Maintenance FAQ?

mu5a5hi

I am not much of a forum user. Is there an FAQ somewhere on myfitnesspal.com?

I am a 39 y/o male..Very skinny bones/frame, but over the last 5 years of 8 hr a day desk job and raising a daughter i just let my midsection get too much. On MFP I have now gone from 179 to 151 in 4.5 months. I am done. I need to stay in the 149-154 range approximately.. Unless the added weight is muscle.

So my QUESTION is..How do you PROPERLY transition into maintenance? After eating 1450-1300 calories a day for that long... i tried setting my iphone app to lose nothing and it told me to jump up to around 2000 calories a day. Im a bit leery to make such a dramatic jump so quickly. I don't want to start packing it back on fast now that my body is used to this.. At the same time i don't want to be malnourished.

I feel GREAT eating better. I am a vegan (always been sensitive to dairy and beef anyhow, it wasn't much of a stretch) and now am ready to start working out again. I have found it hard at this age to exercise AND lose weight at the same time.. because exercise makes me HUNGRY.. in my late 20's i could eat whatever i wanted after exercise. Then last year (38) i tried to treadmill for 3 months and actually gained weight.. turns out i was pigging out after the run and my metabolism, i guess, is just too slow for that. SO phase one is done. Now if i build some muscle i will be able to SEE it. not hide it under fat.

cbfliz

When I finally reached a weight I was happy with I decided to up my calories very gradually by 50 calories per day (so overall 350 cals over the course of a week). I'd already worked out approximately what my maintenance calories should be so continued doing this until I reached that level.

This approach worked well for me, probably could have done increments of 100 cals without any detrimental effect.

TravelDog14

Like cbfliz, I added back calories slowly, no more than 75 extra per day.

But I'm not trying to build up muscle which is what it sounds like you might be looking to do. If you're lifting heavy, I think you're going to need more than 1450 calories per day as a male. Maybe ask some of the lifting heavy advocates elsewhere on MFP. I'll bet they have a MFP forum group and you could ask there.

momzeeee

I've discovered transitioning into maintenance is one of the great mysteries of the universe lol. I've been doing it since March and I still don't have it figured out sigh....

TavistockToad

try adding 100 cals per week till you get to 2000.

however if you want to gain muscle you will need a calorie surplus above your maintenance figure.

mu5a5hi

Thank for the replies. I have been on a trip to portland and didn't get on here for a few days. Portland is a GREAT city for fitness by the way. They have awesome public transit, but you still find yourself walking a few blocks most times., so its easy to 'accidentally' exercise. I actually lost a bit of weight in portland, even though I had upped my calories by 100.. from doing all that walking. I am gonna keep it at the current number for the next week while home and returning to work and thus mostly sitting. If that's all good up it again a week later. Thanks for the suggestions!

Also.. lifting heavily will not be in the cards. I am a vegan, so I can't intake enough protein (not EASILY anyhow) to build a lot of bulk, and all that bulk isn't really for me anyhow.

TavistockToad

Also.. lifting heavily will not be in the cards.

So you don't want to gain muscle as you previously stated?

Melissakay1222

I have been maintaining for a month or so now and still haven't quite figured it out. I have days where I indulge and my calories are much higher so then I just play around the next few days and stay a tad lower on my calories. I give myself one "ME" day a week where I don't count anything at all! I don't workout and I don't watch my calorie intake and I find that my one day keeps me motivated the rest of the week. It's my reward to myself. In my opinion, maintaining is a lot harder than it was for me to lose the weight. Good luck to you! It's harder to maintain but a lot more fun because you can eat pretty much whatever you want . . . within reason.

paxbfl

I give myself one "ME" day a week where I don't count anything at all! I don't workout and I don't watch my calorie intake and I find that my one day keeps me motivated the rest of the week.

I do the same thing but I watch my calories really closely.

I counted my calories on a typical free day and found I was about 1800 calories over my TDEE. I know... Crazy but that's the number. So the other 6 days I eat a 300 calorie deficit (after exercise) in order to break even.

It's working for me - weight is staying fairly constant over the past 2 months.

STrooper

I went from a pound loss per week to one-half pound per week for a couple of weeks.

I transitioned to maintenance after Christmas 2012 and have largely stayed there (note I still have a dificit level AND I'm not gaining or losing) but I am eating more calories than I was prior to maintenance.

It occurred to me just the other day that the year that I spent at the same weight (190 pounds, no food logging on MFP) was largely because 1) my body fat ratio was changing as was evidnced by the changing of my body dimensions and the clothes I needed to wear and, 2) I was largely eating in calories in balance to what I needed. But I had a lower set of targets that I ultimately wished to achieve. The first one was 179 pounds (the top end of the "normal" BMI for me, and the second one was 175 just because it seemed like a nice round number with a little margin for BMI.

When I started logging, I began to drop the weight mostly because I was reducing my calorie intake below a different maintenance level. I kept my level of activity at an only slightly higher level to enhance the effects and in 10 months I dropped 17 pounds. My weight continued to fall even as I increased calorie intake before it stabilized.

I realize that, calorie-wise, I am eating at about the same intake level as when I was 190. With my recent addition of running to the exercise mix, I will probably have to up it even more to "fuel the machinery."

Maintenance is just another plateau.

But it is a plateau that you striving to maintain rather than "complain about."

mu5a5hi

Well I am still maintaining. weeks after my initial post. I am pretty happy. I wish I could keep my badge from when i had lost 30 lbs. I'm putting a tiny bit back on and can see putting more on.. because i am LIFTING and eating Protein powder now. My calories haven't gone up TOO much. Im still under 2000, but I am definitely doing measurements to make sure the gain is not in my waist. Its a drag to see the 30 lbs lost turn to 29 turn to 28 though.

I started at about 180 But ultimately I had gotten too skinny. 5'11' 149-150 lbs.. all bone. Toning up now.. but I feel I should really weigh 165.. it should just be 15 lbs of muscle, not flab.