Did you increase your calories during the last 10-15 pounds?

KateK8LoseW8
KateK8LoseW8 Posts: 824 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hey all,

I'm within 15 pounds of my goal weight, and I know some people intentionally slow their weight loss with more calories toward the end to make switching to maintenance less drastic. If you did that yourself, when in your weight loss did you start increasing your calories? If not, did you experience any small weight gain when switching to maintenance?

Thanks
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Replies

  • trudijoy
    trudijoy Posts: 1,685 Member
    no, I dropped mine 100 and kept going. I plan on adding back in slowly @ 100 a week or so. I don't mind if I drop to under GW while stabilising.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Yes...because I don't care about weight loss, I care about fat loss. I worked hard to maintain my muscle mass and didn't want to destroy it by having a large deficit without the fat stores to sustain it. I'm glad I preserved all of that mass too...it's awesome at maintenance...because I can eat like 2800 - 3000 calories and easily maintain.
  • addean1
    addean1 Posts: 119 Member
    I had about 10 lbs left to go when I bumped mine to "lose 1/2 lb per week" and try try try to remind myself not to get frustrated when the lbs aren't dropping off like they used to, that it's okay! I'm leaving it at that throughout the holidays, then I'll set it to maintain after Christmas.
  • KateK8LoseW8
    KateK8LoseW8 Posts: 824 Member
    I had about 10 lbs left to go when I bumped mine to "lose 1/2 lb per week" and try try try to remind myself not to get frustrated when the lbs aren't dropping off like they used to, that it's okay! I'm leaving it at that throughout the holidays, then I'll set it to maintain after Christmas.

    Alright, good to know. I slowed down to 1 pound per week when I hit the 25 pound to go mark, so I suppose 1/2 a pound is due soon.
  • KateK8LoseW8
    KateK8LoseW8 Posts: 824 Member
    Yes...because I don't care about weight loss, I care about fat loss. I worked hard to maintain my muscle mass and didn't want to destroy it by having a large deficit without the fat stores to sustain it. I'm glad I preserved all of that mass too...it's awesome at maintenance...because I can eat like 2800 - 3000 calories and easily maintain.

    Lucky man! I've preserved my muscle mass pretty well, now at 22% BF, but unfortunately even at my goal of 18% I would never be able to eat that much to maintain. I suppose I should slow down too, but I think I'll change my goal after the holidays. I'll likely maintain while staying with my parents, lose a couple pounds at most.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I have no plan to, but I'm not going down more than I am either (1600 a day)... so eventually yeah, it will slow down some, as I will have lost more weight. My maintenance should be around 1900-2000.
  • emilyisbonkers
    emilyisbonkers Posts: 373 Member
    ive got about 10/14lbs ish to go, and my goals say i will lose 0.8lbs a week, but I will eat more calories the closer I get, yeah
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    I increased calories when I had about 10lbs left to lose. It was not really my choice, my doctor advised me to. I increased again when I had reached my "goal" but lost by accident when going back to work. I never gained when increasing my calories until now. I am eating slightly above maintenance and lifting.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Yes...because I don't care about weight loss, I care about fat loss. I worked hard to maintain my muscle mass and didn't want to destroy it by having a large deficit without the fat stores to sustain it. I'm glad I preserved all of that mass too...it's awesome at maintenance...because I can eat like 2800 - 3000 calories and easily maintain.
    Yep - pretty much this ^^^
    I had a couple of pauses on the way down while I evaluated if my goal was really where I wanted to be and took my time trimming off the last few pounds. Made the transition to maintenance a breeze.
    When you are an old fella it's far too easy to lose lean mass and harder to regain it.
  • Cindyinpg
    Cindyinpg Posts: 3,902 Member
    Yes. I increased my calories when I had 30lbs left and plan to again soon. I want as smooth a transition into maintenance as possible and I want to eat as much as possible in all stages. :bigsmile:
  • bubaluboo
    bubaluboo Posts: 2,098 Member
    I upped my calories slowly as I approached my goal. I went from 1.5lb a week to 1lb and then to 0.5lb for the last 5lb. At each point that I increased, my weight had plateaued a while and the increased calories seemed to kick start it again, strangely.
  • tessmca
    tessmca Posts: 27 Member
    I reset my weight (starting) and goals that changed the calories for me to be higher than 1200 but enough to lose weight, just means I lost the progress from profile that said I had lost 20kg
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    I did not but my weight loss certainly slowed. I was set to a pound a week but I dropped 1-2 pounds a week for the first 30 pounds and then it dropped to a pound a month for the last 10 or so.
  • DeeDeeMee
    DeeDeeMee Posts: 133 Member
    My Doctor has cautioned me to slow down a bit towards the end. I'm losing about a kilo (2.2 pounds) a week at the moment, but he thinks that half that might even be a bit too fast. He's worried about me losing muscle mass. Probably good advice, for me anyway. :)
  • einzweidrei
    einzweidrei Posts: 381 Member
    I added calories back for a few reasons.


