Switching to Maintenance Mode: Success & Fears

Onesnap

I posted this on my own MFP wall this morning and at the suggestion of one of my MFP peeps, I'm posting here for you all. We all can learn from each other!

1 week ago today I reached my goal. In 1 week I gained 2 lbs.

Switching to maintenance mode is an adjustment, and I now realize switching during a travel week for work (eating out 3 meals/day) was a mistake. I did a lot of things right and looking back the reason for the gain was missing my normal gym routine Wed, Thurs, Sat & Sun. There were some days I fell under my new goal calorie-wise, and some days I landed a bit over. I learned in this past week that yes, I get to eat more now that I'm in maintenance. However, if I'm outside of my normal gym and eating routine (eating out 3 meals/day) it is totally 2 steps back.

My hotel last week had an amazing gym so I did go on Thursday. I also did a lot of walking on Thursday. That was simply not enough. On my next business trip I need to remember to take along Jilian Michael's Power Yoga DVD. In the past on work trips this has been a good substitute for the days I can't hit the gym (something I can do in my hotel room).

Sharing this with you all because I know some of you are wondering "what happens when I switch to maintain?" I'm also not 100% sure if eating 1,660 cals in a day (after logging all my workouts) makes sense for me personally. I lost 17.5 lbs over 9 months (around 2 lbs lost/month or .5 week) eating 1,260 cals (more on the days I worked out of course). My goal was to lose the weight nice and slow to keep it off for good. Losing weight slowww also = zero stretch marks. Yay!

Only time will tell. It turns out maintenance mode is also a challenge. I can't measure based on a week I've traveled. Only the weeks to come will tell for sure what the *right* cals per day are for me.

**I did some research this morning to figure out how many calories I need per day to maintain 135 lbs. That number is 2053.5. Yesterday (with my workout) I was supposed to eat 2,230. The day before (with workout) I was supposed to eat 2,023. Eating over 2,000 cals/day (on workout days) for someone that is 5'6", 135 seems crazy high to me. I know I'll find the balance this fall...but it also shows the importance of still logging when you reach your goals!

For those of you that have switched to maintenance mode I'd love to hear from you. I'm curious how you stayed at your goal weight. If there's any of you *nearly* at your goal and suffering from fear of how to maintain when you get there please speak up as well. Thanks for any feedback you can provide!

TinaDay1114

I'm really close to goal weight, and yes, I'm a little worried about maintenance mode. I admit it!

Punkedpoetess

I am a few pounds away from maintainence and I am also beginning to have these fears. Keeping an eye on this post for some information.

Onesnap

Thank you for your reply, TinaDay1114. Congrats on nearly reaching your goal. It's all about balance. For me personally (an active person) I can't imagine eating over 2,000 calories/day every single day and sticking at the same weight. The 1,660/day seems very realistic, but then with a workout logged *boom* it's over 2,000. The research I did says that this is correct. I'm not worried about being able to eat healthy whole foods to reach the 2,000+ but I am worried that after a 2lbs gain in 1 week I'll just keep right un-doing 9 months of hard work!

djkshdfd

Bump

alyssamiller77

First of all, a big fat CONGRATULATIONS on hitting your goal. It is very nerve racking to face the idea of bumping your calories up to maintenance level. I had (and to much degree still have) the same concerns and fears. What I did that so far has worked out well is I slowly bumped up my calorie goal. I had been losing 2 lbs a week (well a bit more but anyway) at 1230 Net Cal. per day. So as I was approaching my goal, I bumped that up to 1500. Did that for a couple weeks and still lost weight so then I bumped up to 1800. Did that for two weeks and lost another 2 lbs. By this point I was actually a pound under my goal weight so I then bumped my goal intake up to 2130 (my maintenance level according to MFP) and have been holding there. So far I've been successful. I've actually lost another pound, I believe mostly due to larger exercise days where I've come in way under calories but overall I've been keeping pretty tight to my goal Net Cal. per Day and the result is I'm holding pretty steady.

