For when I reach maintenance

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  • Pastaprincess1978
    Pastaprincess1978 Posts: 371 Member
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    Thanks for the replies all - I just have my fingers crossed my maintenance is closer to 1500 or more rather than 1200 :(
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    Pastaprincess1978 wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies all - I just have my fingers crossed my maintenance is closer to 1500 or more rather than 1200 :(

    How long have you been trying to lose weight at 1200 cals? Are you losing? How much per week? How accurate is your logging? Are you eating back exercise cals?

    I’m not sure why you think your maintenance cals would be so low, where did you get that number from?
  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 935 Member
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    jenilla1 wrote: »
    andreaen wrote: »
    This is so individual that it won't really say much about you. By dieting your metabolism will adapt, and if you reverse diet after your diet you can probably build your metabolism to take between 1800 and 2200 calories per day with your lifestyle

    That seems like a ton of calories for a sedentary woman of her age, goal weight and activity level...I'm her age and ten pounds heavier than her goal weight and I eat that much when I'm doing my long trail runs or after strenuous mountain biking in the hills. I'm a relatively fit woman and I would pack on the pounds if I ate that much without lots of activity to counter it. :o
    jenilla1 wrote: »
    andreaen wrote: »
    This is so individual that it won't really say much about you. By dieting your metabolism will adapt, and if you reverse diet after your diet you can probably build your metabolism to take between 1800 and 2200 calories per day with your lifestyle

    That seems like a ton of calories for a sedentary woman of her age, goal weight and activity level...I'm her age and ten pounds heavier than her goal weight and I eat that much when I'm doing my long trail runs or after strenuous mountain biking in the hills. I'm a relatively fit woman and I would pack on the pounds if I ate that much without lots of activity to counter it. :o
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    jenilla1 wrote: »
    andreaen wrote: »
    This is so individual that it won't really say much about you. By dieting your metabolism will adapt, and if you reverse diet after your diet you can probably build your metabolism to take between 1800 and 2200 calories per day with your lifestyle

    That seems like a ton of calories for a sedentary woman of her age, goal weight and activity level...I'm her age and ten pounds heavier than her goal weight and I eat that much when I'm doing my long trail runs or after strenuous mountain biking in the hills. I'm a relatively fit woman and I would pack on the pounds if I ate that much without lots of activity to counter it. :o

    Doesn't seem that much to me, I eat 1900 when sedentary.

  • Pastaprincess1978
    Pastaprincess1978 Posts: 371 Member
    edited March 2018
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Pastaprincess1978 wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies all - I just have my fingers crossed my maintenance is closer to 1500 or more rather than 1200 :(

    How long have you been trying to lose weight at 1200 cals? Are you losing? How much per week? How accurate is your logging? Are you eating back exercise cals?

    I’m not sure why you think your maintenance cals would be so low, where did you get that number from?

    Yeah losing and pretty fast I think - approx 0.7kg a week. Only minimally (10% or less) eating back exercise cals.
    I log religiously and check everything. I think I overestimate serving sizes for lunch but dinners are on the money.

    My age (39), being female and my sedentary job (counsellor) make me worry about how low my cals are. Also I won't be able to exercise as much after June and I am quite a small framed person.

    Having said that though, when I consider what I ate from about 5 years ago up until about a month or so ago it kind of seems like a miracle I wasn't bigger to start with!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Pastaprincess1978 wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    Pastaprincess1978 wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies all - I just have my fingers crossed my maintenance is closer to 1500 or more rather than 1200 :(

    How long have you been trying to lose weight at 1200 cals? Are you losing? How much per week? How accurate is your logging? Are you eating back exercise cals?

    I’m not sure why you think your maintenance cals would be so low, where did you get that number from?

    Yeah losing and pretty fast I think - approx 0.7kg a week. Only minimally (10% or less) eating back exercise cals.
    I log religiously and check everything. I think I overestimate serving sizes for lunch but dinners are on the money.

    My age (39), being female and my sedentary job (counsellor) make me worry about how low my cals are. Also I won't be able to exercise as much after June and I am quite a small framed person.

