maintaining weight

socialdeee

Hi Everyone!

So I am steadily apporaching my goal weight of 137 pounds! I have been on this grind since august and have lost the weight slowly but surely. I am hoping to have shed my last 4 pounds in about 3 weeks time! (although TOM has been a b**** this week!).

So I am wondering how others, or what advice you guys have for maintaining my weight once i reach it? MFP says i should up my calories to 1750 BUT i dont know how I would be able to make a transition from 1300 calories a day to 1750! im so used to eating how i eat now and although in the weekends i do indulge and go over my calories, i couldnt bring myself to do 1750 everyday! BUT i dont want to lose anymore weight once ive hit 137lbs.

So quite a dilema i have here. Any tips? Also i barely work out now. Ive gone for running 3 times a week to just once a week, so cutting down my exercise from the bare minimum i do now is not an option

caseythirteen

You could try and increase slowly, maybe 100 calories a week once you get to goal or close to it. That way it's not a shock to the system. Instead of adding an extra meal you could try and just up the caloric intake of the ones you already have or add just an extra snack. For instance, add some fruit to your morning oatmeal, a small BabyBel cheese wheel, a spoon-ful of peanut butter, half of an avocado added to dinner. There are lots of small ones that you could add a bit more calories. Good luck and congratulations on being so close to goal!

socialdeee

You could try and increase slowly, maybe 100 calories a week once you get to goal or close to it. That way it's not a shock to the system. Instead of adding an extra meal you could try and just up the caloric intake of the ones you already have or add just an extra snack. For instance, add some fruit to your morning oatmeal, a small BabyBel cheese wheel, a spoon-ful of peanut butter, half of an avocado added to dinner. There are lots of small ones that you could add a bit more calories. Good luck and congratulations on being so close to goal!

That sounds like a great idea! However, I am scared that if i start to increase from now, i wont drop the 4lbs i have remaining! But it sounds like a plan to increase calories will healthy stuff. My bfast in the mornings is pretty minimal so i may try adding fruit to it in the mornings. sounds like a plan.

Thank you!

melsinct

I lost the last 10 pounds by setting MFP for a 0.5 lb/week loss. Yes, you'll lose slower but your transition to maintenance will be easier. Honestly, losing weight is the easy part. Keeping it off for the rest of your life is when the real work begins. I know losing weight isn't actually "easy" per se, but you have a specific goal that you are chasing. Maintaining that weight loss during the ins and outs of every day life, year after year, is actually more difficult since it is a much longer sustained effort. Anything you can do to make the weight loss to maintenance transition will help you in the long run.

divacat80

I'm doing this as well, to try not to have too low net calories (I exercise a lot). And I feel it's helping me not realise I'm on "a diet" and I can't imagine eating any differently in a future, it just is such a normal meal plan and reasonable portions that I feel it's doable in the long run. I guess I'll just have to exercise less or do less cardio to keep my weight off.

socialdeee

Its just such a difficult mental process to think 'ok i have to eat more now' Especially when youve been on a wight loss journey for so long and have convinced yourself that more than 1300 calories a day is basically a fail! How do you chnage your thoughts and your body into accepting that now you wish to maintain?

I will be upping my calories by 350 a week which will be 50 calories a day, once ive actually hit my goal and see how that works in the first week. If i still lose wight then ill need to increase it by another 350 a week. I basically wish to up the calorie intake as slowly as it took for me to lose the weight in the first place!

BCSMama

I am in a very similar situation and have the same thought process. It's really hard going from eating at a deficit and getting used to it and then having to increase. I have been slowly adding calories into my diet to try to find the magic number where I will maintain. I am still loosing though, so am still adding. I am definitely struggling though and have a lot of fear that I will undo all my hard work, but at the same time, I don't want to loose anymore weight; if anything I want to gain some muscle, lol.

kristen6022

If you don't increase your calories you WILL lose more. I hit my goal of 157 in May and I didn't up my calories, just kept going - before I knew it July 1st I was 143. I'm back up to 147 now because I figured out what I SHOULD be eating and how much I should be moving to maintain, but trust me, you need to eat more. You won't gain, more than likely you'll be able to get away with more calories than 1750 for awhile because your metabolism is HIGH!