First try at maintance wasn’t so great

StephNicole2018

After being in a deficit since about April I decided to take a diet break and try out maintance. I calculated activity level based on steps not including purposeful excercise, aimed for what MFP calculated as maintance, and did eat back exercise calories. I ate out a lot because a friend was visiting but calculated the best I could and tried to enter food on the high side. If I went over it was by less than 100 and some days was under. After a week and a half of this I have gained 4 lbs. I weighted everyday and it consistently went up a little each day. I’m hoping it’s water weight but scared it’s not. This now terrifies me to go into maintance again. Any advice or thoughts?

AnnPT77

How many calories was your jump from deficit to maintenance?

It's common to see a scale weight jump when going to maintenance, because:

* More food overall means more carbs (even if a perfectly healthy amount), and the body holds onto water weight as part of metabolizing carbs. (I forget, but it's like 3 or 4 grams of water for each addition gram of carbs).
* More food overall means more sodium (even if a perfectly healthy amount) for most people, and that will cause most people to retain a bit more water weight.
* More food overall means higher average digestive system contents, and those contents have weight.

Add to that that in your particular case, you ate out a lot, which almost certainly involved more carbs and sodium even without increasing calories, and you could certainly see a 4 pound scale jump.

Notice a pattern? All those things are not fat. To gain 4 pounds of fat, you'd have to have overestimated maintenance by 14,000 calories in a week and a half.

For easy calculation, let's call a week and a half ten days. You'd have to have overestimated maintenance by 1400 calories per day - thus have eaten 1400 calories above your true maintenance on average every day of that week and a half - to gain 4 pounds of fat (or exercised enough less to get the same net calorie outcome).

Is there any chance you did that? If not, you didn't gain 4 pounds of fat.

Is it possible that you overestimated maintenance and gained a little fat? Sure, that's possible. When you go back to a calorie deficit, you'll lose it again. Once you go back to deficit eating, if you lose the 4 pounds quite quickly (like a week or thereabouts), you'll have a very strong indication that it was all water weight. That should help you not panic if you see that again when you go to maintenance for real.

If this sort of thing freaks you out, when it's time for real maintenance, gradually increase your calories by 100 daily calories, increasing every week or two until you reach maintenance calories. By doing that, you lose a tiny bit more fat, and the water weight is more likely to creep back on in tiny increments, so you don't see a scary big overall scale jump.

You can handle it!

mariluny

That was great explanation. I agree that a 4 lbs fluctuation in a week is enormous and it's for sure not something you'll keep. Maybe just measure yourself differently: are you still comfortable in your clothes? Do you feel bloated?

TavistockToad

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10688399/first-try-at-maintance-wasn-t-so-great#latest