Terrified of maintenance!

carylbutters
carylbutters Posts: 8 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I have successfully and fairly steadily lost 3 1/2 stone in about 1 year.
Ideally I would love to loose another 1/2 - 1stone, but I seem to have hit a plateau.
I’ve been the same weight (up and down 2-3 pounds) for the past 3 months.
I am not necessarily looking for advice in breaking the plateau.
I am fairly happy with my logging and use of my exercise calories.
Anyhow I am getting sick of telling myself to ‘stick with it’ so thought perhaps a couple of months at maintenance might help, I.e I’d either feel happier at the weight I am or might give me kick start to loose the final weight I want to.
Except I am TERRFIED of increasing my calories - if I’m not loosing in a deficit - I would surely put on weight eating in maintenance?!
I have heard that your body can stop loosing at a certain weight? Is really a thing?
Sorry for the long post and well done if you reached the end!

Replies

  • carylbutters
    carylbutters Posts: 8 Member
    Ah thank you for taking the time to reply.
    I think that sounds like sound advice and I did actually shift my goal to .5 from 1 lb today (not yet eaten them though - too scared!!)
    I think I am at risk of filling the difference with ‘treats’ - I’m gonna have to give this a lot of thought and perhaps try nuts and bigger portions of the healthy stuff for now
  • carylbutters
    carylbutters Posts: 8 Member
    SummerSkier wrote: »
    It sounds like if you have been the same weight for 3 months you are already at your maintenance level. 😳

    That’s what I’m worried about! I seem to be in maintenance whilst eating at a goal where I should be loosing 1lb a week - hence the question about does your body naturally stop at a certain weight? If it does would it be possible to eat more and maintain ?
  • corysmithsmail
    corysmithsmail Posts: 166 Member
    The best way to combat that is to plan what you're meals are. I pre-log as much as possible. Also, bouncing off what @SummerSkier said....it does sound like you've been at maintenance for awhile. So, you're logging may not be as good as you think if you are not losing still like you mentioned. I'd suggest tightening up you logging or maintaining your level of activity before trying to change into true maintenance calories.

  • carylbutters
    carylbutters Posts: 8 Member
    I am adamant that I log accurately but it doesn’t make sense does it?
    I’m looking for a magic answer ‘yes you stop loosing weight at a certain weight then you will be able to eat f***k loads and maintain’ 😂 - it’s not gonna happen is it?!
    Maybe I have let things slip without realising - but it was odd how I was happily plodding along and then it just stopped!
    I think I’m gonna change my goal to .5 and REALLY make sure I log EVERYTHING
  • garystrickland357
    garystrickland357 Posts: 598 Member
    carylbutters wrote: »
    I am adamant that I log accurately but it doesn’t make sense does it?
    I’m looking for a magic answer ‘yes you stop loosing weight at a certain weight then you will be able to eat f***k loads and maintain’ 😂 - it’s not gonna happen is it?!
    Maybe I have let things slip without realising - but it was odd how I was happily plodding along and then it just stopped!
    I think I’m gonna change my goal to .5 and REALLY make sure I log EVERYTHING

    I was listening to a podcast recently and found a new way to look at things - your calorie "allowance" regardless if it's to lose or maintain is a target you aim for - not necessarily a target you will hit. You AIM for a certain calorie allowance at the moment, but evidence clearly indicates you are not meeting that target. That simply means (as you stated) that you may have let things slip. It could be a lick here, and nibble there, using cups instead of grams, whatever... Just use the information to adjust your habits in order to meet your goals. The good news is that you know exactly what to do.

    I was a bit stressed about maintenance when I began; I'm about three months in now. I'm feeling better about the process. I use Happy Scale and still log my food. My log often suggests that I am in a calorie deficit - the scale on the bathroom floor usually disagrees. I listen to the scale and make adjustments.
  • carylbutters
    carylbutters Posts: 8 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    carylbutters wrote: »
    I am adamant that I log accurately but it doesn’t make sense does it?
    I’m looking for a magic answer ‘yes you stop loosing weight at a certain weight then you will be able to eat f***k loads and maintain’ 😂 - it’s not gonna happen is it?!
    Maybe I have let things slip without realising - but it was odd how I was happily plodding along and then it just stopped!
    I think I’m gonna change my goal to .5 and REALLY make sure I log EVERYTHING

    Adaptive thermogenesis happens when you are dieting for a long time...it also happens when you start eating more again. A lot of it is driven by hormones, but also, when you are in an energy restriction for a long time, the body starts slowing down processes to conserve energy...ie hair grows slower, nails grow slower, you do less involuntary twitching, etc...basically your body becomes more efficient to conserve energy. When you start to eat more, you re-regulate your hormones and your body will become less efficient.

