I don't want to lose anymore weight...

linzi1985uk

Morning
I exercise regularly and I eat at my maintenance calories daily, eat back some of my exercise calories and often treat myself at weekends. I haven't actively been trying to lose weight as I am quite happy at the size I am, I would ideally like to gain muscle but haven't really sorted out my programme for that yet.
But I still seem to be loosing weight, I bought new size 8 work trousers about a month ago and they are now getting too big and I am starting to think that I am maybe looking a bit too thin.
I don't want to stop exercise as it makes me feel so much better! Once upon a time I was nearing 17stone and with WW got to 9stone 10lbs and now I am 8stone 5lbs.
Exercise schedule is typically-
Monday- Kettlebells, Spin and CX Worx
Tuesday- 30 mins insanity
Wednesday- Body Pump and CX Worx
Thursday- Body Pump and CX Worx (or Body Combat)
Friday - Rest or 45 mins Body Pump
Saturday- Spin every 2nd week
Sunday- Rest
I eat regular meals and have snacks etc.
I want to be mean and look "strong" not skinny.
Sorry if this is a bit of a waffle on but just lookin for some help to maintain but also stay "lean".
Thanks

steff274

You sound like me!! I excersize regularly..
Monday.. Body attack and body pump
Tuesday.. Body pump
Wednesday.. Spin
Thursday.. Body attack and body pump
Friday.. Body pump and spin
Although yesterday I went on a 5 and an half hour hike!!
I love the excersize it makes me feel good but lately I have been dropping as low as 7st 6 I am short but it scares the hell out of me like you I want to look strong not like I need feeding!! Recently have made a super human effort to eat more on my day's when I workoout in the gym.. Yesterday was close to 3000 calories!! :noway: today is a less active day so will eat more at maintenance 1830 for me I am adding you because I feel we have similar maintenance goals

FaylinaMeir

as bad as this sounds sometimes you need to go too skinny for your body to regulate itself back. Just make sure you're eating atleast your BMR and eat back exercise calories and you should be fine. If you still have issues increase your calories maybe 100-200 a week until you find a level that works for you.

If you're still having issues after a month or two I would suggest a visit to a doctor, just to be on the safe side.

myfitnesspale3

Eat more bread, ice cream and potato chips. That oughta increase appetite and put on weight.

Sugar4Spice

I don't think it's really that tough to manage a healthy weight range. If you're losing weight, eat more. If you're gaining weight, eat less. Move up or down 100 calories a week until you find a sweet spot

xxEAGLExx

If you want to build muscle, it's best to have a small caloric surplus.
Try to get 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass on workout days.

Weight training will be more effective than cardio for building muscle mass.

Workouts should be high intensity/short duration < 1hr per day

shawndimantha

I have a fairly standard diet every week and let myself have some treats on weekends. Exercise every day, spin every other day, running / boxing / elliptical on the other alternate days. It is naturally harder to lose weight once you hit a limit. Make sure you have a lot of protein in your diet to help maintain muscle. I once made the mistake of going vegetarian for a few weeks without good protein substitutes and had a hit to my weight / muscle mass.

Adpalangi

Eat more bread, ice cream and potato chips. That oughta increase appetite and put on weight.

Wow, that sounds so helpful......NOT

steff274

Eat more bread, ice cream and potato chips. That oughta increase appetite and put on weight.

Wow, that sounds so helpful......NOT

That's exactly what I thought!! nope I think I thought what a tosser!! Lol

TavistockToad

Eat more! It really is that simple.

gp0566

Yea more junk. Useless comment.

Maryam2014mfp

If you're losing and you're eating everything back, maybe get your bloodwork done. For me, my thyroid was hyperthyroid and if left untreated I could have gotten very sick. It's something that could only be confirmed with bloodwork. Hopefully you are fine and just need to eat a bit more calories each day. Take care

bajoyba

I haven't quite hit maintenance yet, but I agree that you may need to up your calories a bit more. If you've given it a few weeks and you still seem to be losing weight, then your maintenance calories are probably higher than you thought and you may need to add some extra fuel to your day. Maybe try upping it by 100 and give it a couple of weeks before changing it.

scrittrice

If you're losing and you're eating everything back, maybe get your bloodwork done. For me, my thyroid was hyperthyroid and if left untreated I could have gotten very sick. It's something that could only be confirmed with bloodwork. Hopefully you are fine and just need to eat a bit more calories each day. Take care

But the OP isn't eating everything back. OP, how did you calculate your maintenance calories? I find MFP's maintenance calories for me are low and have continued to lose as I keep adding 100 calories every couple of weeks. In short, losing weight and you don't want to? Eat more. The suggestion to eat bread, ice cream, and potato chips might have been flippant, but it isn't wrong.

Graelwyn75

You have two choices, simple as. Cut back your exercise or eat to fuel such an exercise load. This site works around the idea of eating your exercise calories back, even in weight loss mode, so how you expect to maintain not eating them back, given you are quite young too, I do not know. Add more calorie dense foods like nuts, cheese, avocado, nut butters, full fat dairy, and maybe take a step back from the weight loss mentality you still seem to be in. As long as you are this active and eating sensibly, there is no reason to worry you will gain weight back if you relax a little, imo.

skinnyinnotime

Your maintenance is higher than you think, increase your cals slowly until you stop losing.

SEAFOODMAN

have some coconut oil with every meal, that will get you some calories and it won't hurt you at all.

cwolfman13

News flash...you're not eating at maintenance then. You maintenance is more than you think it is. You need to realize that these calculators are just estimates and reasonably good starting points...you still have to use your brain and make adjustments as per real world results.

