Maintenance seems like too much

Kittyy1994

Hi there, as I am at my goal weight I have decided to try and give maintenance calories a go. However it seems like too much! My activity is set to lightly active which gives me a maintenance of 1920!! (I also work out 3 time a week but don’t log excersice as I have no way of measuring)....Wow, not sure if it is because my previous set calories have been between 1400 and 1650 while losing, but this sounded like a lot to me.
Has anyone else had these thoughts? I am worried all my work will be undone...

MelanieCN77

When you think of a pound worth of weight a week as 1,000 cals each day, it comes into focus some - At 1400, you would be losing a pound a week in theory with a daily 500 cal deficit. At 1650, a half pound, as the deficit was half that at 250.

But I know how you feel and struggle with some of that fear as well and with my varied activity I find it hard to be certain of my numbers sometimes. Some recommend slowly ramping your cals up, sitting with each number a while, and seeing how you do.

lorrpb

How much were you losing per week the last 4-6 weeks? What was your calorie intake during that time? That tells you how much to add for maintenance. If you’ve been losing 0.5 per week for awhile, you should add 250 to what you’ve been eating to get your maintenance cals. Continue tracking for 4/6 weeks then make any needed adjustments up or down. If you’re off, you might see a small gain or loss. You won’t see all your hard work disappear overnight.

PS 500 cals per day =1 lb per week, not 1000 as previous poster stated.

MelanieCN77

Sorry I meant TWO pounds at 1,000. My freebie edit window closed

sijomial

"Has anyone else had these thoughts?"
Personally no but if you have a scan through posts in the Maintaining Weight forum you will see your anxiety isn't unusual.
You will also see many suggestions on how to establish and test your own maintenance calories.

"I am worried all my work will be undone..."
Lets assume that the suggested calorie goal is in fact a surplus, how long would you passively watch your weight regain before intervening?

There is a big mental/emotional adjustment to maintenance including changing to a long term view, trusting that the process that brought you to goal weight (manipulating your calorie balance) also applies at maintenance, reducing the anxiety level from worry to vigilance......