below goal weight + maintenance calories = goal weight (thoughts?)

youdoyou2016

For those of you who've been maintaining / recomping a while:

First of all, I feel a little silly for asking this, but I've been in a deficit for a long time, am really surprised (in a good way) at where I am now, and am looking forward to moving into maintenance / a recomp. I think I'm pretty close to my goal weight and am just thinking ahead a little ...

Let's say I get to a point where I feel I am done with a deficit and ready to go into maintenance at X lbs. I think I should continue to lose so that when I increase my calories to maintenance levels I then get back up to X. (Rather than increase calories at my goal, which would have me at a weight higher than what I want.)

If others have done this, how far below your goal did you go so that at maintenance you were where you wanted to be (in your maintenance range)? My deficit is about 400 / day, so adding that back in should equal about a lbs in a week. But over several weeks, wouldn't it come out to several lbs?

Luna3386

5 pounds below goal should suffice.

You probably won't gain fat getting up to maintenance (some people lose a few more, some don't) but may see more weight due to holding onto more water, food, etc.

In order to not gain much, you could slowly increase calories, an extra 100 every week or every other week.

sijomial

Remember if you start adding calories slowly when you get to goal weight you are still in a deficit - just a declining deficit.

The "glycogen bounce" isn't at all universal - depends how you were achieving your deficit.

My deficit is about 400 / day, so adding that back in should equal about a lbs in a week. But over several weeks, wouldn't it come out to several lbs?

Sorry can't understand what you are trying to say at all.

Let's say week 1 you add 100 cals - still 300 x 7 deficit (2100).
Week 2 you add another 100 cals - still 200 x 7 deficit (1400).
Week 3 another 100 cals - 100 x 7 deficit (700). That's 4200 deficit over three weeks so maybe pound and a bit of fat loss.
Week 4 another 100 cals - maintenance (maybe!).


Personal experience:

I've never deliberately gone below goal weight.

First time I got to goal weight -
Got to goal, added calories, no bounce up in weight, stopped losing for a while. Actually had to increase calories after a period of weeks above the level I thought I originally needed to maintain.

Second goal weight after a period of maintaining -
Went straight up to maintenance level, no bounce, no adjustment required.

youdoyou2016

sijomial wrote: »

Remember if you start adding calories slowly when you get to goal weight you are still in a deficit - just a declining deficit.

The "glycogen bounce" isn't at all universal - depends how you were achieving your deficit.

My deficit is about 400 / day, so adding that back in should equal about a lbs in a week. But over several weeks, wouldn't it come out to several lbs?

Sorry can't understand what you are trying to say at all.

Let's say week 1 you add 100 cals - still 300 x 7 deficit (2100).
Week 2 you add another 100 cals - still 200 x 7 deficit (1400).
Week 3 another 100 cals - 100 x 7 deficit (700). That's 4200 deficit over three weeks so maybe pound and a bit of fat loss.
Week 4 another 100 cals - maintenance (maybe!).


Personal experience:

I've never deliberately gone below goal weight.

First time I got to goal weight -
Got to goal, added calories, no bounce up in weight, stopped losing for a while. Actually had to increase calories after a period of weeks above the level I thought I originally needed to maintain.

Second goal weight after a period of maintaining -
Went straight up to maintenance level, no bounce, no adjustment required.

Thanks for the response and sharing your experience. Your math definitely makes more sense than my math. I won't even bother explaining now. I said I felt silly; I knew I didn't have something right that was probably obvious.

middlehaitch

Most people give themselves a weight range, not a single number.

Mine is 5 lbs and I started maintenance in the middle of that range. Some have a 10lbs range especially if water retention during ovulation or menstruation is high.

You may, when you are 5-10 lbs away from your goal switch to s 250 cal deficit, it will help moving into maintenance easier.

Cheers, h.

AnnPT77

FWIW, once I hit goal, I added calories back gradually, 100ish daily at a time, then waited to see if my weight stabilized. With each add, it took a little longer to see the effect amongst daily fluctuations. I can't remember the total amount of time it took - maybe a couple of months? - but I overshot the bottom of my planned maintenance range (117-123) by about a pound. No noticeable jump when I hit maintenance, or maybe it got lost in the noise, too.

I liked the "coast in gradually" approach, mainly because it was a series of small, stepwise eating adjustments, so I did things like add some flaxseed to my oatmeal, rather than thinking I ought to go eat a big ol' slice of cake daily or something . . . not that I have anything against cake.