Scared to start Maintenance?

driaxx

Is anyone else scared to start maintenance?

My maintenance on this site says I can up my calories about 500 calories to what they were previously (not including exercise). I'm so scared to eat this much though incase I do put on weight! (Stupid, I know..)

For now I'm doing it gradually, going up 100 calories a week. Is anyone just starting out with maintenance and in the same boat?

keiraev

Yes I have just switched today- planning to do it for a couple of weeks to see how it goes before I try and shift the last 2lb.

I did put them up by 250 to start with (0.5lb a week goal) and lost 2lb doing this.

I am interested to see what happens to me on maintenance!

beaner1st

I just started maintenance myself however since I am short and had upped my calories by 100 a few weeks ago I only upped them another 100 to reach maintenance. It is still scary.
I would go up slowly. Maybe 100 a week and see how your body adjusts.

basschick

I know just how you feel! When I started maintenance at the beginning of August, I adjusted my calories to "lose 1/2 lb. a week" rather than maintenance. I should tell you, the month of August is as bad as the Christmas season around here for overindulging -- hubby's birthday, our wedding anniversary, my birthday, and we went on vacation all in a two week time span. I stuck to my calorie goal most days but had lots of "cheat days" that month too. My weight fluctuated, but at month's end my weight was the same. Once things got back to normal in September I found that I actually was starting to lose a 1/2 pound a week like MFP said I would so I decided I was ready to try "maintenance" calories, which for me is 1540. At first it seemed weird, like I was eating too much, but my body did adjust quickly to the calorie increase. I'm happy to report that a month and a half later I have stayed in a range between three pounds under to right at my goal weight. Most days, I am a little over or a little under my calorie goal and I have a "cheat meal" about once a week that puts me over for the day by about 400 to 600 calories. So far, this is what has worked for me. Good luck!

Shyloh1

I am too.

Sunday,I'm going to switch my deficit to 1/2lb and then slowly work my way up to maintaining. I eventually want to eat about 2000 calories a day.

I'm hoping I'll lose the last 3 lbs that I want to.

The_Finja

I find it very scary. My wife is still losing and i have the opposite problem of increasing my cals. The scary part is, for the last year, the number on the scale told me how i was doing, now I need it to stay put and I'm finding it hard to be ok with that. I upped my cals by 250 and likely will have to bring it up another 250 next week.

iluminadaonix

It is hard. I'm in the lower end of maintenance. If I loose two pounds I become underweight and not healthy. I'm still in trial and error mode most days. I'm 3 months maintaining

hewhoiscd

I find it very scary. My wife is still losing and i have the opposite problem of increasing my cals. The scary part is, for the last year, the number on the scale told me how i was doing, now I need it to stay put and I'm finding it hard to be ok with that. I upped my cals by 250 and likely will have to bring it up another 250 next week.

It's definitely a mental adjustment. It was cool getting the immediate and concrete feedback from the scale to see how you were doing, good or bad. For 8+ months I had that easy to see positive feedback...now I don't

I've done my best to switch my mental gears from weight loss to strength gains, and that has helped. Now I focus on improving my workout numbers in some way each time and not be so concerned with the scale.

Gwendalyne

I understand how you feel...I think really playing around with the calories to find a balance