Switching to maintenance...

sarah2954 · August 2012

I think I'm at my goal. I thought I would be more excited about this lol. I am excited, and proud of my hard work, but it's stressing me out. For 7 years I wanted to lose weight. I tried a few times, and then I finally got serious.

I started in January, and I lost 70 pounds in the past 7 months. My origianl goal was 110 pounds. I weighed that after I had my son. I basically starved to get there, and wasn't healthy. I can see now thatI was too skinny (pic in my profile, holding my son, wearing khakis and a white shirt).

I'm now 128, and I had thought the number on the scale when I was done would be lower, so I think that is part of what's messing with me. But I think I'm pretty happy with my body... I wear sie (US) 4 jeans, small shirts, my waist is 29" and my hips ar 36". I like my butt (it's perky, from running - before when I was 110 I had no butt!). I think I could improve my muscle tone, but I'm not going to be doing any lifting for a while. One, I'm recovering from carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand, and will be having surgery on my left in December. Two, I'm in law school and have 3 kids. I can barely squeeze in my runs and rides! But I do.

So two quesions, for those of you who are at maintenance. One, how do I get there, mentally? Two, how much should I eat? I've been eating 1480 plus I eat all my exercise cals back. On MFP, set to lightly active, it gives me 1680 to maintain. Here are my TDEE calories from fitness frog:

little or no exercise: 1622
light exercise (1-3 days/week): 1858
moderate exercise (3-5 days/week): 2095
heavy exercise (6-7 days/week): 2331

I exercise 5 - 7 days a week, running or cycling, no strength training, burning 300-400 (HRM).

Here is a current photo....

JoolieW68 · August 2012

Congratulations on reaching your goal!!

I hit my goal loss in Feb (100lbs lost) and changed my calorie coal to what MFP suggested....and quickly flipped out. Adding nearly 600 calories to my daily intake was not something I was ready for mentally. I was worried I would start gaining the weight back, so I changed it from 'maintain' to 'lose 1/2lb per week'. I'm 5' 10", btw.

Since then I have added weight lifting (hope your hand heals quickly) and have, for the most part, stayed below my calorie goal. I do go over, about once a week but I don't fret about it anymore.

sarah2954 · August 2012

Thanks

I've had it set at losing .5 pounds/week, so I'd only be adding 250 calories, plus exercise cals. But I'm not sure that's enough. I lost 6.8 pounds in 16 days when I weighed a few days ago...

GoingAllTheWay4MeDee · August 2012

You are a true motivation!!

sarah2954 · August 2012

You are a true motivation!!

It's strange to be the one doing the motivating...

JoolieW68 · August 2012

You are a true motivation!!

It's strange to be the one doing the motivating...

I felt the same way at first

alltacht · August 2012

I think the easiest way mentally to switch is to gradually up your cals. You might lose a little over the first few weeks as youre still at a deficit. But its easy fit in 100 cals extra here and there until you get up to a few hundred in a few weeks. You look brilliant and cardio alone has got you in great shape well done

If you excercise that much Id say you should probably aim for eventually eating around 2000 cals a day to maintain.

rachelilb · August 2012

Bump for later. I am almost at my goal weight and have been stressing out about how to maintain the weight. I have no clue where to start.

rachelilb · August 2012

Ps. congrat's on the weight loss, you look FAB!!

ptak1sm · August 2012

Bump for later. I'm 10 lbs away from my goal weight, at which point I want to make the switch to maintenance, but I have many of the same concerns.

Congrats on your success!

jofjltncb6 · August 2012

Once you set your daily targets, track and reassess in X weeks. If you're where you want to be, keep going...if gaining/losing, make small adjustments accordingly. Just keep tweaking and voila! You'll have *your* answer. (As for "X", I think six weeks sounds good, but there's probably an argument for less or more.)

dorothytd · August 2012

Yo have done great work!! I lost a few pounds when I got on here, but have mostly been using MFP for maintenance. It has been very reliable. I'm also 128, and have stayed pretty true to that number (most consistent for almost 5 years of maintenance). The only thing you may want to do is stay set at sedentary. Even if you're super-busy, sounds like you'll be doing a fair amount of sitting during lectures and studying. I exercise 6-7 days a week, 2 to 3 strength workouts in there and eat most of my exercise calories. Stick to your calories, and you'll stay here! Best of luck with everything! (I'm a lawyer, btw - feel free to friend me!)

