Maintenance Thread

Nessarose1

good morning.
Anyway, about moving your calories up--Nessa and Mori, I'm in the same boat. After the holidays I went down in calories but typical eat at 1400 and change for maintenance. Now that I feel good, losing the holiday few lbs, I need to go back up again. I have been talking to some other folks here and want be at 1400 for another 3-4 weeks and then try to move up to 1500-1600. I think I should be able to eat more than this w/out gaining weight but have not been brave enough to increase the calories although based on the #'s MFP gives me for maintenance.

Well, my little boy just woke up--must go! Have a great day!

If I was at 1450 for 2 months already am I safe to up my calories. I did up them last week to 1550 and today I had to log a gain of 1.8. I was not particularily happy about it but at the same time I haven't been getting all my water in either.

1.8 lbs or kg?

1.8 lbs is well within normal tolerances, 1.8 kg might be a bit high, but still in the realm of normal.

for instance, yesterday I was at 181.5 lbs and today (same time, same place) I was 186. Tomorrow I may be down to 182, there's a 5 lb swing you need to account for. Especially when you significantly change calorie counts, water levels change when glucose levels change (I.E. calorie counts), these are generally temporary, but you should expect them. It doesn't mean you gained 1.8 lbs of fat.

I knew there might be a gain- so this is temporary? I fugured it was water weight or something.
So I should up my calories right? I'm not going to be stuck at 1450 forever?
I appreciate you taking the time to tell me. You'd think as long as I've been here I'd have checked into maintenence at some point. (I've been here longer than what my screen name says- under a different name.)

DeeDeeLHF

good morning.
Anyway, about moving your calories up--Nessa and Mori, I'm in the same boat. After the holidays I went down in calories but typical eat at 1400 and change for maintenance. Now that I feel good, losing the holiday few lbs, I need to go back up again. I have been talking to some other folks here and want be at 1400 for another 3-4 weeks and then try to move up to 1500-1600. I think I should be able to eat more than this w/out gaining weight but have not been brave enough to increase the calories although based on the #'s MFP gives me for maintenance.

Well, my little boy just woke up--must go! Have a great day!

If I was at 1450 for 2 months already am I safe to up my calories. I did up them last week to 1550 and today I had to log a gain of 1.8. I was not particularily happy about it but at the same time I haven't been getting all my water in either.

1.8 lbs or kg?

1.8 lbs is well within normal tolerances, 1.8 kg might be a bit high, but still in the realm of normal.

for instance, yesterday I was at 181.5 lbs and today (same time, same place) I was 186. Tomorrow I may be down to 182, there's a 5 lb swing you need to account for. Especially when you significantly change calorie counts, water levels change when glucose levels change (I.E. calorie counts), these are generally temporary, but you should expect them. It doesn't mean you gained 1.8 lbs of fat.

I know that lots of people are negative about weighing in every day but this is exactly why I do weigh in each day. I don't obsess over one single day only if I start to see two or three days in a row. I have learned that so many things can change my weight in a 24 hour time period. What if I weighed in only once per week but it was a "bad" day. Yikes! I'd be freaked out for a whole week.

Anyway, as for maintenance. I hear you on the "not happy" part. I wish I could eat more and maintain but I can't. I am only 5 ft almost 2 inches and 46 years old. My BMR is less than 1200 so the calorie difference between losing really slowly and maintaining is really minute.

I would be very careful about increasing my calories too quickly. Increase it by 50 every two weeks and stop when you see that your weight isn't changing. If it goes up, cut back again.

D

DeeDeeLHF

Lobster, I am so happy that you have been having some better days. Don't forget the non-food comforts for yourself.

I agree the new faces are very welcomed! I love when I see that there are new posts on this thread.

Robin, it is a great plan to really mix it up. My favorite is the elliptical, too but I know that I can't just do that. I love trying something new and finding a sore muscle or two the next day. I know I worked out something that wasn't being touched before.

I wanted to share a small success. I have been lifting at the gym since the beginning of January three times per week. Today, I realized that I have been able to increase the weights on every machine! So, my hope to become stronger is happening!

D

SHBoss1673

good morning.
Anyway, about moving your calories up--Nessa and Mori, I'm in the same boat. After the holidays I went down in calories but typical eat at 1400 and change for maintenance. Now that I feel good, losing the holiday few lbs, I need to go back up again. I have been talking to some other folks here and want be at 1400 for another 3-4 weeks and then try to move up to 1500-1600. I think I should be able to eat more than this w/out gaining weight but have not been brave enough to increase the calories although based on the #'s MFP gives me for maintenance.

Well, my little boy just woke up--must go! Have a great day!

