Anyone trying/ struggling to maintain?

joliejolie123456

Hello! I've been using MFP for nearly a year and i've gone from 165 to 125 pounds and am now a UK size 10! I'm really pleased but i've now reached the hardest part... maintaining! I just can't seem to eat all of my calories every day. Anyone else in the same boat?

Figuringoutme

I'm close to maintenance and it scares me so much. I'm more worried about going over my calories.

claire_xox

My version of maintanence is gain/lose/gain/lose/gain/lose/gain

it's horrible

hopefully someone has some good tips!

joliejolie123456

Yeah, going over can be a problem. My biggest issue is that I don't want to lose any more weight... I'm happy where I am and I don't want to get too skinny but I don't want to start piling all the weight back on either. Has anyone managed to maintain for quite a while. How many calories did you eat? I feel like going from 1200 to 1800 is a pretty big jump. Did anyone do it stages?

FitForLife81

I am interested in this as well. I am 5'3" 114lbs and just changed my goals to maintain. The reason I have waited so long is because at 1300 calories I was maintaining. Now they want me at 1650 to maintain?!?! I dont know how I could maintain at 1300 and 1600 I dont want to gain!

annabellj

dont change anything unless you want to gain. i had yr and a half of maintenance and then i thought, wow i got this and stopped tracking what i was eating and then put it all back on! unless you start losing more, keep doing what you're doing!

afigueroa_pr

I just reached my maintenance mode. I cannot eat all my calories because I am so used to eating so few of them I don't wanna overwhelm my body eating 2010 calories from 1200.

joliejolie123456

I am still losing. I've lost 6 pounds in the past couple of months so i'm still trying to get the balance right. Definately tricky

Rachiepie6

If you start losing weight, increase your NET. If you start gaining, decrease your NET.

Good luck finding the balance

kgb6days

I'm still trying to loose, but am only maintaining. I'm eating my 1200/day plus eat back my exercise calories too. I'm getting frustrated!

CoryIda

After over 2 months, I FINALLY got the hang of it. I found that having a calorie (and weight) range works best for me. Some days I can't reach my calorie goal, but others I go over and I've maintained pretty well now for several weeks.

mauryr

I'm in that area where I'm past my initial goal weight, but I'm still interested in losing about 5 more lbs - or not.

I've found that I'm still having a 1400 net cals, but my weight is staying static - even though it should be going down at 0.5 lbs/week.

It seems to me that eating back exercise cals keeps me at the same weight. Could be because the burn for my exercise is over-estimated in the database...

So, it seems to me that if I continue to log, and continue to have the cal deficit I currently have, I'll maintain.

hirensthenameliftinsthegame

You could try doing a hybrid like a lose/gain phase....

Week one: eat 100-200 cals over your normal daily calories
Week two: eat 100-200 cals under your normal daily calories

and just repeat...many times when people start going into maintaining phase they will cut back their eating discipline and eat less/more. Eating less means less calories and less of a reason to hold on to your muscle mass thus your RMR drops per pound of muscle lost which then leads to fat gain if the same lowered caloric intake is being implemented.

If you have an exercise schedule, also keep track of the exercises that you do, like sets, reps, and the weight that your lifting, as it is a strong guide on whether or not your losing your muscle mass.

It is also necessary to have weekly pictures of your "problem" areas where you think fat accumulates quick, when you do a review of your maintenance phase you can quickly weed out what your problems are. Make sure you do a review every 1 to 2 months to catch anything wrong before it escalates into a bigger issue.

More or less, try to challenge yourself when you are exercising, as it is even more necessary for your body to hold on to muscle like dear life when it is being challenged.

Sorry if it seems like doing a million things at once, but if you take it one thing at a time its actually very easy to stay on track to keeping your best physique all year round!

engineman312

like with your initial weight loss, maintaining weight will be a series of trial and error, plenty of mistakes, and tons of learning. you know you are capable of losing weight, so losing it again will not be hard. inside of all of you is the capacity to achieve your goals.

auntiebabs

I've been very scared about maintaining since the get go.

