Losing Weight with Maintaining

I am on "Maintain Weight", and I'm still dropping like crazy. I don't necessarily want to gain .5 lbs every week, but does anyone have any suggestions on how to curb this crazy loss? Like... all of my work pants are falling off, and of course, being woman's pants, most don't have belt loops. (Who in the world is responsible for this crap?!) I don't want to buy the next size down, because I haven't been in that size since high school, and I'm not sure if I will keep this off or not.

Replies

  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    Start increasing your calories?

    The MFP calculations may not be right for you. They aren't the end all to be all, and there's no rule that says you can only eat what they give you.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    How long have you been "dropping weight like crazy" on maintenance?
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    Eat more. MFP just like any other calculator can only give you estimate. Start slowly increasing your calories until your weight stabilizes.
  • chelliz88
    chelliz88 Posts: 62 Member
    How long have you been "dropping weight like crazy" on maintenance?

    Between 5 and 7 days.
  • chelliz88
    chelliz88 Posts: 62 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    Eat more. MFP just like any other calculator can only give you estimate. Start slowly increasing your calories until your weight stabilizes.

    Aha! I didn't realize it was just an estimate. Thanks!
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    chelliz88 wrote: »
    How long have you been "dropping weight like crazy" on maintenance?

    Between 5 and 7 days.

    how much crazy weight?

    Recommendation generally is to increase your daily calories by 100-150 a day weekly until you're happy with maintenance.
  • chelliz88
    chelliz88 Posts: 62 Member
    chelliz88 wrote: »
    How long have you been "dropping weight like crazy" on maintenance?

    Between 5 and 7 days.

    how much crazy weight?

    Recommendation generally is to increase your daily calories by 100-150 a day weekly until you're happy with maintenance.

    Since Sunday, my scale said I've lost 2 more lbs. I'm pretty healthy, so I don't think it's anything more than what I'm eating. I also don't exercise. I just cringe when I go over my 1800 calories, but I'm going to take everyone's suggestions to heart. Thanks!
  • richardgavel
    richardgavel Posts: 1,001 Member
    chelliz88 wrote: »
    How long have you been "dropping weight like crazy" on maintenance?

    Between 5 and 7 days.

    At maintenance, 5 to 7 days is not enough time to determine a trend. I'd give it another week. Do you weigh every day?
  • chelliz88
    chelliz88 Posts: 62 Member
    edited February 2018
    chelliz88 wrote: »
    How long have you been "dropping weight like crazy" on maintenance?

    Between 5 and 7 days.

    At maintenance, 5 to 7 days is not enough time to determine a trend. I'd give it another week. Do you weigh every day?

    I weigh myself every few days just out of curiosity, but Sunday mornings are my usual "weigh and input" day.
  • chelliz88
    chelliz88 Posts: 62 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Regardless of natural weight fluctuations there is NOTHING WRONG WITH TESTING THE LIMITS of maintenance and increasing your calories ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE CRINGING every time you go over your 1800 calories (which doesn't sound like the world's happiest mind-set)

    Your weight change is determined by the INTERACTION between activity/exercise/base calories OUT and the calories IN you eat. Many people increase their OUT caloric expenditure when they eat slightly more so it is NOT surprising that some people end up eating slightly more than they thought they would when they finally stabilise in maintenance.

    And yes, you can't really tell a trend based on a few days, but, there is also no reason why you would not increase your calories until you have a clear trend that says your weight is increasing and only then reversing by a 100 or so to bring things level.

    (well, of course you might save a bit of money on your groceries if you never do that and you just keep going at the minimum you can get away with without losing even more...)

    I said that I usually cringed because I knew my "If you eat like this for 5 weeks, your weight could be...". That's really the only reason. Due to this, I had never thought about it being okay that my calories were higher until I asked the question and got some responses. I don't exercise, which is another reason it made me a little leery.

    I guess I'm just keeping too close of an eye on things. I just don't want to get back up to where I was.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Yeah you need to increase your calories... you obviously maintain at a higher number than MFP has given you.
  • jfan175
    jfan175 Posts: 812 Member
    Am I missing something here? In 5-7 days of maintenance eating, you've been dropping weight like crazy and your clothes are falling off?
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    That 'If you ate this every day you'd weigh x in 5 weeks' has never been accurate for me. Mfp tells me my maintenance is around 1600 per day; I eat around 2200 and have stayed the same weight for months
  • chelliz88
    chelliz88 Posts: 62 Member
    jfan175 wrote: »
    Am I missing something here? In 5-7 days of maintenance eating, you've been dropping weight like crazy and your clothes are falling off?

    I had been in "Lose .5 lbs a week" for a while and then switched to "Maintain" once I hit my goal. Yes, I'm still losing weight on maintenance, and yes, actually, my work pants no longer fit like they did. Women's work pants don't usually have belt loops on them, so I have no way of holding them up without a safety pin.
  • chelliz88
    chelliz88 Posts: 62 Member
    That 'If you ate this every day you'd weigh x in 5 weeks' has never been accurate for me. Mfp tells me my maintenance is around 1600 per day; I eat around 2200 and have stayed the same weight for months

    Good to know! I'm just not sure what I can do to increase my calories without searching for junk food to eat.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Any calculator is just going to provide you with an estimate based on population statistics and various algorithms...they're a good starting point, but ultimately you have to work with your own results.
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
    chelliz88 wrote: »
    That 'If you ate this every day you'd weigh x in 5 weeks' has never been accurate for me. Mfp tells me my maintenance is around 1600 per day; I eat around 2200 and have stayed the same weight for months

    Good to know! I'm just not sure what I can do to increase my calories without searching for junk food to eat.

    I'm in this position right now - I just started maintenance, and my first thought was "Yay! All the calories for ice cream!" What I'm doing, however, is not changing how I've been eating during weight loss, but adding extra calories to each meal to get to the calorie goal I have for maintenance. And like you, I'm having a hard time mentally going over the calorie goal I had for losing as well :)

    For instance, for lunch I had the food I would generally have while I was losing, but I added calories by including extra veg and a couple of corn tortillas. At dinner I'll add a couple of hundred calories of something I like to what I normally eat, to bring my total calories up to maintenance. No reason not to include a nice dessert if that's what you'd like, and maybe a snack during the day if it appeals.

    You'll find your balance - sometimes it takes some trial and error, but if you make changes incrementally, you can't go too far wrong!
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    could it be possible its water weight loss?
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    It slowed down after around 10 pounds and then came back up.