Anyone out there at their maintenance level

gatorginger
gatorginger Posts: 947 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi I'm still working my way up to find my maintenance level as I am at my goal weight but out of curiosity wonder how it is working for those who are already maintaining their weight. Any tips are advice is appreciated

Replies

  • Gyolanda
    Gyolanda Posts: 3
    I have been at my maintenance level for about 2 months now. It is such a wonderful feeling!!! I really focused on changing my lifestyle, not just losing weight, so keeping the weight off has not been too difficult. I do have a HUGE sweet tooth and may indulge in "deliciousness" a little more than I should, but overall I keep a balanced diet. I have found new ways to prepare vegetables, cut out salt (substitute with spices), I make smoothies, trail mixes and keep fruits and vegetables for snacks. I hope this helps! Good luck, and keep up the good work!! :)
  • NicoWoodruff
    NicoWoodruff Posts: 369 Member
    Bumping this thread to remind myself. I am also interested in the maintain. I'll be at maintenance in another 5 to 10 lbs.
  • Enonoid
    Enonoid Posts: 136 Member
    I am at my goal weight and I have been ble to maintain going on a month now. Like Gyolanda said, I may tend to snack a little more, but I have managed to eat better and not put any back on.
  • kiminikimkim
    kiminikimkim Posts: 746 Member
    I am still trying to manage this "Maintaining stage". The key for me is weighing myself daily to make micro adjustments to my diet. How I have failed in the past was allowing myself too much time between weigh-ins and a 0.4lb gain everyday led to major pounds 12 months later.

    TDEE: 1521 calories
    BMR: 1189 calories
    Current weight: 112lbs
    Body Fat% 23.5%

    I can never go below 1189 and never above 1500 calories per day on a non work-out day.

    After my triathlon I will be working harder to lower my fat %, although I don't want my boobs to get any smaller. I am training for a triathlon this September and fat = buoyancy in swimming! I won't be wearing a swimsuit in the cold water, hopefully the fat will keep me warm! haha
  • piebird79
    piebird79 Posts: 201 Member
    I've been at my goal weight for 4 months now. I haven't gained any. In fact, I've lost a couple of pounds since I hit my goal weight. Just keep tracking and you'll do fine.
  • dabomb5198
    dabomb5198 Posts: 26
    I have been at my goal weight for 2 years. It has been a struggle at times to maintain my weight but it gets easier as time passes. I find that it helps to still log my food and exercise. Weight maintenance is still a priority and I work at it every day. I believe that is key for me. Congradulations on your weight loss.
  • MissGraziano
    MissGraziano Posts: 52
    I've been maintaining for almost 10 months now. It seems a lot easier to me to maintain than to lose! I even cheat a lot more than I used to but since my metabolism is kicked up it doesn't seem to make a difference. Congratulations on your goal! I think the best way to maintain is to keep tracking and stay motivated!
  • SamanthaAnnM
    SamanthaAnnM Posts: 143 Member
    For those of you who are successfully maintaining...was it scary/stressful for you to add back some calories? I am in this mindset that I must keep my calories low, but I don't really need to lose any more weight. Also, do you see a lot of weight fluctuation or is it pretty stable?
  • MariaMariaM
    MariaMariaM Posts: 1,322 Member
    I have been on maintenance mode for since mid-may or so. Here are my stats:

    TDEE: 1949
    BMR: 1289
    Height: 5'4
    Body Fat%: 17.3%
    Weight: 115
  • bradphil87
    bradphil87 Posts: 617 Member
    For those of you who are successfully maintaining...was it scary/stressful for you to add back some calories? I am in this mindset that I must keep my calories low, but I don't really need to lose any more weight. Also, do you see a lot of weight fluctuation or is it pretty stable?
    I really want to know this too! (I'm not at maintain yet, but I crossed from the "lose 2 lbs a week" to one last week because I now have just 30 lbs to go and It scares the hell out of me)
  • gsager
    gsager Posts: 977 Member
    I've been maintaining for a few months at 1430 plus my exercise calories. Taking and off day now and then. Still logging food and exercise. Not logging my food on my off day, stared that last week.
  • Goal_Line
    Goal_Line Posts: 474 Member
    I'm at my goal, but still want to take another 5 or so lbs off. However, at least fro the time being I'm in a heavy lift mode, and not losing weight. After a couple of months of lifting I'll take the remaining 5 lbs off.

    One thing I've noticed, while in weightlifting mode the scale is useless, my weight can fluxuate by as many 4 lbs per day due to muscle inflamation.
  • russellma
    russellma Posts: 284 Member
    Ive been maintaining since April, and like another poster said, actually lost a few more lbs. after I started "maintaining". Like you said, it is a mental adjustment. We have to get out of the habit of downward progress, without going back to old habits.

