks into maintenance, my calorie allowance turned out to be higher than expected.
Thoughts....
You really shouldn't let a tiny change of under a pound affect you, it's far too small a change and far too soon to draw conclusions. That's the equivalent of a big glass of water - remember weight changes aren't just related to fat.
At maintenance you have to keep a long term view of scale changes or it will drive you mad and make maintenance an unhappy experience - just when you should be celebrating your success.
Everything you say is very reasonable. I just need to figure out what is going on. I know it's possibly water...But the thought that it's also possibly fat is bothering me. I wish I knew. Why is it they can build a quantum computer but not make something that would tell people what maintenance definitely is? I think if I can go a bit under maintenance, I might be better at not caring about these inevitable fluctuations.
Maintenance definitely isn't staying exactly one weight from day to day or even within the same day.
You are new to this so need to use logic not listen to feelings or fear. Did you eat over maintenance enough to gain almost a pound of fat? Not very likely is it?
Maybe using one of the weight trending apps might help - it's the trend that is important not individual data points.
Either set an acceptable range that encompasses your normal fluctuations or as an alternative just set an upper limit that triggers you to either pay attention to your calorie balance or intervene.
It does get easier and becomes the new "normal". Give it time.
This is reassuring, and rational
Thanks. I think getting to a lower weight might be best, since this is pretty much the upper limit of where I feel comfortable. Then I have to accept fluctuations. For now I'm just going to see what happens in slightly less cals, reevaluate where I'm at in maybe a few weeks. You do make a good point that I likely didn't eat a nearly 3, 500 calorie surplus...that is unless my maintenance really is 1500..which sounds rather low but maybe? I guess I will find out cause I'm gonna try 1400-1500 and see if I lose/maintain. I hope I can find a healthy balance like yall have and get better at not sweating it.0 -
Maintenance, by definition, is maintaining.
Most people fluctuate a few pounds one way or the other, and it's no big deal.
Decide where your "big deal" limit is (10 lb up?) and what you're going to do about it
(cut 250 cal/day until you're back under that 10lb limit?), then stop worrying.
You sound very logical. Thank you. I want to be this laid back.0 -
Plutodreams wrote: »
Nope, not at all.Do you gain when you go to maintenance?
I didn't go low carb and had a small deficit to lose the last few pounds. I also started to lose again a few weeks into maintenance, my calorie allowance turned out to be higher than expected.
Thoughts....
You really shouldn't let a tiny change of under a pound affect you, it's far too small a change and far too soon to draw conclusions. That's the equivalent of a big glass of water - remember weight changes aren't just related to fat.
At maintenance you have to keep a long term view of scale changes or it will drive you mad and make maintenance an unhappy experience - just when you should be celebrating your success.
Everything you say is very reasonable. I just need to figure out what is going on. I know it's possibly water...But the thought that it's also possibly fat is bothering me. I wish I knew. Why is it they can build a quantum computer but not make something that would tell people what maintenance definitely is? I think if I can go a bit under maintenance, I might be better at not caring about these inevitable fluctuations.
Three things are working pretty well in combination for me:- While losing, I logged meticulously, and eventually was typically able to predict, with fair accuracy, what the water weight and actual gain (or delay in loss) would be if I chose to eat over maintenance one one (or two) days. This also meant I could estimate my maintenance calories with fair accuracy by using my weight loss, eating and exercise data.
- When I was getting close to maintenance, I gradually slowed my loss by eating more. At the very last stages, I began adding 100 daily calories once a week or so . . . waiting after each add to see what the impact was, after things settled down from any random fluctuations. (This meant longer waits each time I added, for obvious arithmetic/practical reasons). As an aside, this process kind of naturally resulted in me dropping a little bit below goal weight, because I was reverse dieting my way up to it.
