At Goal Weight ...

CatinSydney

I've reached my goal weight but feel that I should lose a couple more kgs to allow myself a buffer in case of normal fluctuations in weight. Did you do this or do you just maintain at your goal weight quite easily?

I feel with holidays coming up that this may be difficult to do, so should work towards losing more now (if I can). Even though I have reached this stage, even on maintenance I will probably be at the same number of calories anyway because my daily allowance is only 1200 calories and stays this way even on maintenance it seems.

Maybe I can eat back some of my exercise calories but a bit worried that I will get it wrong and put weight back on. Has this happened to you?

ccruz985

You SHOULD have a range, not just a singular number. We retain water, salt, etc, for a number of reasons and our weight isn't a firm constant. I personally fluctuate between 166 and 170. If I go over 170 and stay there for more than two days, I'll cut back for a few days til I hit my goal range again.

KarenSmith2018

a range is required - we don't all stay a set weight.
Secondly your maintenance and loss calories cannot be the same. If you loose at 1200 then you need to eat more to stop loosing. Add extra calories back 100/per week or two at a time until you stop losing.
You should be eating back exercise calories anyway as this is how MFP is designed.
Maintenance is a life time of monitoring same as losing weight, you just monitor with a few more calories and you want your weight to stay in a range rather than a continuous decrease.

LivingtheLeanDream

A range of say +/-5lbs is ideal.
It is highly unlikely that 1200 is your maintenance cals, especially if you were losing weight eating that amount.
More stats would be helpful, height/weight/age.

joelrivard

Goal weights are tricky because muscle has weight and you also might have a certain look you are going for (for example a slight 6-pack). It's very hard to say how much bodyfat we have to lose to look a certain way. You could hit your weight but still have more BF that you want or your weight could be too low and you have to lose muscle.

Some weeks we lose more water, sometimes we retain water, sometimes we add muscle. Sometimes if we eat bad we lose muscle but going by the scale that would show as progress.
The mirror is the best indicator. Waist size is helpful also.

I don't get the holiday thing? In my family the meals are usually turkey or ham dinners which really are fine.
I pass on dessert and that's it? Usually it's only 2 or 3 meals at that. What happens at the holidays where people gain weight like crazy?

rainbow198

Congrats! Having a range definitely works for me as I naturally lose a little more during the summer and pick up a couple pounds during the winter.

During the week however I basically lose and gain the same 2 - 3 pounds and repeat every week. My weight never stays at a static number. Not to mention daily fluctuations and water weight.

For holidays, parties and events I always have a plan. I try to scope out the selections at ahead of time and decide what I want. Sometimes it's a little of everything or a lot of a couple of things. Other times it's a little food and a lot of dessert.

Whatever I decide I eat what I want and enjoy, but I stay in control and don't overeat.

vingogly

I've gone into maintenance for an extended period of time twice over the past several years; I have 15-20 lbs I still want to lose, and am back into weight loss mode now. What I've learned is, you need to commit to monitoring your weight for life unless you can demonstrate to yourself by "test driving" maintenance to see if you've internalized the new way of eating to such an extent that you will not put weight back on.

I don't know how many people who have struggled with their weight can succeed at that - permanently changing their way of eating so they never have to weigh themselves or go into weight loss mode again. I know I can't do it completely - I'm going to need to weigh myself at least weekly forever, and adjust my input when needed to bring the scale back down again into my maintenance range. It's a small price to pay to stay healthy and mobile.

sijomial

Your maintenance calories cannot be the same as your weight loss calories unless you reduce your exercise and/or activity levels.

To maintain your weight you must be accounting for your exercise calories whether you label them as such or not.

You can't put the weight back on without a sustained calorie surplus (over-eating) and not reacting as you see your weight increase. That's why people have either an acceptable range or an upper limit, to trigger action before a slide gets too big.

Being "worried" is normal when something is new but realise that's emotion and not cold, hard facts. Give yourself time to adjust to the new you, don't overreact to normal fluctuations and start to think much longer term. Your weight isn't set in stone forever so a periodic reassessment is sensible.

kgirlhart

You definitely should set a range. Perhaps your goal weight +/- 2 lbs? It can be hard to change your mindset from losing to maintaining and I think the fear of gaining when we add calories is something most of us dealt with. But if you are losing on 1200 then if you continue to eat at 1200 you will continue to lose. Unless you are under 5' it is extremely unlikely that 1200 is your maintenance. Try slowly adding 100 calories per day until your weight stabilizes. You will have fluctuations so don't stress to much if you weight goes up on some days. Just watch the trend and as long as you stay in your maintenance range then you are good.

Christine_72

joelrivard wrote: »

I don't get the holiday thing? In my family the meals are usually turkey or ham dinners which really are fine.
I pass on dessert and that's it? Usually it's only 2 or 3 meals at that. What happens at the holidays where people gain weight like crazy?

