How Often Do You Get Off Track With Maintenance?

dpr73
dpr73 Posts: 495 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
The past few weekends I have been going out to parties and celebrations. I have been trying to keep myself in range a little bit (though I'm sure I go over at least somewhat). So far, I haven't gained a thing. Still sitting around the low range of my 5 lb maintenance range. How often do you guys splurge and go over board on maintenance? If you are on the lower end of your 5lb maintenance range like I am, do you think it's necessary to watch yourself on weekends as closely? I always go back to a strict plan on the weeks but I would like to really not worry at all about celebrations during the weekends...do you think I should experiment with this? I am 19years old, male, and workout weights 5 days a week.

Replies

  • salvyhead
    salvyhead Posts: 66 Member
    The way I deal with this is to look at the weekly net, not the daily. It's easy if you use the phone app but I don't think the graph is available on the web app yet.

    See https://www.flickr.com/photos/43262109@N04/13957773708/
    This is a typical week for me. A few days over, a few days under - the gray bar average, where it needs to be.

    Basically, you can splurge a day as long as you make up the calories the next day or two. As long as your weekly is where it needs to be - you'll maintain.

    This works for me - of course your mileage may vary. (Even on cheat days I don't go nuts.)

    S
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    I keep my goal about 100 calories less than maintenance during the week, and that gives me 600 calories of leeway for the weekend.
  • aqualeo1
    aqualeo1 Posts: 331 Member
    I'm kinda doing the same thing. Going a bit overboard on weekends then eating at a smallish deficit during the week. Seems to be working ok.
  • bc2ct
    bc2ct Posts: 222 Member
    I tend to fall off in the opposite direction. Sometimes I really struggle with eating enough to maintain (3-4000 on most days because I am extremely active). Occasionally I find it easier to set my caloric goals to deficit so I can imagine I am just in a cutting phase. This sort of sucks too because I find myself constantly in a state of fatigue.

    On the other hand -- maybe once every few weeks I manage to knock back a serious amount of calories -- esp. on days when I take down a pint of ice cream. If you're balancing out over a week there is really nothing to be worried about in this.
  • dpr73
    dpr73 Posts: 495 Member
    I tend to fall off in the opposite direction. Sometimes I really struggle with eating enough to maintain (3-4000 on most days because I am extremely active). Occasionally I find it easier to set my caloric goals to deficit so I can imagine I am just in a cutting phase. This sort of sucks too because I find myself constantly in a state of fatigue.

    On the other hand -- maybe once every few weeks I manage to knock back a serious amount of calories -- esp. on days when I take down a pint of ice cream. If you're balancing out over a week there is really nothing to be worried about in this.

    This is what I have been dealing with actually...over the week I have been hitting a deficit (at least I think not calculating)...but on the weekends I am going over all the time (at least I think) for example...here is my day today:

    Breakfast-1 banana, 90 cal greek yogurt, 1C of Special K Cereal
    Lunch: 1 turkey sandwich with one slice cheese lots of veggies on wheat, an apple
    Snack: 1 Cupcake (It was FREE!)
    Dinner: 5 large Fried Oysters, about 1/2 cup of cole slaw, 1/2 cup potato salad
    Dessert: 1 Cupcake
    It was my bro's birthday so I had to give in and celebrate obviously!
    But that's a typical day of the week when I "go over"

    Usually on the week I have been eating almost exactly like this:
    Breakfast: Same as above
    Snack: 1 banana/granola bar
    Lunch: 1 turkey sandiwch on wheat with a slice cheese and veggies, an apple
    Snack: 1 banana/granola bar
    Dinner: 2 chicken breasts (slightly bigger than my palm), 1 cup of some kind of veggies, 1/2 cup of starch
    Dessert: Yogurt or maybe an ice cream sandwich

    Basically, in your opinions, going over and not really caring about my intake is fine as long as I keep myself accountable with weigh ins and adjustments as needed (that is, if I start gaining weight?). Sorry for the questions, maintenance just seems pretty tough for me. Maybe I am making it harder because I often say to myself: being this healthy cannot be this easy. Do you all think maintenance can be this easy (going over without care on weekends, but just holding one's self accountable with weigh ins and adjustments)?
  • salvyhead
    salvyhead Posts: 66 Member
    No apology needed for questions - that's what the forums are for! :)

    You are right, maintenance is tough. In some ways it's harder than losing because it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking you're 'finished' when in fact, as long as you're breathing, you're never finished.

