Maintaining issues

Tracey_B_72

I know this might sound a bit strange and may make some people want to slap me but I can't seem to stop losing weight, I'm now 1lb below my weight goal bracket which is 140-144lb (10st-10st4lbs) and I'm eating about 1800-2000 cals a day I don't want to start eating crap to just whack the cals up, I've hardly been walking big distances over the last 3 weeks or so because it's just to hot for the dog so you'd think with the walking cut back with and upping the cals I should be sitting nicely in maintainance but no, I keep losing 1lb a week, much as it's nice to be in the 9st bracket if only by 1lb it's lower than I want to be.

I suppose I'm just wondering if there's anyone out there that has had the same issue when hitting maintainance and how you dealt with it.

BigT555

i havent had this issue personally but the answer seems obvious to me, either up cals or cut back on exercise. go up by 100/week if your scared of gaining weight

if it keeps happening after awhile, you may want to see a doc

whitebalance

I had this trouble for a while, so I ate a bit more and it worked out ok. Your maintenance requirement may be higher than you think... I'm constantly surprised at how much I can eat over my MFP net and remain within a couple pounds of goal weight. However, I've also found that I drop a few pounds temporarily any time I stop exercising. If you were doing more intense exercise and have recently stopped, this might apply to you - and if so, I'd hesitate to make further changes before giving that one a chance to level out.

Otherwise, I would suggest increasing your calories slowly - say, adding 100 to your daily target for the next 3-4 weeks, and then doing it again if your loss hasn't stopped. You don't need to "eat crap" to raise your caloric intake. A spoonful of nut butter, an avocado on your salad, a few extra slices of turkey on your sandwich, switching from low-fat to full-fat dairy, cooking your chicken with olive oil instead of dry, a snack of cheese and crackers or a handful of almonds... There are lots of ways to add an extra hundred calories or so.

MFP is almost magical, but not quite; it calculates targets based on statistical data, not specifically on your body. So it can't tell you exactly what amount you should eat in order to maintain your weight. You can figure it out through careful tracking, experimentation, and adjustments over time.

Tracey_B_72

I'm not worried about gaining the weight back hence the weight bracket rather than getting down to a specific weight.

When in hit my goal weight last September I had the same problem so I stopped logging for about 4 months I still weighed every couple of weeks and was doing ok then we had some really bad wet weather at the begining of the year add to that nice winter food I had a gain of 8lbs, I went back to logging and got back to my goal weight but decided to lose another 7lbs but it's just happening again, since upping my cals 4 or 5 weeks ago it's started coming off steady again, the reason I upped the cals was because I had stopped losing and just kept going between 144 and 145lbs.

I suppose it could be something to do with my metabalism, could that change?! It just doesn't make sense, I definately like to eat I'm may just have to find some higher calorie snacks or maybe log during the week and maybe give myself 2 days off over the weekend.

Supertact

Just eat more, there is no bad food.

You won't gain 94 lbs over night.

Tracey_B_72

I had this trouble for a while, so I ate a bit more and it worked out ok. Your maintenance requirement may be higher than you think... I'm constantly surprised at how much I can eat over my MFP net and remain within a couple pounds of goal weight. However, I've also found that I drop a few pounds temporarily any time I stop exercising. If you were doing more intense exercise and have recently stopped, this might apply to you - and if so, I'd hesitate to make further changes before giving that one a chance to level out.

Otherwise, I would suggest increasing your calories slowly - say, adding 100 to your daily target for the next 3-4 weeks, and then doing it again if your loss hasn't stopped. You don't need to "eat crap" to raise your caloric intake. A spoonful of nut butter, an avocado on your salad, a few extra slices of turkey on your sandwich, switching from low-fat to full-fat dairy, cooking your chicken with olive oil instead of dry, a snack of cheese and crackers or a handful of almonds... There are lots of ways to add an extra hundred calories or so.

MFP is almost magical, but not quite; it calculates targets based on statistical data, not specifically on your body. So it can't tell you exactly what amount you should eat in order to maintain your weight. You can figure it out through careful tracking, experimentation, and adjustments over time.

Some good ideas there, thank you, I just thought when it cools down and I'm back to my normal dog walks that's going to be another 200cals I'm going to have to eat back, I did buy some creamy yoghurt to have on my cereal.

Time to start a new part of this journey now, learning to get the balance right!