Lost weight and then maintenance on SAME diet?

wijody

I don't know how to word that subject line ....

Anyway, I recently lost some weight that had crept on - about 12 pounds or so - in the past 4 months. I did it by increasing my exercise and simply starting a "no snacks!" rule and keeping my 3 meals reasonable. I have leveled out for the past few weeks and not losing, so I figure this is my 'goal' ... for the most part I'm happy with my weight but wish I could lose a pound or 2 of fat from my lower body but not my FACE (I'm 42 so I don't want the gaunt look or it just makes me look old!) I don't know ... hoping maybe for a couple more pounds and figure maybe since I've slowed way down, I will still gradually lose a pound or two more? Has anyone lost weight and then 'maintained' following the SAME diet? I keep seeing people 'adding back' calories for maintenance. If you keep it the same, I assume you wouldn't just STOP losing on a dime but would slow WAY down and continue a very SLOW weight loss for at least a pound or two more? Looking for experiences from others - if you stopped and kept the same diet, did you lose a bit more over, say, 4-6 months?

kristinL16

Are you counting calories or paying attention to macros? Or just winging it and eating "reasosnably"?

cwolfman13

No....

but if you weren't/aren't actually tracking caloric intake it is likely that your once deficit has now become maintenance. It sounds like you were losing pretty slowly so you didn't have a substantial deficit to begin with. As you lose weight, your calorie requirements decrease...so deficits become smaller. If it was small enough to begin with, it is very possible that you simply "closed the gap" so to speak.

This doesn't generally happen to people actively counting calories having huge deficits of 1,000 calories per day and such. If I kept eating 2200 calories per day, I would have kept losing weight...my maintenance number is around 2700. From a food standpoint, I eat the same amount...but I have to eat more, otherwise I don't maintain.

wijody

Yeah, I don't count calories. I've done it in the past (along with many other 'diets') and it just doesn't work for me (by that I mean it's too much WORK to try to figure out how many calories is in the homemade soup or salad I make). I just find it strange that I'd stop so suddenly. I keep thinking I must be retaining water and that I'm going to have a decrease on the scale, but it's not coming. I figured if I lost weight at a 'maintenance level' of XYZ pounds, that that level isn't where I'm at now, or I wouldn't have lost so steadily over the previous 5 pounds. And honestly, it's probably been more since Christmas, not really 4 months. I didn't really keep track when I started really following my 'diet'.

wijody

This doesn't generally happen to people actively counting calories having huge deficits of 1,000 calories per day and such. If I kept eating 2200 calories per day, I would have kept losing weight...my maintenance number is around 2700. From a food standpoint, I eat the same amount...but I have to eat more, otherwise I don't maintain.

So say you'd have followed a 2700 calories to LOSE - you'd probably have 'stopped' losing before your current weight and then slowly lost those last few pounds, don't you think? You wouldn't just wake up one day at that weight and, bam, you never lose more. I guess that is my question. How *slow* is that last couple of pounds before you totally level off?


**** The real reason for my question is the shorts I just bought that are the *slightest* bit tight and hoping they'll fit by summer without changing what I'm doing

cwolfman13

This doesn't generally happen to people actively counting calories having huge deficits of 1,000 calories per day and such. If I kept eating 2200 calories per day, I would have kept losing weight...my maintenance number is around 2700. From a food standpoint, I eat the same amount...but I have to eat more, otherwise I don't maintain.

So say you'd have followed a 2700 calories to LOSE - you'd probably have 'stopped' losing before your current weight and then slowly lost those last few pounds, don't you think? You wouldn't just wake up one day at that weight and, bam, you never lose more. I guess that is my question. How *slow* is that last couple of pounds before you totally level off?

There are actually calculators out there that give you a calorie goal based on the weight you want to be...so that when you hit that weight, you stop losing at that caloric intake. Like I said, as you lose weight your calorie requirements become less and less.

Your rate of loss is dependent on the size of that gap...the deficit. So if you are consuming 1800 calories per day and were losing at a rate of around 0.5 Lbs per week as a general trend over time then that means you had roughly a 250 calorie deficit. As you leaned out, that deficit shrank...so maybe not you're either right at a maintenance number or a very small deficit. If it is a very small deficit, losses are going to be difficult to see on the scale as water and waste can easily make up 3-5 Lbs of natural weight fluctuations and mask any fat loss that is going on.

Also, if you're at a healthy BF% your body is going to be pretty reluctant to give up remaining fat stores...at some point it really comes down to doing body comp work in the weight room or with some other form of resistance more than it is about your actual body weight.

ETA: it's really pretty much speculation at this point as you nor I no what your intake is really. Certainly people lose weight without counting calories and just intuitively eating and/or cutting out certain things like snacks and the like...but to answer whether or not you will continue to lose is pretty much impossible without having actual data to work with.

wijody

Also, if you're at a healthy BF% your body is going to be pretty reluctant to give up remaining fat stores...at some point it really comes down to doing body comp work in the weight room or with some other form of resistance more than it is about your actual body weight.

Yes, you're right about that - resistance is what I need! I've been a faithful cardio exerciser all my life, but I've always been resistant to resistance! Ugh! I guess I need to figure out how to LIKE doing that!

F00LofaT00K

You could absolutely maintain on the same amount of calories that you were losing on but it depends on the situation. Say my goal weight's maintenance is 1975 cals per day. Say I start at 300lbs and I've been eating 1975 cals per day while losing weight. Eventually, I would reach a point where my body IS in maintenance (my goal weight that is maintained at 1975 calories). Most people are at a significantly greater deficit though, so this is not typically the case and is most likely not the case with you, though you gave us very few details. Do you know what your TDEE is? If you want to maintain, eat around that estimated number of calories. If you want to lose another 1-2 lbs, then the best way to do it is to count calories and lose another 1-2lbs.

Barbonica

I lost weight for a year at an ever decreasing rate. I then maintained for 8-9 months until I cut net calories starting in 2013, at which time I started losing again.

I continued exercising, and increasing intensity of exercise during the maintenance period, and did see some modest changes in my measurements and BF% during that time. However, I was still overweight and BF% was too high, so my experience might not be the same as yours as you are at or close to goal.

I was eating at maintenance level for someone 45 pounds lighter than I was during my initial weight loss period, so when I lost those 45 pounds, I just maintained.

ndj1979

First - wolf man already dealt with the calorie issue…I will just say that you can't spot reduce, so if you lose more fat it will come off from where IT wants and not where YOU want…

I would suggest a program of heavy lifting built around compound movements = deadlifts, squats, bench press, rows, overhead press, pull ups/chin ups…new rules of lifting for woman and starting strength are great resources…

you could do a program like the following..
monday - chest/arms
tues - cardio
wens - legs
thurs - cardio
friday - back/shoulders
sat - cardio
sunday - off

VelveteenArabian

My opinion...

The weight crept on because you had an excess of calories. Not a big excess but enough over time that you gained weight very slowly.

By increasing your exercise you started burning more and cutting the snacks made you consume less, so, you lost weight when you were back at a deficit and were eating what you needed for maintanence weight. When you hit your goal weight the changes you had made previously combined with your eating created this as your new maintanence.

If you're cutting calories (which you did by removing snacks) that is not the same diet as before. Maybe elimination of snacks was a dietary change.