Goal weight achieved! Now what...?

bradphil87

Awesome job!!!!! For me, I set my goal weight about 10 lbs lighter that I really want (but still in the healthy range) and I plan to start trying to gain muscle after I'm at goal. What the above poster said is a good idea about increasing them slowly over the course of a few weeks

pantherkeith

Hopped on the scale today and was exactly 175. I was elated to be back down from an all time high of 220. My health is overwhelmingly better, I feel GREAT, and I'm wearing clothes sizes I don't remember fitting into in high school.

So, all this said, I've developed somewhat of a "fear" of calories now. I'm perfectly rational and intellegent, but I have this irrational fear that going over 1200 calories per day is now going to start adding the weight back on at a disporprotional rate. I know I want to maintain this weight, and to do that I need to bump up my caloric intake. But I'm having trouble getting over that mental block of beginning to increase my calories.

Anybody gone through this, and what did you do to get over that mental hurdle?

These last few weeks with the same normal routine, what has been your net eating level, and what has been your weight lost on weekly basis?

You can figure out your true TDEE and know that you can go back up to that level at least.

Edit:
If you really did net eat at 1200 avg daily.
And your weight lost the last few weeks has been 1/2 lb, that means you had deficit of 250 cal daily on avg.

That means TDEE is net 1450 calories.
True TDEE would have your exercise calories on top of that.

For a guy at your weight, that would be a very sad example, and means you really suppressed your metabolism.
Which is fine at goal weight, there are benefits to it. Just a terribly slow weight loss experience compared to what could have been.
I'm hoping you've been losing 1lb last few weeks.

I've been averaging about 2 pounds per week, following the MFP recommendation for calories. I went from 1360/day down to 1200 per day as the weight dropped off. Can I take your calculation to mean then that my deficit was about 1000 calories/day? That is about the number that MFP suggests for maintenance. I think I'm going to work my way slowly back up to that number, but always remembering to eat good calories instead of empty ones. And incorporate the weight training once the doctor gives me the "all clear" from the torn bicep I had surgically repaired in late February.

heybales

These last few weeks with the same normal routine, what has been your net eating level, and what has been your weight lost on weekly basis?

You can figure out your true TDEE and know that you can go back up to that level at least.

Edit:
If you really did net eat at 1200 avg daily.
And your weight lost the last few weeks has been 1/2 lb, that means you had deficit of 250 cal daily on avg.

That means TDEE is net 1450 calories.
True TDEE would have your exercise calories on top of that.

For a guy at your weight, that would be a very sad example, and means you really suppressed your metabolism.
Which is fine at goal weight, there are benefits to it. Just a terribly slow weight loss experience compared to what could have been.
I'm hoping you've been losing 1lb last few weeks.

I've been averaging about 2 pounds per week, following the MFP recommendation for calories. I went from 1360/day down to 1200 per day as the weight dropped off. Can I take your calculation to mean then that my deficit was about 1000 calories/day? That is about the number that MFP suggests for maintenance. I think I'm going to work my way slowly back up to that number, but always remembering to eat good calories instead of empty ones. And incorporate the weight training once the doctor gives me the "all clear" from the torn bicep I had surgically repaired in late February.

That is true, if you finished eating at 1200 and were losing 2 lbs of fat per week, that means you had a 1000 cal deficit daily.

Now, I'll bet you actually burned some LBM off also, some muscle in that, because only 600 cal there is 1 lb, and such low cal would have done that too you.

So say easily lost 1 lb of muscle and possible glucose/water stores at 600 cal, and 1lb of fat at 3500 weekly, meaning 586 daily deficit.

So current TDEE with the level of activity you currently have is 1785 - call it 1800.

Depending on how intense your workouts are, you are probably glucose depleted most of the time, so don't be surprised to put on 1-2 lbs of glucose/water weight after a couple days.
Just recall that if any weight gain was really fat, that would imply 3500 extra calories during whatever time period you gained it. Meaning you gain 1 lb over night, you know you didn't eat 3500 extra calories above 1800 the day before - therefore it can't be fat.