Maintenance Mindset

juliafromrf

I've reached my goal weight, I'm satisfied with my body and theoretically, I should up my calories for maintenance.
However, I'm currently eating ~1500 kcal/day and maintenance would be at >2000 (active job, during the week) or around 1750 (sedentary, weekend). This seems so MUCH, I can't even imagine eating that amount and I don't want to because I somehow fear that I will gain on so many calories.
Has anybody had the same feeling before they started maintaining? And how did it turn out, did you gain or did you actually maintain?
I guess I'm just so used to eating around 1400 - 1500 that surpassing that number screams "GAINING".

brenn24179

If I eat over 1600 I gain weight. I think you have to play around with it. I have no trouble eating that much food, I can eat a lot more, never understand when people cant eat more food. I am sure I got fat because I ate so much, now that I know more about nutrition I try to keep my calories around 1400 but I am only 5'4. I just noticed how young you are, you probably can eat more. If the scale goes up in a couple of weeks, you know to cut back 100 or 200 calories a day

dazedandconfused87

You're really young and in your photos you look very, very thin and small. You can't exist on a caloric deficit forever. Your body needs calories for energy to keep you alive and healthy. More educated people in this forum can speak to maintenance than me, but bottom line is you need more calories to be healthy and for your body to complete necessary functions.

_lyndseybrooke_

Seek counseling. 1700-2000 calories is far from a lot. I eat 1850 per day and I'm losing weight. You can't eat at a deficit because you fear gaining weight. It's not as if eating at 2000 calories per day for a week is going to make you gain back all the weight you lost. You obviously ate more than maintenance if you were 15 lbs heavier at some point.

As someone already said, you're VERY small; I'd say you're borderline underweight as it is. You need to stop before you harm your body, if you haven't already. Increase your calories 100-200 per week until you hit maintenance.

canadjineh

For her height she is NOT borderline underweight... she is in the low weight range of healthy for 5'8". If she has fine bone structure as I do she is just right as she is. My weight when I was 25 was 125, now it's 131 because I'm 50 and just need a little wrinkle fillout. She does need to slowly up her calories until she starts to gain a few pounds - JUST to find what her REAL maintenance calorie limit is.
Don't rag on her because she is not 'normal American' size, she is still a healthy weight.

_lyndseybrooke_

For her height she is NOT borderline underweight... she is in the low weight range of healthy for 5'8". If she has fine bone structure as I do she is just right as she is. My weight when I was 25 was 125, now it's 131 because I'm 50 and just need a little wrinkle fillout. She does need to slowly up her calories until she starts to gain a few pounds - JUST to find what her REAL maintenance calorie limit is.
Don't rag on her because she is not 'normal American' size, she is still a healthy weight.

Uh, really? First of all, if she's 5'8" 123 lbs, her BMI is 18.7, which IS borderline underweight. Also, this:



Yes, she's VERY tiny. Being the "normal American" size has nothing to do with it. She's tiny by most people's standards. Technically she's still in a healthy weight range, so I'm not "ragging" on her. However, if she continues to eat at a deficit, she'll drop down and be medically underweight, which is not healthy.

Now calm your tits, because no one is here to rattle your cage.

cwolfman13

Just incrementally increase your calories by 100 - 200 or so per day for a week...then another 100 - 200 or so for the next week. Do it gradually, you don't have to jump from 1400 straight to 2000 overnight...that would be quite a shock to your body. If you do it incrementally, you can continue to track your results..you should see a slowing of losses and a nice smooth landing to maintenance. Most people also find that as they increase their calories incrementally, they become hungrier due to hormonal changes so it becomes easier to eat more. Also, I would recommend more calorie dense food choices rather than substantially increasing volume...a tiny handful of almonds (1 oz) is around 160 calories for example.

canadjineh

For her height she is NOT borderline underweight... she is in the low weight range of healthy for 5'8". If she has fine bone structure as I do she is just right as she is. My weight when I was 25 was 125, now it's 131 because I'm 50 and just need a little wrinkle fillout. She does need to slowly up her calories until she starts to gain a few pounds - JUST to find what her REAL maintenance calorie limit is.
Don't rag on her because she is not 'normal American' size, she is still a healthy weight.

Uh, really? First of all, if she's 5'8" 123 lbs, her BMI is 18.7, which IS borderline underweight. Also, this:



Yes, she's VERY tiny. Being the "normal American" size has nothing to do with it. She's tiny by most people's standards. Technically she's still in a healthy weight range, so I'm not "ragging" on her. However, if she continues to eat at a deficit, she'll drop down and be medically underweight, which is not healthy.

Now calm your tits, because no one is here to rattle your cage.

Yeah, not the best pose I've seen, lol, laying on your back and sucking in your gut.

micfit9

1) "weight ranges" mean nothing. because they rarely address Bone Structure and do not address Genetics !

