How do you want to eat when you reach maintanance?

meshashesha2012

I'm going to eat exactly as I do now: nothing is off limits, everything in moderation. I will still count calories so I can stay in maintenance. I won't stress over the occasional splurge. Nothing will change, except that my calorie goal will go up by a few hundred!

that's exactly how i'm doing it.

i'm not on a diet and i still eat the same stuff as a did before. no foods are 100% off limits until i reach my goal weight. this week i had popeyes chicken (WITH the skin tyvm) and thai take out :laugh: . the only difference is my portion sizes.

also i follow the fat2ft formula where you eat the calories you need to maintain your goal weight so that once you reach goal there's no need to adjust calories. the only thing i've done - since i want to lose 80 pounds total - is to set little mini goal weights. so right now i'm eating to maintain 175 pounds once i plateau at that weight, i'll drop my calories to maintain 150 pounds

AlabasterVerve

Exactly as I do now, LCHF.

serentity78

thats why I dont do that crazy crap and why its taking me time to lose weight because I always wanted to do this the right way!

Enigmatica

I just keep an eye on calorie balance and eat good nutritious food. I like to eat a lot, so I've learned to like to exercise a lot to keep a healthy balance.

sazzyp1973

i expect to continue eating pretty much the same as I am now.

sgv0918

I'm going to eat exactly as I do now: nothing is off limits, everything in moderation. I will still count calories so I can stay in maintenance. I won't stress over the occasional splurge. Nothing will change, except that my calorie goal will go up by a few hundred!

This. I hit my goal and set a new one instead of going total maintanence but my lifestyle is totally different now. So when I do gorge as I have done the last few days. I get that reinforcement of not feeling good. I am not the type of eater I used to be. That being said I can feel the old eater me lingering. So I still need to be vigilant

Yasmine91

I'm going to eat exactly as I do now: nothing is off limits, everything in moderation. I will still count calories so I can stay in maintenance. I won't stress over the occasional splurge. Nothing will change, except that my calorie goal will go up by a few hundred!

This ^^^

Lipstickcherry

Like many have said on here, more of what I am already doing now. Since I have PCOS and am insulin resistant, I find eating unprocessed, low density in calories foods (fruits/veggies) in great quantities, nuts in moderation and not making a habit of high density calories food, makes weight loss much, much easier for me. I am not even working out right now due to getting over my painful skin allergy. I go over my calories many days which kind of freaks me out but my weight loss keeps on happening. I used to use another weight loss program and stay UNDER my points...and hardly ever lose. So I can't say that all calories are the same for me personally.

I am following this:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/gombbs.aspx

PS: just wanted to add, I do go off my eating plan now and then. I have learned just to get back to what I am doing and not concentrate on those mishaps. When I get to my goal weight, I plan on continuing to eat this way for the rest of my life. I like feeling better and not having migraines, which has happened for me since I have been following this. Plus I don't get hungry so much anymore.

Nerdy_Rose

Like a horse.

And I do.

And damn, it feels good.

Rubie81

I'm going to eat exactly as I do now: nothing is off limits, everything in moderation. I will still count calories so I can stay in maintenance. I won't stress over the occasional splurge. Nothing will change, except that my calorie goal will go up by a few hundred!

^^^^This. For me, the most important, is bring aware of my portion sizes.

Betty_Canada

Like many have said on here, more of what I am already doing now. Since I have PCOS and am insulin resistant ... I can't say that all calories are the same for me personally. -- I do go off my eating plan now and then. I have learned just to get back to what I am doing and not concentrate on those mishaps. When I get to my goal weight, I plan on continuing to eat this way for the rest of my life. -- Plus I don't get hungry so much anymore.

This. I also have PCOS and am insulin resistant, and when your pancreas goes on a fairly regular screaming fit, you learn fairly quickly that if you want to lose weight (much less stop being a slave to the plate), you have to eat differently. Not all calories affect every body the same way.

I'm on sort of a weird combination of somewhat primal eating, low carb / adequate protein / moderate fat, and the No S diet philosophy (where there is room for special days, when I know things will be hairy, like Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, anniversary etc., and I allow for those events to happen and to enjoy them without guilt, but with moderation, and then get back on the horse, damn it).

This is a method of eating I can sustain, and it doesn't mean I can never have anything (although I suspect I may have a largely pasta free existence), it just means that I have to know how my body will respond to those fluffy breadsticks and decide if it's worth it. *lol* And if it is, I can have one and stop, I don't feel compelled to eat the whole basket. And that's mostly retraining my mind about food.

My carb levels will probably go up from the 70-125 net I'm shooting for now up to about 150-175 net, but they won't likely go much above that. No real need for them to as long as I stick to eating food as opposed to what one poster jokingly called "beige stuff". My body is pretty comfortable on somewhere between 1500-1800 calories a day.

=Betty=

Lipstickcherry

Like many have said on here, more of what I am already doing now. Since I have PCOS and am insulin resistant ... I can't say that all calories are the same for me personally. -- I do go off my eating plan now and then. I have learned just to get back to what I am doing and not concentrate on those mishaps. When I get to my goal weight, I plan on continuing to eat this way for the rest of my life. -- Plus I don't get hungry so much anymore.

This. I also have PCOS and am insulin resistant, and when your pancreas goes on a fairly regular screaming fit, you learn fairly quickly that if you want to lose weight (much less stop being a slave to the plate), you have to eat differently. Not all calories affect every body the same way.

