Maintanance question for the gang

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jbug100
jbug100 Posts: 406 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone. I reached my goal of 145 and then decided I would go for 140. Now I am at 140 and may try for 135 (still healthy BMI). My question is: Is it more difficult to maintain a lower weight once I am there? Will I be able to eat 1500-2000 cals a day and maintain a lower weight? I am thrilled with where I am, but i'm finding with my improved clean eating and lifestyle, the weight is still coming off...very slowly, but still shedding. I figured I would just keep doing what I am doing and maybe achieve 135, but if it means that I will have to starve myself to maintain that weight, it is probably not worth it. What does the group think?

Replies

  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
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    What I did was find a site to calculate calorie goals, and I entered my goal weight, age, height and activity level. It told me what I could eat at that weight.

    http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/
  • MichelleWagner50
    MichelleWagner50 Posts: 240 Member
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    Ive been on maintenance for awhile and seem to be holding steady. I am actually trying to gain back a few pounds, because I was addicted to seeing the negative number at the end of the day, which caused me to get lower than I planned.:blushing:
    As long as you keep working out and stay within your goals, you should be fine. Good luck!
  • Panda86
    Panda86 Posts: 873
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    It can get a little more difficult, because the smaller you are, the less you need to eat to maintain that weight. I am maintaining at 129 and I get about 1690 per day I think. But I eat more on days when I exercise, and I have been holding steady.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    Why exactly do you want to lose additional weight? It may be more beneficial to stay at current weight and increase lean body mass. This means that you can eat more and not put on fat.
  • jbug100
    jbug100 Posts: 406 Member
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    Why exactly do you want to lose additional weight? It may be more beneficial to stay at current weight and increase lean body mass. This means that you can eat more and not put on fat.

    I hear ya Chris. I am doing alot of strength training at the gym, and with kettlebells at home. I am getting some really nice muscle tone. I think the muscles would look nicer if I shaved a little more fat from them (assuming that the weight I lose is fat and not muscle) i'm not into the "skinny fat" look.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    Good to hear :)

    What you can do is slowly add back some additional cals each week say 100 at a time until you get to the "maintenance" level that MFP recommends. Remembering that this is just an estimate and due to a number of factors can be higher or lower than actual. Record your average intake for the week and exercise and determine if you are maintaing, gaining or losing. Weigh in at the same time and remember that water weight changes can make a difference also. (I also take skinfold measurements for accuracy) And then you can see what sort of calorie intake your actual maintenance is.

    That is what I did anyway :)

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