    To help myself adjust, I gradually added 50 cals per week until my weight leveled out, and I've also decreased my workouts slightly by 5 or so minutes/session.

    I use my maintenance cals plus daily exercise cals, which generally puts me at 1500-1800 cals per day.

    I still track everything I eat, but I eat pretty "normal" and haven't found it very difficult to stay at or under my daily allowance.

    ETA: I give myself a 2 lb. margin in either direction, and I do allow myself an "off" day per week when I don't log anything, but try to be moderate.
  • alli_baba
    alli_baba Posts: 232 Member
    For those of you who are successfully maintaining...was it scary/stressful for you to add back some calories? I am in this mindset that I must keep my calories low, but I don't really need to lose any more weight. Also, do you see a lot of weight fluctuation or is it pretty stable?
    It wasn't scary or stressful for me -- just time consuming in terms of trying to figure out my true TDEE (I found those online calculators to be ineffective).

    When I was focused on losing weight, I averaged about 1600 calories a day (total -- no eating back exercise calories). When I went into maintenance, I raised it up by 200 calories a day to 1800 and gave it a good month to see results. I still lost weight, so I moved it up another 100 calories a day and again gave it a month. I'm at 2000 calories a day (average) and that has worked pretty well for me for the past several months. My weight may fluctuate by about 3-5 pounds a month (I'm 120 pounds) but I chalk most of it up to water weight as it quickly comes off without lowering calories.

    I heard once that losing weight is all about diet and keeping it off is all about exercise -- not sure if this is true or not, but I've found that as long as I keep active, maintenance (with some splurges thrown in) is pretty easy.
  • MissGraziano
    MissGraziano Posts: 52
    For those of you who are successfully maintaining...was it scary/stressful for you to add back some calories? I am in this mindset that I must keep my calories low, but I don't really need to lose any more weight. Also, do you see a lot of weight fluctuation or is it pretty stable?
    I really want to know this too! (I'm not at maintain yet, but I crossed from the "lose 2 lbs a week" to one last week because I now have just 30 lbs to go and It scares the hell out of me)

    I was terrified to add calories.. I didn't add any for a couple months after I was at my goal weight actually. Then I went for it and added 200 calories and lost almost 10 more pounds than I planned without upping my workouts! My weight stays pretty stable, it only fluctuates by a couple of pounds.
  • Enonoid
    Enonoid Posts: 136 Member
    For those of you who are successfully maintaining...was it scary/stressful for you to add back some calories? I am in this mindset that I must keep my calories low, but I don't really need to lose any more weight. Also, do you see a lot of weight fluctuation or is it pretty stable?

    I couldn't wait to get those calories back. LOL. I still weigh myself every two weeks and nothing has changed except I eat more calories. There are some days where I have a deficit after I complete my diary and there are some days where I may go over. But I am still working out and doing what I need to do to keep the weight off.
  • iieee
    iieee Posts: 39 Member
    I would also like to know if fireworks start shooting across your screen when you eventually check in to MFP at your goal weight.
  • MariaMariaM
    MariaMariaM Posts: 1,322 Member
    For those of you who are successfully maintaining...was it scary/stressful for you to add back some calories? I am in this mindset that I must keep my calories low, but I don't really need to lose any more weight. Also, do you see a lot of weight fluctuation or is it pretty stable?
    It wasn't scary or stressful for me -- just time consuming in terms of trying to figure out my true TDEE (I found those online calculators to be ineffective).

    When I was focused on losing weight, I averaged about 1600 calories a day (total -- no eating back exercise calories). When I went into maintenance, I raised it up by 200 calories a day to 1800 and gave it a good month to see results. I still lost weight, so I moved it up another 100 calories a day and again gave it a month. I'm at 2000 calories a day (average) and that has worked pretty well for me for the past several months. My weight may fluctuate by about 3-5 pounds a month (I'm 120 pounds) but I chalk most of it up to water weight as it quickly comes off without lowering calories.

    I heard once that losing weight is all about diet and keeping it off is all about exercise -- not sure if this is true or not, but I've found that as long as I keep active, maintenance (with some splurges thrown in) is pretty easy.

    This is what I did too. I used those online calculators and started a bit lower than that. I am settled now around 1900 - 2000 calories.
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
    For those of you who are successfully maintaining...was it scary/stressful for you to add back some calories? I am in this mindset that I must keep my calories low, but I don't really need to lose any more weight. Also, do you see a lot of weight fluctuation or is it pretty stable?

    You HAVE to change your mindset. The brain tends to lag behind your body and doesn't see right away that you are no longer overweight! I slowly added calories and for the last few months of weight loss had MFP set at 0.5 lb/week deficit, which is only 250 calories a day below maintenance. Adding another 250 calories per day really isn't a big deal.

