Deficit break - looking for maintenance

Dalia444

Hi all. I’ve been on a deficit since March of 2023 and have lost about 52 lbs - it’s been a small deficit - focusing on protein intake to maintain as much muscle mass - strength train about 5 days a week for the past 2 years consistently. Now taking a break bc I don’t want to lose much more weight and want to better fuel my lifting sessions. My question is - in seeking maintenance- what caloric increments did you increase and how much time did you take to move up in calories if still losing - my weight fluctuates during the month but then if still in deficit tends to do a flush - for ex. Thought I was close to maintenance last month since I had only lost .5 lbs all month but then had a 2 lbs loss at the end of the month. Curious as to how others have done it when you have such inconsistent fluctuations? Thanks

xbowhunter

Congrats on the weight loss that is excellent. :0)

I have been in maintenance for a short 3 months or so. 55YO male 5'7" todays weight right on goal weight of 150lbs.

I slowly increased my calories from 1500 to around 2000 and kept tabs on my weight daily and have had no significant movement on the scale up or down.

I'm not an expert but I must be doing it correctly...

I feel I could lose another 5 to 10lbs by the summer so I have started to restrict calories again.

Retroguy2000

Good video from Dr. Mike at RP about this. As a female, you might have different weight fluctuations than he talks about here but the general suggestions still apply.

Congrats on your weight loss btw.

Since you've only been in a small deficit, I doubt the reverse dieting approach is necessary for you. So just dive into what this says. You already have a good idea what your maintenance should be because of the data you've been tracking, which is going to be better than the ballpark general starting point he describes here.

Note that your goal may actually be to keep body fat % stable, rather than your weight stable, since you're lifting a lot, i.e. you may want a small surplus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb5xgU9zAFY

Dalia444

@Retroguy2000. Thank you for this information. Really appreciate it!

Dalia444

@Retroguy2000 - thank you for this information- I really appreciate it!