Nervous about increasing calories

MaryKatU

Heres my story. Three years ago I lost 35 lbs. I came within 5lbs of my goal and felt good enough to stop. I manged to keep off all but 9lbs of the weigth I lost. This spring I came back to MFP to lose the weight I put back on and reach my original goal weight. Now I am less than 1lb from my original goal. I kinda want to lose a little more but I have to be real about what I can maintain. I know it is time for me to increase calories but I am so nervous about it. I don't want to gain anything back. I have been doing alot of cardio and a little strength training but want to cut back on cardio since I don't have much more fat to lose and increase strength training to tone up a bit more. I decided I should change my goals to lose .5lb instead of 1lb but can't seem to make myself do it even though I know I will still have a calorie deficit and that toning up my muscles will burn fat. If I am this crazy about increasing my calories a little how will I ever be in the right state of mind to be full on maintenance? I always have that fear of being 40lbs heavier like I was before.

JennLifts

I know it's super hard, I was there, and I ended up in trouble. But you have to make the leap of faith. It's harder than we all think it is to put on weight. I had to gain some back and it was so much worse than losing it. Here's the thing - you know how to lose weight. So if you up it and gain 2 pounds.... you can lose them. 40 doesn't come back over night.

pedalpusher5

If you can't quite deal with the increase MFP assigns you, you can always manually set your daily calorie goal. Perhaps if you put yourself in control of it and increased it more gradually you would feel less nervous about it. You could go in baby steps, like 25 calories a day extra. Do that for a few weeks and see what happens. If you're still losing, up it another 25. Just keep doing that until you reach a point where you are maintaining and then leave it there. You would probably need several weeks to get a real idea of the effect it is having on your weight loss and you have to allow for things like increased muscle tissue, water weight fluctuations and the like.

And I wouldn't even be thinking about the day I can "quit." I have been at this for 6 years, trying to maintain, and occassionally re-losing weight I regain during my winter hibernation and over holidays and such. If you are the kind of person who natually tends to put on weight, then you need to think of this, not as a diet, but as a permanent lifestyle change. I have lost a total of about 400 pounds because I have made that mistake so many times in the past, it's just the same weight over and over again. I have finally learned my lesson. I will be doing this, happily, for the rest of my life.

TheShineNSB

If you've been eating a low carb diet, don't be alarmed if your weight increases substantially (as much as 5-10lbs) when you up calories. This is just your glycogen and such coming back. Females are especially susceptible to large changes in "water weight."

Just keep monitoring your intake in MFP, ignore the scale, and as long as you keep looking better, then you're doing fine. My goal weight was 180 (I'm a 6'1" male) but after getting to about 190lbs, I decided to start eating more (while doing intermittent fasting and carb cycling), and while my weight fluctuates between 190 - 198 (depending on if I'm on a low carb or high carb day), I'm looking better by the week.

Basically, the scale's a nice starting point, but once you approach a comfortable weight, start going by the mirror and how you feel instead, and keep monitoring your intake so that you're on top of what you're eating.

I think that the MFP macronutrient goals are complete bollocks, and I think this guide is much better for someone who is exercising regularly:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/fat-loss-for-athletes-part-1.html

If you're going to cut cardio, then try his guidelines for either strength or mixed sport athletes.

boudrfra

I think MFP has to become a lifestyle. You can always give yourself a 5lbs margin, but as soon you get close to higher end of your margin,decrease your calories a little bit...don't let yourself take the 35lbs. It's a life long battle to keep your ideal weight, so we should look at it as a lifestyle instead...