TheLongRunner · August 2012

Congrats on reaching your goal! I too am just beginning to maintain. It is scary and eating this much is unfamiliar. What I am doing is adding 50-100 calories a week to get myself used to eating more. I have continued to lose a little, but psychologically, it seems to be working for me. I am planning on getting to the calorie goal MFP gives me for maintanence and then staying there and figuring out how many of my exercise calories I can eat and maintain. We shall see how this works. Good luck! :drinker:

dobielover1 · August 2012

While I am a long way from having to worry about maintenance, the advice to slowly add calories back seems good.

sarah2954 · August 2012

Thanks for all the advice. I set it to maintain (1680 at lightly active - sedentary gives me 1560 which just seems really low). I'm going to keep eating back my exercise cals, weigh in a month, and see where I'm at. My mind just needs to catch up! My mental image of my is 70 pounds heavier.

rachelilb · August 2012

It will take some time getting used to your "new" self. I am in the same position. Life in general is/will be very different in so many ways but just remind yourself how hard you worked to get where you are and be proud!

jsapninz · August 2012

I know exactly what you are going through, getting to goal is a tough emotional thing to get through; in the beginning I felt a "what now?!" feeling also. But eventually giddiness and pride sets in. Just give yourself time and it helped me to talk it out with some of my close girl friends, especially ones who were on MFP or losing weight themselves. Just give it time and you will adjust.

Secondly, if you were "set" to lose 1 lb a week, than you just add 500 calories (alot, right? :drinker: ) to your daily goal. Simple as that! You can change your goals manually in MFP by going to My Home > Goals and it will walk you through it. Just take it slow with that too, I went up to maintenance gradually and am glad I did because as silly as it sounds it was hard to get used to managing all those new calories wisely. :ohwell: I suggest you still manually post and eat back exercise unless you have been using the TDEE method all along.

It is a new part of the journey. You will do great, just be patient!:flowerforyou:

sarah2954 · August 2012

I know exactly what you are going through, getting to goal is a tough emotional thing to get through; in the beginning I felt a "what now?!" feeling also. But eventually giddiness and pride sets in. Just give yourself time and it helped me to talk it out with some of my close girl friends, especially ones who were on MFP or losing weight themselves. Just give it time and you will adjust.

Secondly, if you were "set" to lose 1 lb a week, than you just add 500 calories (alot, right? :drinker: ) to your daily goal. Simple as that! You can change your goals manually in MFP by going to My Home > Goals and it will walk you through it. Just take it slow with that too, I went up to maintenance gradually and am glad I did because as silly as it sounds it was hard to get used to managing all those new calories wisely. :ohwell: I suggest you still manually post and eat back exercise unless you have been using the TDEE method all along.

It is a new part of the journey. You will do great, just be patient!:flowerforyou:

Thanks for the reply

I had been gradually upping my calories, and I was at losing .5/week for the last few weeks, so I'm only adding 250 calories. Using them wisely WILL be the hard part!! I have not been using the TDEE method, so I think I will stick to manually adding exercise calories. Plus, I like seeing them. And I'm a control freak :ohwell:

AFitJamie · August 2012

Thanks for all the advice. I set it to maintain (1680 at lightly active - sedentary gives me 1560 which just seems really low). I'm going to keep eating back my exercise cals, weigh in a month, and see where I'm at. My mind just needs to catch up! My mental image of my is 70 pounds heavier.

Bingo... we have a winner!

I think this is a great approach... You might weigh in in 14 or 21 days instead... I didn't lose as much as you (you look fantastic by the way), but I transitioned by adjusting my calories in MFP as you are doing ... 1 Lb loss.. to .5 Lbs loss for a few weeks prior to goal.. then to maintain... then to gain .5 Lbs a week to **actually** maintain..I find I burn slightly more than MFP expects me to.

Based solely on the pace of your loss and your recent experience, you may find the same. I still log every day, I think I need to to build the habits I need long term... I'm not sure when or if I'll stop

. My weight shifts up and down a couple pounds and I manage my weight within a zone I'm comfortable with (On the losing cycle of that zone right now to drop 1.5 Lbs right now...) I find I am always moving in one direction for the other - so for me the idea is to keep within a zone as opposed to mistakingly believing I can actually hold at a given number....

