Body weight maintenance help

ashleygroizard

I’ve lost over 30kgs and I am after as many opinions or expert advice from accredited dietitians or nutritionalists. For anyone who knows please comment on my post, how can I get my metabolism revved up staying high all day long and maintain my weight? Is it best to have 3 small healthy meals and 2 healthy snacks to keep the weight off I’ve lost and have my metabolism up high all day with regular exercise or am I doing it wrong? I am thinking of booking into see an accredited dietitian for some much needed help. I know I have more weight to lose but over 30 kgs is a massive weight loss and I’d be happy to keep it off for the rest of my life.

NVintage

I'm not an expert, but am researching this topic. Let me know what they say, if you do consult a professional! You might get different answers depending on how they interpret all the studies on diet. From what I've read, so far, exercise is one defining trait of people who maintain weight loss. Maybe lower blood sugar levels, but not sure about that one...
As for myself, I seemed to lose weight easily eating every 4 hours, but then went back to skipping breakfast and haven't gained any back. I didn't have a lot of weight to lose, though, so don't know if that helps any...

cmriverside

Well, I don't think nutritionists or dieticians will chime in here for free - but there are a lot of regular people here who have maintained their weight loss for years.


I'm one of them. I lost 70+ pounds 14 years ago and have kept it off.


"Revving up the metabolism...." you can only do so much.

I get some exercise on most days, I think that's important.

I log my food and stay (mostly) within my calorie goal that I have determined to be around 2100 calories per day (5'7' 145 pounds, female, age over 60, retired)

The four-meals-a-day or two-meals-a-day will give you the same results. Stay in calories. That's it.

sijomial

Not an accedited dieticiam but it sounds like consulting with one will help you - but in the meantime.....

Metabolism doesn't mean what you think it means!

Want a higher metabolism then put on weight as it's the sum total of all energy the cells in your body need to function. When you were 30kg heavier you clearly had a bigger metabolism than now.

Eating schedules don't make a difference to your total energy expenditure or the energy expended in processing the food. The thermic effect of feeding (TEF) is down to overall quantity and not how you apportion that allowance. Eat in a way that helps you meet your calorie and nutrition needs the easiest.

If you simply want a higher calorie allowance, which is what I think you really mean, then move more. Either exercise or general activity, or both.
I eat more while maintaining in my goal weight range than before I lost weight because my activity level is higher now that I don't have a desk job and I also have a lot more time to indulge my exercise hobbies.

SnifterPug

I've lost roughly that amount and maintained the loss. I follow a 16:8 eating schedule, and have done so since before it became a "thing". Basically breakfast does nothing for me other than rev up my hunger, so I don't start eating until 1pm at the earliest. Usually more like 2pm or even 3pm. I exercise fasted - it suits me better but is not for everyone.

I exercise pretty much every day - at least 6 days per week. Duration ranges from 1 hour to 2 hours. Mostly I do weight lifting. Cardio is about once a week, quite intense boxing intervals.

I log all my food intake to make sure calorie intake relative to expenditure is where I want it to be. I don't stick rigidly to a daily balance but over the course of a week or month I try to keep my calories at an average of about 200 below maintenance per day. I realise this seems low, but you can't calculate to the calorie, and exercise is very hard to judge. I've got a fairly good idea of it over the years and a chest strap heart rate monitor is of help, but it is not an exact science. Anyway, this works for me.

cwolfman13

ashleygroizard wrote: »

I’ve lost over 30kgs and I am after as many opinions or expert advice from accredited dietitians or nutritionalists. For anyone who knows please comment on my post, how can I get my metabolism revved up staying high all day long and maintain my weight? Is it best to have 3 small healthy meals and 2 healthy snacks to keep the weight off I’ve lost and have my metabolism up high all day with regular exercise or am I doing it wrong? I am thinking of booking into see an accredited dietitian for some much needed help. I know I have more weight to lose but over 30 kgs is a massive weight loss and I’d be happy to keep it off for the rest of my life.

