Transitioning to Maintenance ??

GIBride01

According to my sneak peak at the scale this am, I have met my goal of 25# lost! I am going to keep doing my thing until my "official" weigh in day Friday, but have started thinking about the transition from weight loss to weight maintenance. I would love to know what others have done, did you gradually increase calories, drop off on exercise, a little of both??? I am exercising 6-7 days a week now, will probably cut back to 5 days a week and gradually up the calories, any suggestions or insights on what others did would be great! :flowerforyou:

GIBride01

According to my sneak peak at the scale this am, I have met my goal of 25# lost! I am going to keep doing my thing until my "official" weigh in day Friday, but have started thinking about the transition from weight loss to weight maintenance. I would love to know what others have done, did you gradually increase calories, drop off on exercise, a little of both??? I am exercising 6-7 days a week now, will probably cut back to 5 days a week and gradually up the calories, any suggestions or insights on what others did would be great! :flowerforyou:

hopeitworks

This is a really good question. I'm very close to my goal and am already thinking about maintaining. It really scares me. Do those of you who are on maintenance still log in your meals and keep track of your calories? Have you noticed an increase in weight? I know it's a lifestyle change similar to what I've been doing, but the thought of maintenance is a little scary.

sonniedee

While I am back to dieting now - I gained weight due to having surgery on my foot and not being able to exercise - I was on a maintenance regimen for well over a year. You do need to keep exercising and you do still need to keep an eye on caloric intake, but you can be a little less rigid. I think also that this website has a maintenance track to help you out. I could be wrong, but check it out.

willywonka

Hi there,
I'm really anxious to see what others write on this. I am at maintenance but to be honest, I'm not very good at it It is still hard for me to increase my calories but I am working on it. It is a scary thing, because there's always that thought of gaining some of the weight back. But I log everything still, all my food and all my exercise and this really helps keep me on track. I just need to tell myself that I can eat a little more now.

StiringWendel

I thought I was at maintenance about six weeks ago, but decided to go for another ten pounds. But I've been doing alot of thinking about maintenance since then, and here is my plan for maintenance (which I think I'll be starting in a couple of weeks).

I've already checked my maintenance calories here at MFP (1410). I've got a heart rate monitor, so I know how many calories I'm burning, and I've been logging those calories everyday (so I have a general idea of my 'average' burn). Right now, since I only have two more pounds to lose until I reach my final destination (and I mean it this time!), I'm currently eating my maintenance calories and losing the weight through exercise alone.

This way I am getting used to how many calories I need to eat to maintain my weight if I don't exercise. I think this is important for me to do if I'm ever in a position of not being able to exercise for a long time. And the cool thing about it is it is working great for weight loss!

Over the next two weeks, I plan on increasing my calories by 100 a week (to about 1650), which will actually bring me to within 100-200 of what I burn through exercise. Then, when I've met my goal, I will probably settle my calories at about 1700-1800 or so everyday, which is based on what I'm averaging my exercise calories to be (anywhere between 300-400). I think this is a perfectly reasonable amount of calories for me to be eating and not feel deprived (which I also think is important).

I will be logging my food as I do now, and I have no plans on changing my workouts. I think the big difference for me is that I will allow myself the odd higher calorie day when I want something special without feeling like I need to make it up somehow through exercise. But I will only do that every few weeks or so. I figure if I go over by 300 calories once every three weeks (or so) and never burn off those calories (which I find unlikely), it will take me over six months to gain a pound. And after eating 1200-1400 calories for as long as I've been doing (I have not been over 1500 since January), 2000 calories sounds like so much! So I think I will be capable of maintaining this weight with the right mindset (not being militant and finding balance in other words) but still holding myself accountable for what I'm doing.

Good luck and congratulations on your weight loss!

hopeitworks

Thanks for all of your input. It's so true what you said about upping your calories. After eating basically 1200 calories a day, it does seem scary to start eating 1400 or 1500 calories. I guess it takes some getting used to. Good luck with your maintenance journey.

farmgirlh

I thought I was at maintenance about six weeks ago, but decided to go for another ten pounds. But I've been doing alot of thinking about maintenance since then, and here is my plan for maintenance (which I think I'll be starting in a couple of weeks).

I've already checked my maintenance calories here at MFP (1410). I've got a heart rate monitor, so I know how many calories I'm burning, and I've been logging those calories everyday (so I have a general idea of my 'average' burn). Right now, since I only have two more pounds to lose until I reach my final destination (and I mean it this time!), I'm currently eating my maintenance calories and losing the weight through exercise alone.

This way I am getting used to how many calories I need to eat to maintain my weight if I don't exercise. I think this is important for me to do if I'm ever in a position of not being able to exercise for a long time. And the cool thing about it is it is working great for weight loss!

Over the next two weeks, I plan on increasing my calories by 100 a week (to about 1650), which will actually bring me to within 100-200 of what I burn through exercise. Then, when I've met my goal, I will probably settle my calories at about 1700-1800 or so everyday, which is based on what I'm averaging my exercise calories to be (anywhere between 300-400). I think this is a perfectly reasonable amount of calories for me to be eating and not feel deprived (which I also think is important).

I will be logging my food as I do now, and I have no plans on changing my workouts. I think the big difference for me is that I will allow myself the odd higher calorie day when I want something special without feeling like I need to make it up somehow through exercise. But I will only do that every few weeks or so. I figure if I go over by 300 calories once every three weeks (or so) and never burn off those calories (which I find unlikely), it will take me over six months to gain a pound. And after eating 1200-1400 calories for as long as I've been doing (I have not been over 1500 since January), 2000 calories sounds like so much! So I think I will be capable of maintaining this weight with the right mindset (not being militant and finding balance in other words) but still holding myself accountable for what I'm doing.

Good luck and congratulations on your weight loss!

That is exactly what I am doing!! It seems to be working so far. Let me know how it goes for you.

GIBride01

Thanks all, helps to know what others are doing. I gotta say though, some of your maintenance calories are what I am doing for weight loss now! 1400-1600 calories sounds really low to me, is that what you are getting for maintenance calories here? I am doing between 1600-1700 calories a day now for weight loss, and have averaged a pound and a half a week for the past 4 months. I guess maybe my exercise jacks up my calories, because my maintenance calories are between 1900-2000. Hmm, interesting...anyone else have higher calories for maintenance?

StiringWendel

My maintenance calories are low, but that's due to the fact I'm 43 and short (5'2") and, at least now :happy: , relatively small (about 112 pounds). Add on top of that the fact that, outside of exercise, my lifestyle is sedentary, and you end up with maintenance calories like mine.

I've searched a number of sites (this one, Jillian Michaels, and goggled dozens) and they all pretty much consistently say that to maintin this weight, I need to eat between 1400-1500 calories (without counting exercise of course). So I do trust what this site has given me for maintenance calories since it falls within the range.

But unless you are in a similar situation, there would be absolutely no reason for your maintenance calories to be so low. Trust me, I wish mine weren't.

manganello16

This is really interesting, because, believe it or not when I was on weight watchers and got to my goal weight:grumble: (which is no longer where I am)m I found that I couldn't stop losing weight....And I actually complained about it!:ohwell: So finally I just started eating whatever I wanted and what do you know? Back to square one...plus a pound...AGAIN!!!!! :mad: So I would just keep the exercise up and slowly increasse calorie intake. I think I would also weigh myself twice a week instead of once to watch the results....something I didn't do when I was supposed to be maintaining. good luck!!!:happy:


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