    1. I felt like it.
    2. I had already lost twenty pounds and had ten pounds to go. At that point, my BMI was 22.1 and it would end up around 20.7. Since I've practically been in "normal" range the entire time, I thought it would be better for me to slow down the weight loss and stop focusing on it so much.
    3. I thought it would be easier for me once I transition into maintenance without feeling like I was all of a sudden eating too much.
  • Seesawboomerang
    Seesawboomerang Posts: 296 Member
    I increased calories at every 5 lb loss. So I didn't get all the fun of "whoohoo look at all the food I can now eat" but eased gradually into maintenance.

    Your lighter self needs fewer calories to maintain anyway.
  • pkw58
    pkw58 Posts: 2,038 Member
    I actually lost 10 more pounds once I started maintenance and adding back calories. I reset my goal weight because of this !

    Also, I am always trying to eat at maintenance but finding ways to add more activity to my day. An extra 10 minutes here and there really helps.
  • AmyMgetsfit
    AmyMgetsfit Posts: 636 Member
    I did the last 10, not because of the maintenance, but because I was more fit and my body was requiring more food.
  • arrseegee
    arrseegee Posts: 575 Member
    Yes, because I was concerned that if I didn't start eating more before getting to my goal weight then I'd have some real problems suddenly eating more. And as I thought, yes I have achieved my goal weight and now after 9 months of eating at a deficit I am finding it a struggle to eat more.
  • colortheworld
    colortheworld Posts: 374 Member
    I bumped up my calories, but that's because I lost over half my weight without exercising, and now that I'm exercising I'm burning more and I'm hungrier. :ohwell:
  • happysherri
    happysherri Posts: 1,360 Member
    Yes. Went from 1 lb a week to 1/2 lb a week setting on here. It worked wonderfully.
  • rosanna421
    rosanna421 Posts: 65 Member
    thats what im starting to do instead, i think bumping cals up as you approach your goal is a good idea, i added in exercise and strength training so i can still lose the last bit of fat but build muscle. and my body is feeling way better on more calories, my mood is improving and my energy as well.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Keep in mind that as you lose weight, your goal is decreasing as well. So technically if you keep the same goal from 15 lbs left to nothing, you will decrease your deficit anyway. I've decreased my activity a bit too (too cold to walk 2 hours a day!), so overall my deficit has decreased by staying at 1600 calories.
  • Kicker12
    Kicker12 Posts: 52 Member
    Reading this makes me wonder whether I need to bump up my calories too. I have about 5 pounds left to lose and I have been at the same weights for a long time ( although I am more interested in body fat loss than the scale)
  • Ideabaker
    Ideabaker Posts: 517 Member
    I bumped my calories by about 200-300 calories a day in my last five pounds or so. Don't know if it made a difference, though, as I was so nervous about the sudden bump in cals that I also bumped up my cardio by about twice the amount per day. Therefore, am still slowly losing.

    Am thinking that trading a cardio day or two for weight training would slow this down... any thoughts?
  • everyatom
    everyatom Posts: 2
    okay so I weigh 187 I want to weigh 180. I dropped a lot of weight at first but then I hit my plateau and now I'm like 3 months into not losing any weight. I'm eating under 2000 calories a day. I run 5-7 kilometers a day and I lift 3 times atleast a week. Should I up my caloric intake?
  • _lyndseybrooke_
    _lyndseybrooke_ Posts: 2,561 Member
    I started increasing by 100 calories/day every 1-3 weeks once I was 6 lbs from goal. That was 3ish weeks ago, and now I'm 4 lbs from goal and eating 200 more calories than I was before. Still losing, it seems. I just bumped it up to 1810 gross, which is my TDEE - 10%. If I lose more than .4 lb this week (or next week, or the next), I may try another 50-100 calories. I'm trying to ease my way to maintenance instead of going there suddenly and gaining a few pounds, as many transitioning to maintenance end up doing.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    okay so I weigh 187 I want to weigh 180. I dropped a lot of weight at first but then I hit my plateau and now I'm like 3 months into not losing any weight. I'm eating under 2000 calories a day. I run 5-7 kilometers a day and I lift 3 times atleast a week. Should I up my caloric intake?

    no you need to start logging accurately and weighing your food...you are not in a plateau you are in maitenance.
  • everyatom
    everyatom Posts: 2
    I keep track of all my carbs and calories. I use my fitbit app and I log every calorie. It doesn't sync onto this site for some reason. I keep a 1000 cal deficit and exercise every day...
  • TonyStark30
    TonyStark30 Posts: 497 Member
    Mainly up calories if you feel too tired to even be active, otherwise yeah you can up the calories but its just going to take longer (much longer than just 'slowing down') for you to get to the goal.

    Right now i'm about 10-15 out and I'm thinking of dropping cals if anything, going this way eating more is just taking too long for me. Depends what you want. when you're much closer then yeah up the cals keep the strength and activity up and only have a small deficit but not that far out from your goal, your body isn't near enough to how you want it to be yet.

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