The difference between losing weight and maintaining weight is typically several hundred calories. Nothing to do with revving up metabolism or anything...you can't really do that. When people speak of metabolism, they are usually talking about their basal metabolism...the energy (calories) your body expends merely existing...can't really change that as it is more or less tied to your stats (weight, sex, height, etc). Muscle mass can make a difference in one's BMR as well as more muscle mass requires more energy (calories) to maintain...but it's also not nearly as pronounced a difference as people think unless you are talking about massive amounts of muscle (bodybuilder, competitive lifter, etc).

Beyond that, your energy (calorie) needs really come down to overall activity. The more active you are, the greater your overall metabolism will be because you're expending more energy by moving around more. If you look at the national weightloss registry and other sites that keep statistics on healthy weight maintenance, you will find one big common denominator...and that is regular exercise of some kind that leads to an overall active lifestyle. I'm not talking about hours of punishing workouts either...just regular exercise and movement most days of the week. The number one exercise mentioned on the national weightloss registry is walking.

Except for 2020 and this COVID crap combined with injury, I've maintained my weightloss for over 8 years. It comes down to consuming energy (calories) that are commensurate with what your body needs to maintain the status quo...it's no different from losing weight...just a handful more calories. Eating X number of meals or snacks is irrelevant and there aren't really any magic tricks besides eating well and moving regularly.

AnnPT77

Sijomial is right: Metabolism is the summation of energy requirements of your cellular activity, at rest (in the strictest sense). It's not very subject to deliberate manipulation. The effects you can have on it are pretty tiny, in the context of all day calorie burn, and slow to achieve.

If you think of metabolism (more accurately) as the main part of BMR/RMR (basal or resting metabolic rate), then all day calorie expenditure (TDEE, total daily energy expenditure) includes BMR/RMR, daily live activity (NEAT, non-exercise activity thermogenesis), and intentional exercise (EAT, exercise activity thermogenesis). For most typical people, that's descending order of magnitude, i.e., BMR/RMR > NEAT > EAT. (Obviously there are exceptions to that order, like professional athletes, even some very active recreational endurance athletes.)

This is a good article, science based:

https://examine.com/nutrition/is-my-slow-metabolism-stalling-my-weight-loss/

I know you're not trying to lose weight now, but the explanation in the article will clarify the issues for you, and give some ideas about the small things you can change to possibly increase TDEE. I'd note that they use different terms for NEAT and EAT (there are various terms in common use, I used the ones most common on MFP). Same basic idea, though.

If we're talking about increasing RMR/BMR, a few things help *a little*. If you gain muscle mass, a pound of muscle burns more at rest than a pound of fat (though both do burn calories just existing, i.e., they're both metabolically active). However, the difference is only around 4 calories per day per pound of muscle vs. fat. Small potatoes, especially in that for a woman a really excellent muscle mass gain rate under ideal conditions (which include things like youth and calorie surplus) would be up to a quarter pound a week. Most of us can't reach ideal conditions, so if we work really hard, we'd be adding less than one daily calorie to our calorie budget each week via muscle mass increase. Wheeee.

Still, regularly doing progressive strength exercise, or to some extent any progressively challenging exercise, also adds a tiny amount to BMR/RMR daily for things like muscle repair. So, if you want a higher calorie budget, keep exercising, strength and cardio, and keep challenging yourself. There's some research I've seen that suggests the BMR/RMR effect of that (separate from the exercise itself) could maybe be up to a few tens of calories daily, so also not hugeHuge.

Also, the energy to digest food is in RMR (Thermic Efficiency of Food). There are some very limited hints (not proof) in research that it takes more energy to digest complex whole foods vs. highly processed foods, and it definitely does take a bit more energy to digest protein vs. fat or carbs. Clearly, eating all protein is a non-starter, because that would be super-bad nutritionally, and sub-ideal nutrition has bodily effects that would wipe out the benefits of that TEF. If you get at least adequate nutrition including solid protein levels, and eat a lot of whole foods (veggies, fruits, whole grains, etc.), you're doing about the most you can on that front. The effect is still pretty small, though, handful of calories daily at best, I suspect. (Some people will tell you that all TEF effects are already netted out of food calories. I'm skeptical that this is true across the board.)

