Tell me its going to be ok...

Avidkeo

So i lost 20kg - 44lb a couple of years ago, and for the last 2 years I've essentially maintained. This is my year to lose the last 20lb. I've had my diary set to lose 0.75kg per week for the last year or so. I haven't been great at logging, I've been on and off. For the last month I've been really good at logging etc, and lost 2.7kg, perfect and basically exactly what I had set as my goal and I had a couple of binge days slowing things briefly (I track using a trending ap).

I'm within 10kg of goal, (I'm 5'3", starting weight 90kg - 200lb currently weigh 68kg - 150lb Aiming for 60 - 130ish) and I want to start slowly increasing my calorie intake so I can work towards maintainance once I hit goal - so decrease my loss to 0.5kg per week this month for a couple of months, then when I get to 64 I'll drop to 0.25kg per week. And if you go by the the best practice, I should only be losing about 0.5kg a week anyway.

But I admit I'm really nervous!! It feels wrong to have this many calories haha. Does this sound like a sensible idea? That way I slowly get used to eating more calories as I get close to my goal rather than hit goal and suddenly increase then. I guess my thinking is slowly changing from a weightloss mindset to a maintenance mindset.

I'm still going to lose aren't I?
Sigh yep stupid post is stupid but it's such a mental challenge. Sigh.

As extra info, I do a lot of running - average about 5k per day - and eat about half my exercise calories. I could probably start by eating back all of them first for a month, then increase my calories.

Advice please. Or am I overthinking it?

PAV8888

Are your exercise calories manual or tracker based?

If tracker based I would start there.
If manual I would stick to half which is a known adjustment you've made and adjust the goals first.

Tapering the loss sounds like a great idea to me. No matter which way you manipulate the caloric increase

Avidkeo

PAV8888 wrote: »

Are your exercise calories manual or tracker based?

If tracker based I would start there.
If manual I would stick to half which is a known adjustment you've made and adjust the goals first.

Tapering the loss sounds like a great idea to me. No matter which way you manipulate the caloric increase

Tracker based - a garmin which I wear 24/7

Thanks for the encouragement. So silly isn't it! But it's hard to step outside your comfort zone! Haha.

Il do the eating exercise calories for Feb, see what happens.

PAV8888

Then I would start by going 100% on that as it should be a relatively consistent tdee estimator

And then adjust deficit goals for further slow down as you continue to taper.

Adjust based on weight trend over 4-6 weeks, of course

Avidkeo

PAV8888 wrote: »

Then I would start by going 100% on that as it should be a relatively consistent tdee estimator

And then adjust deficit goals for further slow down as you continue to taper.

Adjust based on weight trend over 4-6 weeks, of course

Thank you!
I know logically that it will be fine. But the fear of doing something different... Bahaha

Glad I'm going that now and not in a few months.

PAV8888

Which is why the right time is now.

Since you're still operating at a deficit all that changes is speed as opposed to having to control weight gain at maintenance for example

PAV8888

I think your maintenance period these past two years will help with this.

Question : if you maintained for two years (with inaccurate tracking of food), why are you super concerned about tapering to maintenance?

TanyaHooton

Yes, you will. But it goes frustratingly slow the closer you get to goal. Like, even if your logging is very accurate it can take 5 months to lose 10 lbs. So, watch out for that and be patient.

Avidkeo

PAV8888 wrote: »

I think your maintenance period these past two years will help with this.

Question : if you maintained for two years (with inaccurate tracking of food), why are you super concerned about tapering to maintenance?

Well thay maintenance was mostly a yo-yo. Gained and lost the same 5kg over and over.

I really don't want to be tracking for my whole life, and want to make sure this is a lifestyle change. Figured tapering would help that a bit? Maybe?

Avidkeo

TanyaHooton wrote: »

Yes, you will. But it goes frustratingly slow the closer you get to goal. Like, even if your logging is very accurate it can take 5 months to lose 10 lbs. So, watch out for that and be patient.

Good to know, I'll remember that.

PAV8888

5kg is quite a bit. Are you talking scale or trending weight app?

I would definitely suggest attenuating the wave.

Go slower. Way slower. Seriously.

sarabushby

Your plan sounds good, don’t worry about it as you can easily make changes along the way and you know what’ll happen - eat more and you’ll slow the rate of loss or gain, eat less and you’ll lose more.
Just keep consistent with the logging or awareness of ‘cheat meals’ so they don’t skew your results too much. Good luck!

PAV8888

Avidkeo wrote: »

I really don't want to be tracking for my whole life, and want to make sure this is a lifestyle change

Let's chat

Do you envision the lifestyle change to not include daily or weekly weigh-ins with an intervention point that would require action in case your weight is changing?

Are you talking about weighing measuring and recording your food intake? Or are you talking about keeping to a set of calories?

