Am I really moving over to maintenance?

Linli_Anne

My scale has been about a half a pound below my goal scale weight for the last week. I'm thrilled about that, but I still have work to do.

After my 1/2 marathon on Saturday, I'm going to be diving into a strength training program in hopes of lowering my overall body fat some more.

So, while I won't be aiming to lose weight, I think that I'll still want to be in a small deficit to continue with the fat loss. Would you consider me to be in maintenance mode, or, am I in limbo somewhere?

TravelDog14

I would say you are on the abyss between losing and maintenance.

If you're moving over to strength training from mostly cardio at the same time you've hit goal weight it's going to take some time to sort your maintenance calories out.

Just take it slow and experiment with your calorie amounts over the next month or two, nothing drastic and you'll be just fine.

nxd10

I don't know. When I changed to maintenance it was with the goal of increasing my exercise, increasing my fitness, lowering my body fat, and probably staying with the same weight.

That sounds like maintaining weight and increasing fitness to me.

odddrums

Congrats on getting to maintenance! I'd say if you're switching to less cardio and more strength training then slowly add calories each week until you find the right balance, and remember to eat a bit more during the workout days. Also get your protein!!!!

If you're lifting to gain muscle and lose fat you'll want to eventually not have a deficit, as you can't really gain muscle without excess calories. Your weight will fluctuate from water and may rise a bit, but don't expect to gain much more than a half pound of muscle each month.

You will probably get some fat back too, this is normal, just go back to a deficit after you get stronger to lose it again and it will come off quick. It's kind of an ebb and flow, or "bulk and cut" until you get to where you want to be. This is because you gain muscle [and some fat] by eating more calories than you use and you lose fat [and some muscle] by burning more than you eat.

Hopefully this makes sense!

Linli_Anne

Thanks for the thoughts and comments.

While I have always incorporated at least 2 days of strength into my workouts, my goal with that was to simply maintain the lean mass I already had whild focusing on training for my 1/2 marathon. Last winter I did get through the first 2 stages of New Rules of Lifting for Women, and felt awesome.

I thought that my calories were already pretty close to maintenance, but, then my body surprises me and I drop another couple of pounds on the scale. I do know from my long runs, which completely deplete my glycogen stores, that I will experience about a 3 pound gain on the scale the day after a morning long run as my body is replenishing.

Same thing with water weight and lifting - my goal weight is actually a range from 173-177 because of how my weight will fluctuate with exercise etc.