I recommend doing it this way as it accomplishes two things for you. First, your metabolism has time to slowly react to the increase in calories. Second, if you monitor your weight as you slowly increase your intake you can determine your actual maintenance intake rather than simply the estimates you get from MFP or other sites.

I hope that's helpful.

Onesnap

Thank you, Punkedpoetess. Congrats on being close to your goal as well!

MeAgain2011

Bump.

Onesnap

intechpc, that is very helpful, thank you. Diving in with both feet to my higher calorie goal (while traveling) was a shock to my system for sure after 9 months. It was like too much, too fast. I'll continue to do my Wednesday weigh ins and when things level out again to that 135 I'll increase gradually to find that sweet spot.

DeBlue

We could really use some good maintenance advise. I'm close also and hope to never creep back up the scale this time. I thought I'd read from another MPF'er that once reaching that goal we need to return to the normal calorie level very slowly to let our body adjust. Tips like this and more, I'd love to see. Thanks for the thread!

Onesnap

You're welcome, DeBlue. Congrats to you too--you're almost there!!!

Onesnap

Here's some tips:

http://tracy-rose.suite101.com/maintain-your-weight-loss-a3891

The going slow and add a little at a time seems to be the perfect advice. Not the "whoo hoo I get to eat a ton more and I'm traveling and work is paying so yes, I'd like to have some more of those chocolate dipped strawberries, please!"

alyssamiller77

The most important things as you're increasing are monitor your weight and don't panic. If you see an extra pound or two go on over the course of a week or two, just adjust your calories back down. If then you lose some you can bump back up. Remember your metabolism does fluctuate so it's not uncommon for things like that to occur. Just remember what got you to where you are and you can shift back to a deficit any time if you start gaining. So relax, just keep an eye on things and keep responding to what your body is telling you and you'll be fine.

HOSED49

I reached my goal weight a while back and have been up and down around it for a while...hardest thing I had was adjusting to the extra calories it gave me...for the longest time I just couldnt eat that many calories! But its all worked out...

TavistockToad

when i got to maintenance i increased my calories gradually by 100 per week... MFP sets maintenance fairly low, thought i suppose it accounts for not doing any exercise, but you will find you probably need to play around with the figures and increase/decrease till you find a level that works.

Good luck!

TavistockToad

also, your maintenance goal should be a range, not a set number, as your weight will move up and down a little...

My goal was 126lbs, and while i was getting to a good number of cals i lost 2 more pounds (then put them back on), so my range is 124 to 128. i would only look to lower my cals if i weighed in at over 128 for a couple of weeks in a row.

Onesnap

Very good feedback everyone, thank you.

kandrews24

I'm not at goal but. I recently switched to maintenance (one week ago) because I am too overwhelmed at work and in life to diet at the moment and I don't want to gain any weigt back. I'll switch back in another week or so. It has been a challenge to stay within my higher calorie goal 1950. Other days I'm fine. I have had a few days under, one day over, many days right at goal. Other than more calories I don't do anything different. I'm logging, trying to excersise, staying invoved with MFP. I'm glad I am doing this because it is removing fear for me of when I do reach goal. I'm up 0.2-1.8 any given day which seems like a normal fluxuation range. I think i'll try to start maintenace for real when I'm 2 lbs under goal so I have some wiggle room.

P.s. If you ate out three times, I bet sodium was high. The 2 lbs may go away in a few days. Congrats on reaching goal!

kent4j

Bumping for later when I hopefully reach my goal!

NovemberJune

I'm FAR from my goal but some of the advice i've read is to up your calories slowly. maybe go up 100 for a week, then another 100, and so on. eating less for weeks can lower your metabolism a bit, so you have to be careful

but i bet the 2 lbs is water weight from eating out. lots of sodium. good luck!

Mom2rh

Great job on reaching your goal! Also consider that with traveling those 2 pounds could be water...