If I was at 1450 for 2 months already am I safe to up my calories. I did up them last week to 1550 and today I had to log a gain of 1.8. I was not particularily happy about it but at the same time I haven't been getting all my water in either.

1.8 lbs or kg?

1.8 lbs is well within normal tolerances, 1.8 kg might be a bit high, but still in the realm of normal.

for instance, yesterday I was at 181.5 lbs and today (same time, same place) I was 186. Tomorrow I may be down to 182, there's a 5 lb swing you need to account for. Especially when you significantly change calorie counts, water levels change when glucose levels change (I.E. calorie counts), these are generally temporary, but you should expect them. It doesn't mean you gained 1.8 lbs of fat.

I know that lots of people are negative about weighing in every day but this is exactly why I do weigh in each day. I don't obsess over one single day only if I start to see two or three days in a row. I have learned that so many things can change my weight in a 24 hour time period. What if I weighed in only once per week but it was a "bad" day. Yikes! I'd be freaked out for a whole week.

Anyway, as for maintenance. I hear you on the "not happy" part. I wish I could eat more and maintain but I can't. I am only 5 ft almost 2 inches and 46 years old. My BMR is less than 1200 so the calorie difference between losing really slowly and maintaining is really minute.

I would be very careful about increasing my calories too quickly. Increase it by 50 every two weeks and stop when you see that your weight isn't changing. If it goes up, cut back again.

D

not much I can add to this, that's about what I would have recommended. Maybe even longer than every 2 weeks, that's about it though.

Nessarose1

Awesome thanks!

Oishii

I was just wondering, does food packaging where you are include a RDA/GDA of calories? In the UK the recommended calorific intake for a woman is set at 2000, and a man's is at 2500! Therefore, when I tell my mum I'm eating 1450 she thinks I'm eating 550 calories under, when 1700 is more likely my maintenance, and it may even be lower. If I believed 2000 was what I had to eat (as my parents seem to) I would be rapidly gaining weight!

Do other countries have the same, ridiculous labelling?

SHBoss1673

I was just wondering, does food packaging where you are include a RDA/GDA of calories? In the UK the recommended calorific intake for a woman is set at 2000, and a man's is at 2500! Therefore, when I tell my mum I'm eating 1450 she thinks I'm eating 550 calories under, when 1700 is more likely my maintenance, and it may even be lower. If I believed 2000 was what I had to eat (as my parents seem to) I would be rapidly gaining weight!

Do other countries have the same, ridiculous labelling?

some of those guidelines are rather old, and remember, they're all very generic estimates. Remember, up until about 35 years ago, people averaged between 15 and 30% more physical labor on a daily basis through things like washing clothes, walking, riding bikes, gardening...etc. The advent of cars and electronics have really played a roll. The Television changed everything as well. Heck, my maintenance calories are about 2750, so by those estimates, I'd be losing 1/2 lb a week on maintenance of 2500 calories, and I don't wanna lose any weight. I'm happy right where I am (now).

wintervixen78

Hi, I'm not at maintenance yet, but will be one day in the near future. See you all soon and keep up the inspiering work )

Oishii

@SHBoss (sorry, can't work out long quotes on my phone)

My issue is not necessarily that the numbers should be set higher or lower, but that consumers should be made aware that they are only averages. Many people complain about bmi being a ridiculous tool for judging who is in shape, but I suspect the number of individuals who are mislabelled by it is minuscule compared to the number of women for whom 2000 is not their maintenance calories.

My other issue with it is that people really do seem to believe in them. I did before I came on mfp. My educated, health conscious parents do. I wish I could educate people about it better. Some packaging does explain it is individual, some doesn't, but the message gets through that it should be right because it's on the packet. Such packaging benefits companies selling high calorie foods and the diet industry that benefits from the result, so who would change it?

Also, as 50% of women in the UK are now overweight, the average (which is what it says it is) will be the maintenance required to stay at the borderline between ok and overweight, not any type of 'ideal' weight.

So, I don't think many people in the UK realise the figures probably don't apply to them, and I was wondering if the same figures and belief in them was common elsewhere.

MacMadame

[

I don't really know how this works. :ohwell:

It's really easy on one level... Calories In = Calories Out and you maintain. :laugh:

The complicated part is that we are only estimating calories out. (And even to some extent, calories in, though we get a lot closer on that.) MFP will give us a number, but no one burns the exact same number of calories every day. Plus, it's just guessing at our BMR.

I thought when we hit a goal we slowly upped the calories to maintenence.

If you hit your goal and you are still losing, then you need to slowly up calories until you find your break even point. But you said you'd been 130 for over a month. That sounds to me like you have found your break even level already.

