Anyone set to maintain now?

iLoveMyPitbull1225

I reached my second goal and I am within healthy weight range and definitely happy with what I've accomplished, but I am really nervous that I will gain it back by eating so much more...I now have almost 600 more calories allowed and its freaking me out because I am SO used to the way I eat now.

Has anyone reached this point in their fitness journey? what was it like to re-up your calories? did you gain? I'm scared because Ive worked so hard.


PS please no one be mean.

ColleenRoss50

I am getting closer to my goal and my intention is to up my calories slowly when the time comes (say 150 to 200 calories at a time) and stay at that number for 2 or 3 weeks to see how it goes before making the next adjustment until I find my sweet spot for maintaining.

wolfi622

I am just making the transition to maintenance myself.. Reached my goal and then some a few weeks ago - weight, BF%, etc all where I want them to be. I too am quite nervous about gaining weight on maintenance calories. So I am interested in the responses. I have done a couple of thing that might help. I've been add 100 calories a day to my goal each week for the past few weeks to gradually get close to the new number. I've kept my macros at 40% protein, 30% carbs and 30% fat. I have not changed my workout routine. But I have stopped logging exercise calories as my goal calorie number should now account for my daily activity level.

Goal_Line

I totally now where you are coming from - it is a little scary. I've build habits that work and the thought of changing them is tough. I don't want to decrease my amount of exercise for fear I'll lose the habit, nor to I particularly want to eat more.

So here is what i'm doing. I've changed my weight work out to favor muscle growth, and will cut the amount of weekly cardio I do by 1/3 - however, I will still do something everyday. I've added more fats in the form of nuts, I'll probably add some sweet potatos here and there. My ratios are 35% protean, 25% fats, 45% carbs. I'm getting plenty of protean about 1 gram per lbs of body weight, the only place left to add is carbs.

I'm going to weigh myself only 2 times a week, and not freak out if I'm up 1 or 2 lbs, unless I see a trend.

Any of u guys want to friend me to help talk through it, I'm up for that.

Poods71

Interested to see replies to this one too as I am nearing goal weight and scared I will undo all my good work if I up my calories. Even if I have a bad day at the weekend I seem to put weight back on. Might try just adding 100 cals a day as suggested and see how that goes before i add anymore. Congratulations on getting to goal and I hope maintenance goes good too

iLoveMyPitbull1225

I'm glad I'm not the only one

Colleen, thats really great idea about upping slowly...It seems less scary to add about 100 or 200 instead of 580 to what I was eating previously. Thank you

iLoveMyPitbull1225

So here is what i'm doing. I've changed my weight work out to favor muscle growth, and will cut the amount of weekly cardio I do by 1/3 - however, I will still do something everyday.

How do I change the weight work out to favor growth? I like that idea...

Also, I have decided to cut back my cardio too.

magerum

I've been at maintenance for about 4 months now. A couple things...MFP has my mainteance calories way too low, I lose at their level. A lot of that is based on my continued exercise.

Another thing, which is very important to know and expect, you will gain a couple pounds when you first adjust up. Don't freak out. They will stick around for a week or two, then they'll disappear and you'll settle in. You may need to do a couple of adjustments to find your true maintenance, just go up by a couple hundred at a time for a week (I suggest two) before changing anything.

Goal_Line

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Goal_Line

How do I change the weight work out to favor growth? I like that idea...

Here is what I'm doing.

I've divided my work outs into upper and lower body, that alternate with 1 day between them, so each part gets 3 days rest - which they are going to need for growth.

Now each of these two body halfs get 3 workouts that rotate:
Workout A: 5 sets 5 reps (90 second rest between sets) heavy wights
Workout B : 3 sets 15 reps (30 second rest) lighter weights
Workout C: 4 sets 10 reps (60 second rest)

So I'm constantly mixing the amount of weight and number of sets and the rest between sets.

I got this from a great book called "The New Rules of Weight Lifting" - I recommend it. This is one by the same title specifically for women.

nwg74

I am possibly looking at maintaining in about 10 -15 pounds. Not looking forward to it as I have been losing for 15 months now. At least if I go up, I know what to do to lose it again.

lmarshel

I'm kinda/sorta on maintenance now. I got down to my goal weight, but then was on vacation for about 4 weeks and gained a few pounds back. Trying to lose those now, and then it's maintenance all the way. But I didn't lose my weight very fast. It's taken me about 4 years total to lose 50 pounds, mostly because I didn't stick with my program religiously the whole time. But I never had a huge calorie deficit, because I wanted to lose slowly. Towards the end, I change my calorie goal on MFP to what maintenance would be for the weight I wanted to me and worked off that. So the last few pounds came off really, really slowly. But it also means I won't actually have to switch over to maintenance. Technically, I'm alreay there.

Goal_Line

I've been at maintenance for about 4 months now. A couple things...MFP has my mainteance calories way too low, I lose at their level. A lot of that is based on my continued exercise.

Another thing, which is very important to know and expect, you will gain a couple pounds when you first adjust up. Don't freak out. They will stick around for a week or two, then they'll disappear and you'll settle in. You may need to do a couple of adjustments to find your true maintenance, just go up by a couple hundred at a time for a week (I suggest two) before changing anything.

Thank you so much for this comment.

I'm up 4 lbs. I know there is no way I've consumed 14,000 extra cals in a week! Intellectually I can rationalize it, but it is scary none the less. Gonna stick with the plan and continue to monitor it, but it is comforting to see that this could be normal...

runfatmanrun

Maintaining now. Haven't gained any, actually lost more and ate more. Still working at it but as long as you pay attention like you did when you were trying to lose you should be fine. Feel free to add me if you have other questions later.