- I set a maintenance weight range to guide me. For me, it was goal weight plus or minus 3 pounds, because experience told me that that range would encompass my usual daily fluctuations. If I drop below the bottom end for more than a day or two, I do some extra eating (within reason). If I go above the top end for more than a few days in a row, I cut back for a while until I drop below goal weight again.
I've only been in maintenance for 6 months or so, but things have been going pretty well.1 -
Plutodreams wrote: »
Nope, not at all.Do you gain when you go to maintenance?
I didn't go low carb and had a small deficit to lose the last few pounds. I also started to lose again a few weeks into maintenance, my calorie allowance turned out to be higher than expected.
Thoughts....
You really shouldn't let a tiny change of under a pound affect you, it's far too small a change and far too soon to draw conclusions. That's the equivalent of a big glass of water - remember weight changes aren't just related to fat.
At maintenance you have to keep a long term view of scale changes or it will drive you mad and make maintenance an unhappy experience - just when you should be celebrating your success.
Everything you say is very reasonable. I just need to figure out what is going on. I know it's possibly water...But the thought that it's also possibly fat is bothering me. I wish I knew. Why is it they can build a quantum computer but not make something that would tell people what maintenance definitely is? I think if I can go a bit under maintenance, I might be better at not caring about these inevitable fluctuations.
Three things are working pretty well in combination for me:- While losing, I logged meticulously, and eventually was typically able to predict, with fair accuracy, what the water weight and actual gain (or delay in loss) would be if I chose to eat over maintenance one one (or two) days. This also meant I could estimate my maintenance calories with fair accuracy by using my weight loss, eating and exercise data.
- When I was getting close to maintenance, I gradually slowed my loss by eating more. At the very last stages, I began adding 100 daily calories once a week or so . . . waiting after each add to see what the impact was, after things settled down from any random fluctuations. (This meant longer waits each time I added, for obvious arithmetic/practical reasons). As an aside, this process kind of naturally resulted in me dropping a little bit below goal weight, because I was reverse dieting my way up to it.
- I set a maintenance weight range to guide me. For me, it was goal weight plus or minus 3 pounds, because experience told me that that range would encompass my usual daily fluctuations. If I drop below the bottom end for more than a day or two, I do some extra eating (within reason). If I go above the top end for more than a few days in a row, I cut back for a while until I drop below goal weight again.
I've only been in maintenance for 6 months or so, but things have been going pretty well.
Truly inspirational. Did you do daily weighing? I feel like that would make things easier to predict, but my problem is that daily weighing makes me loco. I like how you found a way to make it fun/interesting as opposed to maddening. I'm going to try to do it this way, when I decide to maintain. Today I've eaten 250 cals less than yesterday, and oddly hunger levels have been less than on the 1800 or so I've been eating all week. This is all interesting and a learning experience, and you just reminded me of that. Thanks for sharing
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Plutodreams wrote: »coreyreichle wrote: »I did, a little. But, I also went into maintenance:
* Slowly
* ~2 lbs under goal weight
It allowed a little "bounce" while I got used to maintenance, and the slow progression helped keep the bounce minimal. I only noted that every time I changed my deficit, it took about a week to get into the expected weight change. Figured the same would happen in maintenance.
This is very helpful. I think I need to do this, go back down a few pounds, then slowly go up to maintenance. Can I ask what you mean by slowly...like 100 extra per week or? And how did you figure out what your true maintenance calories were?
Yes, I only ever changed my calorie goal by 100 at a time, up or down. And, as I approached maintenance, I shrunk my deficit, so not going from losing 2 lbs/week --> maintenance.
And, I figured out my maintenance by trial and error, and using trendweight.com0 -
Plutodreams wrote: »Plutodreams wrote: »
Nope, not at all.Do you gain when you go to maintenance?
I didn't go low carb and had a small deficit to lose the last few pounds. I also started to lose again a few weeks into maintenance, my calorie allowance turned out to be higher than expected.
Thoughts....
