When did you stop losing weight after reaching goal?

sarahhorrigan

I reached my goal weight a couple of months ago, but haven't mastered the art of maintaining and I wondered how long it took for everyone to find their weight where everything just stabilised? What changes did you make to your diet? And did you find that your goal weight was the weight you stopped at?

Maintenance is tricky! :ohwell:

Sarah

melsinct

I slowly inched up my calories as I lost weight so at the end, I only had to adjust by about 250 calories a day to reach my maintenance sweet spot. Adding calories is way easier if you do it slowly, as opposed to suddenly having 600 extra calories to use up per day. After upping your calories, give it a few weeks and see if it all evens out, if not then adjust up or down with your calories.

if you need to add calories, think high quality fats: olive oil, nut butters, nuts, avocado, etc. It takes some tweaking but you'll find your maintenance groove.

sklebar

I've had a bit of trouble with this and now trying to put 2 kg. back on. I just keep adding calories to my daily goal every week and seeing if that helps, though now, I'm trying to gain rather than maintain. I realised I needed to introduce more carbs and fats into my diet, so things like eggs in the morning, a little bit of bread or grains and increase my meal sizes a little more. I'm still tweaking, but I'll get there and not worry too much.

sarahhorrigan

I slowly inched up my calories as I lost weight so at the end, I only had to adjust by about 250 calories a day to reach my maintenance sweet spot. Adding calories is way easier if you do it slowly, as opposed to suddenly having 600 extra calories to use up per day. After upping your calories, give it a few weeks and see if it all evens out, if not then adjust up or down with your calories.

if you need to add calories, think high quality fats: olive oil, nut butters, nuts, avocado, etc. It takes some tweaking but you'll find your maintenance groove.

Thanks! I'm eating nuts / avocado every day - and gradually adding in more calories... but after two months I still haven't got it cracked! I'll get there, I guess. I'm just getting sick of people saying 'don't lose any more weight', when I'm not actually trying to!

jharb2

I also reached my goal and then some. Now trying to loosen the reigns a little. Its mentally difficult and its very slow for me to add calories. Im super paranoid to deviate from what was successful. I have added my maintenance calories as my daily goal but mentally have trouble getting up there. I'm working on it.

Tedebearduff

I reached my goal weight a couple of months ago, but haven't mastered the art of maintaining and I wondered how long it took for everyone to find their weight where everything just stabilised? What changes did you make to your diet? And did you find that your goal weight was the weight you stopped at?

Maintenance is tricky! :ohwell:

Sarah

Hi Sarah,

This is really something only you can figure out on your own .. add 100 calories for 2 weeks and see how your system reacts … if you are still losing add another 100 calories … this is really horrible advice when I think of it…

Obsessing daily over the scale is the worst thing you can do, just go by how you look … for me I go by visibility of abs, that’s the easiest way for me to tell I hardly step on my scale ever.

Also FYI as a female you can gain upwards of 10lbs around your mentral cycle .. another reason not to stare at the scale.

Take care,
Brad

michelefrench

I've been worrying about this myself...thanks for asking - the answers help me too...

BlueBombers

Great question, been wondering this myself as I am close to hitting my goal!

sklebar

Me too. Everyone keeps saying I'm scarily losing weight, but trying hard not to, but at the same time, don't want to get into bad eating habits again. I'm just ramping it up. I started at 1600 and now up to 2170 for my maintenance calories. It slowed and now it looks like I'm starting to stabilise and I feel better too!

PaytraB

I was surprised to find that maintenance is almost trickier than losing.

I upped my calories first 200 calories for the first month, then added 100 calories for each month after. I weigh myself every month to see how I'm doing. After six months, I'm finally honing in on my maintenance intake.
My weigh-in is next week, so I'll see if I'm still slowly losing weight. Last month I lost 1/4 lb. I kept my calorie intake setting the same since 1/4 lb a month could be normal fluctuation.
It takes a fairly long time to find your maintenance level.

melham

Same problem. I passed my goal weight six weeks ago and have lost another seven pounds since then (a significant amount since my goal was 105). Tricky!

spfldpam

I kept loosing till I up'd my calories per day and ate back some of my exercised burn calories. Right now I try to eat 1490 in cals a day, 80 or more grams of protein, 80 oz of more of water and when I do workout, eat back some of my exercised cals back. I got as low as 124 but after adding cals and eating back some burn exercise cals my body settled on 132 as my set point weight. I can eat less or more cals a day and usually I am at 130-132. I bounce around a pound or two depending on what I eat. I do weigh myself daily to keep myself in check.
Good luck

sklebar

I actually forced myself over a two week period to have a couple of cheat days and an overload of chocolate biscuits, even though they make me feel sick nowadays. I gained a pound a week back and now in maintenance at 1,900 calories exactly. It feels pretty good now. You do have to bite the bullet and add the calories back on, particularly if you need to re-gain weight. That was mentally difficult for me, as I'm a little worried about gaining too much weight back.

