Maintaining weight help please

michaeltoye

Hi all

I haven't posted before, but I have been using the iphone app to great effect. I've gone from 210lbs to 169 right now.

I am eating quite healthily now and, i feel, quite a lot too.

The problem is i want to maintain my weight and, just through not wanting to eat bad foods, I've inadvertently lost a couple more pounds.

I've planned my meals for today and i'm 500 calories short. I always have some snack dark chocolate in the evening and, for instance, for lunch now i have a caramel dessert cup too. So i am having treats. maybe one problem is that I don't eat breakfast. i get hungry just after 11 and eat at mid day - if i ate breakfast, it would knock all my meal timings out of whack with my girlfriend.

i guess i need some help on what healthy foods should i add to my diet or what i should ensure i include in meals, like more pasta? should i further snack on nuts and raisins?

Hope this isn't sounding too petty - i could do with some assistance.

Michael

pupcamper

You shouldn't skip breakfast - if you don't want to eat make yourself a shake!

erickirb

You don't have to eat more to ingest more calories, just make different food choices that include more calories dense foods. If you don't already you can:
-add nuts, seeds and/or dehydrated fruit as a snack
-Use nut butters on fruit or crackers
-Don't eat lite, or diet foods (opt for the full fat/calorie versions, usually healthier as well)
-add avocado to salads and sandwiches
-add olive oil to soups and sauces
-change to higher % milk fat products such as yogurt, milk, cheese, etc (eg. switch from skim to 2% milk)
-drink some of the calories (protein shake, or replace one glass of water with a glass of juice)

sryan8408

I would at least eat something in the morning. I split up my breakfast because I am a server and get a break typically pretty early. I have my coffee and a glass of kefir (roughly 195 calories) then when I get my break an hour or two later I have a luna proterin bar (180 cal) and an apple (60-100 cal depending on the apple). So theres about 500 right there. I would really suggest at least having something small in the morning.

cindyrholmes

Add some higher calories small items like nuts, olives, peanut butter, and cheese. Dairy items like milk can provide some calories (about 80 per 8 ounce glass) too although I would stick to skim to avoid introducing too much animal fat back into the diet. So if you just cannot get into eating breakfast perhaps a small snack in the morning like a couple of peanut butter crackers or a half a pbj on wheat bread could give you the extra calories without being a full blown meal. If even eating a snack in the morning is not an option then try trading your "treats" with something that is amore caloric or add some higher calories items to your meals. Pasta can be high calorie but who wants to eat pasta every day. You can add some whole wheat bread to a meal, pasta, increase your portion sizes, etc. Nuts have a fair amount of calories (about 150 per serving depending on type) too and can be healthy as long as they are not doused in salt.

You know what you cut out to lose the weight, maint is a time when you can add back some of the healthier, but high calorie items you cut out. A friend of mine just entered into maint and was terrified that she could no longer eat the calories necessary to maintain her weight because when she took all the crap out of her diet she was struggling to eat her weight loss calories every day. We sat down and went through the list of items she cut from her diet that she actually missed. Her solution was making her PM snack a hearty PBJ with a glass of warm milk. She ate as she did during weight loss the rest of the time and treated herself when she needed the calories with her all time favorite treat, which for her was pretty healthy. Don't over think it! Figure out what you miss and as long as it is reasonable (not like a eating a stick of butter or a tube of cookie dough) then add it back.

Enjoy your weight loss and CONGRATULATIONS!!

michaeltoye

thanks for the feedback all! if it helps, my drivers for weight loss were high cholesterol and slightly high blood pressure. all sorted with my new weight, so i am super pleased. it does mean i am now very cautious with milk, butter, meat and pastries.

i do welcome anything that i can track numbers with, so i might try a little granola with some extra nuts in for breakfast. I do love peanut butter too, which i hadn't thought of.

Thanks again. very helpful :-)

Michael