Starting maintenace today

mel4bee
mel4bee Posts: 225 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hola

I feel like I'm at the weight I want to be right now and I want to start maintenance today

I was eating 3/4 of my exercise calories the whole time. (From 1400-1700 calories depending on how I exercise)

I want to have some advice on how to start maintenance without gaining the weight I lost (10 pounds)

Thanks!

Replies

  • phillinnz
    phillinnz Posts: 82 Member
    I find I try and stay within 200 of my maintenance even if I exercise a lot. It is working so far. I tend to do around 500 to 1000 cals of exercise a day, mainly walking and some running. My plan is to log, and change things if I need to depending on progress. Is working so far, about 2 months
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    You won't be able to maintain your present weight per se considering you will replenish water weight that you lost when first restricting intake. This replenishment of water could be a few lbs so expect the scale to increase when upping calories.

    To have an easier time establishing adjusted TDEE, try to keep exercise activity and intake of carbs and sodium relatively constant during the days leading to weigh-ins. Any noticeable decreases/increases in any of the above can lead to noticeable fluctuations in water retention which can skew your data making it more difficult to see trends. Also, be mindful of any unexpected stress which may occur and cause spikes in cortisol resulting in a slight increase in water weight.

    Secondly, remain eating at a designated caloric intake long enough - I recommend two weeks - to monitor and track any weight changes. If the trend leads to a net loss in weight, then up calories in proportion to the loss. For example, if you lost 0.5 lbs in two weeks, despite increasing calories, increase intake by approximately 125 calories per day. This ideally should offset the remaining deficit leading to relative weight maintenance.

    Once you establish your adjusted TDEE, then the objective is to try and be as consistent as possible by balancing dietary intake to match activity. Thus, continuing logging intake and exercise while doing routine weigh-ins could help you notice any significant changes in weight whereby you could make the necessary changes in diet/exercise to manage weight.

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