When I was losing I giving myself a range really helped me to succeed.
(1200 cal rock bottom, Lose X/week my target, and Maintain Goal was the high end of my range)
It was a nice slow sensible loss and I've added back calories as I got closer to the goal so I'll understand better what maintenance feels like.

Now, trying to figure out a range will work to maintain. Because I'm not really the type of person who'll be able to hit the same number day after day.

Any suggestions?

auntiebabs

Yeah, going over can be a problem. My biggest issue is that I don't want to lose any more weight... I'm happy where I am and I don't want to get too skinny but I don't want to start piling all the weight back on either. Has anyone managed to maintain for quite a while. How many calories did you eat? I feel like going from 1200 to 1800 is a pretty big jump. Did anyone do it stages?

For my last 5 lb every time I lost a pound instead of letting MFP take away 10 calories I added 50 or so calories.
Currently, I'm at 1550 maintenance for my goal is 1590.

On top of that, I'm in the middle of a series of dental surgeries so my diet has been very limited. Yogurt, oatmeal, cottage cheese, ICE CREAM, applesauce... I never thought I'd be tired of ice cream oh I can't wait to chew again.

pholbert

I'm in that area where I'm past my initial goal weight, but I'm still interested in losing about 5 more lbs - or not.

I've found that I'm still having a 1400 net cals, but my weight is staying static - even though it should be going down at 0.5 lbs/week.

It seems to me that eating back exercise cals keeps me at the same weight. Could be because the burn for my exercise is over-estimated in the database...

So, it seems to me that if I continue to log, and continue to have the cal deficit I currently have, I'll maintain.

I moved mine from having set at losing 1lb to.5 lbs and that has me staying at the same weight so far. I rarely go over in calories. I am trying the maintaining thing to se what will work.

Occultus

I lost all my weight having 1417 Kcals a day and eating back 90% of my exercise calories. I have started as of 2 weeks ago to gradually move to maintenance mode.

The first week I added 300 Kcals into my diet, I gained 1lb but this was down to one night of excess (planned) and a possible miss read of scales. The second week I had lost 1.5 lbs which makes sense as I was still on a deficit of 400 kcal a day. This week I have added back in 300 more which puts me at 2000 about 100 less than BMR which is where I will stay unless I gain. I will report back in a week how it goes.

It took me best part of 6 months of dieting with a deficit of 700-1000 kcals a day, what I keep reminding myself is that I will not regain the loss in one week it would take 6 months of overeating, so as long as I weigh myself regularly I will know if things need changing. As the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy says... Don't Panic.

claire_xox

I'm so small so I find that I gain when I up my calories to 1200. (usually aim for 950cals but I lose on that!) 1000 seems right for maintaining for me, but that's soooo small! I know I can't keep it up. really frustrating! especially if I go out for dinner or something and have one meal that's around 1500 I spend all week trying to lose one day!

and MFP sets my maintence at 1340! lol. they have no clue :P

Armygirl67

I am interested in this as well. I am 5'3" 114lbs and just changed my goals to maintain. The reason I have waited so long is because at 1300 calories I was maintaining. Now they want me at 1650 to maintain?!?! I dont know how I could maintain at 1300 and 1600 I dont want to gain!

bump.

olso123

bump

Jarnard

same boat. i can go about 2 weeks of exercising and good eating. i can do bad for like 2 days and i'm gaining 4 lbs! i don't get it!

ChitownFoodie

I was on maintenance for months until I got sick. Now I'm trying to gain weight. This seems to be harder than losing or maintaining.

hirensthenameliftinsthegame

I'm so small so I find that I gain when I up my calories to 1200. (usually aim for 950cals but I lose on that!) 1000 seems right for maintaining for me, but that's soooo small! I know I can't keep it up. really frustrating! especially if I go out for dinner or something and have one meal that's around 1500 I spend all week trying to lose one day!

and MFP sets my maintence at 1340! lol. they have no clue :P

i don't understand how people can survive using that low of a calorie total for the day, seems nearly impossible. I guess daily activities can also play a part in calorie expenditures as well as lean body mass. When you say you gain, do you measure using the scale and the bf%? Or solely on the scale? Do you also have a set time and a routine before checking(in terms of hydration/other variables)?