Read this.

http://www.youreatopia.com/blog/2012/11/23/phases-of-recovery-from-a-restrictive-eating-disorder.html

Here are the guidelines for when 3000 calories applies as a minimum daily intake for recovery:

You are an under 25 year old female between 5’0” and 5’8” (152.4 to 173 cm) or an over 25 year old male between 5’4” and 6’0” (162.5 and 183 cm) and,
The regular menstrual cycle has stopped and/or,
You have other symptoms of starvation: feeling the cold, fatigued, foggy headed, hair loss, brittle nails, dull skin and/or,
Even if you were only underweight/dieted for a very short space of time (a few months), these guidelines apply.



**IF you have lost your menstral cycle, (which you have as I read from your other posts) that is seriously unhealthy, especially when your still "developing" physically (under age 25) and you are causing your bone structure, brain development and skeletal development serious harm. I am 19 and have osteoporosis from "dieting" for 6 months, and I was eating 2000 a day....

... and if you don't believe me, that your not eating enough, try checking your body temperature.
If you are below 98.6, your producing inadequate thyroid hormones because your metabolically suppressed
meaning your body is in starvation mode, reducing the thermogenic effect of food to conserve energy because your underfeeding yourself.

juliafromrf

I didn't want to start a fight nor did I want to come across as eating disordered .. The photo that was posted might look scary to some, but given the pose it's not really anything that should cause worries.
I know that I am already very small, but I feel good at that weight. However, I do NOT want to lose more. The caloric deficit I'm currently in is more a thing of habit. Plus, I do intermittent fasting and while I was ok eating 1400 kcal in my eating window, 1700 kcal and more won't really fit into a few hours. So it's somehow necessary to rearrange my daily routine and I'm not sure where to start. Just to explain why I said it feels like maintenance calories are too much. More like too much for my current daily routine, I suppose.

My problem or rather what I wanted to know was how accurate MFP maintenace calories are. I know that I will eventually find maintenance and that it is trial/error for almost everybody. You're right, of course, I won't gain crazy amounts of weight as soon as I start eating more.
Your reactions somehow gave me a bit of a reality check. I will gradually increase my calories by 100 a week and see how it goes.

micfit9

MFP calories are much to low.

if you read government findings on activity levels, the average person is around 1.55 their BMR
so i'm guestimating your BMR would be somewhere around 1350 ... = 2092 calories

'finding maintenance' at the pace you're proposing will likely lead to to losing more weight

also you won't regain your menstrual cycle unless you gain weight

Your health. your call.

juliafromrf

1) "weight ranges" mean nothing. because they rarely address Bone Structure and do not address Genetics !

Read this.

http://www.youreatopia.com/blog/2012/11/23/phases-of-recovery-from-a-restrictive-eating-disorder.html

Here are the guidelines for when 3000 calories applies as a minimum daily intake for recovery:

You are an under 25 year old female between 5’0” and 5’8” (152.4 to 173 cm) or an over 25 year old male between 5’4” and 6’0” (162.5 and 183 cm) and,
The regular menstrual cycle has stopped and/or,
You have other symptoms of starvation: feeling the cold, fatigued, foggy headed, hair loss, brittle nails, dull skin and/or,
Even if you were only underweight/dieted for a very short space of time (a few months), these guidelines apply.



**IF you have lost your menstral cycle, (which you have as I read from your other posts) that is seriously unhealthy, especially when your still "developing" physically (under age 25) and you are causing your bone structure, brain development and skeletal development serious harm. I am 19 and have osteoporosis from "dieting" for 6 months, and I was eating 2000 a day....

... and if you don't believe me, that your not eating enough, try checking your body temperature.
If you are below 98.6, your producing inadequate thyroid hormones because your metabolically suppressed
meaning your body is in starvation mode, reducing the thermogenic effect of food to conserve energy because your underfeeding yourself.

Thanks for your concern, but I am not underfeeding myself and I do not suffer from an eating disorder. Except for the stopped menstrual cycle, none of the symptoms you mentioned apply. I've got a lot of energy, hair, skin and nails are healthy. My menstrual cycle has stopped before I even restricted and I am diagnosed with PCOS. My doctor knows how many calories I consume and he doesn't think 1500 kcal is worrisome.
I do not "fear" upping my calories, I just don't want to undo my progress and I just asked because I wanted the process of "finding maintenance" to become as easy and efficient as possible.

May I ask how you came into so much trouble eating 2000 kcal a day? Did you do a lot of sports?

micfit9

I ran a few times a week, nothing serious.

You may have PCOS but you may also just have lost your menstral cycle from a suppressed thyroid from a calorie deficiet.
Look up; functional hypothalamic ammenorrhea


See when your body doesn't have enough calories, it stops producing hormones to conserve energy

The problem is, your body will stay in starvation mode, even when you increase to maintenance
It is important you "overfeed" your body to reverse the suppression of your metabolism and get your hormones working again

juliafromrf

MFP calories are much too low.

if you read government findings on activity levels, the average person is around 1.55 their BMR
so i'm guestimating your BMR would be somewhere around 1350 ... = 2092 calories

'finding maintenance' at the pace you're proposing will likely lead to to losing more weight

also you won't regain your menstrual cycle unless you gain weight

Your health. your call.

