confused

prairiedawg2014
prairiedawg2014 Posts: 367
in Health and Weight Loss
i joined MFP jan 2 this year. since then i have been losing weight. i eat 1260 cals, plus i eat back my excercise cals ( or at least most of them). iam never hungry, i get quite enough food. but what really confuses me is all the talk here in MFP about upping cals, eating back cals, or not eating back cals. i only have about 11 lbs left to lose. my concern is whats going to happen when i reach my goal? how do i keep the weight off? do i stay eating the amount of cals iam now? do i still have to excercise everyday?
do i slowly introduce certain foods back to my diet? i have cut out all red meats, but to tell the truth iam really craving steak and hamburgers, and garlic ribs lol. will i no longer be able to eat these foods after i reach my goal weight?
so confused as to what to do. any suggestions?

Replies

  • njmp
    njmp Posts: 277 Member
    My guess would be the answer is "moderation". You will be able to eat more calories when you get to your goal weight, as you should not be eating at a major deficit if all you are trying to do is maintain. Should you be exercising all the time? Probably. I don't know, that's just my inclination...maybe I'm not much help, I'm no expert. I went from the 1200 cal up to 1460 I think, as I decided to try for only 1pound/week. If I choose maintain weight, it allows me 1900 or so...so if you can fit in some ribs in with the extra few hundredc calories, do it!
    PS I eat steak all the time, and did so even when I was on 1200 cals. Just choose a nice lean sirloin...
    Good luck! Hopefully someone will have an answer that is better than my admittedly jumbled version of an attempt at help! But you're doing GREAT!!!
  • prairiedawg2014
    prairiedawg2014 Posts: 367
    thx nj. was thinkin of tryin a small steak this weekend....if i go up i guess i'll just have to work a little harder to bring it back down.
    so hard to know what to do with ev1 saying different things on here. i guess maybe its all trial and error.
    but thx for the advise :wink:
  • gaia3rd
    gaia3rd Posts: 151
    Congratulations on your loss! To answer your question, you can change your daily goals to your maintenance level and then log everything in until you are comfortable knowing how much you need to eat/exercise to maintain you weight. Yes, you will still need to exercise regularly and watch you portion sizes - this has to be a lifestyle change for you if you want it to be sustainable. I personally would not have cut out any particular food group. When I've done that in the past, I'd always end up regaining weight when I began eating 'normally' again. Good luck!
  • prairiedawg2014
    prairiedawg2014 Posts: 367
    thanx for your reply gaia. so i should start eating some red meats, but maybe just occassionally?
    how do i know what to set my mainteance cals at?
  • mallory3411
    mallory3411 Posts: 839 Member
    You can eat red meats now. You could all along. As long as you fit them into your caloric goals and didn't deprive yourself of other nutrients you will be fine.

    You can change your settings under goals in the "my home" tab to maintain your weight once at your goal.
  • irisheyez718
    irisheyez718 Posts: 677 Member
    It's really ALL about moderation, at least to me. If you take a peek at my diary, you'll see that I don't deny myself ANYTHING. That's the only way I'm able to stick to this.
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,519 Member
    Eat more, but don't go over maintenence. Your particular food choices are irrelevant.
  • SusanMcAvoy
    SusanMcAvoy Posts: 445 Member
    bump
  • Ironducky
    Ironducky Posts: 12 Member
    When you are at your goal weight and you want to maintain, click on settings, then go to your update diet/fitness profile, and then you can change your goal from wanting to lose to maintaining and it will adjust your calories accordingly.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    so i should start eating some red meats, but maybe just occassionally?
    I'm not sure why you're avoiding them to begin with. Is it just because of the calories? You should be able to find lean cuts that will fit into your calorie goals. You can eat them as often as you like. I've never given anything up.
  • chachadiva150
    chachadiva150 Posts: 453 Member
    If what you're doing is working for you, then don't get caught up in the chatter. Eating a piece of steak will not derail you or cause problems. The body just reads it as protein and nutrients.
  • Dch2012
    Dch2012 Posts: 19
    You could always try beef tenderloin it is more expensive than most cuts but it is really a lean cut of beef. Also far better tasting imo
  • mountaingirl222
    mountaingirl222 Posts: 88
    I agree with never giving up anything, Alot of people binge eat when they deny themselves something. Yesterday I had an oatmeal cream pie cookie :laugh:
  • Airbear3
    Airbear3 Posts: 335 Member
    My guess would be the answer is "moderation". You will be able to eat more calories when you get to your goal weight, as you should not be eating at a major deficit if all you are trying to do is maintain. Should you be exercising all the time? Probably. I don't know, that's just my inclination...maybe I'm not much help, I'm no expert. I went from the 1200 cal up to 1460 I think, as I decided to try for only 1pound/week. If I choose maintain weight, it allows me 1900 or so...so if you can fit in some ribs in with the extra few hundredc calories, do it!
    PS I eat steak all the time, and did so even when I was on 1200 cals. Just choose a nice lean sirloin...
    Good luck! Hopefully someone will have an answer that is better than my admittedly jumbled version of an attempt at help! But you're doing GREAT!!!
    like!
  • mentar75
    mentar75 Posts: 5
    ok..... The bottom line is this. You body comp deals with how many calories your body needs a day to survive. Muscle mass and activity have a lot to do with the amount of calories you need daily.