I'm on sort of a weird combination of somewhat primal eating, low carb / adequate protein / moderate fat, and the No S diet philosophy (where there is room for special days, when I know things will be hairy, like Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, anniversary etc., and I allow for those events to happen and to enjoy them without guilt, but with moderation, and then get back on the horse, damn it).

This is a method of eating I can sustain, and it doesn't mean I can never have anything (although I suspect I may have a largely pasta free existence), it just means that I have to know how my body will respond to those fluffy breadsticks and decide if it's worth it. *lol* And if it is, I can have one and stop, I don't feel compelled to eat the whole basket. And that's mostly retraining my mind about food.

My carb levels will probably go up from the 70-125 net I'm shooting for now up to about 150-175 net, but they won't likely go much above that. No real need for them to as long as I stick to eating food as opposed to what one poster jokingly called "beige stuff". My body is pretty comfortable on somewhere between 1500-1800 calories a day.

=Betty=

I average over 2100 calories a day. I am fairly overweight and have 115 lbs more to go to my goal weight.
The weird thing is, I have gained weight eating less calories AND exercising 1 hour a day (I used to have online logs at WW Online to prove it). I just can't eat white bread all day like I used to and processed food.
It makes for insulin spikes galore. I think if you're body is not as screwed up as mine, you can definitivly lose weight eating whatever you want and a calorie is a calorie.

I have experienced a man I worked with 2 jobs ago in the past that went on and on how "a calorie is a calorie and does not matter", plus he didn't understand nor care how insulin plays a huge role of the body processing things (how insulin spikes can make someone like me gain weight). He had wandered into my conversation after work with another workmate and dominated. I am still pissed off about that years later and on my high horse I need to get off. this is the first time in my life that weight loss is not a huge effort with hunger pains and migraines. So you might say I am writing this post to affirm this for anyone in my position.

That said, I will get off the soapbox now. If your diet is working for you, I won't be telling you to stop it.

edited to add these link explaining better than I can:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/490298-why-does-insulin-make-you-gain-weight/

http://www.livestrong.com/article/414182-can-insulin-cause-weight-gain-despite-a-low-carb-diet/

shakybabe

I went really low carb when I started as I was overweight and couldn't exercise much I dropped weight quick mostly water weight but I was just happy to see numbers go down.

As I built up how long I can exercise to work calories off I started re-introducing more carbs back into my diet.

I found wheat makes me store loads of water if I eat alot of it regularly like Cereals and bread everyday and pasta a few times that week) so I switched to gluten free breads/pasta/cereals etc and rest of food is mainly fresh fruit, veg, lean white meats and fish. Occasionally I have red meat as I love meatballs and spaghetti (using gluten free now) and I love roast lamb and mint sauce with sunday dinner!

I'll eat same at maintenance maybe include few more carbs a week and try and keep up the exercise.

fit_librarian

Kind of the same. Probably french bread and brie. I miss that.

AllonsYtotheTardis

I'm going to eat exactly as I do now: nothing is off limits, everything in moderation. I will still count calories so I can stay in maintenance. I won't stress over the occasional splurge. Nothing will change, except that my calorie goal will go up by a few hundred!

This is exactly my plan as well.

I'm eating now the way I plan to eat at maintenance. The only difference is I will get to eat a little more. And unless I'm exercising a LOT more than I do now, it probably won't be a LOT more food. I feel satisfied - I'm not hungry.

Bermudabarbie

Been on maintenance for awhile. Not as easy as it seems. You may have gone too far and want to put on a few extra pounds, but find it difficult to eat normal sized portions. When I drop below 130 pounds (5 8 1/2), I try to regain a few pounds. Best success is adding 300+ calories to my normal breakfast which is 420 calories regularly. Can never eat in excess. Must always limit certain foods and sweets. This is for the rest of your life. Not easy, but so worth it.

nxd10

The way I'm eating now with maybe an occasional bit of cheese, piece of good bread, or excellent pastry.

I'm having a hard time eating differently at this point.

kazzsjourney

Once at goal I am going to increase my calories by 10% every 2 weeks till I hit 2000 calories. Then I plan on changing my diet a lil so it will focus more on intensely building muscle (I do weights several times per week now but my focus is on fat loss now not so much building muscle - that said tho I have much higher lean mass then the average female (information gained from a DEXA scan))

gracieabem

Basically the same as now. I'm actually trialling some maintenance calorie numbers at the moment just to get me through a slightly stressful period at uni and not eating my exercise cals back (unless I go for a looong run and then I'll be eating some more if I'm hungry lol). I will be interested to see what happens... slight gain, gain, stay the same, or still lose? I guess I'm just experimenting with the numbers.

I want to eat as I'm eating now. I eat healthy most of the time and I eat a lot! Nothing is off-limits, but there are some things that I just don't want to eat as often as I did pre-lifestyle change. I can still eat all my favourite things and I've actually got many, many new favourite foods now as well. I love variety in my diet and I love eating fruits and veggies. I love my bread, pasta, rice, barley, quinoa, beans etc, nuts, meat, cheese, yoghurt. I still love my sweet treats. I still love chocolate and icecream.

I'm actually really enjoying the realm in my life that is food. I could never be a 'food is strictly fuel' type person, because food is so pleasurable and has strong social and cultural connections in people's lives. I love cooking new dishes and I love planning my meals, I love shopping for fresh produce and wondering what to make and I love experimenting. I just love food. Always have. But now I know how to enjoy it without excess for the most part.

nicehormones

I plan on eating the same way I eat now when I am at maintenance and forever. I try and make healthier choices most of the time, but I still always allow myself to have whatever I want in moderation. This works for me and I do not believe in harming myself or depriving myself of anything.