Interesting thread. Hope I'll be there soon!

akaChuck

I switched to maintenance two weeks ago and gained 2-4 pounds! This week the weight finally went back down to where it was before I started upping my calories, 250 more than I was used to. There are many tactics to switching to maintenance but I just bit the bullet and upped them all together and believed that my body would adjust. Considering it was only 250 cals more...not that big of a deal. Congratulations on making it this far!!! You'll be fine no matter what, your body is an amazing thing!

tiggerbounce411

We all know how we got to the weight we wanted to be at..hard work and changing how we ate. That isn't just a temporary change, that is a lifestyle change and I know you can stick with it. You have done an amazing job, don't forget what you have done to get there, just keep it up and you will do fine!!

Onesnap

I don't think the eating out equaled higher sodium. Maybe, but I did not eat fast food. I ate small plates and very gourmet. So Asian Fusion, small plates, still ate healthy things for breakfast like yogurt and oatmeal. The difference was I was out of my normal fitness routine and I jumped in *boom* to my new calorie limits instead of taking it slow. My quality of calories was good (fresh veggies, healthy whole foods as normal)...just more calories than my body had gotten used to over 9 months.

Onesnap

We all know how we got to the weight we wanted to be at..hard work and changing how we ate. That isn't just a temporary change, that is a lifestyle change and I know you can stick with it. You have done an amazing job, don't forget what you have done to get there, just keep it up and you will do fine!!

Thanks! For me, it was not a lifestyle change. I was a very healthy eater before MFP (much of it organic, and meats from small family farms). I'm also a lifelong veggie gardener.

The reason I got in a tough spot to begin with was eating too much (too much of a good thing--meaning still healthy foods) when I traveled for work and eating every free food that came into my workplace. We have a full kitchen at work.

Dialing down on the free food eating (on biz trips, and in the work kitchen) is a shift, and a change yes, but my day-to-day eating habits have not changed.. I'm just eating less.

We'll see what happens. I just need to stop obsessing about it. I need to keep my good fitness habits and healthy eating habits (even logging the treats!) and slowly add calories each week to find that range.

juliapurpletoes

it helps me to think of my goal weight as a small range.....then I don't freak out with all the fluctuations.

upping cals slowly and really listening to hunger (mental and physical and emotional)

you can do this!

ladybg81

I went in to maintenance mode 2 months ago and have lost another 9 pounds!! So, I decided to lose the last pound and then try again. I increased my calories 100 per week but never found that sweet spot. Once I lost the final pound, I will just take what MFP gives me and go from there. Good luck and I obviously have NO advise!

BeeElMarvin

I just keep changing my goal weight... LOL. (seriously)

h3h8m3

I don't think the eating out equaled higher sodium. Maybe, but I did not eat fast food. I ate small plates and very gourmet. So Asian Fusion, small plates, still ate healthy things for breakfast like yogurt and oatmeal. The difference was I was out of my normal fitness routine and I jumped in *boom* to my new calorie limits instead of taking it slow. My quality of calories was good (fresh veggies, healthy whole foods as normal)...just more calories than my body had gotten used to over 9 months.

I just want to say that it seems very unlikely you ate our multiple times a day and DIDN'T go way higher on sodium than normal. Unless you're eating sushi (without any sauce) or salad (with no dressing or low sodium dressing) there's just about nothing at a restaurant that won't put you over on sodium.

Gaining two pounds in a week means you'd have had a 7000 calorie surplus. Unless you're burning 2000 calories per workout missing a few workouts would not account for that.

My guess is that you gained nothing, or maybe .5 pound and that it will level off on its own.

Circa1964

I never really got to my "goal weight" (around 5 pounds away) although I decided with my lifestyle that my body wants to weigh in the low 130's (5'5" female) and I'm in the middle of a healthy weight BMI so I decided to just go with it. During the past 5 years I just kept an eye on the scale and body. It I get heavier/larger, it is time to cut back for little while. I fluctuate daily around 1400-1800 per day but when I averaged the past 18 days I averaged at 1450 calories and have maintained my weight. I've always had a hard time living with 1200 calories per day.

Onesnap

True on the 7,000 surplus. And there's no way that happened!