Goal weight reached...now what?

I think you have the right idea: add 100-200 calories and see how that suits you.

For what it is worth, the hardest thing for me is to maintain my weight. I seem to lose quickly when I get serious but when I switch to maintenance mode I slowly gain weight (about 1 pound per month consistently, which would average about 120 calories or so per day). In the past I have not kept track of calories while maintaining, so perhaps logging is the way to go.

Congratulations on reaching your goal!!!!!!!!

Congratulations on reaching your goal!

I'm worried about this too. I am very comfortable eating what I am now, and have been losing consistently. I am going to drop my goal another 10 pounds because I think I can and I'll look better. But then what? I don't want to lose beyond that and I definitely don't want to gain. I know all the research says maintaining weight loss is the hard part. And you need to keep it off for a year and a half for it to become 'stable'.

I have read that regular exercise is critical for maintaining weight loss and I plan to do that, although I expect it will be just continued walking and tai chi for balance, toning, and increasing bone mass.

I agree that upping yourself 200-300 calories above what you are actually eating (not your goal calories, but your actual) and seeing how your weight fluctuates with that is very sensible. I think the actual eating rather than goal is critical, because I know I eat less than I'm supposed to and changing my 'goal' without changing my behavior wouldn't be helpful.

First of all - CONGRATULATIONS!

You're taking the right approach. Add back in some calories and adjust accordingly.

The amount of calories to add back in is very individualized. I initially added all the calories back that MFP recommended, but found that I gained a couple pounds in the 1st month. So, I changed it to an increase of about 150 or so calories a day and eat back about 1/2 my exercise calories, and that seems to be good for me. I will second the statement that if you decrease your exercise, no matter what you do with your calories, the weight will come back. It just doesn't seem right, but it's a fact.- at least for me. The idea of increasing your calories by 100-200 and see what happens is very smart.

I've found maintenance to be a bigger challenge than weight loss, but I've learned a lot about me and my body through the process.

Good luck!

First off thank you all for your congratulations. To answer a previous post I eat my exercise calories back, trust me I could not live on 1200 cals alone ha ha ha. I just upped it to 1300 to see how that works out and yes everyone I plan to continue to exercise because I am also working on toning and I love the energy I get from exercise. I appreciate all the advice because 1200 was too little for me; I have definitely been going over a few calories most of this week. I will try the 1300 plus regular exercise and see how that works. I am not sure about 1700 cals a day because I think that will definitely add some lbs. I will up it if I need to but I definitely need to have a calorie count I can work with to maintain too.

If you post your height, weight and exercise routine, I can run the numbers for you.

First off thank you all for your congratulations. To answer a previous post I eat my exercise calories back, trust me I could not live on 1200 cals alone ha ha ha. I just upped it to 1300 to see how that works out and yes everyone I plan to continue to exercise because I am also working on toning and I love the energy I get from exercise. I appreciate all the advice because 1200 was too little for me; I have definitely been going over a few calories most of this week. I will try the 1300 plus regular exercise and see how that works. I am not sure about 1700 cals a day because I think that will definitely add some lbs. I will up it if I need to but I definitely need to have a calorie count I can work with to maintain too.

If you post your height, weight and exercise routine, I can run the numbers for you.

5'5 1/2, 157.8 and I exercise 7 days a week at least 90 minutes - mainly aerobic high impact

Well first off, your estimated BMR is 1505 (total calories you burn if you slept 24 hours). You are very active if you workout 7 days a week.

TDEE = 1505 * 1.725 = 2596 <-- average calories burnt a day
Calorie Requirements = 2596 * .8 = 2076


So yea, you can definitely eat more than 1700 calories a day.


On a side note, you really shouldn't workout every day. It doesn't allow your body to recover which is really important. Also, if you cut down on aerobics and started doing some heavy weight training (3 days a week) and ate around 1800 calories, you would start cuttting at. Right now, you are just setting yourself up to lose muscle mass with how you are eating.