    As long as you don't go completely nuts on days you go over your TDEE, it balances out. Some folks gain two or three lbs every weekend and then lose it mon-fri. I did that for a while but that was before I adjusted my carb-protein ratio. For the better part of a year I was eating a lot of carbs and not much protein. Recently I modified to eat more protein and fewer carbs. Typical day, before: 60% carbs, 15% protein. Now, 35% carbs, 25% protein.

    I'm less hungry, energy level is through the moon, I rarely crave carbs anymore and the weekly yo-yo has stabilized quite a bit. The BIG benefit however is by eliminating the bulk of carb-based snacks (pretzels, etc.) and cutting back on bread, I can drink more beer! :)

    S
  • susanevenden
    susanevenden Posts: 16
    I hate the transition of going from weight loss calorie consumption (however small the weight loss desired) to maintaining. It always seems that I just get close to where I want to be and suddenly I'm on vacation, or visiting family and my eating patterns change along with my exercise routines.

    So I just finally got to what I have always considered my ideal weight and I'm off to live with my son and his wife until their new baby is born.

    It doesn't sound like a big deal but I can almost guarantee by the time all is said and done, I will have put on 5 lbs and the last 5 lbs is always the hardest to lose.... again and again and again.

    I'm already planning my exercise habits, which are at the seasonal change as well (double whammy) and also how to manage the beer and bbqs that I will be facing. Fingers crossed I will stay away from the potato salad.
  • themedalist
    themedalist Posts: 3,218 Member
    Basically, in your opinions, going over and not really caring about my intake is fine as long as I keep myself accountable with weigh ins and adjustments as needed (that is, if I start gaining weight?). Sorry for the questions, maintenance just seems pretty tough for me. Maybe I am making it harder because I often say to myself: being this healthy cannot be this easy. Do you all think maintenance can be this easy (going over without care on weekends, but just holding one's self accountable with weigh ins and adjustments)?

    This approach makes sense to me...use regular weigh-ins and maybe how your clothes fit to track your progress.

    I have found maintenance to be pretty easy. I have a maintenance plan ( http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/themedalist/view/what-s-your-maintenance-plan-624676 ) and I've been successfully implementing it for almost 2 years. If I overindulge one day, not a biggie, I just return to my regular eating habits and wait for the sodium to clear my system.
  • dpr73
    dpr73 Posts: 495 Member
    Basically, in your opinions, going over and not really caring about my intake is fine as long as I keep myself accountable with weigh ins and adjustments as needed (that is, if I start gaining weight?). Sorry for the questions, maintenance just seems pretty tough for me. Maybe I am making it harder because I often say to myself: being this healthy cannot be this easy. Do you all think maintenance can be this easy (going over without care on weekends, but just holding one's self accountable with weigh ins and adjustments)?

    This approach makes sense to me...use regular weigh-ins and maybe how your clothes fit to track your progress.

    I have found maintenance to be pretty easy. I have a maintenance plan ( http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/themedalist/view/what-s-your-maintenance-plan-624676 ) and I've been successfully implementing it for almost 2 years. If I overindulge one day, not a biggie, I just return to my regular eating habits and wait for the sodium to clear my system.

    This is an excellent read. Thanks! I am still tailoring my plan but I think just letting go, eating healthy most of the time, and monitoring my weight might be the plan!
  • tjthegreatone
    tjthegreatone Posts: 324
    As I transitioned into maintenance I pretty much put on 5lb straight away, which was fine as my comfy weight is more towards the top end of the healthy weight BMI (23-24).

    Sadly over the last six months my indulgences became almost daily and I kept saying that I'd 'just get right back on it' the next day...which never happened. The loss of any real goals or motivation, as I got used to my new body and new fitness regime meant that I didn't have any reason to pass on the endless treats or midnight snacking.

    I woke up 2 weeks ago 15lb heavier and surprised-unsurprised. Strangely enough just from going back to logging my food and exercise and keeping myself to a 0.5lb/week deficit, 5lb have vanished.

    The problem with maintenance is the combination of weight fluctuations and the loss of an overriding drive/goal.

    I have decided that I will pretty much have to keep logging for life, and I will aim to balance the books weekly, so one day of indulgence doesn't lead to more derailment. I'm also keen to be 'normal' so contrary to received MFP wisdom I guesstimate a lot and use approximations for foods I didn't prepare or can't find in the database. If I'm going to be doing this for the indefinite future, it needs to be as easy as possible.

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