Switching to weight-maintence and increasing calories

PrincessD1585

Hi! I'm new here and seeking advice on how to increase my calorie intake and switch over to weight-maintence. I reached my goal weight a while ago, but never really took into consideration the need to increase my calories and now I am realizing that I'm still losing when I probably shouldn't be. I am still exercising a great amount (now that I love running so much I am actually training to run marathons), but am still eating in my "weight-loss" way. I do realize that at my current weight I am probably now exercising too much and eating too little and want to change that so I can remain healthy! However, after working so hard I am SOOOOOO nervous about gaining weight back! Is there a good way to increase calories and/or decrease exercise a little bit in such a way that I don't gain weight? Should I start with increase my food or with decreasing my exercise, or by both at the same time (eek!)? I am so sorry to put so many questions out there, I am just really confused about the whole switching to weight-maintence and how it all works. Thank you all in advance for any help and advice!!!

wolfi622

I don't have an answer because I'm in the same boat. I've overshot my goal by 8 pounds, have not decreased my exercise. I'm attempting to increase my calories. Yeah, I'm nervous about gaining back, but mostly I developed different habits, that were positive and helpful when losing weight but need to be changed. I got "rewarded" for the new habits so it's harder to break a habit under those circumstances, IMO.

almostatgoalweight

First, congratulations on getting to goal! And congratulations on continuing running when you're at goal. I don't have any advice but I can share with you my "plan". When I reach goal weight I'll eat more naturally, and weigh myself daily. I intend to stay *under* my goal weight. I guess that will end up being about 1kg under. I weigh myself daily and will do so for the first year of maintenance. Each day if I'm under my goal weight I'll just eat the way I want to, that doesn't mean overeating of course. If I'm above my goal weight I won't have dinner. It's that simple.

I'm not suggesting that you try this method, but if you want to maintain, you need to do 2 things: watch what you eat, and watch what you weigh. Weighing is a lot easier than measuring everything. Devise a plan that is easy for you to do for the rest of your life. Look at motivations to stop you from rebounding if you have a breakup (gained) or break your arm (gained) or a death in the family (gained). Good luck.

TavistockToad

start slow... if your weight loss is set at 1lb per week, change it to 0.5 for a couple of weeks... then add 100 cals extra per fortnight until you get to a figure your body likes. you should have a weight 'range' not one set number to account for any fluctuation- i have about a 5 pound range. also, i have found that mfp may have your maintenance figure set a bit low. it says 1600 for me, but i actually net 1800-2000.

good luck!