For those of you at goal or close to it...

montana_girl

When you got to goal, did your exercise/activity increase, decrease or stay the same?

I'm just curious... for me, as I got closer to goal, my exercise increased and now I exercise 6 days a week. Some days more, some less, but I do something 6 days a week. I have found it helps to keep my weight right around my goal. Plus it allows me to eat more during the day so I rarely feel deprived and can indulge in my favorites occasionally.

Every now and then, I find myself working out a bit longer or pushing myself a bit more just to see what I am capable of doing. I'm always amazed at how far I've come.

michelec64

When I first started with the weight loss I would go to the gym Monday-Saturday, with Sundays off. Since I've hit maintenance mode a month ago I've knocked it back to 5 days a week (I treat Thursdays as optional). Like you my workouts have increased in intensity over time, so that kind of balances things out. If the scale starts creeping back up then Thursdays will become mandatory again, but so far so good.

Scarlett_S

Circumstances in my life have dictated my workout schedule lately...but in the very beginning I settled with walking three times a week and two karate classes a week. As I got closer to goal I did more and more, and in the past year (training for black belt test) I worked out 5-6 days a week and did two-a-days three times a week. You just can't keep up that pace for long...I did it maybe 4 months and that was it.

Lately I had to decrease to 3 to 4 times a week because of work travel and a surgery I had that knocked me out for a few weeks. But I am back in the game for summer for 5 days a week - 3 days weight training and 5 days cardio, plus karate class 2x a week at night.

jenseye

I find myself wanted to do more exercise than when I started.
I started doing yoga 2x a week about a month ago, I have resistance bands and light weights I am trying to incorporate into my daily routine but haven't done a consistant job yet.
I find now when I don't exercise at least 4 or 5x a week I feel blah and sluggish...

Enonoid

I am a few lbs away from reaching my goal. I am assuming MFP will adjust my cals, thus allowing me to eat a little more. I plan on lifting more and cutting back slightly on the cardio. Gonna try to see if I can get some leg definition and continue with the upper body work.

neaneawy

I'm 6 lbs from a healthy BMI. This was my final goal when I got started, but I think I'll keep going. I'm exercising more often and more intensely. I feel so much stronger now. I actually want to exercise, not just so I can eat more. I'm also trying to finsh off these last 6 lbs quickly before my husband gets home from deployment. I love this new me and every work out I am amazed at how far I have come. I want to see what I'm capable of.

BigMech

My exercise stayed the same or actually went up a little, and I raised my calories to stop the weight loss. I have been around the same weight for 6 months now. I started replacing some of the cardio in the gym with weight lifting, but the overall the amount of time in gym has stayed the same (5 days, 2+ hrs a day). I also run 2-3 a week, usually about 5 miles each time. MFP has been great for tracking the calories while maintaining.

My goal now is to put on some more lean mass, so I have been toying with raising the calories to a small surplus, but that is tough after working so hard to lose weight for so long....

Everything I have read says that keeping up the exercise is the key to keeping off the weight. Those who stay active have a much higher success rate than those who just try to maintain the loss through diet.

momof2winsplus

My base calories have gotten so low that I have to exercise to not feel hungry. I've slowed to 1/2 lb per week, too.

Christine1110

When I started I was only working part time...I had all day to workout and did about 3 1/2 hours a day. Now I work a full time job with overtime. I do get a walk in everyday. I plan to lose a few more pounds then I want to gain mucsle. I just hit my goal yesterday....but I now have a new one.

NovemberJune

I'm about 10 lbs away from my goal weight. I've been slowly upping my calories. I was around 1600 for months and months and for the past few weeks I've been around 1800. The amount I exercise is about the same but I also joined the gym so my workouts are quite a bit different. (I didn't join the gym BECAUSE I'm close to my goal but for other reasons....)
I'm planning to continue eating around 1800 for a while and then go up slowly to around 2000 and see what happens.

EpiGaiaRepens

oh geez. WHen you figure it out, let me know!

Losing weight was easy.

Figuring out how to make my body look how I want it to at my weight is HELL. It's like ROCKET SCIENCE. It's like BRAIN SURGERY!

On METH!

Seriously. I started at 174 with the goal to get down to 145 or less. Back then I thought 135 would be the outlandish possibility. Well, I got down to 123...less than when I was anorexic. I decided to go into "maintenance" and focus on "sculpting"...ie. I wanted to lower body fat, build strenght, but not lose any more pounds. Well, I can see some abs....some. When I flex. And I can do pull ups now. But I am just floating around between 123 and 128. I kept my net at 1200 and everyone told me I need to eat more, so I upped my cals to 1400- well then the scale shot up to 134. Went back to net of 1200, but I'm in the same boat. 123-128, but no real progress on my abs.

I think that you gotta keep mixing it up.

But if you figure it out. let me know.

My plan, my vision, if I have the willpower, is to do an hour of lifting heavy 3 x's a week, do HIIT for 20 mins 3x's a week, and figure out how to eat clean and slowly up my cals. My TDEE is supposedly like 1900 cals a day. I don't think I should be netting only 1200....but i can't figure out how to up my cals wihtout the scale shooting up. I think my failure is in my diet. I think I need to give up carbs, up my protein, and still work out as hard.

Brandicaloriecountess

I am 10 ish pounds away, I think I will workout the same while I can.
Once I get a "grown up job" I may have to cut back a little

Jamie2007

I am all about goals, so once one goal is hit a new is set! The goals are forever changing. Weight loss goals are met, but definition goals are not! Therefore, I still exercise 5 to 6 days a week.

fakeplastictree

I'm always making new goals.

sheri02r

I'm about 3lbs away from my goal weight. I've cut down on cardio and have started lifting 3 days a week now. I run 2 days a week, and on one of those days I do HIIT. I also try to have a long run at least once a week. As far as the number of days I've been working out, I haven't really changed that, but I've changed the type of workouts that I do. I've heard the last few pounds are the hardest to lose. so I think I'll re-evaluate in about a month if nothing changes!

LorinaLynn

More than when I started, because I'm able to do more, but time wise, about the same. Because I can run five miles in less time than it took me to walk two.

marekdds

This was a long process for me. I am older, have thyroid issues & just plain hated exercise and loved eating. I now don't hate it now, so I tend to go more readily, 5 days a week. Six if I feel like it, less if I don't. At my age 1-1/2h is about my limit, but it is certainly more intense than when I started. If there are big food plans in the works, I workout more, so I can eat more. I do, however, eat more healthy than I have in my life.

cardbucfan

I've always exercised, even when I was heavier so my frequency hasn't changed any. I do mix it up though to avoid boredom. And I eat more!

bicoastalgirl

I exercise more now than I did when I started losing weight. I intend to keep my level of activity up so I can improve my running, and also get more toned. There is always something to work on.

beaner1st

Once I hit maintenance my exercising increased. I want to be able to eat so exercise is a neccesity but I also am enjoying setting new goals like toning and lowering my body fat. I generally do an hour 6 days a week. I mix it up with heavy lifting (which I just started), the crosstrainer at the gym and DVDs at home (right now I am doing Turbofire.)

UpEarly

I've always exercised, even when I was heavier so my frequency hasn't changed any. I do mix it up though to avoid boredom. And I eat more!

This! I exercise longer some days now - because I can. I have boundless energy! In the old days, a five mile hike would wear me out. Now I can go fifteen miles or more!

I also eat A LOT more!