2100 kcal, to me, is unlikely to be my caloric need on a sedentary day. Might be that you're right, if so, I will find out.
The weight I have now is the weight I want to keep. So even if I lose more during "finding maintenance", I will see to regain it in my own time.
I don't think it's necessary to double my calories at once and I would probably not feel good physically at 3000 kcal at this point.
I really appreciate your concern especially because you speak from your own experience - but I don't think my eating has gotten so out of hand as you suggest.

micfit9

Thats fine,
If your really confident you don't have disordered eating, read some blog posts on youreatopia.com
or in the forums from users with experiences of disordered eating.
If your confident you don't suffer from disordered eating than this shouldn't be stressful for you.

keep in mind when doctors say 1500 sounds like an okay amount to be eating,
they're doctors not dietitians.
they specialize in anatomy, not the specific nutritional requirements of individuals

a chart like this one is made my dietitians
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/estimated-calorie-requirement

there have even been studies that suggest these guidlines are too low

_lyndseybrooke_

By the way, starvation mode is a myth, so I'd take everything that person says with a grain of salt. And 1400 calories is not low enough to go into "starvation mode," even if it existed. Metabolic adaptation is a thing, but you'd have to eat a lot less than you are for that to come into play.

bciloveme2014

O.P. I am 5'7" and like you, I was afraid to up my calories when I started maintenance, I was eating 1690 per day, the first week of maintenance I added 100, so that week I ate 1790 per day , the second week I got really hungry and I added 200 calories and since then I had been eating 1980 daily for the last three months and I still loosing weight, slowly but still loosing, for that reason sometimes or twice a week I eat up to 2100 calories because I don't want to loose muscle, I want to look lean but not skinny.

Anyway my point is that you can eat more calories and not gain weight. Good luck in maintenance

RobynDCrossman

I gained when I went into maintenance. Thus, I'm back on the loss track again.
Total bummer. I was down 100 lbs. I went into maintenance in April - and now am up 13 lbs.

micfit9

By the way, starvation mode is a myth, so I'd take everything that person says with a grain of salt. And 1400 calories is not low enough to go into "starvation mode," even if it existed. Metabolic adaptation is a thing, but you'd have to eat a lot less than you are for that to come into play.

Your right it is Metabolic adaptation
however, symptoms of starvation are VERY real
and one of them is the loss of menstrual cycle in adulthood

juliafromrf

Your right it is Metabolic adaptation
however, symptoms of starvation are VERY real
and one of them is the loss of menstrual cycle in adulthood

Yeah, and I already pointed out to you that in my case, caloric deficit and loss of menstrual cycle are not linked. But I could probably tell you that a 1000 times and you still wouldn't believe it, because you somehow think that you know more about my body than doctors who checked my uterus, took my hormone levels and have treated me for over a year.

juliafromrf

Thanks to the people who actually posted about their experiences, you are really helpful.

@nancyct2014: Your experience is very encouraging and I think it's more or less the "ideal" way of finding maintenance. I hope it is similar for me.

@RobynDCrossma:
Did you still check your weight when you started maintaining? Because I plan on weighing every week and adjust my calories based on what the scale says in order to avoid major gains.
Congratulations on 100 lbs lost, that's amazing and I'm sure you will lose those 13 lbs again with no problems.

micfit9

Well doctors are not 100%, there is such a thing as a misdiagnosis

You should search up misdiagnosis of PCOS ... just "in case" you're wrong, not me.

Read it, just for fun.
http://www.youreatopia.com/faq/specific-recovery-questions/but-i-have-pcos.html

only trying to help and make your life better

popsicklestar

I'm 5'7'' 130 lbs, and I maintain at 1500 plus exercise calories. I never upped my calories because my weight just stopped going down and leveled out. I'm much older than you, though, so you may be able to get away with eating more.

bciloveme2014

You welcome O.P., when I reached my goal, I spent a lot of time on this forum and I learned a lot just by reading maintenance posts, and decided to take only the positive comments and not the ones from people that loves turn everything into debates.

Sabine_Stroehm

OP: Please work through this quickly, as you'll likely keep losing weight and may harm yourself. You're already quite thin. 1750 is not a lot. I am eating at least that much and I am twice your age, and shorter.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

You'll adjust. I thought 1700 calories sounded like So. Much. Food. And now I eat around 2000 most days and could easily eat more. Just start gradually increasing and your appetite and perception will change.

J72FIT

Why don't you gradually increase your calories each week by 50 per day until you reach your maintenance and see what happens...