Should I switch to maintance now ?

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  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    Never just 'switch', you can make yourself feel very sick, just prepare to switch, up your calories by 200 to start with, then up them by 100 every week until your weight loss stabilizes, then you will soon know your maintaining calorie limit.

    Very sick??
  • animalldy
    animalldy Posts: 140 Member
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    I feel like I'm at the same place you're at. I just switched to maintenance about 2 weeks ago, I'm 5lbs under my original goal weight but I'd like to reduce my bf %. I'm probably eating about 100 calories under my real maintenance level and I'm adding heavier weights to my Jillian Michael's workouts. I'm super fixated on my stomach... but I've decided that if it doesn't change that's ok. I need to be ok with my body the way it is when I'm eating well and exercising a normal, healthy amount.

    Feel free to add me, I'm looking for maintenance friends!!
  • jshay295
    jshay295 Posts: 110 Member
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    I believe the difference in calories from now to maintenance is only 270 , so I don't think it will be too hard for me to fill up those calories.

    arrrgh so anyone? Do I switch to maintenance and keep working on my abs and cardio, and hope this works? or try to shave off another five lbs of fat? If I really am at 18.3% body fat I'm wondering if this is a healthy choice.
  • tegalicious
    tegalicious Posts: 629
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    My personal opinion would be to go to maintenance and start a heavy lifting program.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    I think you should at least take a "diet break" - i.e. take some time maintaining. Then after a while reassess.
    Also try changing your goals from weight loss to fitness and/or strength targets while you maintain - it might give you a different perspective and way of measuring progress.

    It can take a while for your self-image to catch up after weight loss and I get the impression you are focussing on the negative rather than being pleased with what you have achieved. You body doesn't stop changing just because you eat in a calorie balance by the way - it will still develop in reaction to the training stimulus you give it.
  • lilawolf
    lilawolf Posts: 1,690 Member
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    My personal opinion would be to go to maintenance and start a heavy lifting program.

    This. I would also take measurements and try online calculators, and take pics and compare to pictures to see if the 18% number is close to accurate.
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    I believe the difference in calories from now to maintenance is only 270 , so I don't think it will be too hard for me to fill up those calories.

    arrrgh so anyone? Do I switch to maintenance and keep working on my abs and cardio, and hope this works? or try to shave off another five lbs of fat? If I really am at 18.3% body fat I'm wondering if this is a healthy choice.

    I'm not saying you aren't 18% because I've never seen you, but that's a pretty muscular low fat physique. I'm an inch taller than you and a few lb heavier however I'm positive I'm in the mid to even high 20%.
  • Mischievous_Rascal
    Mischievous_Rascal Posts: 1,791 Member
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    My personal opinion would be to go to maintenance and start a heavy lifting program.

    This. I would also take measurements and try online calculators, and take pics and compare to pictures to see if the 18% number is close to accurate.

    I went five pounds below goal and I've been doing maintenance and resistance training (for over a year now) and my tummy's gone. Any scale weight you will gain back is only a few pounds of glycogen and the water it's stored in.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I believe the difference in calories from now to maintenance is only 270 , so I don't think it will be too hard for me to fill up those calories.

    arrrgh so anyone? Do I switch to maintenance and keep working on my abs and cardio, and hope this works? or try to shave off another five lbs of fat? If I really am at 18.3% body fat I'm wondering if this is a healthy choice.

    Nope, cardio will not help, lifting heavy will as it is one way to help ensure that the remaining weight you lose will come from fat, not lean muscle. I would suggest increasing calls by 100 now, and lift heavy get 100+ grams of protein.

    Eatig at maintenance with just cardio will keep your body exactly where it is now, but will improve cardiovascular health and endurance. If you want to lower body fat you must have a deficit, and protein and weights will help it come from fat not muscle, as if you lose muscle your will just be a smaller version of what you are now.
  • Ellyssandra
    Ellyssandra Posts: 16
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    What are your goals? General health? Looking good?

    I think you are at a great place now, but it depends on how you want to look when you finish.

    Also, many people have experienced additional weight loss while trying to transition to maintenance.

    Where you are currently, you would not be looking to lose very much so you could slowly raise your calories each week until maintenance level, and lose a bit more.

    Now could also be a good place for body recomposition. You would eat at maintenance and incorporate heavy lifting ^.^
  • jshay295
    jshay295 Posts: 110 Member
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    Thank you everyone for the replies. I get my inches measured once a month, the same time as my body fat percentage. My stomach has been losing inches, but nevertheless the bulge remains.

    As for my goals, number one is health, which I think I've essentially achieved , and then endurance, which I'm working on but pleased with my progress. After that, yes, looking good is certainly one of my goals.

    I've looked up a few pictures of 5'4 women with eighteen percent body fat, and from the front I'd say I look similar to them. It seems harder to find side views of them , however I saw one picture with a girl that had 18 percent body fat, looked like me from the front, and from the side I too could see a little bulge. Not nearly as pronounced as mine, but similar.

    If i were to take up heavy lifting more seriously, how many days a week do you think I should do? Should I maintain or cut down on my cardio days ?

