Looking at maintenance soon, seeking advice.

BoogeyBrat

I'm closing in on my goal weight, and I think I'll be happy with achieving that weight and don't really plan to lose anymore afterwards. While I'm no stranger to losing, I am brand new to maintaining. This is the first time I've taken the weight off without any gimmicks, or really restrictive diets, and the idea of maintaining is kind of scary to me, since I never could do so all the other times I lost weight. I do feel I stand a shot at being successful this time because I took the approach of eating whatever I wanted and just watching my intake and portions, instead of relying on prepackaged diet food or cutting out all the foods that I love, but I'm still afraid.

I'm 5'3 and am fairly sedentary by my reasoning. i don't really work out, although I do walk most places I want to go. When I started out, MFP calculated my calories at 1200, and I'd eat back most of my exercise calories if I managed to run a deficit. I got a Fitbit back in October and stopped logging any activity, and now I just make a point to try to stay under whatever the fitbit works out intake-wise between MFP and itself, if that makes sense. I probably average about 1350-1500 a day doing this, although I'll have off days as well where I don't get above 900-1000, usually due to stress. I had my gallbladder out in October as well, I've heard that can affect weight loss, but I haven't really had an issue losing.

With that background out of the way, here is what I'm wondering about, and seeking advice on:

Should I start trying to come closer to whatever my daily goal worked out between MFP and fitbit? Sometimes if I'm really active I won't come close to reaching it because I'd feel full to the point of bursting if I tried to eat that many calories in a day. I can manage 1350-1400 okay, but any higher and I have trouble with not feeling stuffed to the point of feeling sick. I've read about people slowly upping their calories to add an extra 100 calories in every few weeks to reach maintenance, should I start doing that now, or wait until I'm a little closer to goal? Not a fan of eating to the point of being uncomfortable. I honestly have no idea now how I ate as much as I did even a year ago.

Should I continue to log my calories here when I reach goal? I can see where this could be a double edged sword for me. I like how MFP made me aware of what I was consuming. Having to log stopped many a bad choice in it's tracks because I knew I'd have to log it and 'own it'. That knowledge made me ashamed enough to not go through with horking down that tub of Ben and Jerry's. On the other hand, I also wonder if it might be just a little bit obsessive to still watch every calorie I consume. I have a thing for trying to stay slightly under on my calories as well, and I wonder if that might not still be a thing for me when I'm ready to stop losing. I'm very much a creature of habit. I don't want to keep inadvertently losing after making goal, I don't really think I would look/feel good losing any more than I planned.

Finally, since I lost the weight this time without doing anything out of the ordinary other than making an effort to watch calories and portions and cutting out drinking anything other than water, coffee and the occasional glass of milk lately, will I see more success in keeping the weight off as long as I keep to those changes? I've probably lost the equivalent of a Backstreet Boy over my life time, I've just never managed to keep it off. This is probably one of my biggest fears now that I'm getting close. I'm good at losing weight, and have made goal a few times... i've just never kept it off. I want it to be different this time, I want to be done.

Sorry for the novel here, just realized I'm getting close to being out of the weight loss stage and into maintaining, and I'm stressing the transition I suppose. I appreciate any advice you guys can give.

nxd10

Yes, log all your calories. It is incredibly helpful. Most people who maintain successfully log calories. (I know there are successful people here who don't, but it's still a good place to start.)

I try to stay closer to my calories, but don't obsess about it. I try to get close by the week, not necessarily the day. Besides, it's easy to add a lot of calories - have a glass of milk or a piece of cheese. Most people find weight loss slows down when they're close to their goal anyway - don't worry about losing too much yet.

What you've done is an excellent way to maintain. Eat lots of food in moderation and limit the big calorie items.