How do you do maintenance?

ek8885

I have lost 110 pounds! Yay, me! I have reached my goal and now it feels like that was the easy part. I have never had this kind of weight loss before, so I don't really know what I'm doing as far as staying here. It is a whole new mind set. It is a huge fear of gaining when I am supposed to now add calories. Is this the best way to think about it?- It's not that I'll gain weight by adding calories, it's just that I won't continue losing weight. How do you do it?

simpsona5

The easy answer is to not eat over your daily calorie amount. I also worry that as soon as I slack off the weight will just comeback . As my Mum use to say "everything in moderation"

HarlowAudrey

I'd start slowly by adding 50-100 calories a day, monitor for a few weeks slowly increasing and stop when you start gaining weight and go back a hundred. Congratulations!

rudarbe

First off, congrats on an amazing weight loss!
Anyway, I was afraid about my maintenance as well after losing so much weight.
I upped my goal to just losing 1 lb a week so 1650 cals/day I'm losing weight but verrrrrry slowly compared to 2 lbs/week. You're going to continue to lose weight no matter what if you eat under your calorie goal, so don't be afraid! Are you incorporating exercise in your diet?

ek8885

Thank you, everyone! Yes, I do exercise. Mostly just walking, but it helps! That is a good idea about adding just a bit and seeing how it affects my weight loss/maintain/gain. It makes me so nervous to add food! I know it's all in my head, but scary anyway!

Unknown

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susanswan

Congratulations! I think maintenance is harder. Simply because I thought I was there. I kept my calories at 1/2 pound a week for weight loss still so I would be able to occasionally add some treats in but not gain. That worked until the holidays when little treats became a way of life. I soon began craving sweets again with the fear of gaining weight being realized! I gained 9 pounds up until the other day when I mentally gave myself a wake up call to settle down. I was terrified I wasn't going to stop nibbling on things! My new habits never went to hell in a handbag, but my old habits were there, too. Eating a few crackers, having a cookie, samples at Costco, it all adds up quickly! I'd suggest you keep your celebratory food to a minimum and eat healthy food if you think you need more calories. DO NOT start with some favorite bad habits that got you here in the first place. I feel okay now, now, but I really need to watch it!

ek8885

That was a good suggestion to set my new daily calorie goal at 1/2 pound loss a week. It used to be set for a 1 pound loss a week. I changed it and it only added 100 calories a day. I think that will work, so that I can go out to eat occasionally and not stress over it. Thank you everybody!

potluck965

TOPIC: How do you do maintenance?

With difficulty:embarassed:

slkehl

First of all, congrats on losing the weight!

I'd log everything on MFP for a while until you feel that you're getting the hang of appropriate calorie levels to maintain.

MissFuchsia

TOPIC: How do you do maintenance?

With difficulty:embarassed:

^^^ This

Congratulations on your amazing loss. I've been maintaining my goal weight over a year now. I started off increasing my cals buy 50/100 per week. I still have the occasional cheat day but generally try to stay within my daily goal and eat as clean as possible. Recently I've setting my cals at slighly below maintenance to offset the bad days.

Edited to say - after a few months of maintenance I stopped weighing myself. I have a certain pair of jeans that I use to judge my weight. If they're tight then I've gained and need go back to eating at a deficit until they fit again

sijomial

Well done first of all....:flowerforyou:

The way I did it was to add 100 cals a day -stay at that number for a week. And repeat the process weekly until you find the right number of calories that are right for you to neither lose or gain.

Apart from mathematics side for me there were two other keys mental aspects:
1/ Don't fixate on one particular number for your weight, it doesn't work that way. Think of a range (or upper and lower limits) where you are happy to be.
2/ Replace weight loss goals with new and challenging health or fitness goals.

You have done so well and can keep the thought in the back of your mind that you have lost weight once and so if you do gain in the future you can lose it again.

nwg74

Start slowly.

I decided to go straight to near TDEE and put 6 pounds straight on. I know that should not be possible but it happened. Now even after nearly 4 weeks going back down to what I ate before, I am still +4 pounds. I assume as I have been losing weight for two years now, the shock was too much.

Once I have lost what I put on again, I will set it to half a pound a week and see what happens.