Weight loss just wont stop or slow down

jimmmer

I have the samw problem. I'm a 21 year old student. I have a pretty sendetary life, but I try to ride my bike to school when it's sunny and I have volleyball practice twice a week (I used to be a professional, but now I only enjoy recreational playing). This is all the workout I get in a week.
I eat 2000kcal a week (sory my diary is not open, but I use calorie counter for counting calories but the forums here are better ) now that I'm on maintance and I have 160lbs (5'10").
Do you think 2000 is not enough (I sometimes eat more than 2000 but not more than 2200). When I was restricting I was eating around 1600-1800, but have now uped my alorie intake. In the last month I still lost 2 pounds and I'm worried I won't stop losing.

Add 100 cals a day - so go up to 2100. Run with 2100 a day for two weeks. If still losing, add another 100 cals a day and repeat. If you stayed the same, stay with these numbers for a minute.

You'll find your maintenance numbers by carefully weighing, measuring and logging everything and just slightly increasing your daily amount.

But, yeah, basically if you're still losing weight, then you're not at maintenance. Calculations are, at the end of the day, just estimates. They give you a starting point and then you need to run with some numbers and try to edge closer over 2 week periods (this way you'll average out any fluctuations due to fluid retention, etc).

nxd10

Yes, eat more. You're losing. At your currently activity level, to stop losing you need to eat more. I have also found in the past that bodies have natural places where they want to sit for weight. You are at one place and can eat anything and stay there, and then suddenly either gain or drop rapidly until you get to another point of stability. That happened to me going up. It happened to me again coming down. I'm guessing your body is going to a new stable point. If you don't want it there, you're going to have to work hard to stop it, and I bet once you're there you will have to drop your calories again to maintain there.

But I am so tired of people saying 'oh, you're eating so little - I am tiny and eat that and lose a pound a week'. I am a tall, net almost 1000 calories under that a day, and maintain. And that's not because I love doing it, because I've been a dieter all my life (this has been my first lifetime effort to lose), or because I'm a masochist. It's because that's what MFP recommends given my age and stats. Since I'm not hungry, not losing, and not gaining, I'm guessing that's about right. And for me, netting 1440 is maintenance. Bodies differ.

lizzyclatworthy

I think this is part of the problem with such a restrictive diet. I was just recovering from a (stupid) 1200 calorie diet when I hit goal. Going up to.maintenance is a bit of a shock. I had a sausage bap and was still way under my calories. A sensible deficit makes maintenance much easier! (too late for me but others may learn from my.mistake)

Spiderkeys

I just thought, bugger it, and jumped from weight loss mode, to maintenance mode, otherwise Ill might lose too much weight preparing, All week I've been on 2200 calories, the weight looks stable now, but seemed of gained 3 pounds since the start of maintenance mode, and the extra 3 pounds hasn't come back off all week, Is this normal? Bit concerned but at least I'm not gaining or losing anymore...

jimmmer

I just thought, bugger it, and jumped from weight loss mode, to maintenance mode, otherwise Ill might lose too much weight preparing, All week I've been on 2200 calories, the weight looks stable now, but seemed of gained 3 pounds since the start of maintenance mode, and the extra 3 pounds hasn't come back off all week, Is this normal? Bit concerned but at least I'm not gaining or losing anymore...

Depends on what sort of things you were eating cutting vs now (i.e. have you changed the macronutrient composition of your diet, sodium content of foods, etc), have you changed your training routine/style....?

firstsip

Ok doing everything right, today I ate 2,200 calories, yesterday I ate 2,400, this is approx my maintenance weight, I decided to eat half a cup of almonds (Nuts) to make sure I keep up.

Wondering though, since my diet started0, I've always fasted after dinner, would it be better if I start eating at night?

Meal frequency/timing is not responsible for weight gain and/or loss. Eating at night wouldn't make you gain more unless you happen to be eating much more than you were before (such as adding an extra meal in).

susannamarie

I just thought, bugger it, and jumped from weight loss mode, to maintenance mode, otherwise Ill might lose too much weight preparing, All week I've been on 2200 calories, the weight looks stable now, but seemed of gained 3 pounds since the start of maintenance mode, and the extra 3 pounds hasn't come back off all week, Is this normal? Bit concerned but at least I'm not gaining or losing anymore...

Yes. The bump up you see at the start of maintenance is the same as the bump down most people see when they start a diet and is due to glycogen in your muscles being used for fuel, or not.