I don't get this either... I have one "holiday day" and that's Christmas, back to normal the next day.

CatinSydney

Thanks for the responses it does make sense to have a range and I think for me it will be 105-110. To put this in perspective I'm only 5'1.5'' (53, female) so if I was to not exercise 1200 calories would be my limit.

Fortunately I do exercise at least an hour each day - walking or gym (includes elliptical, circuit classes - TRX etc, Step, yoga, pilates, cxworx). If I'm doing yoga or pilates I will walk as well. I use my Fitbit HR to calculate exercise calories and while I know this isn't perfect at least it is an indicator of what I have done - but probably why I'm a bit dubious about adding back all the exercise calories. btw - I'm getting a new fitness tracker at Christmas - any recommendations?

Christine_72 (I think you might be from Aus - going by your diary entries), wish I could say the "holiday" is just one day here, but in reality it's not with people staying with us and everyone out of routine, no school, no work - it's just all socialising, beaches and barbeques, This flows on into January and then we go camping for a week with other families, so another week of beaches and barbeques (and eating and drinking of course).

LivingtheLeanDream

I am 1" taller than you and if I was sedentary my cals to maintain would be 1600. I'm just a few years younger. As it is I am lightly active and maintain on 1950-2000 cal, just to put things in perspective. I think you are mixing up BMR with TDEE.

Christine_72

CatinSydney wrote: »

Thanks for the responses it does make sense to have a range and I think for me it will be 105-110. To put this in perspective I'm only 5'1.5'' (53, female) so if I was to not exercise 1200 calories would be my limit.

Fortunately I do exercise at least an hour each day - walking or gym (includes elliptical, circuit classes - TRX etc, Step, yoga, pilates, cxworx). If I'm doing yoga or pilates I will walk as well. I use my Fitbit HR to calculate exercise calories and while I know this isn't perfect at least it is an indicator of what I have done - but probably why I'm a bit dubious about adding back all the exercise calories. btw - I'm getting a new fitness tracker at Christmas - any recommendations?

Christine_72 (I think you might be from Aus - going by your diary entries), wish I could say the "holiday" is just one day here, but in reality it's not with people staying with us and everyone out of routine, no school, no work - it's just all socialising, beaches and barbeques, This flows on into January and then we go camping for a week with other families, so another week of beaches and barbeques (and eating and drinking of course).

Yes, I am in Aus, your username and kookaburra avi gave you away

Yowsas I'd be in panic mode too if i had all of those social activities you listed. I'm an introvert and anti-social, so i don't have to deal with people/social gatherings much.

LivingtheLeanDream

@Christine_72 I'm a bit like that too lol, thank goodness for minimal social occasions

Christine_72

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

@Christine_72 I'm a bit like that too lol, thank goodness for minimal social occasions

lol Being like this does come with some perks

CatinSydney

The people staying with us over Christmas are the parent-inlaws (not sure how many days yet), but it's quite hard to weigh the food all the time and not be too conspicuous (the food scale usually sits on the bench where I prepare and serve food). Also needless to say a few drinks will be required over this time - just so I can stay sane!!

Recently I had my own parents to stay and I could tell they were wondering why we didn't always have a drink with them. Mum asked why I had the food scale on the bench all time - but I just ignored and carried on - I knew they would take the piss if they knew I was losing weight - well maybe not the losing weight part but being so 'particular' about it, so I tried not to make it too obvious.

Christine_72

Cat I shall stop derailing your thread after this post.. I completely relate to the food scale/family thing. None of my family know i weigh my food, I can just imagine the obsessive/anorexic comments that would follow. In fairness i used to think the same way about "food weighers" lol
I've been weighing my food for over 3 years, my husband sees me do it every single day, and he still gives me crap about it!!!

fiddletime

My losing weight calories are 1200 and maintenance is 1350. Not a big difference, but every little bit helps. I overeat on the weekends for a meal or two, and get back on track Mon- Fri. I maintain this way, but everyone is different.

Nony_Mouse

Christine_72 wrote: »

Cat I shall stop derailing your thread after this post.. I completely relate to the food scale/family thing. None of my family know i weigh my food, I can just imagine the obsessive/anorexic comments that would follow. In fairness i used to think the same way about "food weighers" lol
I've been weighing my food for over 3 years, my husband sees me do it every single day, and he still gives me crap about it!!!

Advantages of a mother who was a Weight Watcher (and WW leader). Totes normal as far as my parents are concerned!

LarryLittle

I'm new, and weight control is 'new'. But I like that Cat is already where I am 'steadily' heading. Also, thanks for your tips on having a "maint. range". THAT will really help me.