    So, my advice is slowly edge up calories BEFORE you get to maintenance. I have been maintaining since February and have steadily maintained at my goal.

    Congrats to all of you on almost being at the finish line!
  • gatorginger
    gatorginger Posts: 947 Member
    I've been maintaining for almost 10 months now. It seems a lot easier to me to maintain than to lose! I even cheat a lot more than I used to but since my metabolism is kicked up it doesn't seem to make a difference. Congratulations on your goal! I think the best way to maintain is to keep tracking and stay motivated!

    When you cheat do you gain weight, if so what do you do to get it back off
  • gatorginger
    gatorginger Posts: 947 Member
    For those of you who are successfully maintaining...was it scary/stressful for you to add back some calories? I am in this mindset that I must keep my calories low, but I don't really need to lose any more weight. Also, do you see a lot of weight fluctuation or is it pretty stable?

    For me it hasn't been scarey adding calories back because I want to be able to eat more but I have been adding them back slowly by only adding 100 calories more a day and staying that way for 2 weeks before I add more and I have lost more weight so I have to have a cheat day to gain it back but I have been enjoying doing this. So it hasn't been scarey at all for me
  • gatorginger
    gatorginger Posts: 947 Member
    Thanks everyone for responding I really do appreciate everything you wrote here because I feel the reason I've been sucessful is from reading in the forums how different things worked for everyone and experimenting to see what would work for me so thanks for your input
  • kluvit
    kluvit Posts: 435 Member
    For those of you who are successfully maintaining...was it scary/stressful for you to add back some calories? I am in this mindset that I must keep my calories low, but I don't really need to lose any more weight. Also, do you see a lot of weight fluctuation or is it pretty stable?

    I've been on maintenance for a couple of months, but it took me about a week to gain enough courage to adjust my goals. I moved to 0.2 lb per week loss to retain a slight deficit just to give myself some cushion, but I've lost an additional 3 pounds. I don't really want to lose anymore as I've already bought a whole new wardrobe, so I'm thinking about adjusting to true maintenance. (EDIT: I just reset my goal to "MAINTAIN!")

    I still follow the same course as when I was losing, but I'm more confident about eating back my exercise calories. Now, I can enjoy a breakfast taco or omelet for breakfast or a slightly larger lunch, or a mid-afternoon snack where I was keeping breakfast to a minimum (fappachino light or yogurt) and very small (350-450 calorie) lunch, so I could eat a small portioned "regular food" dinner/dessert in the evenings.

    I struggle with exercise motivation now that I don't feel like I "have" to earn more calories in order to eat what I want, but I'm still doing at least light cardio (walking) most days with running/toning 2-3 days per week. My goal is to bump up the "real" workouts to 5 days per week...any ideas on motivation (other than more food)?
  • whiteheaddg
    whiteheaddg Posts: 325 Member
    Questions for the maintenance team (in long story form)

    I'm guessing I have about another month before I hit my goal weight. My concern is that my bf is not quite where I want it. Using tape measurements and the calculator at www.gymgoal.com/dtool_fat.html I am at 16%, but would like to be 12%. I don't think three more pounds of weight loss will get me there.

    What can I expect from the maintenance phase if I maintain my current workout sched (M/W/F strength and T/T cardio)? I know I won't gain muscle mass because I'm not eating at a surplus, but will I just stagnate at current body composistion? Do I need to start planning some bulking/cutting phases?

    Ultimately, my goal is to see some ab definition (I can tell I'm getting close) without dropping too much weight (I'm 5'10") and getting berated by my spouse. Thanks to all.
  • whiteheaddg
    whiteheaddg Posts: 325 Member
    ***please ignore above - asking in new thread***
  • stuffinmuffin
    stuffinmuffin Posts: 985 Member
    I have been maintaining for around 9 months and it was tough and scary at first but because of my caution I lost a few more pounds in maintenance.

    I think the main thing is working out where you want to be - don't pick a number to stick at, allow for a bit less and a bit more, e.g. my maintenance range is 107-10lb. I couldn't weigh in every day - for me the 'diet' part is over and even though I keep account of my food, like someone else said, I have more days off now that don't make any difference so long as I get straight back to normal afterwards.

    Through weight loss I zig-zagged calories, eating lower cals mid-week and then saving my exercise cals to consume in bulk at weekends. This is something I carried through to maintenance and it works, though never weigh in on a Monday! But by Friday I'm generally back to the same weight I generally stay at.

    It is a learning curve and you eventually find your groove. I think the hardest moments for me in maintenance were feeling like I was endlessly on a 'diet' so now I only weigh in about once or twice a month. If I'm following the programme and not going over my weekly net cals - I know I'm not gaining weight!

    Best of luck! xx

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