Maintaining, but still losing

sklebar

Okay, so here's the deal. I'm 5. ft. 10 in. and reached my goal weight of 68 kg. pretty easily, but I just keep losing. Should I panic? I had two days where I went 600 calories over my goal to try and gain weight back, but I still seem to keep on losing. I'm doing that thing where I weigh myself in the mornings and then after a week, I add 100 calories extra to my daily calorie goal. Is that the way to do it?

TavistockToad

Should I panic?

no, you should just eat more food

sklebar

Lol. Thanks. It's just hard to figure this stuff out. I sit at a desk all day, but then I commute in London, which means i'm usually walking and running up stairs about 30 minutes or so out of my day. I exercise, but then I do intense stuff, whilst myfitnesspal seems to put them down as low-end stuff. i.e. I do a 50-minute bootcamp reformer pilates once a week; 1 50-minute jivamukti yoga class once a week and a 40-minute spin class once a week. So it all feels a little complicated.

I'm 5 ft. 10 in. and weigh about 63.5 kg. at the moment, but this is terrible because I lost my chest and now starting to see more bone than I would like to see. I started maintaining at 1500, then 1550, then I did 2 weeks at 1600, then one week at 1700 and just changed my calories to 1800 and had two days where I went 500 calories over my goal just to try and stop the weight loss.

Hellbent_Heidi

This might be a dumb question, but have you readjusted your MFP settings and calorie goals to maintenance level?

BernadetteChurch

Sounds like a sensible way to do it to me. But I don't think there's anything to really panic about. Your body may just be settling into its natural weight.

sklebar

Yes, but then they say my calories should be at 1750 if I'm sedentary and 1990 if I'm lightly active. So I'm not sure, with my activity level, what I should do?

BernadetteChurch

Oh, and you might want to think about trying some strength training instead of all that cardio.

Are you eating back your exercise calories?

sklebar

Yes, I am eating back my exercise calories and I can't really lift weights because I'm a retired athlete, I have so many injuries, every time I attempt them, I mess up another joint, so that's why I do the bootcamp reformer pilates, as it's a tension workout with lighter weights.

Chief_Rocka

Yes, but then they say my calories should be at 1750 if I'm sedentary and 1990 if I'm lightly active. So I'm not sure, with my activity level, what I should do?

Slowly raise cals until weight stabilizes.

It could take a while to nail this number down, as your BMR might rise a bit when you come out of a deficit.

TavistockToad

Lol. Thanks. It's just hard to figure this stuff out. I sit at a desk all day, but then I commute in London, which means i'm usually walking and running up stairs about 30 minutes or so out of my day. I exercise, but then I do intense stuff, whilst myfitnesspal seems to put them down as low-end stuff. i.e. I do a 50-minute bootcamp reformer pilates once a week; 1 50-minute jivamukti yoga class once a week and a 40-minute spin class once a week. So it all feels a little complicated.

I'm 5 ft. 10 in. and weigh about 63.5 kg. at the moment, but this is terrible because I lost my chest and now starting to see more bone than I would like to see. I started maintaining at 1500, then 1550, then I did 2 weeks at 1600, then one week at 1700 and just changed my calories to 1800 and had two days where I went 500 calories over my goal just to try and stop the weight loss.

i am 5ft5 and 133lbs and i maintain on NET 2000 cals - so 2300 on exercise days.

enjoy the fact you can eat all the food, i do!

and ignore MFPs maintenance figures - it says i should maintain on 1600 cals, so its a bit low!!!

mjslingsby

If you are not sure what your activity level is you might want to get a step tracker. I have a FitBit Flex - I thought it might just be an expensive toy at first, but it's shown me how variable my daily activity is. I have it set to sync regularly with MFP (via fitbit.com) and when I'm busy I often get an extra 450 calories to eat whereas other days it even takes some off my goal. I'm in maintenance mode too and using the tracker and MFP seems to be keeping my weight pretty stable as long as I eat as close to goal as possible.

sklebar

Thanks, I think that helps me. I've just raised it to 1900 calories per day and see how I get on with that and just do a daily weigh in. I've also eaten sugar for the first time over the weekend and today to see if that bumps me up and kick-starts getting a little weight back on. I'll adjust again in a week's time and let you guys know. Thanks for all of the questions, comments, guys. Sometimes you need the outside perspective to really see what you're doing with yourself.

lauren3101

Yes, but then they say my calories should be at 1750 if I'm sedentary and 1990 if I'm lightly active. So I'm not sure, with my activity level, what I should do?

Slowly raise cals until weight stabilizes.

It could take a while to nail this number down, as your BMR might rise a bit when you come out of a deficit.

Pretty much this.

It's very much a trial and error thing, Up your calories by say 100 a day for a month, then if you are still losing, up them again. You will eventually find that right amount. No TDEE calculator is 100% accurate.

sklebar

Thanks so much guys. The tracker thing and just really upping your calories I think is the best way forward. I'll do that and see what happens.