In past 11 mo's I've avg'd a loss of 4.4 lbs/mo. going from 245lbs to 201 this morn'g. I did this by keeping pretty well to the 1,500cals/ day +walkg. My Goal: "to range" between 190-195lbs in 2mo's. I'm 78, 6' and very active &healthy, but hated the soaring: BMI 32.2 (27now); Body fat% 25.3 (21.9now); Skel.muscle% 31.9 (33.4now); and the Visceral fat level of 18 (12now) readings that my Omron scale gave me when I last Jan 2nd.

Q: Do I keep the 'pedel to the metal' until 195 and ease down to 190lbs over say 2mo's? Any thoughts on how to tweek the end of this (35yr overdue) campaign? Beside... the fresh bottle of vino my bride of 50yrs & I will begin sipping when there?

Q: Also Any thoughts on the relevance of my resting Metabolism dropping from 1,983 to 1,774 during that time?

CatinSydney

@Christine_72 it's nice to know I'm not alone in this food scale/family thing - my husband and 2 boys are used to it now, but I don't really like to reveal it to others.

@fiddletime that sounds very like me at the moment I do tend to go over on the weekends so during the week I have to be careful, in maintenance I will probably keep to a similar cycle.

@LarryLittle well done on your loss. I must admit I didn't have a lot to lose but when looked at percentage wise I have lost more than 10% of my body weight - I have done it gradually and feel much better for it (I still allow for a few sips of vino on the weekend though!! It just made it a little less painful for me!!)

Nony_Mouse

LarryLittle wrote: »

I'm new, and weight control is 'new'. But I like that Cat is already where I am 'steadily' heading. Also, thanks for your tips on having a "maint. range". THAT will really help me.

In past 11 mo's I've avg'd a loss of 4.4 lbs/mo. going from 245lbs to 201 this morn'g. I did this by keeping pretty well to the 1,500cals/ day +walkg. My Goal: "to range" between 190-195lbs in 2mo's. I'm 78, 6' and very active &healthy, but hated the soaring: BMI 32.2 (27now); Body fat% 25.3 (21.9now); Skel.muscle% 31.9 (33.4now); and the Visceral fat level of 18 (12now) readings that my Omron scale gave me when I last Jan 2nd.

Q: Do I keep the 'pedel to the metal' until 195 and ease down to 190lbs over say 2mo's? Any thoughts on how to tweek the end of this (35yr overdue) campaign? Beside... the fresh bottle of vino my bride of 50yrs & I will begin sipping when there?

Q: Also Any thoughts on the relevance of my resting Metabolism dropping from 1,983 to 1,774 during that time?

@LarryLittle you may like to have a look at this thread and consider a controlled diet break, since you've been at a deficit for a while (and how convenient, Christmas is an excellent time for a maintenance period!) http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks#latest. Don't be put off by the length of the thread, we've revised the original post to contain all the info you need up front.

Re RMR drop, is this based on online calculators or have you had it measured? RMR will drop as we lose weight because there is simply less of us to cart around, and therefore less calories are required for essential functions. On top of that, there is adaptive thermogenesis, which is a down regulation of metabolism beyond what would be expected simply from being smaller. This is because hormones (principally leptin, thyroid, and cortisol) get out of whack when we are at a sustained deficit for any length of time (survival adaptation from our ancestors, to protect fat stores in times of food shortage). The controlled diet break is aimed at bringing those hormones back to where they should be.

Nony_Mouse

CatinSydney wrote: »

I do tend to go over on the weekends so during the week I have to be careful, in maintenance I will probably keep to a similar cycle.

This is actually a pretty effective maintenance strategy for a lot of people. Rather than keeping the same cals day to day, eat more at weekends when you're more likely to be socialising etc, cut back a little during the week

middlehaitch

CatinSydney wrote: »

Thanks for the responses it does make sense to have a range and I think for me it will be 105-110. To put this in perspective I'm only 5'1.5'' (53, female) so if I was to not exercise 1200 calories would be my limit.

Fortunately I do exercise at least an hour each day - walking or gym (includes elliptical, circuit classes - TRX etc, Step, yoga, pilates, cxworx). If I'm doing yoga or pilates I will walk as well. I use my Fitbit HR to calculate exercise calories and while I know this isn't perfect at least it is an indicator of what I have done - but probably why I'm a bit dubious about adding back all the exercise calories. btw - I'm getting a new fitness tracker at Christmas - any recommendations?

Christine_72 (I think you might be from Aus - going by your diary entries), wish I could say the "holiday" is just one day here, but in reality it's not with people staying with us and everyone out of routine, no school, no work - it's just all socialising, beaches and barbeques, This flows on into January and then we go camping for a week with other families, so another week of beaches and barbeques (and eating and drinking of course).

I thought I would just chime in to say that I had very similar stats to you when I hit maintenance.

5'1, 54/55, 100-107lbs.

