having a hard time upping my calories

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saskiavanson88
saskiavanson88 Posts: 13 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hey everyone,

I reached my goal weight and i am very excited about that. But it means i have to bring the calories i eat closer to the calories i burn and i am scared to do so. What if i gain all the weight back.

If you are also maintaining your weight please send me a friend request so we can support each other

Replies

  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
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    I was scared at first, but you just have to try or else lose too much. Bump it up a little each week. When your weight stops dropping, leave the calories there for a while and see what happens. If you end up steadily gaining, then you just drop them back down again.
  • saskiavanson88
    saskiavanson88 Posts: 13 Member
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    thanks
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    You won't gain the weight back overnight. Set a 5 lb maintenance range. When you get to the top of that range, resume eating at a 250 deficit until you're back in mid-range. I weigh daily and track the trend in Happy Scale app, but weekly weigh ins are ok too. I fluctuate a lot, so weekly weighins can often miss my low of the week.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,019 Member
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    Congrats on reaching your goal! You definitely have to increase your calories. It is scary, but if you don't you will keep losing. It can be hard to figure out what your maintenance calories should be so just give it a little time. Make sure you are aiming for a maintenance range (maybe 5 pounds) don't expect your weight to always be one number. You will still have fluctuations. Just do like @DancingMoosie suggested and slowing increase your calories each week.
  • STEVE142142
    STEVE142142 Posts: 867 Member
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    congrats on your success. Maintenance is a learning process.

    Now that you've reached your goal weight please don't be fixated on a specific number. Your weight will fluctuate from day today and it'll even fluctuate in a dayperiod I have access to scales at work and my weight can fluctuate up to five pounds from day today based on a whole bunch of factors. Your clothes and how they fit will be a better indicator if your body is changing.

    It took me about eight months to lose 80 lbs and I've been maintaining for about 9 months. I started maintenance at 220 lbs. I totally screwed it up and drop to 204 pounds.. I decided I'm happy there and like I said I've been maintaining about nine months. My goal is anywhere from about 208 to 212 pounds.

    My suggestion is keep on logging religiously and pay attention to what happens with your body. You're looking to establish a trend if you're losing weight increase your calories a little and if you're gaining lower your calories a little. Like I said it's a learning process you have to learn about your own body and how it reacts but don't be frustrated if one day you've gained four or five pounds it can happen. Look for the long-term trends

  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    The easiest way to bring up your calories is to increase carbs - 2 pieces of toast and a glass of oj or milk will do it. But it's not a good way to do it. What I did is upped by 250 and tried to do that with protein and fat (e.g., an extra serving of meat and salad dressing or some nuts). It is way too easy to add 250 calories or we wouldn't have needed to lose weight to start with. I followed me appetite and ate all those calories when I wanted them and left them on the plate when I didn't. If I didn't stop losing I made sure I had a little healthy snack between meals.

    If you're not hungry, exercise. Typically people eat more than they burn when they exercise. But listen to your body. Good luck and congratulations.

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