I'm scared of maintenance!

DizzieLittleLifter

I hit my goal a few weeks ago. I just switched my profile to maintenance. I has me at 1680 calories a day. This scares me! TBH I haven't been tracking my cal since I hit my GW, :happy: but I know it's been around 1200 because I have lost an additional 3lbs. I just eat healthy, and watch portion sizes.:indifferent: I'm afraid that eating all those calories will make me gain weight or inhibit my muscle growth and toning. Anyone else have this fear? I'm not sure how to go about this maintenance thing. :huh: I honestly can't lose anymore weight, I don't want to look sickly, but I'd like to keep building and toning muscle .:huh:

JillieHobbs

I am in the same situation as you! I am currently training for a half marathon and have hit my GW and have moved to maintenance. MFP has me eating 1490 calories just to maintain yet almost 2200 calories when I do my 7-8 mile runs. It is a ton of calories and I am always so worried about gaining the weight back or not eating enough and losing more. I have been trying to eat what MFP tells me to eat calorie-wise. I told myself I would give it at least 2-3 weeks and tweak it from there if I see a loss or gain based on their calculations. Good Luck with your maintenance, I would just suggest to eat what they tell you to eat especialy if you are still working out as much as you were before - and see what happens, you can always adjust down the road.

katya143

try adding 200 more cal so eat around 1400 and see how that goes, if you still lose, then add another 100....

questionablemethods

If you want to maintain your muscle mass you will need to be eating the recommended number of calories for maintenance but remember not to freak out if you see a slight gain in the scale as it might reflect some gained muscle. Continuing to eat 1200 might inhibit the muscle growth, though, so eat up!

SammyLynn010

Someone recommended to me that you increase up to that amount 100 calories per week. Your body isn't used to getting that much, but if you introduce it slowly that should help! So ... maybe try 1300 instead of 1200 this week and see how that goes for you! ... then next week up to 1400 ... just a thought!

DizzieLittleLifter

Hmm Ok that sounds helpful. Thank you! I'll add 100 and go from there. I usually burn between 300-500 cals a day so guess I had a deficit of 800- 1000 OUCH. I guess its important to update ones' profile info. I guess I'm jus afraid that MFP calculations are wrong LOL. :huh:

SammyLynn010

I worry the same things for calories and exercise!! lol... Maybe I should trust more! haha