You really shouldn't let a tiny change of under a pound affect you, it's far too small a change and far too soon to draw conclusions. That's the equivalent of a big glass of water - remember weight changes aren't just related to fat.
At maintenance you have to keep a long term view of scale changes or it will drive you mad and make maintenance an unhappy experience - just when you should be celebrating your success.
Everything you say is very reasonable. I just need to figure out what is going on. I know it's possibly water...But the thought that it's also possibly fat is bothering me. I wish I knew. Why is it they can build a quantum computer but not make something that would tell people what maintenance definitely is? I think if I can go a bit under maintenance, I might be better at not caring about these inevitable fluctuations.
Three things are working pretty well in combination for me:- While losing, I logged meticulously, and eventually was typically able to predict, with fair accuracy, what the water weight and actual gain (or delay in loss) would be if I chose to eat over maintenance one one (or two) days. This also meant I could estimate my maintenance calories with fair accuracy by using my weight loss, eating and exercise data.
- When I was getting close to maintenance, I gradually slowed my loss by eating more. At the very last stages, I began adding 100 daily calories once a week or so . . . waiting after each add to see what the impact was, after things settled down from any random fluctuations. (This meant longer waits each time I added, for obvious arithmetic/practical reasons). As an aside, this process kind of naturally resulted in me dropping a little bit below goal weight, because I was reverse dieting my way up to it.
- I set a maintenance weight range to guide me. For me, it was goal weight plus or minus 3 pounds, because experience told me that that range would encompass my usual daily fluctuations. If I drop below the bottom end for more than a day or two, I do some extra eating (within reason). If I go above the top end for more than a few days in a row, I cut back for a while until I drop below goal weight again.
I've only been in maintenance for 6 months or so, but things have been going pretty well.
Truly inspirational. Did you do daily weighing? I feel like that would make things easier to predict, but my problem is that daily weighing makes me loco. I like how you found a way to make it fun/interesting as opposed to maddening. I'm going to try to do it this way, when I decide to maintain. Today I've eaten 250 cals less than yesterday, and oddly hunger levels have been less than on the 1800 or so I've been eating all week. This is all interesting and a learning experience, and you just reminded me of that. Thanks for sharing
I did (and do) weigh daily. But I've weighed myself daily (and recorded the result) for years, even before trying to lose weight. It really helped me understand my own weight fluctuations, and what causes them, which in turn helps me accept them without stress. I like data; I track a lot of workout data, too.
For some people, the weight trending apps (Trendweight, Happy Scale, Libra, others) help with the emotional response to daily weighing, because they sort of smooth out the fluctuations & estimate overall direction of progress. Me, I'm just not an emotional person.
As a data lover, I deeply understand that not knowing a number doesn't do anything to change reality, and that knowing can confer power.2 -
I went from around 1600 calories a day to 2500-2600 calories a day in about two months when I hit maintenance. I dropped myself 5 lbs below my goal before adding 250ish calories a week. That way, I figured, if I went back up 5 lbs I would still be below my goal. It worked for me, I gained about 4 lbs in a few weeks but never went above my goal. I kept up my exercise levels the same as they were before, and even added in a bit extra body weight training because the extra calories would allow me to build a bit more muscle. I now weigh in about every two weeks and find myself at times slowly losing weight still, but noticeably gaining muscle (in the mirror). So I figure I'll stay where I am for recomp for up to a year and see where it gets me. I can easily drop 20 lbs if I wanted and still be in a "normal" BMI range, but I don't want to. Right now I stay about 10 lbs below "overweight" on the BMI scales and I'm pretty happy with it. Any time I see myself creeping back up to my goal weight of 190 I watch the sodium for a week and re-weigh. It always drops back off. So swings of around 5lbs, sometimes a hair more, are not uncommon. I'm 6'2" tall and weigh about 183 right now, and I exercise 6 days a week for up to 90 minutes a day. Been trying to limit that to 60 minutes though, but it sometimes takes longer to accomplish what I want. But I wouldn't worry, just don't weigh in every day and freak out about a small gain. It's going to take time for your body to adjust.2
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Plutodreams wrote: »Plutodreams wrote: »
Nope, not at all.Do you gain when you go to maintenance?
