Meal Plan to Maintain

dpr73

Hey,

So I have been trying to maintain my weight for about 4 months now and have been pretty crappy with it until recently. I have dropped 10 unwanted pounds (though myself and my nutritionist both think I look good, but I definitely don't want to lose anymore) as I made the switch. I have to this point been trying to count calories accurately and all that stuff...but it became a lot of stress and I felt it was unhealthy for me. So I switched off of it and decided to eat on somewhat of a regiment but basically according to hunger cues.

This is how I've been eating:

Breakfast: 1C Yogurt, Cereal/Whole wheat bread with 1T PB/Oatmeal/2 Eggs with Toast, and Banana
Snack: A Granola Bar/Banana/Apple/yogurt
Lunch: Whole wheat bread or Vienna Roll with approx. 4 oz of Turkey (I don't weigh) lots of veggies and mustard and 1 slice cheese, and an apple/banana/orange
Snack (2pm): An apple/banana/yogurt/granola bar
Snack (4pm): An apple/banana/yogurt/granola bar/etc...
Dinner: Two grilled chicken breast pieces that are about or slightly larger than the palm of my hand (or fish or pork), 1/2 cup of steamed veggies, 1/2 cup of different steamed/sauteed veggies, 1/2 cup of starch (usually potatoes or rice)
Dessert: 2% fat yogurt or an ice cream sandwich

I have been fluctuating at around 136lbs for about 4 weeks given this diet. However, interspersed was Easter weekend, a family celebration, and a weekend of some drinking (About 6 regular beers...) and 2 nights out eating at restaurants. Basically on all these events I let loose...
I haven't exactly gone above 136.5lbs but I have fallen below (to 135.6ish) on a few occasions over the past few weeks. Do you think I am at maintenance or should I be eating more? I really don't want to lose more but I also don't want to fall off the wagon...just trying to strike that balance.
If this helps you to judge whether I am eating enough...my stats are: 19y/o male, ~136lbs, 5'7-5'8 in, 45 minutes weight training at gym 5x a week, otherwise...just a regular college student in my free time.

PJPrimrose

I'm on maintenance and have to fight losing weight, too, especially with warm weather and spending more time outside doing things. I just allowed a couple more treats in while making sure I didn't go over. I weigh myself regularly to keep track without obsessing over every fluctuation. I stay, even on my period, within 3-4 lbs of my goal weight.

Ten pounds sounds like a lot of uncontrolled weight loss. I'd up my calories and get my weight back up. If you don't just eat everything in sight controlling weight gain shouldn't be fairly simple.

dpr73

I'm on maintenance and have to fight losing weight, too, especially with warm weather and spending more time outside doing things. I just allowed a couple more treats in while making sure I didn't go over. I weigh myself regularly to keep track without obsessing over every fluctuation. I stay, even on my period, within 3-4 lbs of my goal weight.

Ten pounds sounds like a lot of uncontrolled weight loss. I'd up my calories and get my weight back up. If you don't just eat everything in sight controlling weight gain shouldn't be fairly simple.

The ten pounds just kept coming off over the past few months until the end of march. I'll admit it scared me but I am happy with my current weight. And I don't want to keep fluctuating around so I think ill maintain this weight for now. So as long as I keep eating healthy and don't go crazy overboard with things I shouldn't gain too much? I just want to be cautious because yo-yo dieting seems to be so prominent. Do you know what the main causes of yo-yo dieting are, btw?

einzweidrei

Is this just a sampling or is this pretty standard fare for your meal plan? How many calories were you attempting to maintain on before you took a step back? (Only asking because my guess is that you are pretty much eating the same amount even though you're not really counting.)

Honestly, just knowing approximate calories for the foods you listed, I think you could stand to eat more, especially because you weight train multiple times/week. Did you even eat those calories back when you were counting? I've been maintaining (female, lightly active) on 2,000 calories/day (I slowly upped it from where MFP had me, which was 1930 originally but I figured I could try raising it) and even if I do a fifteen minute walk, I will add that to MFP and eat those calories back. So more often than not I'm eating more than 2K/day. Since you dropped more weight than you expected, I think upping your calories would be a good idea.

You also need to figure out what range you want to be in and then adjust your eating habits. Where do you want to be, weight-wise? You can't stay at 136 since your weight will fluctuate so pick a nice range you want to be in---mine is somewhere between 126-129.

dpr73

Is this just a sampling or is this pretty standard fare for your meal plan? How many calories were you attempting to maintain on before you took a step back? (Only asking because my guess is that you are pretty much eating the same amount even though you're not really counting.)

Honestly, just knowing approximate calories for the foods you listed, I think you could stand to eat more, especially because you weight train multiple times/week. Did you even eat those calories back when you were counting? I've been maintaining (female, lightly active) on 2,000 calories/day (I slowly upped it from where MFP had me, which was 1930 originally but I figured I could try raising it) and even if I do a fifteen minute walk, I will add that to MFP and eat those calories back. So more often than not I'm eating more than 2K/day. Since you dropped more weight than you expected, I think upping your calories would be a good idea.

You also need to figure out what range you want to be in and then adjust your eating habits. Where do you want to be, weight-wise? You can't stay at 136 since your weight will fluctuate so pick a nice range you want to be in---mine is somewhere between 126-129.

This is pretty standard to what I eat everyday (with variation with the protein at dinner but other than that...trust that everything is VERY similar...I am in college rn).

I established a weight range for myself of 135-140. However, I never hit the higher end of that weight range...also, according to MFP I was eating at about 2100 calories a day but again I don't weigh or measure anything just pretty much eyeball portions using cups/tablespoons/teaspoons. And no...I don't eat back exercise calories because (a) I don't know how many I am burning and (b) I always have a post workout snack so I see that as the eating back calories portion.

dpr73

bumping for more advice/opinions...