Eat more...keep bumping your calories up until you start maintaining (which will be a range, not a static number).

linzi1985uk

Thank you so much everyone.
It's true that I need to get out of the "weight loss" mentality that I am in. It's almost like I have a fear of food and a dear of eating more. Almost like if I eat more than the number says then suddenly all my weight will appear back.
I have looked at TDEE and think I may set my calories at that. I also think I need to take a step back from MFP and try intuitive eating and stop the obsessive tracking cycle that I jVe for myself in.
It shocked me that the new trousers I bought to look better were suddenly to baggy!
I don't want to stop exercising as it really helps me feel better and helps me to relieve stress etc. I want to look strong, not skinny. I think just the world we are in and all the media stuff out there aimed at women is all about losing weight and about diets etc it messes with ur mind.
Thank u. I will try and stop the food fear and eat more calories but of healthier options fruit seeds nuts eggs etc.

blackcloud13

If you have "I must beat my cal target" mania, one thing you could do is just set your target a bit higher. That's what I've done. I found that by setting my cals to maintenance, I was still losing weight; that only stopped when I set my target to slight gain. Good thing about this, is you don't have to change your workouts, which are clearly working well for you

Adjusting to reflect actual results is good!

Also, if you do want to build muscle, you do need to find a little weight work

Adpalangi

Eat more bread, ice cream and potato chips. That oughta increase appetite and put on weight.

Wow, that sounds so helpful......NOT

That's exactly what I thought!! nope I think I thought what a tosser!! Lol

Thanks everyone for your support and advice. I especially want to thank the person who sent that cruel reply as in bread and icecream and so on. Pretty rude, if your so perfect where are your pics? Don't talk to me in that way until u have walked 1day in my shoes, then maybe it would of interested me. Maybe

kdeaux1959

Eat at a mild surplus and focus on resistance training. This will promote muscle growth. If you start gaining a little too much, then you can back down a bit. Surplus should come from good complete protein sources and carbs for energy. Good fats will help as well. Avoid an undue amount of sugary snacks and such. I applaud the fact that you are looking to be lean and not skinny. brava.

steff274

After dropping 2 pounds in a week have changed mine from from active to very active now gives me 2010 without excersize :noway: hmm seems like alot but if anything can retrieve those 2 pounds.. Always eat big on a Monday nan cooks lunch and we usually have cake afterwards which is good I do attack and pump in the gym tonight so I need calories to burn!! :bigsmile:

SezxyStef

Eat more bread, ice cream and potato chips. That oughta increase appetite and put on weight.

Wow, that sounds so helpful......NOT

That's exactly what I thought!! nope I think I thought what a tosser!! Lol

Thanks everyone for your support and advice. I especially want to thank the person who sent that cruel reply as in bread and icecream and so on. Pretty rude, if your so perfect where are your pics? Don't talk to me in that way until u have walked 1day in my shoes, then maybe it would of interested me. Maybe

Well there is a point to that post. There is nothing wrong with eating bread, ice cream and potato chips...

Esp if you are at "maitenance" and still losing weight and don't want to.

It can become a struggle to get calories in sometimes esp when your maitenance is high (I found that out this summer) when I was eating at what I though was maitenance and still losing and I tried to eat my TDEE....it can be difficult without high calorie foods such as ice cream etc.

mitch16

You have two choices, simple as. Cut back your exercise or eat to fuel such an exercise load. This site works around the idea of eating your exercise calories back, even in weight loss mode, so how you expect to maintain not eating them back, given you are quite young too, I do not know. Add more calorie dense foods like nuts, cheese, avocado, nut butters, full fat dairy, and maybe take a step back from the weight loss mentality you still seem to be in. As long as you are this active and eating sensibly, there is no reason to worry you will gain weight back if you relax a little, imo.

^This.

It's true that I need to get out of the "weight loss" mentality that I am in. It's almost like I have a fear of food and a dear of eating more. Almost like if I eat more than the number says then suddenly all my weight will appear back.
I have looked at TDEE and think I may set my calories at that. I also think I need to take a step back from MFP and try intuitive eating and stop the obsessive tracking cycle...

I think you can loosen up your tracking a little bit, but I wouldn't pull away from mfp completely--I know from experience that going from obsessively tracking to no tracking can lead to wait gain and then the cycle will begin again.

linzi1985uk

I'm upping my amount to 1800 cals and on exercise days I will try to eat back calories.
BUT
Using my heart rate monitor my Monday night classes typically burn 600 calories, surely eating all these back wouldn't be a good idea? As that would be 2400 cals for the day?
I have a complete fear of eating more.

So much helpful advice though. Thank you

__freckles__

I'm upping my amount to 1800 cals and on exercise days I will try to eat back calories.
BUT
Using my heart rate monitor my Monday night classes typically burn 600 calories, surely eating all these back wouldn't be a good idea? As that would be 2400 cals for the day?
I have a complete fear of eating more.

So much helpful advice though. Thank you

You really need to get over your fear. Especially if you plan on building muscle in the future. How tall are you? I'm 5'8 and my maintenance is 2200 and that's with only lifting 3 times a week. If I did cardio it would be higher.

Food is your friend.

P.S. I see nothing wrong with adding potato chips or ice cream to your diet. :flowerforyou:

linzi1985uk

I'm 5ft 2" and weigh 120lbs

I feel bad everytime I eat.
Really not good

TavistockToad

I feel bad everytime I eat.

i would find a professional to speak to about this if i was you.

__freckles__

I feel bad everytime I eat.

i would find a professional to speak to about this if i was you.

Agree. Sounds like you have an eating disorder. Please seek professional help ASAP.

linzi1985uk

Sorry should have said everytime I eat and it goes over my calories as just so used to numbers! I don't have an eating disorder I eat plenty every day. Regular meals always. I eat more than people around me.