    The only purpose to eating is breakfast will supply you enough energy until lunch, lunch to dinner. If you eat more than what your body needs than you gain weight. If you cut back on weight training and cardio you body will lose muscle mass and your metabolism will slow resulting in needing less calories. However, most people continue to eat the same amount....

    So, this program is suppose to get you to live it daily. Know what you can and can't have... If you are already speaking of slowing down, returning to more red meat and getting back to old foods that you loved before you are headed down the wrong path.

    You can have moderation of anything... However, it is a delicate balance.... I would tell people to never eat their "work out calories", this defeats the purpose and allows you more food (only if hungry) it is not "free" food! Do not be decieved.

    I would say, stick to the diet you love, evercise doing things you love and all will work out. Don't look at this as an end! As you know, no such thing exists!

    I am going to read this post to myself once a week as my own personal reminder... :)
  • gaia3rd
    gaia3rd Posts: 151
    Well, I pretty much agreed with everything in your post until I came to this section:
    I would tell people to never eat their "work out calories", this defeats the purpose and allows you more food (only if hungry) it is not "free" food! Do not be decieved.
    I always eat back my exercise calories and it does not defeat the purpose. I'm after sustainable (1# a week, as I'm within 20# of my goal), healthy weight loss. If I burn 300 calories working out, then I NEED to eat them back as MFP already has my deficit included in my daily figures. Cutting that further may make me lose faster (and that's debatable, considering slowing your metabolism by consistently under-eating isn't 'a good idea in my book) but it certainly won't be healthier. It might be different if people have already incorporated their exercise into their daily activity when they set up their goals, but I don't think most of us do it that way.
  • ShellyShuey
    ShellyShuey Posts: 162
    Congratulations on your loss! To answer your question, you can change your daily goals to your maintenance level and then log everything in until you are comfortable knowing how much you need to eat/exercise to maintain you weight. Yes, you will still need to exercise regularly and watch you portion sizes - this has to be a lifestyle change for you if you want it to be sustainable. I personally would not have cut out any particular food group. When I've done that in the past, I'd always end up regaining weight when I began eating 'normally' again. Good luck!

    this
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    You should calculate your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expendture) and work out how many calories you need to maintain. You will probably be surprised as to how much you can eat. As you do not have much more weight to lose, you should probably aim for 1/2 lb a week (250 calorie deficit) and work you way up to this calorie intake (and then to maintanance when you are there). You need to take into account your exercise as the deficit should be calories out less calories in. The more you exercise, the more calories out there will be, and as such, the more calories in you need to keep the deficit stable.

    Allowing yourself to eat at a higher level, but still with a deficit, will make your weight loss more sustainable.
  • jlr_12
    jlr_12 Posts: 170 Member
    You should calculate your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expendture) and work out how many calories you need to maintain. You will probably be surprised as to how much you can eat. As you do not have much more weight to lose, you should probably aim for 1/2 lb a week (250 calorie deficit) and work you way up to this calorie intake (and then to maintanance when you are there). You need to take into account your exercise as the deficit should be calories out less calories in. The more you exercise, the more calories out there will be, and as such, the more calories in you need to keep the deficit stable.

    Allowing yourself to eat at a higher level, but still with a deficit, will make your weight loss more sustainable.

    THIS. Being so close to your goal you should start eating more now. If you stay at 1260 and then suddenly jump to maintenance, you will gain weight. Your body is now used to eating 1260 plus exercise calories and your metabolism has more than likely slowed down some. The key is to start building up SLOWLY so that your body can adjust to getting more food. Like the above poster said, calculate your maintenance calories by figuring out your TDEE (search it in the forums, there's tons of threads on how to do this). Once you have this number, add 100 calories to your diet every 1 or 2 weeks. This way once you hit maintenance it won't be such a drastic jump. You will continue to lose weight even while adding calories (it may take a couple of weeks to get used to, but stick it out..even if you gain at first it will go away). As for the red meat and anything else you've been restricting...NO food will cause you to gain weight if it fits into your calorie allowance. If you can eat it without going overboard, do it!

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