My observation is that faster changes tend to have faster reactions. I think based on what you're seeking to do you're leaning that way too.

My other observation out of the past 6 years (1.75 of which included relatively rapid weight loss, one of which included a 5kg weight loss, and 3+ of which have included maintaining within a 2kg band both naturally and with active intervention) is two fold.

First of all that it took a couple of years post faster weight loss for things to become one level of easier, and another year later before things became easier again.

By easier I mean not wanting to overeat under normal circumstances, in other words not having to exert additional control.

Coincidentally I note that most battles for maintenance get lost during the first six months to a year post weight loss. The first significant cut off for success is the two-year mark. And the second significant cut off is the 5-year mark.

Since I was obesse most of my life, I went into this with the full intention of figuring out a 5 year plan.

Don't conflate logging/tracking with eating at a deficit.

And, as you've discovered, there is strict and loose logging.

Even though I think that their recall based questionnaire approach has issues and even though I personally implement/exhibit a bit less than half of the common traits they talk about, have a look at the national weight control registry and the studies associated with it.

Take care

jeagogo

It will be fine! I personally just hit my goal weight and spent the last few weeks targeting only a 100 calorie deficit below what I calculated my maintenance calories would be, and I still kept losing.

When I was within 10 lbs of my goal I starting slowly increasing my calories by manually editing my MFP calorie goal to make the transition to higher calories less jarring. When I was doing that I would add about 50 calories to my target and stick with that for a few days before adjusting again. Maybe you could try something like that so it doesn't feel like a drastic change?

Avidkeo

PAV8888 wrote: »

5kg is quite a bit. Are you talking scale or trending weight app?

I would definitely suggest attenuating the wave.

Go slower. Way slower. Seriously.

To clarify this was more like +/- 2.5kg scale weight. I've started tracking the trend since December. Basically my "bounce back" weight is currently around 71kg, so I bounce back there easy and have done so for 2 years now.

So my story is I lost 20kg in a 2017 not doing anything more than exercising more often and eating less. I didn't track or do any special "diets" I simply stopped my binges (after therapy helped my anxiety), I stopped eating when I felt satisfied etc. And then for 2 years I've basically maintained. I'd weigh weekly ish, but mostly just used my clothing to judge my weight. If my jeans started getting tight I'd jump on the scales, and if my weight started increasing - no more than about 72kg, I'd log for a couple of weeks, get it back down to around 68. This would usually last 3 months or so, so it wasn't like a weekly bounce or anything. So I bounced a wee bit for 2 years while I concentrated on running, and had a massive upheaval last year. I'm proud that I essentially maintained for 2 years and I'm happy to do things like that.

Then in December I decided that now I've kept that weight off for 2 years, my goal this year is to lose the final 10kg.

Im trying to be sensible. In theory I could set a strict calorie limit and lose it in a couple of months, but the reality is that I want to make it long term and I know that slow and steady wind the race. I'm happy to use my clothing as a guide - I don't keep clothes that are too large. As soon as I shrink out of them, I donate them. And happy to have a fluxuation closer to 60kg than 70.

I'm logging because my old way is no longer working - it's far too easy to go over deficit when you have fewer KGs to lose - so I'm being really careful with tracking. But I hate logging. I hate being obsessed. I hate weighing everything. So I want to continue to learn good habits, while slowly increasing my calorie intake to maintenance levels. That way when I'm at maintenance, it's more of a habit, and I can go back to occasional weigh ins when needed. This is because that's MY preference on how I live my life. I know some people continue to weight and track the trend every day, and continue to track every day, but I don't want to do that.

So I see the process of losing the last 10kg taking realistically 6-9 months, and I'm good with that. And that also means a slow increase over that period of time means I'll actually keep the good habits learned, then to lose it in say 3-4 months and not learn anything.

PAV8888

Way cool!

Just keep the separation in your mind between the act of logging and the calorie balance you're achieving and remember that close enough is excellent for both hand grenades and weight loss! Perfection is not required. Persistent stimulus in the correct direction is more than good enough to get you there soon enough in the big scheme of things!

Given the previous history you have discussed, I would definitely be aiming for the smallest deficit I possibly could and still get results. Large deficits and strict / inflexible accounting could act as triggers you would want to avoid.

So yeah! Sounds like a plan well customized to your needs!!!

ChickenKillerPuppy

I totally hear you. I am 5’4” at about 132 and my goal is 130 (really prefer to be at about 128 so I have a buffer). I was losing pretty quickly and felt I should add more calories so switched to .5 loss per week and it was crazy seeing how “many” calories I was getting (went from 1200 to 1450), I also run regularly (Fitbit) and was eating back about 1/2 my exercise calories, but I was still losing a little too fast than I knew was healthy. I am trying to get used to these numbers and eat more and I do think it will help once I get to maintenance, but I totally relate to what you are saying about being afraid of gaining!