I didn't go low carb and had a small deficit to lose the last few pounds. I also started to lose again a few weeks into maintenance, my calorie allowance turned out to be higher than expected.
Thoughts....
You really shouldn't let a tiny change of under a pound affect you, it's far too small a change and far too soon to draw conclusions. That's the equivalent of a big glass of water - remember weight changes aren't just related to fat.
At maintenance you have to keep a long term view of scale changes or it will drive you mad and make maintenance an unhappy experience - just when you should be celebrating your success.
Everything you say is very reasonable. I just need to figure out what is going on. I know it's possibly water...But the thought that it's also possibly fat is bothering me. I wish I knew. Why is it they can build a quantum computer but not make something that would tell people what maintenance definitely is? I think if I can go a bit under maintenance, I might be better at not caring about these inevitable fluctuations.
Three things are working pretty well in combination for me:- While losing, I logged meticulously, and eventually was typically able to predict, with fair accuracy, what the water weight and actual gain (or delay in loss) would be if I chose to eat over maintenance one one (or two) days. This also meant I could estimate my maintenance calories with fair accuracy by using my weight loss, eating and exercise data.
- When I was getting close to maintenance, I gradually slowed my loss by eating more. At the very last stages, I began adding 100 daily calories once a week or so . . . waiting after each add to see what the impact was, after things settled down from any random fluctuations. (This meant longer waits each time I added, for obvious arithmetic/practical reasons). As an aside, this process kind of naturally resulted in me dropping a little bit below goal weight, because I was reverse dieting my way up to it.
- I set a maintenance weight range to guide me. For me, it was goal weight plus or minus 3 pounds, because experience told me that that range would encompass my usual daily fluctuations. If I drop below the bottom end for more than a day or two, I do some extra eating (within reason). If I go above the top end for more than a few days in a row, I cut back for a while until I drop below goal weight again.
I've only been in maintenance for 6 months or so, but things have been going pretty well.
Truly inspirational. Did you do daily weighing? I feel like that would make things easier to predict, but my problem is that daily weighing makes me loco. I like how you found a way to make it fun/interesting as opposed to maddening. I'm going to try to do it this way, when I decide to maintain. Today I've eaten 250 cals less than yesterday, and oddly hunger levels have been less than on the 1800 or so I've been eating all week. This is all interesting and a learning experience, and you just reminded me of that. Thanks for sharing
I did (and do) weigh daily. But I've weighed myself daily (and recorded the result) for years, even before trying to lose weight. It really helped me understand my own weight fluctuations, and what causes them, which in turn helps me accept them without stress. I like data; I track a lot of workout data, too.
For some people, the weight trending apps (Trendweight, Happy Scale, Libra, others) help with the emotional response to daily weighing, because they sort of smooth out the fluctuations & estimate overall direction of progress. Me, I'm just not an emotional person.
As a data lover, I deeply understand that not knowing a number doesn't do anything to change reality, and that knowing can confer power.