Keep tracking, and if you see any more change after a month you might have to adjust slightly.

Spiderkeys

I expect it would be then more food = more sodium, and yeah added a an extra meal to my days now, it's called Breakfast, I wasn't a breakfast eater before, just now eating breakfast helps keep me to my goal, any left overs calories after dinner, I eat like half a cup of nuts to meet my goal, but never hungry at night, I still fast there.

AliceDark

I just thought, bugger it, and jumped from weight loss mode, to maintenance mode, otherwise Ill might lose too much weight preparing, All week I've been on 2200 calories, the weight looks stable now, but seemed of gained 3 pounds since the start of maintenance mode, and the extra 3 pounds hasn't come back off all week, Is this normal? Bit concerned but at least I'm not gaining or losing anymore...

Yeah, it's normal. There's a good chance your weight will fluctuate more than usual for a short while at the beginning, and you'll just need to ride it out. You can either not weigh in at all for the first couple of weeks (and just judge by how your clothes fit), or weigh in every day and average it out. You'll get used to the increased intake pretty quickly, and it will stop feeling like SO MUCH FOOD.

SoreTodayStrongTomorrow222

I wish I had your metabolism!!!

chantels1

Eat whenever you want to eat!

If you talking about maintaining weight it just boils down to calories in vs calories out
When you eat them calories makes no difference

^^^ This!!!

I am a 5'4" 115 lb girl and eat 1410 cals per day to lose weight, and 1600 to maintain! Guys need a lot more. I do not know how active you are, I briefly looked at your diary and didn't see exercise, which is fine, but that just means you have way under estimated your activity level, so your maintenance calories are too low. You don't have to eat yourself stuffed, or eat a bunch of junk. This will lead to yo yo dieting. You can eat more calorie dense foods though. Some avocado, nuts (like you said) peanutbutter, more protein... It all will help without all the bulk to make you feel stuffed.

Spiderkeys

Wow 1600 calories a day just to maintain isn't much, I don't think I could live on that low calorie diet for the rest of my life, as I'm only been maintaining a week, 2200 for me is just a guess, but I'm a guy and some guys have had to adjust their maintaince level as high as 3200, which be insane if I had to go that high, that's nearly what got me fat in the first place, but then I again, I'm living in a new very active lifestyle, so maybe thats all I really needed, more exercise than a calorie deflect.

loulamb7

I started trying to find my maintenance range in mid-January. Have increased my net calories by 100 to 150 every 2 weeks from 2250 to 2550 and have still loss an additional 8 lbs. For me that's okay because I'm still a little above the high end of a healthy BMI. Based on tomorrow weigh-in, I'll increase to 2650 net for 2 weeks. We're pretty lucky that we can actually eat more then we expected to maintain.

QuietBloom

I have the samw problem. I'm a 21 year old student. I have a pretty sendetary life, but I try to ride my bike to school when it's sunny and I have volleyball practice twice a week (I used to be a professional, but now I only enjoy recreational playing). This is all the workout I get in a week.
I eat 2000kcal a week (sory my diary is not open, but I use calorie counter for counting calories but the forums here are better ) now that I'm on maintance and I have 160lbs (5'10").
Do you think 2000 is not enough (I sometimes eat more than 2000 but not more than 2200). When I was restricting I was eating around 1600-1800, but have now uped my alorie intake. In the last month I still lost 2 pounds and I'm worried I won't stop losing.

You eat 2000 calories a week? Or a day?

jimmmer

I have the samw problem. I'm a 21 year old student. I have a pretty sendetary life, but I try to ride my bike to school when it's sunny and I have volleyball practice twice a week (I used to be a professional, but now I only enjoy recreational playing). This is all the workout I get in a week.
I eat 2000kcal a week (sory my diary is not open, but I use calorie counter for counting calories but the forums here are better ) now that I'm on maintance and I have 160lbs (5'10").
Do you think 2000 is not enough (I sometimes eat more than 2000 but not more than 2200). When I was restricting I was eating around 1600-1800, but have now uped my alorie intake. In the last month I still lost 2 pounds and I'm worried I won't stop losing.

You eat 2000 calories a week? Or a day?

Jesus, I missed that. Hoping she just made a typo....

JoRocka

reduce your workout frequency

keep eating at maintenance

Why would you say this? Lol. Just increase calories. He's obviously eating in a deficit.

boom.

how is this a discussion still?

