Stopping weight loss and entering maintenance

clcmfp

For those who have reached their goal weight and entered maintenance how did you go about stopping your loss and entering maintenance?

My surgeon said my body will just stop losing, but considering I am 10 pounds from my goal and was mysteriously down 6 pounds in the last week, I'm thinking I may need to add more calories to stop it myself when I get to my goal weight.

Also, did you lose more than your goal to account for any rebound gain?

loveshoe

My initial goal was 150. My SW was 233 and I'm 5'4. When I got to 135 I met with the dietitian and was told to increase my calories by 50 per day for 3 weeks to see if I stopped or continued to lose. If I lost more weight then add another 50 per day for a couple of weeks. She told me to repeat the process of adding 50 calories per day until I stopped losing weight. I got down to 129 before I stopped losing. However when I stopped losing I also slacked off on some exercise and gained back to 135 within a couple of months of hitting 129. I didn't adjust my calories for my activity level. I've been at 135 or within a few pounds for the last year. If I get my 10K steps in per day I can eat around 1200 calories per day. If it's a week where I slack off I have to stay around 900 calories per day. It took me a couple of months to figure out how many calories I could eat and what exercise level I needed to be at to keep the weight off. I never wanted to be 129 and figured I would be happy at 150 but my body seems to like 135.

I seemed to lose faster at the end when I was trying to go into maintenance so maybe your doctor is right and your body will just stop losing weight. But, I think if I had stayed at the 800 calories per day that I was on during the weigh lost phase I would have gotten into the teens. It would not have been a pretty look.

I asked the dietitian about the one size fits all, a woman my height and age according to a chart should eat 1600 calories per day and she stated it didn't work like that. She said the chart is an average but muscle mass, activity level, and genetics makes it different for most people. She encouraged me to find my own number and by slowly increasing my calories is how I got to the 1200 average per day.

Weight loss was actually easier than maintaining the loss. There seems to be a very fine line between eating and exercise and it takes time to find that balance that works for you.

fit_chickx

clcmfp wrote: »

For those who have reached their goal weight and entered maintenance how did you go about stopping your loss and entering maintenance?

My surgeon said my body will just stop losing, but considering I am 10 pounds from my goal and was mysteriously down 6 pounds in the last week, I'm thinking I may need to add more calories to stop it myself when I get to my goal weight.

Also, did you lose more than your goal to account for any rebound gain?

Below is a calculator to see your maintenance calories and macros. Its customized by (Age, sex, weight, height and activity level)

https://tdeecalculator.net/

My instructions were to add healthy carbs after I lost 75% of my weight.
Healthy carbs= brown rice, Sweet potato, whole wheat pasta and bread (Nothing white or processed)

I'm 5'5" In six months I reached my goal of 140. lowest weight 125. I maintained for two years at 130. I gave myself a 10 pound bounce range to maintain.

Other patients warned me about the dreaded third year. I thought it was a myth. If I eat off plan on a weekend, I can easily gain 5 pounds. It takes me a month and a half to lose the 5 pounds. I miss the days of fast weight loss.

BarneyRubbleMD

clcmfp wrote: »

For those who have reached their goal weight and entered maintenance how did you go about stopping your loss and entering maintenance?

My surgeon said my body will just stop losing, but considering I am 10 pounds from my goal and was mysteriously down 6 pounds in the last week, I'm thinking I may need to add more calories to stop it myself when I get to my goal weight.

Also, did you lose more than your goal to account for any rebound gain?

The best way to determine your maintenance calories is to have a RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) Test done. Many dietitian places can do this these days--I had my local dietitian place do mine. While averages can be fine for most people, those daily calorie estimators can be quite a bit off for others--all the calorie estimators I found online, including MFP, were "off" by about 35% for me.

loveshoe

I'm going to check and see if my doctor's office offers the RMR test. Right now I'm getting some information from my Fitbit and Apple watch. I add the resting calorie burn from both apps together and divide by 2 but I would like something that might be more accurate.

fit_chickx

You can pay to get a complete accurate body composition RMR. $117 to $167
http://dexabody.com/pricing.html

Are RMR and BMR the same? Mostly, except for the fact that BMR is going to be a slightly more accurate reading. However, both play a role in the process of weight loss and weight maintenance.
Both BMR and RMR are measured by gas analysis through either direct or indirect calorimetry, although a rough estimation of RMR can be acquired through an equation using age, sex, height and weight

My choice is the rough estimation on https://tdeecalculator.net/ It uses BMR in the calculation. If I was a professional athlete, I may pay the $117 to $167 dollars for accuracy.

BarneyRubbleMD

fit_chickx wrote: »

You can pay to get a complete accurate body composition RMR. $117 to $167
http://dexabody.com/pricing.html

Are RMR and BMR the same? Mostly, except for the fact that BMR is going to be a slightly more accurate reading. However, both play a role in the process of weight loss and weight maintenance.
Both BMR and RMR are measured by gas analysis through either direct or indirect calorimetry, although a rough estimation of RMR can be acquired through an equation using age, sex, height and weight

My choice is the rough estimation on https://tdeecalculator.net/ It uses BMR in the calculation. If I was a professional athlete, I may pay the $117 to $167 dollars for accuracy.

Only $57 for an RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) test in Utah!...that's a great price--my local dietitian place was more like double that. An RMR test would have saved me years of failed dieting attempts thinking I just lacked "will power" to stick with a diet when it was those diets and calorie estimators that were simply underestimating my daily calories by 35% making those diets impossible for me to stick with.