Help! Worried about maintenance

Vailara

I know that most people regain weight eventually after dieting, so I'm worried about how I'm going to cope in maintenance (if/when I get to that point).

I put my stats into http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ and it told me that if I got back to my original (healthy BMI, before getting fat) I would need only 1498 calories to maintain that weight. So, presumably, if I ate the usual requirements of calories for a woman (around 2000), I would put weight back on?

On top of that, I've been reading that if people have been fat and lose just 10% of their bodyweight, their calorie requirements for maintenance drop by 20%. If I got back to my original weight, I'd have dropped over 40% of my highest weight, so presumably my calorie requirements would be even lower? Even if I stick with the very conservative 20% reduction, then I'd have to eat just 1199 calories to avoid gaining weight.

Is that correct? I think that I would struggle to stick to the higher figure of 1498, never mind the lower one. If I'm not sure I can stick to those numbers for the rest of my life, is it better not to diet at all and try to keep healthy at a higher weight, perhaps trying to reduce my body fat % rather than my weight?

EmilyDuby

I don't know but I'm curious about the answer as well.

nsblue

One major reason why people put the weight back on after dieting is because their eating habits didnt change ...after dieting they went back to their old way of eating..or mindlessly ate.... no science of how many calories etc ect will erase the behaviors.

If you are mindfull and really care about it ....you will figure how many calories you need when you get there...learn about your body through this process...watch it react to food and exercise...this will teach you alot about yourself and when you get to maintenance you will KNOW what to do. Being mindful is the best you can do...it is when we dont stay on top of things and mindlessly eat we can pack on the pounds... especially if you have behavioural issues that need to be addressed.

Vailara

@ Nsblue I can't believe how much weight you have lost! That's an amazing achievement!

How do you know what to do at maintenance? I do see what you mean about learning about your body and eating on the way down to maintenance, so maybe I really will know when I get there. I'm just worried that I'll have to live with being hungry all the time, and I don't know if I can do that. I'm worried that I'll yo-yo and maybe even end up heavier than now. I was watching a woman on youtube who had had lost a lot of weight and kept it off, and her portions were really tiny.

As it is, it looks like I'd have to eat less to maintain my weight than I do now to lose it, and I'm not sure I can do that for life.

nsblue

maintenance is a balancing act.....remember...what you take in has to be in sync with the amount of exercise you do when you get there. watching what you eat and the scale you really do get to know how much you have to do to maintain. If one doesnt do any...you know the pounds will go back on....this is a change of lifestyle and maintaining a weight one has to eat healthy and have exercise as a norm. smaller portions and moderation is often preached.. i believe eating the way society does is what has caused obesity to rise...eating has become very social....everywhere you go it's surrounded by food...one just has to choose what is acceptable for them n not.
I am never hungry.... I wasnt during dieting...and it you are you should look at what you are eating..... remember though...from a lifetime of overeating and attatching myself to food... i do have a memory...and it is the head hunger that is a bugger to combat/ learning behavioural skills can help in that department. for me it will be a life long struggle...but knowing and being knowledgeable in how i react to food and how my body will respond helps me understand things. for example. I know if I treat myself to steak spice on my bbq steak...i know i will gain 3 pounds...sodium does that to me. I now know this and when weighing daily I dont freak...for I know me. Everything is a learning process... and if you open yourself to watch n learn about you as you lose...it all helps in the long end.
Sure you will worry....i too did. I was always a yoy yo dieter. But this time is different. Feeling the way I do...healthier...off insulin n BP pills..I WILL NOT go back... and remaining mindful I know I will. I dont worry about maintenance...I am doing it now until my pannectomy... I stay in a range of 5 pounds no prob.

How much one eats is dependant on the person as well as their activity etc.... we all are different.

kitkat4141

I have been maintaining since March 2011.

The National Weight Control Registry study shows that most successful maintainers exercise almost every day. Add those exercise calories to the maintenance calories and that should be plenty.

Using myself as an example, my maintenance calories are 1540 per day. I burn between 400 and 600 exercise calories six days a week. So my daily food calorie allotment is typically between 1940 and 2140. Sometimes it's hard to eat that much.

To be honest, being able to eat more food is one reason I exercise. The food I eat is the same food that helped me lose weight. On occasion I will treat myself to a high calorie item. But I try to plan for those occasions in advance so there will be no negative consequences.

Vailara

Well done on maintaining . Does the figure of 1540 allow for the fact that you've dieted down to that weight rather than being there naturally? It already seems low (to me) given that the average woman supposedly needs about 2000 calories.

To maintain my start weight I would need almost 2000 calories (1967). Presumably, that's what I've been eating for the last few years, as I didn't lose weight but didn't gain it either. That's obviously a very easy amount to live with, and it feels like normal eating. To lose weight at the moment, I just need to eat a bit under those 2000 calories, which isn't too hard either.

To maintain my goal weight I'd need under 1500 calories, which is going to feel like a diet. I suppose I'm trying to get my head round the fact that what I'd be eating at maintenance (i.e. the rest of the my life) is LESS than what I'm eating now WHILE I'M LOSING WEIGHT.

And on top of that, there's the articles I was reading saying that being big and then losing the weight in itself causes you to need even less calories. (So there's a risk that my maintenance calories might be 1000 or so?)

And if there's a good chance I'd fail at keeping to the maintenance calories over the next 40 years or so, would it be more realistic to set my goal higher? 160lb would give me 1706 calories which seems much more do-able, and less likely to result in yo-yoing/failure. Would that be healthier?

I take the point about exercise, but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to keep up a high level of exercise over the next 40 years (due to health problems). I'm not really talking about the first year or two after goal (because I've seen people keep weight off successfully for a good couple of years, only to have it creep up again later). I'm thinking ahead to two, three years and the rest.