Trying to maintain but still loosing weight

tenaciousdee78

Hi Everyone,
Ive been trying to maintain the weight ive lost but this is proving difficult, I lost 22 pounds initially between December and April and I was happy with this and wanted to maintain. I was told the best way to do this was to continue eating healthily but to increase my calorie intake gradually which is what ive been doing, was having 1200-1400 initially now having 1500-1900 per day and maintaining exercise regime. However today I weigh myself and have lost another 2 pounds. I would love to hear from other people who have successfully lost weight and been able to maintain without loosing or gaining, and whats the best way to go about it?
Many thanks
Dee

xsmilexforxmex

I haven't reached maintenance, but I'd imagine it's just like losing, trial and error. If you find you're still losing consistently, tweak your calories until you stay within a range.

TavistockToad

if you're still losing, eat more!

1500-1900 isnt a massive amount of food. the 'average' woman maintains on 2000 cals and that doesnt include much exercise.

ErinD14

All I know is that you have to keep exercising and eating right - stopping or lessening the amount you move and increasing the amount you eat will mean you'll gain! No big secrets or miracles just live well!!
Good luck

The_Enginerd

Maintenance is going to be a range. Your weight will swing daily, so without any context, it's hard to say. There are a couple of common strategies.
1) Give yourself a range, a 5 lb range is common. If you go below the lowest weight, up your calories slightly.
2) Track your weight over a period of time and look at the long term trend using something like a weighted average.

I personally use the second method. I found I had to up my calories slightly as I was losing about 1/2 lb/month on the default MFP calorie suggestion. Also, your weight may move a bit up and down before stabilizing as you change your intake for maintenance. I had a big 5 pound woosh down in weight after upping my calories to maintenance. More commonly, you will see a couple pound jump up in weight after switching from losing to maintenance.

tenaciousdee78

Thanks for all your advice xx