Spiderkeys

I'll appear to be gaining on just 2,200 calories a day, (now nearly 5 pounds up since starting), the scales now appears to be moving up, not sure maintaining is as easy as I thought, I beeen drinking too much cold water latetely, I wonder and I hope it's just water weight, now I downed my calories to 2,000, hoping that needle on the damn scale stays still or should I just stop weighing myself everyday when Im maintaining?

dakotababy

This should be a note that all those who complain about not losing on a 1200 calorie restriction can be directed to.

STLBADGIRL

Sorry I don't have nothing to add. I'm in the losing mode...so of course I wish I had this issue. Good luck with finding what works for you.....

loulamb7

I'll appear to be gaining on just 2,200 calories a day, (now nearly 5 pounds up since starting), the scales now appears to be moving up, not sure maintaining is as easy as I thought, I beeen drinking too much cold water latetely, I wonder and I hope it's just water weight, now I downed my calories to 2,000, hoping that needle on the damn scale stays still or should I just stop weighing myself everyday when Im maintaining?

Stop weighing yourself daily and making changes based on daily fluctuations. Pick a calorie goal and weigh yourself weekly or better bi-monthly. You need to give your body time to adjust to the new caloric intake. Also pick a day and time for the weigh-in, preferably first thing in the morning.

Spiderkeys

I'll appear to be gaining on just 2,200 calories a day, (now nearly 5 pounds up since starting), the scales now appears to be moving up, not sure maintaining is as easy as I thought, I beeen drinking too much cold water latetely, I wonder and I hope it's just water weight, now I downed my calories to 2,000, hoping that needle on the damn scale stays still or should I just stop weighing myself everyday when Im maintaining?

Stop weighing yourself daily and making changes based on daily fluctuations. Pick a calorie goal and weigh yourself weekly or better bi-monthly. You need to give your body time to adjust to the new caloric intake. Also pick a day and time for the weigh-in, preferably first thing in the morning.

True I need more patience, like I gained 5 pounds in 2 weeks, then my first thought is, if this is how I much I gained in 2 weeks, how much would I weigh in 2 months? it's unthinkable, so lowered my calorie intake from 2,200 to 2,000 in attempt to avoid the unthinkable. But the yesterday night (I know night time weighing is very inaccurate), I had lost some weight, now I probably thinking 2,000 is too little AGGAIN! arrg that scale has got be packed up in the cupboard for a while.

jimmmer

I'll appear to be gaining on just 2,200 calories a day, (now nearly 5 pounds up since starting), the scales now appears to be moving up, not sure maintaining is as easy as I thought, I beeen drinking too much cold water latetely, I wonder and I hope it's just water weight, now I downed my calories to 2,000, hoping that needle on the damn scale stays still or should I just stop weighing myself everyday when Im maintaining?

Stop weighing yourself daily and making changes based on daily fluctuations. Pick a calorie goal and weigh yourself weekly or better bi-monthly. You need to give your body time to adjust to the new caloric intake. Also pick a day and time for the weigh-in, preferably first thing in the morning.

True I need more patience, like I gained 5 pounds in 2 weeks, then my first thought is, if this is how I much I gained in 2 weeks, how much would I weigh in 2 months? it's unthinkable, so lowered my calorie intake from 2,200 to 2,000 in attempt to avoid the unthinkable. But the yesterday night (I know night time weighing is very inaccurate), I had lost some weight, now I probably thinking 2,000 is too little AGGAIN! arrg that scale has got be packed up in the cupboard for a while.

It's fluid fluctuations.

I can gain 5-6lb in the course of a single day. You need to run the same number for 2 weeks and weigh at the same time of day. It's the only way to smooth out fluid variations.

If you change your cal intake daily (or everytime you get an unfavourable reading from the scale) you'll never have any meaningful data to make the right decisions. Remember good decisions are based on solid data. Take the emotion out of it and make good decisions - you'll look and feel better for it in the long run.

Blokeypoo

Maintenance can be a real head messer - you have allow say a 5lb range to maintain as it is physically impossible to always be the same, too many factors influence it.

I have used my Fitbit for my yr of maintenance. It tells me what I have burned and therefore what I can eat cal wise and I eat it and have been in range of my goal without exception ever since. I eat less in week and more at w/e's and use trendweight to get an overview and reassure me that I'm staying on track.

I weigh daily but it's only wise if you can accept that the ups are just as likely to be false as the downs etc - it is the pattern which matters not the fine detail. Try trendweight. I think you can use it even if not got Fitbit Aria scales, you just enter wt manually I think. If not, there are other similar sites.