How to maintain weight

Hey guys, so i lost 40 pounds and reached my goal weight which is 117 pounds. I did that my calorie restricting to 1200 and really low carb (borderline keto) with high fat and moderate protein (sometimes high protein) and now i want to maintain my weight, i definitely do not want to lose any more and i don’t want to gain more either. How much calories should i be taking in to maintain and do I bring my carb intake back up to moderate? Thank you in advance

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,907 Member
    edited June 2020
    If you tracked food prior to now, you have a calorie awareness. If you didn't, you'll have to do what we all did.

    Set your Goals to "Maintain." Log your food and exercise. Eat your carbs. In 4-6 weeks you'll have an idea. If you are still losing, add more food. Gaining consistently over that 6 weeks? Lower it by 250 per day.

    You don't give us enough info to tell you more. Just work this tool the way it's set up. If you don't know how many calories you need to be eating, it doesn't matter what we say.

    You likely WILL gain a couple pounds in stored glycogen which will show up as weight when you add in carbs. When eating that low carb/keto you artificially lowered your weight by that same amount.

    Here's the article from HELP / Using the App:

    How does MyFitnessPal calculate my initial goals?


    https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-
  • Fifibby2020
    Fifibby2020 Posts: 4 Member
    Hi sorry I did track my food on here and my exercise and i usually balanced it to 1200 cals a day. Thank you!
  • MadisonMolly2017
    MadisonMolly2017 Posts: 10,875 Member
    @Fifibby2020
    Congratulations on getting to maintenance!

    I would recommend taking baby steps. Change 1 thing each week.

    So a few questions... do you want to keep your carb/fat/protein ratio the same OR do you want to set new percentages? You ask if you should increase your carbs? No one can answer that, but you :) but a few things to think about: could you eat at the ratios of F/P/C happily for the rest of your life? Do you have the energy you need to exercise & thrive? Are you getting tons of fresh veg/ fruits each day?

    I would suggest one of two approaches for this next week:
    A. Remain at 1200 calories, but increase you carbs by 10% and decrease you fats to remain at 1200 cals daily.
    OR
    B. Keep all ratios the same but up your calories to 1300 per day!!

    Baby steps!
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    edited June 2020
    Hi sorry I did track my food on here and my exercise and i usually balanced it to 1200 cals a day. Thank you!

    And in the last four weeks how fast did you lose weight?

    You can do whatever you want with your carb allowance (low, moderate or high) but would suggest having a long think about how you intend eating long term and work backwards from that rather than thinking in terms of numbers or percentages of a particular macro.
  • Fifibby2020
    Fifibby2020 Posts: 4 Member
    Thank you guys! I can eat at 1200 comfortably and feel good but since that was a caloric deficit for me I feel like me eating 1200 would make me keep losing weight which i definitely don’t want. I want to increase my carbs by a little and my calorie intake a little too so i’m not losing any more weight.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    Hey guys, so i lost 40 pounds and reached my goal weight which is 117 pounds. I did that my calorie restricting to 1200 and really low carb (borderline keto) with high fat and moderate protein (sometimes high protein) and now i want to maintain my weight, i definitely do not want to lose any more and i don’t want to gain more either. How much calories should i be taking in to maintain and do I bring my carb intake back up to moderate? Thank you in advance

    Change your goal in MFP from losing weight to maintain weight and you will get an estimated maintenance target.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    Thank you guys! I can eat at 1200 comfortably and feel good but since that was a caloric deficit for me I feel like me eating 1200 would make me keep losing weight which i definitely don’t want. I want to increase my carbs by a little and my calorie intake a little too so i’m not losing any more weight.

    If you were recently losing quickly then "a little" may not be enough to stop you losing more weight that you say you don't want to lose. In the end calorie balance is a game of maths and emotions and fear shouldn't get in the way of making appropriate adjustments based on your personal need.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,721 Member
    Various methods for finding maintenance calories are discussed in detail on this thread:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10638211/how-to-find-your-maintenance-calorie-level/p1
  • Fifibby2020
    Fifibby2020 Posts: 4 Member
    Thank you!