How do you want to eat when you reach maintanance?

Like many have said on here, more of what I am already doing now. Since I have PCOS and am insulin resistant ... I can't say that all calories are the same for me personally. -- I do go off my eating plan now and then. I have learned just to get back to what I am doing and not concentrate on those mishaps. When I get to my goal weight, I plan on continuing to eat this way for the rest of my life. -- Plus I don't get hungry so much anymore.

This. I also have PCOS and am insulin resistant, and when your pancreas goes on a fairly regular screaming fit, you learn fairly quickly that if you want to lose weight (much less stop being a slave to the plate), you have to eat differently. Not all calories affect every body the same way.

I'm on sort of a weird combination of somewhat primal eating, low carb / adequate protein / moderate fat, and the No S diet philosophy (where there is room for special days, when I know things will be hairy, like Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, anniversary etc., and I allow for those events to happen and to enjoy them without guilt, but with moderation, and then get back on the horse, damn it).

This is a method of eating I can sustain, and it doesn't mean I can never have anything (although I suspect I may have a largely pasta free existence), it just means that I have to know how my body will respond to those fluffy breadsticks and decide if it's worth it. *lol* And if it is, I can have one and stop, I don't feel compelled to eat the whole basket. And that's mostly retraining my mind about food.

My carb levels will probably go up from the 70-125 net I'm shooting for now up to about 150-175 net, but they won't likely go much above that. No real need for them to as long as I stick to eating food as opposed to what one poster jokingly called "beige stuff". My body is pretty comfortable on somewhere between 1500-1800 calories a day.

=Betty=

I average over 2100 calories a day. I am fairly overweight and have 115 lbs more to go to my goal weight.
The weird thing is, I have gained weight eating less calories AND exercising 1 hour a day (I used to have online logs at WW Online to prove it). I just can't eat white bread all day like I used to and processed food.
It makes for insulin spikes galore. I think if you're body is not as screwed up as mine, you can definitivly lose weight eating whatever you want and a calorie is a calorie.

I have experienced a man I worked with 2 jobs ago in the past that went on and on how "a calorie is a calorie and does not matter", plus he didn't understand nor care how insulin plays a huge role of the body processing things (how insulin spikes can make someone like me gain weight). He had wandered into my conversation after work with another workmate and dominated. I am still pissed off about that years later and on my high horse I need to get off. this is the first time in my life that weight loss is not a huge effort with hunger pains and migraines. So you might say I am writing this post to affirm this for anyone in my position.

That said, I will get off the soapbox now. If your diet is working for you, I won't be telling you to stop it.

edited to add these link explaining better than I can:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/490298-why-does-insulin-make-you-gain-weight/

http://www.livestrong.com/article/414182-can-insulin-cause-weight-gain-despite-a-low-carb-diet/

Kind of the same. Probably french bread and brie. I miss that.

Been on maintenance for awhile. Not as easy as it seems. You may have gone too far and want to put on a few extra pounds, but find it difficult to eat normal sized portions. When I drop below 130 pounds (5 8 1/2), I try to regain a few pounds. Best success is adding 300+ calories to my normal breakfast which is 420 calories regularly. Can never eat in excess. Must always limit certain foods and sweets. This is for the rest of your life. Not easy, but so worth it.

Once at goal I am going to increase my calories by 10% every 2 weeks till I hit 2000 calories. Then I plan on changing my diet a lil so it will focus more on intensely building muscle (I do weights several times per week now but my focus is on fat loss now not so much building muscle - that said tho I have much higher lean mass then the average female (information gained from a DEXA scan))

I plan on eating the same way I eat now when I am at maintenance and forever. I try and make healthier choices most of the time, but I still always allow myself to have whatever I want in moderation. This works for me and I do not believe in harming myself or depriving myself of anything.

Nothing changes cause I have never starved myself on this weight loss journey... I eat great, have plenty of food, and have lost a ton of weight and the best part when I hit maintenance I get my calorie deficit calories back so I will be able to eat even more at maintenance.. Best of Luck....

I will continue to eat the same way so it will continue to be a norm for my children.

I plan to work on more toning once I get down to about 114 or 115; so I'll probably eventually increase my calories and be eating more protein then I currently am.

Either way, I want to make sure my diet is balanced after I hit my goal --> my big downfall was the fact that I was ALWAYS hungry, makes it difficult to eat a small portion when you're always hungry.

I'm going to eat exactly as I am right now, I might 'cheat' a bit more but nothing major.

I eat to be healthy first, looking good nekkid comes as a happy by-product.

(edit) And I want to quit tracking everything, this is the ultimate goal. Get framework, eat within that and forget about the details.

I am looking at this as a lifestyle change, and I never want to go back to eating the way I did. Looking back now on the way I was eating 10 months ago disgusts me. There are times when it is okay to eat something bad, but I will not let that become an everyday thing.

The weird thing is, I have gained weight eating less calories AND exercising 1 hour a day (I used to have online logs at WW Online to prove it). I just can't eat white bread all day like I used to and processed food. It makes for insulin spikes galore. I think if you're body is not as screwed up as mine, you can definitely lose weight eating whatever you want and a calorie is a calorie.

I have experienced a man I worked with 2 jobs ago in the past that went on and on how "a calorie is a calorie and does not matter", plus he didn't understand nor care how insulin plays a huge role of the body processing things (how insulin spikes can make someone like me gain weight). He had wandered into my conversation after work with another workmate and dominated. I am still pissed off about that years later and on my high horse I need to get off. this is the first time in my life that weight loss is not a huge effort with hunger pains and migraines. So you might say I am writing this post to affirm this for anyone in my position.

*chuckling* I'm on Metformin because my insulin response is pretty much buggered. I can't eat "whatever I want", with no awareness of what it will do to my endocrine response. I was gaining weight on a 1200 calorie AHA diet (lots of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, very little meat, no fat to speak of). So obviously, that doesn't work for me.

So I'm *on your side* about how insulin response is affected by food, and how not every calorie affects the body in exactly the same way. Food is not universal in it's impact, because humans are not a closed system with no mitigating factors except food. If you put wood, or jellied gasoline into a coal fired engine, the response is going to change as compared to feeding it coal. Same thing with human digestion.

I always get people getting angry and defensive whenever the words "low carbohydrate" come out of my mouth. Look, it works for me. It's not restrictive. I'm not suffering. I'm not starving myself. I'm not making anyone else eat it, and I figure humankind survived for thousands of years without whole wheat pasta and breadsticks, so I'll probably be okay for one measly lifetime. It's not for everyone. But allow me the knowledge of what my body needs.

I've never been a big eater. My BMR is about 1300 calories (Karch-McArdle) at my present weight. If I eat 1800 calories a day, I'm overstuffed and uncomfortable. So I shoot for 1500 and have a window of about 1400-1600 allowing for exercise and whatnot. As I lose weight, the numbers may shift and change. Or they may not, since eating at that level will about hit my TDEE for 130 lbs. *shrugging* Frankly at the end of the day, managing my dietary intake to control my blood sugar is more important than the exact number of calories I'm taking in. My body tells me when I'm eating badly for MY needs, and it's not subtle about it.

*tucks soapbox back under the couch and goes for a walk*

Sorry. Guess Betty needs a time-out. *sheepish laugh*

=Betty=