transitioning to maintenance soon ... and TERRIFIED!

wonderstruck91
wonderstruck91 Posts: 107 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone!

I am 4 pounds away from my goal weight! (yay!) ... which means I will very soon be ready to enter maintenance. Any advice for making this transition go smoothly? I do plan to continue tracking my food & exercise ... just allowing myself more calories.

Thanks in advance everybody ( :

Replies

  • Mummyadams
    Mummyadams Posts: 1,125 Member
    Awesome and well done! Mainenance can be harder than losing because your focus needs to change. depending on what you have been doing, try something different. For example if you have been doing lots of cardio, try integrating some weight training into your routine to shape your body. Perhaps focus on a specific body part you want to improve on and focus on that.
    I am in maintenance and still track my calories. On my days off I try to stay around 1200-1400 and on the days I train I am not so worried knowing that I am training hard.
  • vypeters
    vypeters Posts: 475 Member
    The key, I think is sticking with the new habits you've built. That's one of the reasons I plan to log for the foreseeable future - to keep me mindful. Good luck!
  • larnsperger
    larnsperger Posts: 161 Member
    Maintenance is MUCH harder than weight loss for me. The one tip I have is continue to log and continue to stay involved in some way with a weight loss site. Going it alone is a recipe for disaster and being right back here in short order re-losing the same weight and possibly a few pounds more. Been there done that.

    I maintained a 30lb. weight loss for a very long time (15+) years. Then life threw a few curve balls my way and I quit tracking and weighing in once per month, and before you knew it I had gained back the weight. So my advice is NEVER give up weighing in and tracking. It is a day to day process.

    Good Luck!
  • Krisengel
    Krisengel Posts: 161 Member
    I would suggest to keep weighing in each week to keep yourself on track. When I have a couple of pounds creep back on I log for a while to reboot myself. It's very easy to slip into bad habits again. Congrats on making it to maintenance!
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    start increasing your calories now. that'll help get those last 4 lbs come off. start increasing by 100 calories a week.
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
    I remember that feeling. It will still take some work to maintain. I found I floundered because I was not tracking calories. If you keep tracking calories you should be fine.

    You should already be tapering up your calories anyway at this point. Do every nice and slow and easy.

    Just remember when you get leaner just a few pound takes a long time to lose.

    If you have a lot of body fat reserves you would be surprised at how little you can eat (unless you have emotional eating issues or disorders). The leaner you get the less your body has to draw from and then you have to taper up your calories. There is no such thing as starvation mode for women over 12% body fat or men over 6% body fat. I am a living breathing example of that. I went from obese to now under 12% BF and I've maintained for one year and built muscle the whole time. You don't BUILD muscle in starvation mode, so I proved everyone wrong.

    But once you get lean you can never eat very low again. This is where starvation mode truly comes into play. If you want to lose a lb or two it takes a long time, slow and easy, a much slighter calorie deficit..
  • arrawyn79
    arrawyn79 Posts: 275 Member
    I am in the same boat! I'm nervous/scared about maintenance too. I'm nervous because I've never had to consciously 'maintain' a weight before (mind you i've never been overweight in my life until the last 5 years and spending the last 5 months eating healthy and exercising to lose it all!). I JUST reached my goal weight today - but I am planning on focusing on toning/strengthening now (with Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred help! :)) and I plan on continuing to log and track my food for the forseeable future - a LONG time, until I am comfortable with keeping up with my exercise routine and making healthy meals :).

    Good luck!!! We can take comfort in our terrified-ness together :laugh: and congrats! :flowerforyou:
  • atxdee
    atxdee Posts: 613 Member
    really no big deal, its more of the anticipation, but when u there its like all comes natural.. u eat when u hungry, stay active, and its all good.. im in maintenance too, so far so good.. :)
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    I'm on maintenance, but maybe different for me because I didn't ever really need to lose weight. I did find that for me, maintenance calories are much higher than what mfp tried to set me at. I also find it easier to eat a steady day to day amount and increase by 100 or 200 (sometimes more) on higher activity days.
  • andrewlazenby
    andrewlazenby Posts: 151
    I remember that feeling. It will still take some work to maintain. I found I floundered because I was not tracking calories. If you keep tracking calories you should be fine.

    You should already be tapering up your calories anyway at this point. Do every nice and slow and easy.

    Just remember when you get leaner just a few pound takes a long time to lose.

    If you have a lot of body fat reserves you would be surprised at how little you can eat (unless you have emotional eating issues or disorders). The leaner you get the less your body has to draw from and then you have to taper up your calories. There is no such thing as starvation mode for women over 12% body fat or men over 6% body fat. I am a living breathing example of that. I went from obese to now under 12% BF and I've maintained for one year and built muscle the whole time. You don't BUILD muscle in starvation mode, so I proved everyone wrong.

    But once you get lean you can never eat very low again. This is where starvation mode truly comes into play. If you want to lose a lb or two it takes a long time, slow and easy, a much slighter calorie deficit..

    You just copy and paste the same thing over and over......

    Congrats to the OP I am looking at the same transition coming up soon and to be honest, I am a bit.....not nervous.... But apprehensive.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    Congratulations.

    Since you are so close to your goal weight, you should start reducing the deficit by slightly increasing calories consumed and decreasing exercise. You need to do this anyway since the rate at which you burn calories from fat slows down the leaner you get.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    I remember that feeling. It will still take some work to maintain. I found I floundered because I was not tracking calories. If you keep tracking calories you should be fine.

    You should already be tapering up your calories anyway at this point. Do every nice and slow and easy.

    Just remember when you get leaner just a few pound takes a long time to lose.

    If you have a lot of body fat reserves you would be surprised at how little you can eat (unless you have emotional eating issues or disorders). The leaner you get the less your body has to draw from and then you have to taper up your calories. There is no such thing as starvation mode for women over 12% body fat or men over 6% body fat. I am a living breathing example of that. I went from obese to now under 12% BF and I've maintained for one year and built muscle the whole time. You don't BUILD muscle in starvation mode, so I proved everyone wrong.

    But once you get lean you can never eat very low again. This is where starvation mode truly comes into play. If you want to lose a lb or two it takes a long time, slow and easy, a much slighter calorie deficit..

    Why do you keep bringing up starvation mode in every thread? The OP is going to maintenance so how on earth is it relevent?
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Congratulations.

    Since you are so close to your goal weight, you should start reducing the deficit by slightly increasing calories consumed and decreasing exercise. You need to do this anyway since the rate at which you burn calories from fat slows down the leaner you get.

    ^^this
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    She will need to be slightly increasing calories as she tests out what her maintenance is and to prevent unwanted weight loss, She may not need to decrease her activity level depending on what her lifestyle is and what she does as "exercise".

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