How soon can I go into maintenance ??

goalsforever03

I am 25, female, 5ft. 125lbs. I want to get to 110. Once I hit my goal do I go into maintenance the next day ? Won't I gain the weight back? I try to eat 1200 cal. A day . If I go up to 1400 for maintenance will I gain it all back ?

courtneyfabulous

You will gain a little back when you switch to maintenance- to minimize this you could do a reverse diet. This means a you very slowly raise your calorie goal up to maintenance rather than switch immediately to 1400 calories try 1250 for a week or two, then 1300 for a couple weeks, then 1350, then 1400.

It takes longer but you shouldn't gain back much this way.

You can also overshoot your goal, then reverse diet up to maintenance. Meaning maybe get to 107 or 105 before you start reverse dieting so that when you get up to maintenance calories you end up at your goal of 110.

sijomial

You only gain all the weight back if you eat at a calorie surplus for a PROLONGED period of time - you aren't intending doing that are you?

Your rate of weight loss is a pretty good guide to how much of a deficit you currently have and therefore what your current maintenance level is.

Yes you can jump straight from deficit to maintenance if you like, or you can raise your intake slowly over a matter of weeks. Personal preference and as complicated or simple as you want to make it. Whatever choice you make some fine tuning may be required.

You may get a little bounce in weight, you may not. It's not universal (I don't).

courtneyfabulous

sijomial wrote: »

You only gain all the weight back if you eat at a calorie surplus for a PROLONGED period of time - you aren't intending doing that are you?

Your rate of weight loss is a pretty good guide to how much of a deficit you currently have and therefore what your current maintenance level is.

Yes you can jump straight from deficit to maintenance if you like, or you can raise your intake slowly over a matter of weeks. Personal preference and as complicated or simple as you want to make it. Whatever choice you make some fine tuning may be required.

You may get a little bounce in weight, you may not. It's not universal (I don't).

I do get the bounce. I guess all are different. But I gain between 2 to 5 pounds when I switch from deficit to maintenance.

WinoGelato

Successfully Transitioning to maintenance is about understanding some basic numbers. But first we need some more info...

First, you are eating 1200 a day, is that the goal MFP provided you? What goal did you put in, lose 1 lb/week? 0.5 lb?

Do you exercise? Do you eat back exercise calories? How much weight have you lost and what rate are you losing at currently? Is your weight loss consistent from week to week?

All of this comes down to an energy balance abbreviated CICO (calories in calories out)

To lose weight CI < CO
To maintain weight CI= CO
To gain weight CI > CO

The CO part is also known as your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or TDEE. It is based on your height, weight, age, Gender and overall activity level and is the sum of all the calories you burn in a day from being alive, your day to day activities, and your purposeful exercise. You can calculate TDEE from online websites, or from your actual results over time.

Basically transitioning to maintenance, your TDEE (at your new weight) is the amount of calories you would want to aim for in order to preserve the loss but not gain or lose weight.

As an example, I'm 5'2 and 42 and my maintenance weight is a range (also important to understand you won't maintain a specific number but fluctuate in a range) of 118-122. My TDEE from my Fitbit and actual results is ~2200. When I was losing, I ate between 1600-1900 and then when I transitioned to maintenance I added back 100 or so cals/day every week until I stopped losing and hit that maintenance number.

Long story short - you won't gain back the weight as long as you don't go back to eating a surplus of calories ABOVE your maintenance TDEE .

goalsforever03

I don't exercise and I am losing about .5 a week . I put in that I want to lose 2 pounds but that isn't happeneing.

WinoGelato

mstein5195 wrote: »

I don't exercise and I am losing about .5 a week . I put in that I want to lose 2 pounds but that isn't happeneing.

Because that isn't a realistic goal for someone who is already at a low weight. Especially if you don't exercise, you will have a low TDEE, since you are petite and essentially sedentary. In order to lose 2 lbs/week you'd have to cut 1000 cals from that maintenance calorie level, and that wouldn't be healthy or desirable even if it were possible.

Losing 0.5 lb/week is what you should be aiming for.

TimothyFish

mstein5195 wrote: »

I don't exercise and I am losing about .5 a week . I put in that I want to lose 2 pounds but that isn't happeneing.

At most you shouldn't be trying to lose more than 1% of your current weight. With you weighing in at 125, that would be 1.25 lbs or a deficit of 625 calories per day. 1,200 calories is a number you shouldn't go below and you may be burning about 1,625 calories without exercise. So your deficit would be only 425 calories. To increase your deficit to the 1.25 lbs you would need to burn off more than 200 calories while keeping your eating at 1,200 calories.

