Getting ready for maintenance - any tips?

NittanyLion95

Hi everyone,
I'll be moving to maintenance mode at the end of the month. Whatever weight I am at on 5/23 will be my maintenance weight (I've actually lost more than I ever thought I would when this journey started). Is anyone else on maintenance and if you are, what tips can you offer? If you're on maintenance, please feel to friend me...I'd love the support!

NittanyLion95

Someone has to be on maintenance????

NomiS6

would be nice to know how to change over to maintenance, getting very close

CyberEd312

I am still working on my weightloss but 8 weeks ago I had another knee surgery and was laid up for a few weeks and was the first time in 3 years I went on maintenance and I was scared to death but it was all for not. It actually wasn't bad at all. I am a firm believer in eat back exercise calories so the extra boost in calories without the offset of exercise was nice... I still maintained a healthy intake of good fats (Peanut butter, Almonds, Pistachios, etc..) and actually the second week I lost 2 lbs. which was a nice surprise. I upped my water intake by 32 oz. to keep my body hydrated and flushed out. Other than that I can't say it was much different than what I have always done. I made it out to be a bigger deal than what it ended up being. The biggest thing was adjust my daily caloric intake by an extra 500 calories and not obsessing over the scale to see what was going on.. lol... Best of Luck...

mamitosami

I've been maintaining for over a year. If you've calculated your TDEE correctly, you can eat at that calorie level and if you gain or lose over a six week period, adjust the calories over time.

I do it a little differently though. I still keep my calories low during the week and eat my saved calories on the weekend. So, I eat around my weight loss calorie amount Monday to Friday, then the weekends, I eat the calories I saved all week... seems to work out well, and I've kept my weight constant for a year and two months.

chevy88grl

I've been in maintenance since Sept 2010 when I hit my original goal weight.

I hope you've been slowly increasing your calories so when you do finally hit your ideal weight, it'll be an easy transition to your maintenance calories. I would recommend continuing to log your food and exercise for awhile - it'll help keep you on track.

I did a lot of things when I hit maintenance that other people would disagree with doing, but they worked for me and that is what mattered...

A) I cut back on my workouts. I hit the gym hard core while losing weight, but soon realized that I have a life and can't go to the gym 6-7 days a week while meeting my other obligations too. So, I slowly cut back on my gym time. I fell on the ice in Jan 2011 and that REALLY cut my gym time back, I was slowly working my way up (and boy was it slow!) when I applied for and got another job that completely switched my schedule. I haven't been to the gym in a few weeks and am hoping to go back soon. Even without the gym, I am still maintaining.

Weigh myself everyday still. This helps to keep me on track. This is how I know if I'm falling off the wagon or heading down the wrong path. Most people say "Don't weigh everyday, it'll cause you to freak out". For me, it has been the complete opposite. I've learned what my body likes/doesn't like. I've learned all about my normal fluctuations and I have to say it was an eye opening experience.

C) I have stopped logging my food and exercise. I don't want to log for the rest of my life. I found myself becoming obsessive and not enjoying what I've achieved, so I stopped doing it. I have to have faith in my ability to do this without counting every calorie.


I always tell people to ease into maintenance. Weight loss is tough, but learning to maintain it is tough too. It's all about figuring out what your body will tolerate. I'm lucky in that my body tolerates A LOT from me without gaining any weight. I figure I must have gained the weight and kept the weight on with just a few bad habits that I had because I can still enjoy the things I TRULY love and keep the weight off.


Good Luck!

SHBoss1673

I've been on maintenance for about 3 years now.

I can tell you what you need to do to stay there.

First, make sure your food is nutritionally balanced, not only calorie wise, but also micronutrient wise. I.E. check the vitamin and mineral content of the food you are eating as well as the carbs/protein/and fats. Look up what your recommended levels are and reach them.

Second, don't try to go from a large deficit (more than 250 calories) straight to maintenance, you will most likely gain weight if you do, and it'll be mostly fat weight. Make an 8 week plan to raise your calories by about 50 a week until you're at maintenance, then once there, check your weight about once a week for a month to confirm that it isn't changing. If it is changing by more than 2 or 3 lbs over that month, adjust and continue (by small amounts).

Third, make a long term goal, or better yet, a couple of goals. These will help you to not become stagnant in your health. Make these goals non-weight related, maybe one for muscle size or strength, one for activity (maybe run a 5K in XX minutes as an example), and 1 to do some activity you've wanted to but haven't felt like you can or should, make it something that you need to practice for or train for for a while.

Last, try a bunch of new things, find something you find interesting and try it.

The hardest part of maintenance is boredom and falling back into old patterns, if you make this change a lifestyle change, then you develop new habits that help keep you where you are.

Hope this helps

-SHBoss1673

NittanyLion95

I do it a little differently though. I still keep my calories low during the week and eat my saved calories on the weekend. So, I eat around my weight loss calorie amount Monday to Friday, then the weekends, I eat the calories I saved all week... seems to work out well, and I've kept my weight constant for a year and two months.

I started on WW and used most of my bonus points on the weekends (I love my red wine!). Glad to know I can do it with cals too!

mlmanney

bump

lmalaschak

I have done the weekday/weekend thing before too, with success. I am about to hit maintenance myself and I think that's what we're going to try. Friday counts as the weekend too, right?

NittanyLion95

I have done the weekday/weekend thing before too, with success. I am about to hit maintenance myself and I think that's what we're going to try. Friday counts as the weekend too, right?

Friday dinner, Saturday dinne and *sometimes* Sunday dinner are my cheats....those are the only night my hubby is home to eat with us and we always have wine with dinner (yes, those night I usually drink my overage :-)

lmalaschak

Oh man, not me. For me it's desserts. Brownies, cake pops, lemon bars, should I go on?