You think I should keep them at 1450? Cuz that is not a happy thought for me.

I've been there. I think the only way out is to commit to exercise and more than moderate exercise. Enough to really change your body composition.

Let's put it this way... I'm 53, barely over 5' and have yo-yo dieted for decades (which can mess with your metabolism). MFP tells me my BMR is 1,087 which would put my maintenance calories at 1360-1470 depending on whether I'm sedentary or lightly active (some days I'm one, some I'm the other). But my actual maintenance calories are around 1650. Throw in the actual calories burned during exercise and I average around 2000-2100 calories a day!

How did that happen? Exercise! I fell in love with triathlon and I got the point where I exercise 6-10 hours a week doing fairly intense stuff for most of it. That got my body fat percentage under 20 and built up my lean muscle mass and now my 5' 0.5" 53 year old body has a BMR closer to 1287, not 1087. That's 200 calories a day extra I can play with -- even before exercise gets factored in.

Then throw in the calories I burn during the actual exercising and now I've got around 500 extra calories a day to play with. I can't eat anything I want any time I want to -- I still have to watch what I eat -- but I have a lot of room to play with. I can go to a party and actually have dessert or a drink and know I'll be okay.

OMG, it's AWESOME! I wish everyone could find something active to love so they'd get to experience all the great benefits of exercising.

I was wondering if the same figures and belief in them was common elsewhere.

Our labeling is all based on a 2000 calorie diet. I agree it's crazy talk for most women. I don't think people generally are taking this as a guideline though. In fact, I think if you asked most people in the US what the recommended average is for women, they wouldn't know there was one. They also don't know how many calories they eat, how many are in common foods, etc.

Even so, I wish they'd just skip that part. It's not useful information anyway. When I'm looking at labels, I'm trying to decide whether to buy one product or another or eat one or another. I don't care what the percentage of my daily calories it has. I'm looking for the one with the best overall stats. Or I'm thinking "I need to eat 20 more grams of protein before I go to bed and 200 calories... which food will get me closest to the protein grams without going over the calorie grams?"

If the label was less crowded with useless information, I bet more people would read them.

Oishii

I think labels in the US are much more detailed than in the UK. In the last few years two simplified nutrition guides have become popular: percentages and traffic lights. I do use the percentages (based on the generalised GDAs) but only to compare to each other, so if something says it's 10% of calories but 30% of saturated
fat I'll think twice about buying it!

The traffic lights are even easier as they show nutritional information in red, amber or green in a kind of pie chart. It means you can easily pick the less salty ham or whatever.

Both summaries are on the front, so I reckon people must read them more than when they were on the back. While the colours might be seen as patronising, I prefer them for ease of use, and less maths required on my part

I hadn't thought how useful that was before, so thank you for helping me to see the bright side of labelling here. :flowerforyou:

altushe

Sunday's are my weigh-in day and although I am at my maintenance weight - I am up in pounds two weeks in a row. While I have fluctuated up to fours pounds less and then +/- over the past two and half months, this is my high weight and a gain two weeks in a row has me at that "nervous" point thinking, "Uh, oh, I am going to keep gaining an gaining and gaining until… " Even though the rationale part knows that can't happen given that there is NOTHING causing the gain except that fact that it is normal to fluctuate on maintenance. BUT, I am a bit freaking out this morning and about ready to head to the gym for an extra vigorous workout…
−
How do you guys with more than 2+ months on maintenance advise? Did you deal with these "nervous" feelings and how did you cope?

THANKS,
HJA

RaeN81

How do you guys with more than 2+ months on maintenance advise? Did you deal with these "nervous" feelings and how did you cope?

I think it's probably different for everyone, but for me it has been all about having fitness goals (mostly because I am goal oriented). I've done a couple of fitness challenges and now I am working towards doing a triathlon. These goals distract me and give me something positive and tangible to strive for since the scale is not always my friend LOL. I also allow myself a 10 pound range. When I get nervous about a gain I simply clean up my eating for a few days. I stopped logging my foods about a month after I entered maintenance but I am still quite conscious of what goes into my mouth. Not logging for a while might help you. It helped me be less obsessive and critical of myself. I simply eat when I am hungry and I am careful with portions.

I think working out some of your frustrations at the gym is a great idea--but try not to treat it like a punishment for gaining--I always find that a nice endorphin rush helps my mood.