Chieflrg

You could go right to maintenance. It makes absolutely no difference barring that is your true TDEE and you keep the same activity level.

courtneyfabulous

Chieflrg wrote: »

You could go right to maintenance. It makes absolutely no difference barring that is your true TDEE and you keep the same activity level.

Unless your metabolism has slowed down and your true TDEE is lower than estimated by TDEE calculators... that's why I recommend reverse dieting up to maintenance over several weeks.

Chieflrg

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

Chieflrg wrote: »

You could go right to maintenance. It makes absolutely no difference barring that is your true TDEE and you keep the same activity level.

Unless your metabolism has slowed down and your true TDEE is lower than estimated by TDEE calculators... that's why I recommend reverse dieting up to maintenance over several weeks.

Nobody should go by an estimate TDEE solely.

TDEE calculators are there to get you in the ball park initially and should be adjusted over time, weight change, and activity level if necessary. Your weight being stagnent on average to your preferred weight/Cal comsumption is your TDEE when it comes down to it.

Adding a total of 200 calories to your dailly intake will not make somebody gain significant weight the OP is talking about gaining back. If the OP were to add 200 calories it is virtually reverse dieting at that amount. Why make it smaller increments?

6pixie6

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

You only gain all the weight back if you eat at a calorie surplus for a PROLONGED period of time - you aren't intending doing that are you?

Your rate of weight loss is a pretty good guide to how much of a deficit you currently have and therefore what your current maintenance level is.

Yes you can jump straight from deficit to maintenance if you like, or you can raise your intake slowly over a matter of weeks. Personal preference and as complicated or simple as you want to make it. Whatever choice you make some fine tuning may be required.

You may get a little bounce in weight, you may not. It's not universal (I don't).

I do get the bounce. I guess all are different. But I gain between 2 to 5 pounds when I switch from deficit to maintenance.

(sorry bout the late quote)
But just to let you know, those 2-4 pounds is glycogen -a sort of 'liquid energy'your body likes to keep on board as permanent storage, the energy that is normally available to one who is not in a fat burning, calorie deficient state.
While you were dieting, your body had to first get rid of the glycol before it started to eat up your fat stores, that's why you'll often lose an extra few pounds when you 1st begin a diet.
This is also why most people put on a few when they finish their diet, -your body wants the glycogen stores.
And yes it (glycogen) will show a little bit, that's why some people will shoot a few pounds below their goal weight, to make room for glycol weight. ☺

courtneyfabulous

6pixie6 wrote: »

courtneyfabulous wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

You only gain all the weight back if you eat at a calorie surplus for a PROLONGED period of time - you aren't intending doing that are you?

Your rate of weight loss is a pretty good guide to how much of a deficit you currently have and therefore what your current maintenance level is.

Yes you can jump straight from deficit to maintenance if you like, or you can raise your intake slowly over a matter of weeks. Personal preference and as complicated or simple as you want to make it. Whatever choice you make some fine tuning may be required.

You may get a little bounce in weight, you may not. It's not universal (I don't).

I do get the bounce. I guess all are different. But I gain between 2 to 5 pounds when I switch from deficit to maintenance.

(sorry bout the late quote)
But just to let you know, those 2-4 pounds is glycogen -a sort of 'liquid energy'your body likes to keep on board as permanent storage, the energy that is normally available to one who is not in a fat burning, calorie deficient state.
While you were dieting, your body had to first get rid of the glycol before it started to eat up your fat stores, that's why you'll often lose an extra few pounds when you 1st begin a diet.
This is also why most people put on a few when they finish their diet, -your body wants the glycogen stores.
And yes it (glycogen) will show a little bit, that's why some people will shoot a few pounds below their goal weight, to make room for glycol weight. ☺

Oh ok thanks! I learn something new on here every day, I love it! I'm personally aiming for 5 pounds under goal, so I will end up at or slightly under goal after I go back to maintenance hopefully.

SparklyBubblyBabe

Edit: Nevermind this comment I did math wrong

VeryKatie

You could try to go like 2 lbs lower than your goal so you have a buffer.. but I personally like the idea of a weight goal RANGE vs a specific number. Like "I want to be between 107-112" or something. Or even "Never will I ever weigh more than 115, but anything less than that (and over the minimum healthy BMI) is good".

goalsforever03

Thank u guys !!

rollerjog

have you ever heard of reverse dieting there is a lot info on it look it up, it mite help