Zelinna

Thanks for the info!

I am approaching maintenance and I want slow down my loss, but the last few weeks I have been losing at a faster rate. I definitely need to add more calories to my day.

kdiamond

It took me 6 months to a year to learn what my maintenance truly was, and even to this day (8 years after losing the weight) I have to be diligent or I'll gain or lose weight. I have never gone more than 3 pounds either way though, so I'm pretty confident with my numbers.

ekaustin7

I stopped trying to lose weight in July, but have lost 5 pounds since then. I'm trying to figure out exactly what my number is to truly maintain.

harleygroomer

Since this is NOT a diet but a LIFESTYLE CHANGE, I do not intend to ever quit. This will be a maintenance/weight loss program that I will always continue.. I will always exercise and I will always watch what I eat. Will I weight 90 lbs someday?? Hardly so don't worry about what may never happen.

sarahhorrigan

Hi Sarah,

This is really something only you can figure out on your own .. add 100 calories for 2 weeks and see how your system reacts … if you are still losing add another 100 calories … this is really horrible advice when I think of it…

Obsessing daily over the scale is the worst thing you can do, just go by how you look … for me I go by visibility of abs, that’s the easiest way for me to tell I hardly step on my scale ever.

Also FYI as a female you can gain upwards of 10lbs around your mentral cycle .. another reason not to stare at the scale.

Take care,
Brad

Thanks, Brad. Weirdly I lose weight just before my menstrual cycle! But I have cut down weighing myself. I'm trying to add in things like nuts / avocados etc and gradually eating more and not worrying about whether or not I'm being 'good' all the time! But I'm still losing weight, so the balance still isn't quite right. I'll get there!

I could definitely do without being told by umpteen people 'you can stop losing weight now' - it is driving me absolutely mad! I wouldn't dream of telling someone who was overweight 'you can stop gaining weight now'. Why, when I'm a healthy weight, they feel it's okay to comment at all, I don't know!

Sarah

chezjuan

I lost about another 8 lbs. after I reached my goal, but I had set my goal a little high. I am now maintaining pretty well, but am keeping an eye to make sure I am not losing any more (I still weigh in weekly, and watch for trends one way or the other).

One thing that helped me was switching to the TDEE method for maintenance instead of following the MFP numbers. It gives me a set number to target each day regardless of exercise. When I switched, I used the IIFYM calculator (http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/) to get the maintenance number based on my exercise routine as well as my BF%, and then tweaked from there.

kimmyt4

When you were loosing weight did you eat your exercise calories back as well as follow the amount of food intake that mfp set for you?


So when you get to maintance you actually have to eat more food just to maintain instead of loosing?

kluvit

Maintenance is tricky because you need to stop the weight loss and maybe even gain a couple back without reverting back to the old habits that made you need to lose in the first place. I started by adding back my daily frap light from SBUX, popped a few almonds here and there as a snack, increased my daily ice cream intake from 1/2 serving to a full serving, did fewer mid-day 2 mile walks and just focused on my morning exercise routine, and cut myself some slack during the holidays, and there I was exactly where I wanted to be. It actually took about 4-5 months for me to stabilize.

I still weigh almost daily, and I adjust accordingly. If I'm a pound or so over, then I cut back on portions and "junk" for a few days until I return to my ideal. If I get 2-3 pounds over, then I change my MFP goal to lose 1/2 pound per week, and I log until I'm back to the ideal. It still takes focus, but soon you'll learn to make small adjustments to stay within your goal.

sklebar

Maintenance is tricky because you need to stop the weight loss and maybe even gain a couple back without reverting back to the old habits that made you need to lose in the first place. I started by adding back my daily frap light from SBUX, popped a few almonds here and there as a snack, increased my daily ice cream intake from 1/2 serving to a full serving, did fewer mid-day 2 mile walks and just focused on my morning exercise routine, and cut myself some slack during the holidays, and there I was exactly where I wanted to be. It actually took about 4-5 months for me to stabilize.

I still weigh almost daily, and I adjust accordingly. If I'm a pound or so over, then I cut back on portions and "junk" for a few days until I return to my ideal. If I get 2-3 pounds over, then I change my MFP goal to lose 1/2 pound per week, and I log until I'm back to the ideal. It still takes focus, but soon you'll learn to make small adjustments to stay within your goal.

Same thing happened to me. I reached my goal weight around end of June and it took me 3 months to stabilise my weight. First, I kept on losing and then looked too thin and then had to bump up my calories a lot for three weeks to re-gain the lost weight slowly and then found my perfect calorie intake and the last week has shown me what I need to eat.

SoDamnHungry

Not yet. I always gain it back pretty quick because I pig out. Sigh...trying to master it.