    Having said that though, when I consider what I ate from about 5 years ago up until about a month or so ago it kind of seems like a miracle I wasn't bigger to start with!

    I still don't understand why you think you'll have to eat so little to maintain. You could eat 1500 now and still lose, based on what you've said your rate of loss is?
  • Pastaprincess1978
    Pastaprincess1978 Posts: 371 Member
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    I think my rate of loss is influenced by my increased exercise right now. That is unsustainable for me as my committments will change in June. I have checked my charts and I've used a few different scales - but generally it's approx 0.6-0.7 a week - and that is eating under 1200 and exercising.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Pastaprincess1978 wrote: »
    I think my rate of loss is influenced by my increased exercise right now. That is unsustainable for me as my committments will change in June. I have checked my charts and I've used a few different scales - but generally it's approx 0.6-0.7 a week - and that is eating under 1200 and exercising.

    Have you tried not undereating?
  • Pastaprincess1978
    Pastaprincess1978 Posts: 371 Member
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    No do you really think I am undereating?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Pastaprincess1978 wrote: »
    No do you really think I am undereating?

    massively. no wonder you're hungry. and the longer you do it the more chance you have of lowering your maintenance calories.

    i'd start with looking at the 'of refeeds and diet breaks' thread and go from there.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    I've just had a look at your diary and there are a lot of cups and spoonfuls and 0.13 of a banana and a medium tomato, and generic entries for things.

    start weighing and measuring accurately so you know how much you're actually eating.
  • Pastaprincess1978
    Pastaprincess1978 Posts: 371 Member
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    yeah the fractions of a banana and spoonfuls of oats are literally 2 or so teaspoons of my son's breakfast I finish off! Try to get it as accurate as I can. Will check out the refeeds thread. Thanks.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    Pastaprincess1978 wrote: »
    No do you really think I am undereating?
    Yes, and for someone who is looking ahead to maintenance and hoping to have a decent calorie allotment, that’s one of the worst things you can do - rapid weight loss, extremely low calories, underfueling your activity, etc.

    Losing weight slowly with a modest deficit and periodic diet breaks or refeeds helps contribute to a higher calorie burn overall when someone reaches maintenance. I’m 5’2 and 115 with a desk job and my TDEE is 2200 - I’m active outside of the desk job but I lost my weight eating between 1600-1900, higher than what you think your long term maintenance will be.

    Also - with the amount of weight you have to lose 0.25kg/week is probably a more reasonable rate of loss. There’s no reason you need to be aiming for 1200 and certainly not below it when you factor in your exercise.
  • Pastaprincess1978
    Pastaprincess1978 Posts: 371 Member
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    ok thanks guys - weighed every scrap of my dinner last night and was surprised how accurate my assumptions had been - my intention today is to do the same at lunch - like a weirdo - in the lunchroom at work lol!
  • Pastaprincess1978
    Pastaprincess1978 Posts: 371 Member
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    Ok so I read a bit more about what you have been saying and yeah, ok, I definitely don't want to mess with my hormones and make my metabolism so low it's crazy, I already have my suspicions it's low so don't want to push the envelope any further.

    I did weigh dinner last night and I've been accurate with my assumptions so far wrt weights eaten. I'll do the same for lunch today (like a weirdo in the lunch room with my electronic scale!). (Food comes from the cafeteria).

    So I added a smallish bowl of strawberries and blueberries with 100g low fat yoghurt to my breakfast this morning and I feel so much better! Much more optimistic and energetic and generally well. Probably will add another piece of fruit in the afternoons too. And more meat to meals.

    I do appreciate the feedback, any other advice is much appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to look at my food diary!
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
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    I’m 5-7”and 125. I maintain at 2000. I'm 52 and active. When I need to drop a few # I cut back to 1500 and that gets me -1# per week.
  • Pastaprincess1978
    Pastaprincess1978 Posts: 371 Member
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    nowine4me wrote: »
    I’m 5-7”and 125. I maintain at 2000. I'm 52 and active. When I need to drop a few # I cut back to 1500 and that gets me -1# per week.

    Ok thanks so what do you think your maintenance is without exercise - or just very little exercise?

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