The bigger deal, the one many people ignore, is NEAT. When we are in a calorie deficit to lose weight, there can be a decrease in spontaneous movement (i.e., stuff like fidgeting) and even some metabolic processes (like hair/nails growth rate). We may even rest more, put off high-effort chores, drop high-effort non-exercise hobbies (and tell ourselves we did it because we "don't have enough time" or "don't enjoy that anymore"). Simply going back to maintenance calories and staying there, with time, may restore that slowdown, and increase TDEE a bit. Size of that change is hard to say: Anecdotally, it seems like some people have a bigger response than others.

I have zero science to support these two next bits, but I think they could be important.

If we're at reduced calories for many months, some of our reduced-energy adaptations (like the kinds of home chores or hobbies we choose) can become fixed habits. In order to put those calorie expenditures back in our day, it may be necessary to *intentionally* change those habits, and increase activity: Take on some home repair/decoration projects, pick up old active hobbies, restart the garden that was so much work, etc.

I also think there's an effect of exercise and fitness that can influence NEAT. I'm a pretty active li'l ol' lady (age 65), fit for my age. When I compare myself to same-age women with superficially similar life circumstances, it's pretty obvious to me that movement of many types is easier for me, and more fun to me. It's harder and less fun for some less-fit others, and they simply do less as a result.

If we go to an art fair or something, with lots of walking, they take rest breaks (and maybe get a snack while they rest!) more often, and I'm more likely to keep walking. When we take trips together, I'm hopping out of the car at the hotel, getting the luggage cart, doing most of the car-unloading, pushing said cart to the room, lifting any heavy stuff that needs lifting. Without a cart, I can make 1.5 or 2 trips car to room while they make one. I volunteer myself for active tasks/chores they don't enjoy, to help them out. Those are calories being burned. (Those are tiny examples that are easy to explain, but it's an all day every day effect: They spend more time watching TV than I do, they hire effortful chores done that I'd do myself, etc. Even comparing myself, I run up and down stairs more often every day, when fat me used to budget those trips to minimize the effort.)

Apart from that, going back to better science-supported ideas, there are ways you can work to increase your NEAT, consciously and intentionally. There's a thread about that here:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

Not all of those things are viable for everyone, but maybe some will be.

The final thing I'd mention is "reverse dieting". It's controversial, but anecdotally it does seem to work for some people. I mentioned early that some people seem to automatically increase spontaneous activity when they increase calories to maintenance. This is an extension of that idea. I suspect it will not work for everyone. I've never tried to do it intentionally myself, so you would want to seek out authoritative sources if you want to explore it.

The basic idea is that you stabilize your weight, then add a small increment of daily calories, maybe 100. Then you let that ride for a period of time. Some people go a week, but I'm skeptical that's long enough. If weight stays stable, you increase calories again, by another small increment. The notion is just to keep repeating that, until weight starts creeping up. (Seeing the weight creep is what makes me say a week is too short, and I'm pretty sure it would be too short for a premenopausal woman. If a person goes over actual maintenance calories by 100 daily for a month, you'd expect to see about a one-pound gain. If daily scale fluctuations are a couple of pounds or more from shifts in water & digestive contents fluctuation, picking out those tiny fat-weight changes is going to be difficult over a short time period, even with a weight-trending app.)

As background, I'll say that I've been in maintenance at a healthy weight for 5+ years now, after around three previous decades at a class 1 obese weight, the last dozen years of which I was a fairly-fit fat person, competing as a recreational athlete (not always unsuccessfully). I have more muscle mass and mobility/fitness than many other women my age, though I'm no Amazon or anything, just a regular active person. I've never done a formal reverse diet, though I did gradually increase calories over a period of weeks to reach maintenance calories (for other reasons). I do think about NEAT, just trying to keep moving when I have choices and it doesn't interfere with good life balance. By taste preference, I eat large amounts of veggies/fruit, and do work for good overall nutrition. I work out 6 days most weeks. Based on logging experience of almost 6 years, my calorie needs are 25-30% higher than MFP estimates (and about that much higher than my good brand/model fitness tracker estimates, too). I have no idea why that's true. It could be genetics or anything; I have no way to know. I'm not claiming anything about my lifestyle or choices has that result, because not everyone with similar lifestyles has that effect.