    Now im staring at my gut wondering if it's just my intestines and stomach saying hello to the world -.- but then, you would think strengthening my abdominal wall would help 'tuck' them in, no?
  • tegalicious
    tegalicious Posts: 629
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    2-3 days a week heavy lifting full body routine. Make sure you get a good idea of how to do the moves correctly to avoid injury. YouTube, the Eat,Train,Progress board on mfp and even having a personal trainer at the gym show you are all good starting points. Cardio can be continued if you enjoy it and if you are eating back your calories from it. If you don't enjoy it, you can cut back or eliminate it.
  • tegalicious
    tegalicious Posts: 629
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    And yeah. I am thinking that is my situation. Now granted I know I have a higher body fat percentage than you but when I flex my abs my stomach doesn't go in at all. It just firms up with the protruding part still there. So I am assuming it is my intestines. I do eat a lot so it totally makes sense to me.
  • zhvah18
    zhvah18 Posts: 158 Member
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    And yeah. I am thinking that is my situation. Now granted I know I have a higher body fat percentage than you but when I flex my abs my stomach doesn't go in at all. It just firms up with the protruding part still there. So I am assuming it is my intestines. I do eat a lot so it totally makes sense to me.

    wait, what? I'm trying to wrap my mind around how you think that works. If your intestines are behind your abdominal wall, how is it they're going to show when you flex your abs? Sounds like a layer of fat that's sitting on the muscles, hence why when you flex, that bulge doesn't move.
  • SoreTodayStrongTomorrow222
    SoreTodayStrongTomorrow222 Posts: 252 Member
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    Yea, hate to be a negative nancy here but good luck getting rid of the pooch without some serious "dieting" - your diet will have to be ON POINT, completely...like no body fat left. Sucks for us, right? I'm sure tons of girls have the same problem.

    also, remember - you have organs and they need someplace to go...perhaps thats a contributor?
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    First off, your stomach isn't suppose to be completely flat. You have things there that are going to make it protrude. Plus regular every day bloating and unbloating is going to change that.(And your weight) Which means 125.1 or 125 it doesn't matter. You can change as much as eight to ten pounds either way (Which is just water, so don't panic, it's not fat)
    As far as maintaining around 125, though, I've heard it's better to go a few pounds under the goal, because when you eat normally again, you body is going to take in extra things that it couldn't keep while you were losing.
    So really it's up to you, is a few pounds either way going to make you look very different? If it does, is it bad and do you not like it? Then go ahead and aim a little lower, so you'll be around 125 when you eat normally again. If it doesn't make much difference, or you think it look good and you're not so worried about a number, then go ahead and maintain now! Because it's not really going to be fat that you gain. I wanna say it's sugars, but I'm actually not sure.

    ETA: That's why a lot of weight loss products can promise losing 5 pounds right away. Because it's not fat that you're losing at first.
    I would disagree with maintenance being 8-10 pounds either way. It's more like 2 or 3 pounds either way.

    I ended up getting to my goal, after being set to lose a half pound per week, and even at maintenance I am still slowly losing. It's not normal weight fluctuations, though, because my weight is going down only. I am not complaining, but illustrating that maintenance is trial and error with a lot of factors involved, such as metabolism, exercise, etc. I am still trying to find my TDEE. I heavy weight lift, run, do other exercise, and eat around 2100 calories a day.

    OP, you are right, you can't spot reduce, but you don't need to lose any more weight either. Have you thought of heavy weight lifting for body decomposition. That really helps you tone up all over.

    Are you sure your body fat is 18.5? I think that sounds low for a female but I could be wrong.

    Just in general, I see a lot of posts where women want perfectly flat tummies, and I don't understand. We're supposed to have some tummy to hold our special insides.
  • jshay295
    jshay295 Posts: 110 Member
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    Don't get me wrong, I don't want a stomach as flat as a table top (though I might not complain lol) but I find it frusterating when I see other ladies that work out as hard , or even less than me with flatter stomachs. My jeans fit comfortably, yet when I stand I notice sometimes a little bulge at the waist line . ( no , I don't need to try a larger size of jeans because they fit and feel comfortable, and a large size will be sliding off my *kitten* all day). I just hate how I don't notice this on many other fit girls.

    And i'm sorry, I have to ask , how is heavy lifting different than regular strength training? I always use the heaviest weight I feel comfortable with, and usually do circuits focusing on one or two muscle groups. Why is it better to train all of your body at once? Why would I see more results that way , if our bodies burn fat from where ever they like anyway? I'm not trying to be rude or anything, I really am curious!

    Thank you again for the replies.

    ps : I believe my next fitness/health test is coming up in about 2-3 weeks, so I can update you with what my body fat percentage is again then. I have no way really of being 100 % sure that is my body fat, but that is the reading I received. (I don't know if it matters, but I think a fair amount of the fat came off of my girls over the last few months, I don't know what percentage that can account for lol!) I know when I started I was around 25% body fat , and I certainly do notice a difference all over with how much fat is on my body.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    Jshay,

    I don't see your reply as rude at all. Full body workouts, such as heavy lifting, helps tone your body all over instead of just isolated muscles. In other words, you get the fill monty, if you will, and not just little muscle groups..I suggest you look into The New rules of Weight Lifting for Women. It's a great book, and there is a group here too.

    With heavy weight lifting, some women experience gaining weight but wearing a smaller size, but I have been experiencing loss instead.

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