Oishii

I dipped under my ideal weight today (still not come off 1450 because I didn't want to find it was actually my maintenance, but it seems it isn't) which worries me a little. I'll wait until Wednesday, my official weigh in day, before I up the calories. Having gotten used to trying to keep them down, I think I was already good at maintaining at the weight I don't want to be, by eating too little of the best stuff and bingeing on the worst stuff.:ohwell:

yvonnej1

Hi everyone, I haven't posted for a while so hope you are all well. I'm going through a bit of a funny stage at the moment - the scale says the right number but I am feeling flabby! Diet is still the same, exercise is still the same, fluids are still the same. Anyway have decided to add in a circuit class just for a change really, I'm sure things will sort themselves out sooner or later!

MacMadame

My scale claims I had a dramatic improvement in body fat and muscle mass while weight remains the same. I'd love to believe it, but I doubt I really gained 6 lb of muscle in half a week!

OTOH, I have really upped the exercise and watched the calories lately and I do think this off-season/Christmas spare tire is finally gone. So that's good.

DeeDeeLHF

MacMadame, Happy to hear the spare tire is gone. I too am finally back down to my original goal weight. I was so inspired by your last post. I need to get excited enough about an exercise that I am able to really push it. I just always seem to end up injured when I do and keep wondering if I am just too old to "push" too hard. I have tried p90x twice and both times messed up my knee. That is my fear with running, that I will mess up my knee. The elliptical and swimming are so safe. I am lifting weights though and I hope that by doing that I can strengthen the muscles around my knee so that I can branch out.

I have to say that although I want to lose a bit more so I have a cushion, I really am happy at 122.

D

Robin1117

Good morning --hope everyone had a good weekend! I'm actually coming into the week with a positive attitude. Last week I think I mentioned I finally started mixing up the exercises. I have done 3 days of the 30 day shred (the easy level of course), but feel strong! I love it. Although I'm not sure I want to do this every day for the next month (today is usually my rest day, so I haven't decided yet to trudge forward or take a break). And also have been jump roping, snowshoeing and generally been on my feet a lot over the weekend. The only confusion over exercise I still have is how much I really need to do--when you are maintaining, do you have to exercise just as hard as when losing or is there a leveling off? I'm still doing about 6 hours a week and like it because I want the extra calories each day to eat, but just keep thinking about the future and whether I'll be able to keep this up long term.

As for calories, I had gone down to 1200 range to lose a few holiday pounds but then last week went up to the mid-1400s and think it went smoothly. I'll do this one more week and then attempt to up it again. I so hope I can get these maintenance calories up in the 15-1600 range....I actually just plugged in all my net calorie numbers for the last 2 months into an excel spreadsheet and I'm going to keep track of my averages by week so I can monitor this going forward and really determine where my optimum level is once and for all.

Altushe, I think I have mentioned to you my favorite way of avoiding fluctuations--I put the scale away and generally don't weigh myself unless I'm doing something different like looking at calorie levels and needing the answer to a question or change I make. Do your clothes feel good? Do you feel like you look the same? Those are the questions I ask myself before dealing w/the scale because I hate fluctuations and obsess and over analyze them when I see them.

Oh, another thing I'm excited about is that my husband FINALLY came to me and told me he wanted to start logging in calories and get in shape. He read some article while traveling last week and kind of woke up to the fact he was not in the weight range he should be. Anyway, he wanted me to administer it but when I showed him the iphone app, he realized how easy it was and just ran with it. So great to have him finally understand what I have been doing over the last year and a half!

Anyway, I have babbled enough--have a great day everyone!

MacMadame

@DeeDee - knee pain is often a sign of poor form and/or muscle imbalances. I have some exercises for my gluts to help with my knees and also I'm supposed to stretch every day, particularly my calves.

@Robin - all the other times I cut back on exercise after getting to goal, I regained my weight. Now, I don't think that's the only reason, but I do think that exercise is important to maintenance and seems to be one of the keys for how to be successful at it.

I guess I'm saying, if you enjoy the working out and you want the calories it lets you eat, why not keep doing it and worry about the day you don't want to do it when it happens, if it ever does. :laugh:

Oh and my scale is now back to what it was saying last week. Shrug. Plus I'm jealous that your husband finally gets it. I wish mine would!

a1schwei

@deedee...congrats on getting back to 122
@macmadame...good job losing the 'spare tire' i am so ready for spring to come and a new goal to train for
@robin...i am impressed that you can ever put the scale away...i have the hardest time not checking in every day

i am finally feeling a bit more balanced again...i've been trying to kick my own butt lately, but at the same ease up on myself...i was stressing a lot about where i was after the holidays and now that i have relaxed a bit i feel better and the scale has finally started to move again i got my wedding dress fitted two weekends ago and she is going to have to take it in almost a whole size worth which is really encouraging i am hopeful that i will be at the bottom end of my goal range and toned by the wedding and i registered for a 25k race in mid-may which gives me a goal to work towards...i do soooo much better when i have a goal