    I went to maintenance after about a month long stall at 2300 calories...figured I'd be stuck there. I started eating a little more and slowly increased my calories a bit every week. To my surprise I actually started losing weight again...I noticed that I was a lot more antsy and had a lot of nervous energy and found it difficult to sit still for very long...my workouts improved, my rides got longer and felt easier, I was having to clip my finger and toe nails more often, etc. I eventually topped out and started maintaining around 3,000 calories after a slight increase in weight from water and glycogen replenishment.

    Ok - thanks - that’s interesting - I’ll certainly look into this a bit deeper.
    Thank you for taking the time to respond x
  • carylbutters
    carylbutters Posts: 8 Member
    garystrickland357 wrote: »
    carylbutters wrote: »
    I am adamant that I log accurately but it doesn’t make sense does it?
    I’m looking for a magic answer ‘yes you stop loosing weight at a certain weight then you will be able to eat f***k loads and maintain’ 😂 - it’s not gonna happen is it?!
    Maybe I have let things slip without realising - but it was odd how I was happily plodding along and then it just stopped!
    I think I’m gonna change my goal to .5 and REALLY make sure I log EVERYTHING

    I was listening to a podcast recently and found a new way to look at things - your calorie "allowance" regardless if it's to lose or maintain is a target you aim for - not necessarily a target you will hit. You AIM for a certain calorie allowance at the moment, but evidence clearly indicates you are not meeting that target. That simply means (as you stated) that you may have let things slip. It could be a lick here, and nibble there, using cups instead of grams, whatever... Just use the information to adjust your habits in order to meet your goals. The good news is that you know exactly what to do.

    I was a bit stressed about maintenance when I began; I'm about three months in now. I'm feeling better about the process. I use Happy Scale and still log my food. My log often suggests that I am in a calorie deficit - the scale on the bathroom floor usually disagrees. I listen to the scale and make adjustments.


    Thank you. I do use cups instead of scales for certain things (rice for example) but I’ve always done this. Maybe as I grow closer to target I need to tighten these things up.
    I too use Happy Scale - but I also notice I weigh myself less when I don’t like what I see - so maybe I am also loosing the bigger picture.
    Whatever is going on - I feel I need a break from it before I ‘rebel’!!!
    I think I’ll decrease my weight loss target (maybe even sneak up to maintenance slowly, if I dare) but at the same time - tighten up on logging which should deal with either scenario (me being a bit slap dash and / or the adaptive thermogenesis cwolfman13 explains.)
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,259 Member
    The first post covers most of what you need to know. Or you can spend a couple of days reading the many educational posts and viewing the video links... and the personal cat and other pet stories since the thread does meander... but again... the first post and page does cover the gist of it!

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1


  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,257 Member
    carylbutters wrote: »
    Ah thank you for taking the time to reply.
    I think that sounds like sound advice and I did actually shift my goal to .5 from 1 lb today (not yet eaten them though - too scared!!)
    I think I am at risk of filling the difference with ‘treats’ - I’m gonna have to give this a lot of thought and perhaps try nuts and bigger portions of the healthy stuff for now

    That's one of the reasons I went to maintenance even more slowly near the very end of loss, adding 100 daily calories, then waiting however long needed to get a clear trend (with Libra). Each add was a longer interval, as a result. I did this by adjusting the calorie number manually. (This was after going from 1.5 to 1 to 0.5 pounds, over a period of time.)

    Adding that little at a time encouraged me to add small nutritious tweaks, like some hemp & flax seed in my oatmeal for a little more crunch, protein and omega-3s, rather than going straight for the craft IPA. ;)

    This also caused me to overshoot my weight goal on the low side, but that's a whole different narrative. ;)

    But I was coasting into actual goal weight, not a expected-to-be-temporary diet break, so you may not want to be that slow/gradual.
  • queenoscots
    queenoscots Posts: 44 Member
    Thanks so much for bringing this up. I've lost 130 lbs and hope to reach my goal in the next six months--but maintenance scares the hell out of me!

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