BeccaBollons

You might find your maintenance level is WAY higher than what MFP sets it to. I'm 5'9 (almost) and I'm still losing on 2000 calories a day. Hope you find your balance

TavistockToad

I've also eaten sugar for the first time over the weekend and today to see if that bumps me up and kick-starts getting a little weight back on.

sugar wont make a difference if you havent eaten enough calories overall.

sklebar

So, just an update, only if anyone is interested. I have been bumping up calories by 100 calories each week to try and stabilize my weight and I lost weight again, so now ramped it up again and see what happens. I think I'm a bit more at the level I should be and analysed that I wasn't getting enough fats in my diet and also that I need to not be scared of carbohydrates such as bread and wholegrain foods. It's gotten to the point where even my boyfriend thinks I've lost too much, so here's to trying to put weight back on.

sklebar

Hmm that seems like a good idea. I put my activity level to lightly active at the higher weight I want to get back to and then will see how this works at maintenance level. I've been bumping it up every 4 to 5 days.

notworthstalking

Hi, I went through the same thing. My maintenance is much higher than I thought it would be. I agree to keep adding calories and maybe have a couple of days where you go over. Maybe have a really nice meal out, but don't worry about the calories

pkw58

I had the same thing. I ended up that my new maintenance weight is 11 pounds below my original target and I have maintained it for over a year now. I have weeks when the scale is up a pound or so and then down a pound or so. I wear a Nike Fuel Band to count all my activity and convert it to a calorie burn - also a rough estimate. If I am having a particulary bad string of weeks where the scale keeps going down, I up my calories with more avocado, nuts or additional scoops of protein powder.

I keep my activity level up as much as possible so I will sleep a solid 6-8 hours . Which in turn helps me maintain my weight.

elisa123gal

I'm 5' 10" and I'm losing weight at eating 1600 a day and eating back my exercise calories. You should be eating 2100 or more a day to maintain... go to the scooby workshop website and put your data in and see what your maitenence calories should be.

ekaustin7

I am technically in maintenance, and have been for about 2 months now, but I have lost 5 pounds since then. Since hitting my goal weight I have added 100 calories to my goal on the first of every month until I hit the maintenance number. You may be over your calories one day, but if you look at it as calories eaten per week, or even per month, you're probably still at a defeceit and, therefore, still losing weight. You will just have to be patient and do some experimenting to find out what your real maintenance number is. You have nothing to panic about.

highervibes

I lose a lot more than I "should" according to calculators. My estimated TDEE is 2300 so I eat 1850-1900 to lose a little less than 1lb per week but on average I'm losing 1.5lbs/week so I know my TDEE must be higher. Just slow raise your calories until you maintain but I wouldn't sweat losing a pound here and there figuring it out. It's easy to put it back on :P

(and I'm only 5'6")

heybales

Last 3 weeks before you went into maintenance mode.

How much did you eat daily on average, not net, but gross, total eating levels?

How much did you lose in that same 3 weeks?

(lbs lost x 3500 / 21) + avg eaten daily = real maintenance for your level of activity during that 3 weeks.

Forget MFP recommendations and just manually set your goal to that.
You would not log any exercise that was part of normal routine during that 3 weeks for the purpose of eating back exercise calories. So if you did 3 workouts a week and you still do that, no eat back. If you threw in an extra workout, eat it back.

JenNuma

Bump. I'm close to maint. saving for later.

sklebar

Thanks guys. I ramped up my weight level to what I want it to be at 65kg. and at maintenance on slightly active. I over-ate a little on my calories last week and so far, it has now stabilised at 63 kg. I'm even eating back my exercise calories, so we will see. I think this is the calorie count for me now at 1,920 per day, 5 ft. 10 in., 36 yo female. I'll keep it at that for now. I'm not sweating it anymore and actually quite happy at this calorie count. Eating lots, eating healthier and still feel good.

cmsmj1

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-ltdfle.html

Have a read of that.

I've been eating more and coming back up to 2100 cals and still losing weight - and I expect to.

it is not like turning on a tap..

CoCoRedRider

I have found that this calculator is much more accurate than MFP's settings: http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced

I've been maintaining for almost 9 months averaging 2600 cal/day. I have a desk job but need to set MFP at the highest activity level and eat exercise calories to maintain (so 2300 + exercise calories). And my stats are similar to yours: female, 38, 6 feet tall, 153-ish pounds.

Oishii

I had the same problem with mfp calories being far too low. Maybe I just over-estimate my calories, but I lose on what I judge to be 2400kcal at only 60kg. I found this hard to accept for a long time, and lost more than I wanted and had to put it back on again.

RoadsterGirlie

I'm glad I'm not the only who experienced this when I hit my goal. I read so many stories about what a tough time people have with those last ten pounds, and with me, that was not the case at all. I hit my initial goal and bam - lost 10 more over a two month period.

I initially upped my calories to around 1700 or 1800 a day, but I guess it wasn't enough since I still lost weight. I've finally found that sweet spot, which is around 2000 to 2200.


In fact, I had read so many of these stories that my own experience frightened me, and I felt like a bit of a freak.

I saw a doctor, got checked out, and she said I was fine. I decided there are "worse" problems to have.

Congrats on making it to goal!

sklebar

Thanks. This made more sense to me. Though I would like to be perhaps two kilos more than I am, I actually do like my weight where it's at, as it allows me to have a cheat meal once every two or three weeks. Other than that, my weight has now stabilised. I am 5 ft. 10 in. and 138 pounds, but I am happy with that. I could do with gaining 5 pounds, but that's okay too.