Maintenance

I have 3 more pounds to lose.
I am now in size 10 slacks and jeans and went from Large in blouse to Medium.

How do I go about doing Maintenance ?
Do I stay at my 1200 calories, I do very minimal exercise.
I do walk about 20-25 mins a day because of health issues

Replies

  • MrsRegan
    MrsRegan Posts: 3
    I have been in maintenance for a year now. I have yo-yo'd within a 10 lb range for the past year. I have found that if I want to be on the lower end of the range, the main factor is clean eating and portion control for about a week. I start gaining and getting to the higher end of the range when I eat poorly several days in a row. Maintenance is definitely not easy for me. I have realized that I almost have to be slightly obsessed and consistently log my food in order to maintain my ideal weight. I do high intensity workouts 4-5 times a week as well. I tried to increase my calories. I went up to 1770, but began gaining, so I dropped it to 1500. Then I had a really bad week and had gained about 7 lbs so I dropped it back down to 1200 and have been there ever since.
  • gatorginger
    gatorginger Posts: 947 Member
    I've been maintaining for quiet sometime now. What I did was I took baby steps and I increased my calories by 100 more a day and I would stay at that level for at least 2 weeks. I kept doing this until I found the right calorie level for me. As I increased my calories I continued to lose so you may lose more when doing this. So for me it was taking baby steps increasing my calories and giving my body time to adjust. It worked great for me. I am now eating around 1500-1600 calories. I only weigh 125 so it is plenty for me.

    For example I was eating 1000 calories a day
    I bumped them up to 1100 calories a day and ate that way for 2 weeks
    I then increased them again to 1200 calories a day and ate that way for 2 weeks
    I did this til I found my level

    Hope this helps
  • gatorginger
    gatorginger Posts: 947 Member
    When I have cheat days I will eat 200 less calories a day til I get the weight I gained back off. This works really well for me
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    if you are losing on 1200 then that it is not maintenance....so you probably need to slowly increase until you stop losing...try 1300 and see how that works...
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    this is the optimal way of doing it.

    http://cdnutritionandfitness.com/reverse-dieting/