That's what I've got, some factual, some speculative.

ashleygroizard

Thanks everyone. I am definitely not wanting to eat more just been to an eating disorder specialist who is a psychotherapist and got information off Chris Powell the fitness trainer who does the extreme weight loss show with morbidly obese and gets them healthy and fit and losing massive amounts of weight he was also on the doctor oz show. They say eating every 3-4 hours accelerates and increases the fat burning for weight loss eating 3 small meals and 2 snacks breakfast snack lunch snack and dinner 80% of the time must be healthy and exercise.
I am not sure if I am doing good but this is how my last week has been for my daily calories around 1400-1800 calories.
So I have 1 cup of sultana bran with milk and sugar or 1 cup of porridge with milk and brown sugar for breakfast
Snack is a small flavoured yoghurt with a few nuts
Lunch I eat mainly healthy meals including in my meal protein, carbohydrate and normally vegetables/or salad on a bread and butter plate which is 1/2 the size of a normal dinner plate and maybe 2-3 small glasses of wine
Snack is a small yoghurt with a few nuts or 1 serving of nuts
Dinner I eat mainly healthy meals including protein, carbohydrate and vegetables/or salad or sometimes I treat myself to a hamburger and maybe a few chips or a donor kebab all fitted on a bread and butter plate
I normally don’t have dessert but if I do I have a bit of chocolate or 1 serving of dessert
For beverages I have water tea and coffee both milk milk and 1-2 sugars and sugar free energy drinks everyday
Sometimes I have no sugar fizzy drink or a medium flavoured thickshake once every month to 3 months
Not sure what others think but after eating from 700-1200 calories I lost a few kgs then got really hungry eating up to 2000-2200 calories then gained weight and now eating regularly like my psychotherapist recommended when I was in recovery from my atypical anorexia nervosa so now I am not under eating or overeating I think I may have finally found the right balance for me and I am feeling a lot better mentally, not starving not over full, I am keeping my fluids up, and my weight has stayed around the same and even came down a bit.
The metabolism as I’ve learnt actually helps keep up increasing fat burning and also eating regularly small meals and small snacks every 3-4 hours doesn’t cause stress, helps me eat less and feel full quicker, it doesn’t make me feel like binging and I am not feeling like I am starving all the time which was terrible. So whether or not my way is working or not for fat loss it doesn’t matter because I feel so much healthier happier mentally a lot more better and I have a massive increase in my energy so it’s a win win for me I’d rather feel good be healthy be fit and strong and be overweight then be thin irritable depressed because I’m overexercising and starving myself to be thin. Some people are lucky and stay healthy happy and fit and strong and thin throughout their life and I am so happy for them but others like me unfortunately didn’t research about health and start being healthy until I was severely obese so now I’ve lost over 30kgs it’s time to be healthy happy fit and strong and eat enough to fuel my body for a healthy mind, healthy life, healthy behaviour, and healthy energy for a life that I enjoy accepting my body the way it is and if I lose weight during this process of my health then I am blessed even more. I am healthier now at 93.7kgs then I was at 57kgs underweight and 126kgs and even at 72kgs when I had my eating disorder I am so much healthier now. Well I am obese at 93.7kgs and female and 175cm tall and 34 years old tomorrow and the healthiest I’ve been since well over 20 years ago or more maybe I am healthier than I’ve ever been. I accept me I accept my body I have self love I have body confidence and I’ve got my high sex drive back and I am loving the way I feel. I was so happy to recover from drug addiction, eating disorders and other things and I can say people can be obese and still be healthy. My test results for my health are all healthy they are actually healthier than my old very thin doctor who gave me a 9/10 score for my health, my blood pressure is excellent, my heart rate is normal, I walk just about everywhere because I chose to not have a car and be active, I fuel my body to survive and give it energy and I am happier now than I have been in a very very long time many many years and I have put in a lot of effort recovering and being in lots of different therapy’s with different therapists and different medication and now I am happy with me and how I am going so eating every 3-4 hours works wonders for me. If anyone would like to leave a post about yourself feel free to leave one here I’d love to hear what works for you