My calories were 1200 to lose and I ate back all my exercise calories.(average 200 per hr)
This took me down to 103, mid planned maintenance so I was happy, and the same 1200 plus exercise calories was my maintenance.
I changed my initial maintenance once I had established it to TDEE and ate 1400 a day. My exercise was very consistent so that worked well.

Now, 7+years later, same 103 (range 100-105), my TDEE is at 1600. It was a gradual rise over time mostly due to a raise in daily activity I suspect, but my workouts changed from mainly a cardio strength mix like Pilates, aerobics, yoga, to mainly weights and steady state cardio like rowing or walking and still do yoga for flexability. (I do 60min 5-6 days a week average)

Just thought I would say this so you can start adding cals and it should would out. You may want to do it 50 at a time and monitor the scale. A little weight may be added but that is usually water and an increase of food working its way out.

Cheers, h.

CatinSydney

@middlehaitch I've seen you on here before and had noted that your stats were quite similar to mine. Just read your profile and it gives me real motivation to keep with the maintenance and try not to let it slip again. I love travelling too and like to be active so your story really resonated with me. It was really interesting about your TDEE and gives me hope that mine may end up more than I think. Thanks for the helpful comments

apullum

I've been in maintenance since August. My stats are fairly close to yours. I'm a little shorter than you (just under 5 feet) and maintaining at a slightly higher weight (113-117 pounds). MFP gave me 1420 maintenance calories plus exercise, and it's working very well for me. I enter calories from running separately, and I get a few more calories from walking if I go over the steps already built into MFP's sedentary setting. So I'm pretty confident that you're going to get more than 1200 calories in maintenance. (Yay for more food!)

SummerSkier

I am in the same boat as you Catin. MFP gives me 1200 for maintaining. I am fairly active and have been tracking my TDEE on a spreadsheet since I started (59 and 5 foot 1.75) My original goal was 106 so I started slowing adding in Oct when I hit that. I was losing at 1050 cals per day and added 100 every other week for 6 weeks. I am now exactly where I want to be at just under 100 and watching my moving avg on happy scale. My danger limit is going to be 101. I am up to 1750 cals daily. ***Except*** I am pretty sure that is my active TDEE (spreadsheet says 1850) so the other thing I am now pondering is that input is not going to be the same but is going to vary depending on my activity. So, for instance on my rest day this week I only ate about 1500. I was not excessively hungry at all either when I was losing and now sometimes I have to add specifically higher calorie stuff to actually get to 1750. I think this is something we are going to have to continue to "play" with all the time because what works for me probably won't work for someone else. I do expect that over time my calories ARE going to increase slightly to maintain as I plan to be as active as possible. I also think that in the winter they might be lower (summer here I can burn a lot just being at the barn in 100+ deg weather!). So it's seasonal also. Which of course with holidays is why so many folks will gain over holiday time frame. One thing I really did NOT like was that when I had MFP set to maintain + exercise, when I prelogged it would go all RED all over me. So I told it not to count exercise and set my calorie limit at 1750. Fitbit is a little better for me as far as watching my activity level anyway. But I also get a little annoyed that you can't tell both aps that you are taking a rest day and to CHILL OUT about not meeting your steps or activity or something... LOL. They ought to have a special button you push to say - Im old and REST days are important. Rant over. Hope this is helpful. Best of luck. Us shorties (and more mature gals...) gotta watch carefully I think. I weigh daily and still log. Bcause I am introducing so many different type foods the logging is very critical! My new GOAL is to maintain for a year and see if some of this wrinkly old skin bounces back just a little for me. Cheers!

CatinSydney

@SummerSkier I have very similar stats to you. My goal was 110, but now I've hit that I've set it to 105. I aim to have a maintenance range of 105-110 - which I think is realistic. Interesting that you are just under 100 (I converted it, always having to convert lbs to kgs when I'm here), but I was about 99 lbs when I first got married so not sure if I can ever get that low again. Also hoping that some of my skin bounces back, but in the meantime it's Lorna Jane body support tights for me!!

I'm using Fitbit HR at the moment also, but looking at getting a new one for Christmas. Any recommendations out there? I'm thinking of changing to a Garmin but not sure which one.

SummerSkier

I have the Fitbit Alta HR now. I started using it in early June. I do like it and it gives me a lot of stats. I don't think any of them are perfect. But it was pretty durn close monitoring my HR to my Garmin. My problem with the Garmin was the chest strap kept falling down and it was really annoying. Of course the fitbit took a bit of getting used to wearing full time and I have to remember to change wrists on it every month or so.. I think there is a whole section related to different types of watches and fitbits and such. The important thing is probably just to learn how your device works for you and go from there. I think my fitbit is actually going to be pretty spot on to what I should be eating on a daily basis. Set to maintain.