Congrats!

(edit typo)

jofjltncb6 · August 2012

Thanks for all the advice. I set it to maintain (1680 at lightly active - sedentary gives me 1560 which just seems really low). I'm going to keep eating back my exercise cals, weigh in a month, and see where I'm at. My mind just needs to catch up! My mental image of my is 70 pounds heavier.

Bingo... we have a winner!

I think this is a great approach... You might weigh in in 14 or 21 days instead... I didn't lose as much as you (you look fantastic by the way), but I transitioned by adjusting my calories in MFP as you are doing ... 1 Lb loss.. to .5 Lbs loss for a few weeks prior to goal.. then to maintain... then to gain .5 Lbs a week to **actually** maintain..I find I burn slightly more than MFP expects me to.

Based solely on the pace of your loss and your recent experience, you may find the same. I still log every day, I think I need to to build the habits I need long term... I'm not sure when or if I'll stop . My weight shifts up and down a couple pounds and I manage my weight within a zone I'm comfortable with (On the losing cycle of that zone right now to drop 1.5 Lbs right now...) I find I am always moving in one direction for the other - so for me the idea is to keep within a zone as opposed to mistakingly believing I can actually hold at a given number....

Congrats!

(edit typo)

Indeed. I tracked last year to lose what I wanted to, but continue to track now as I intentionally gain/manipulate my weight. To me, it's very helpful information I can use to intentionally determine what weight I will be (or at least the direction my weight will go from here). Information is power.

Gerald_King · August 2012

Congratulations on reaching your goal

sarah2954 · August 2012

Thanks for all the advice. I set it to maintain (1680 at lightly active - sedentary gives me 1560 which just seems really low). I'm going to keep eating back my exercise cals, weigh in a month, and see where I'm at. My mind just needs to catch up! My mental image of my is 70 pounds heavier.

Bingo... we have a winner!

I think this is a great approach... You might weigh in in 14 or 21 days instead... I didn't lose as much as you (you look fantastic by the way), but I transitioned by adjusting my calories in MFP as you are doing ... 1 Lb loss.. to .5 Lbs loss for a few weeks prior to goal.. then to maintain... then to gain .5 Lbs a week to **actually** maintain..I find I burn slightly more than MFP expects me to.

Based solely on the pace of your loss and your recent experience, you may find the same. I still log every day, I think I need to to build the habits I need long term... I'm not sure when or if I'll stop . My weight shifts up and down a couple pounds and I manage my weight within a zone I'm comfortable with (On the losing cycle of that zone right now to drop 1.5 Lbs right now...) I find I am always moving in one direction for the other - so for me the idea is to keep within a zone as opposed to mistakingly believing I can actually hold at a given number....

Congrats!

(edit typo)

How long have you been at maintanance? I'm wondering the same thing, if or when I'll stop tracking! Not for a long time...

AFitJamie · August 2012

<SNIP>

<SNIP>

How long have you been at maintanance? I'm wondering the same thing, if or when I'll stop tracking! Not for a long time...

Hmmm I recall being there somewhere around day 100 consecutive logins... and I'm just past 185... so I'll say 85 days or so... I think if I do stop, I know I'll be back to lose when I feel clothes getting tight... It really is about providing the feedback to myself. I always say that MFP simply informs me about my choices... and I'm not sure why I'd go without that information for long.. but we'll see I guess.

kevin3344 · August 2012

I joined MFP with no weight to lose so I was basically in maintenance when I got here....basically had my set to lose 0-.2 lbs a month and that has worked for me.

I set other goals such as completing 30 day shred, running a half marathon and a full marathon. So I would just say continue to set goals and you'll be fine.

I just passed 365 days on MFP and have no desire to stop logging....only takes me a few minutes a day and I want to set a good example for my family. At any rate, hope that helps..

themommie · August 2012

CONGRATS you look amazing. I just recently got to maintenance,now I am thinking maybe I want to lose 5-10more lbs after all, not sure. Anyway I think slowly increasing is a good way to go and continually setting small goals is great advice. good luck

clbowman11 · August 2012

I'm a ways away from maintenance but if you have a heart rate monitor that way you can get a better look at how many calories your burning throughout the day that would give you a better estimate on how many calories you should probably eat on top of your BMR.

70davis · August 2012

Bump

Switching to maintenance...

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