weight and maintenance

TaniaCorric

if my goal is to weigh 60 kgs will it be harder for me to maintain at 60 or 65kgs
or will it be the same?
Like i have to work very hard to get under 65kgs so will i have to work that hard for ever to keep it down ?
Or am i better off sticking at 65 which is were i seem to sit with only a bit of work

michellekicks

Here's what I've found from my experience...

When you're dieting/cutting/eating at a calorie deficit, you have depleted your body of its glycogen stores. This is the ready energy that is available for your muscles to use at any given moment. Glycogen needs water and the two are stored together. When you reduce calories to a deficit to lose weight, these are the first pounds to go... hence the water loss the first week... often 5-7 lbs. Sometimes more.

If you diet down to your goal weight, once you arrive there, your weight will be at goal with these stores depleted. As you increase your caloric intake to a maintenance level, your glycogen reserves will fill up and you will weight maybe 4-7 lbs more than you did when you cut down.

So... if you want to maintain at 60kgs, you need to cut down to about 58kg before increasing your calories to maintenance. You will then gain glycogen and water to bring your weight up to your goal. This is not fat weight.

What often happens is people diet to where they just hit their goal number and then celebrate. A few lbs creep on and they think they're gaining fat. They're not. The body wants to replenish those energy stores.

Personally, I want to be at my goal weight wearing clothes in the evening with my muscles loaded up and ready for anything.

TaniaCorric

well i just did calculations on MFP and for maintenance i only get to eat 40 more cals.
there goes my i might maintain and eat more for a while. I'm guessing this is it for life, better get used to it.

michellekicks

That's virtually impossible. Unless you were eating more than MFPs suggested deficit. If you have your goal set at half a pound loss, it will give you a 250 calorie/day deficit. When you switch to maintenance you get 250 calories/day more. If your goal was 1 lb/week, you should see 500 more calories/day for maintenance. Why only 40? That's not right.

TaniaCorric

i dont know i put in maintain at 65 and it came up with 1240 cals

TaniaCorric

found the prob my height had changed to 1.4 when it is really 1.64
so i get 1710 on maintenance, thats better