I wish the number would confer power for me. I guess it's all a matter of perception, having to do mainly with personality. When I stopped weighing daily, I felt more powerful because the number would always inevitably end up occupying some space in the stage of my mind, for better or worse. But I am an emotional person! This still happens when I weigh weekly, but because it is not such a frequent measurement the number loses most of its power over me. At any rate, thank you for sharing. I would like to make this more fun and enjoy the learning/experimental aspect of it more, as you have been able to do.0 -
Spliner1969 wrote: »I went from around 1600 calories a day to 2500-2600 calories a day in about two months when I hit maintenance. I dropped myself 5 lbs below my goal before adding 250ish calories a week. That way, I figured, if I went back up 5 lbs I would still be below my goal. It worked for me, I gained about 4 lbs in a few weeks but never went above my goal. I kept up my exercise levels the same as they were before, and even added in a bit extra body weight training because the extra calories would allow me to build a bit more muscle. I now weigh in about every two weeks and find myself at times slowly losing weight still, but noticeably gaining muscle (in the mirror). So I figure I'll stay where I am for recomp for up to a year and see where it gets me. I can easily drop 20 lbs if I wanted and still be in a "normal" BMI range, but I don't want to. Right now I stay about 10 lbs below "overweight" on the BMI scales and I'm pretty happy with it. Any time I see myself creeping back up to my goal weight of 190 I watch the sodium for a week and re-weigh. It always drops back off. So swings of around 5lbs, sometimes a hair more, are not uncommon. I'm 6'2" tall and weigh about 183 right now, and I exercise 6 days a week for up to 90 minutes a day. Been trying to limit that to 60 minutes though, but it sometimes takes longer to accomplish what I want. But I wouldn't worry, just don't weigh in every day and freak out about a small gain. It's going to take time for your body to adjust.
I really like your approach. I might do this.0 -
I would imagine your weight would go up slightly just due to the fact that youre eating more (more food, will weigh more than less food regardless of the calorie content, the actual weight of the food in general will have a small effect.). I would keep on eating what you think is maintenance and keep an eye on the weight so it doesn't keep going up. You may have to pay with your numbers a bit coming down a little at a time etc, to get your actual maintenance intake.0
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From your initial post I see that you are claiming to have increased your calorie intake by 200 per day for 7 days, which is 1400 calories. If your prior 1600 range of intake was losing weight and reached the level of maintenance, it's slightly possible that the +200 calories have exceeded maintenance and gone into surplus, but I greatly doubt that any weight you've gained can be attributed to the extra 1400 calories, as it could at most be responsible for less than half a pound. Stay at your present range for a month and see if you actually gain for 4 weeks. If so, drop it back to the 1700 range for a month and re-evaluate.1
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RebeccaNaegle wrote: »I would imagine your weight would go up slightly just due to the fact that youre eating more (more food, will weigh more than less food regardless of the calorie content, the actual weight of the food in general will have a small effect.). I would keep on eating what you think is maintenance and keep an eye on the weight so it doesn't keep going up. You may have to pay with your numbers a bit coming down a little at a time etc, to get your actual maintenance intake.
Very sensible advice. When I go into maintenance I'm going to come back here and read all these posts to keep me sane.2 -
So an update : I mostly took everyone's advice to stay where I'm at calorie wise, and only very slightly decreased my intake to around 1550-1700 on short run days and 1800-1850 on long run days. That's basically around 700ish less for the entire week. And the result? I gained another .8 pounds for a total gain of 1.6. I know if I lost .8 pounds per week, people would say I was losing fat, so if I'm gaining that much per week, why wouldn't you say I am gaining fat? And everyone else in here has said they didn't gain when going into maintenance? I guess now that I think about it, I decided to start eating maintenance because I plateaued while losing on 1300....I figured I was happy enough with my body, this isn't working, time to just maintain. So since I'm now gaining steadily on 1700ish maybe my maintenance is actually 1300? Idk but I only originally lost like 7 pounds, so if I gain anymore it feels like all that work was for nothing. So I don't wanna gain anymore. So I guess I'm gonna go down to 1300 again and I guess maintain there?? This is so frustrating. Sorry for rant...0
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Until you start to think much longer term - at least a month, you will stay in a state of anxiety and stress.
Simply don't react to changes under a pound or you will never be happy. A pound is a decent sized glass of water!0 -
Until you start to think much longer term - at least a month, you will stay in a state of anxiety and stress.
Simply don't react to changes under a pound or you will never be happy. A pound is a decent sized glass of water!
Ok but I've actually gained more than a pound, and I'm gaining every week now.0
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