1200 cal people now on maintenence??

missigus

Ok, I have a ways to go, about 20lbs yet, but I have been thinking about the future and when I finally get to my goal. I'm wondering how going from that small of a calorie limit to a maintenence phase has gone for you... Was it hard to figure out how many calories to add without gaining or continuing to loose? About how many calories are you eating now?

1200 calories is hard to manage, but I've been successful thus far, but i will say i am nervous about adding calories. I want to because it would be great to have some more wiggle room, but freaked out about adding too much and gaining and then being stuck at 1200 forever or something.

Please let me know how this has worked out for you and how your doing it!! Thanks!

nixirain

I think it is great that you started to think about the future and how you are going to maintain this lifestyle change in the future.

I love to eat and I totally think, for me, 1200 is too low for me to manage. I changed my goal to 0.5lb per week and I think it is way easier to manage on the days I dont work out. On the days I do work out, I eat my exercise calories for the most part. I dont have a HRM yet so I only eat some of them.

When I started 6 weeks ago I was eating less that 1200 calories and working out and burning about 300-400 calories a day without eating any of them back. I was tired and cranky and hated life. I did some research, read the forums and saw that the most sucessful people on this site eat there excercise calories. The math makes sense if you stop and think about it.

So I changed my goals and started eating more. My thought process was: I have lost this wieght before, plus some. But I have never been able to maintain! I would rather it come off slow and it stay off than to have it come off quick and Yo-Yo over and over again.

Guess what? I still lost 2lbs that week. I think I was lucky, I was going to totally be ok with no loss for a week or 2 while my body adjusts.

Just something to think about.

jordanlell

As you get closer to your goal weight you should decrease your deficit gradually, and if it were me I would start now. You don't have to start right away, but at twenty pounds to go, trying to lose 2lbs a week can be sort of taxing on your body. I would say go down to 1.5 for the next 5-10lbs, then 1lb a week, and eventually .5lb per week. I'm on 1lb now, because I tried going to .5lb and gained weight on that "deficit" for a couple of months before I realized it wasn't working. On that note, just be sure to tune into what your body is doing as you make changes to be sure that what you're doing is working for YOU.

MountainMia

I've lost and gained several times in my life... probably totaling over 300lbs totaled up. I've got a long ways to go again, but my theory on why it didn't stay off was because I wasn't "working toward a goal." This time I'm accepting that this is a lifestyle and that I will be logging everything and trying to be in my "healthy" nutritional range for the rest of my life. My advice is that Everyone is different, keep track, pay attention and never stop working. You'll figure it out. I know I will.