Having a difficult time maintaining, so confused.

What is your height? No you should not have to do 2.5-4 hrs of cardio a day, most people don't go to such drastic methods. His closely do you track your food?

First of all, congratulations on the tremendous weight loss and getting yourself to 9.9% body fat! That is an amazing accomplishment, congratulations!

Secondly, just know that you are in good company in terms of feeling nervous about weight fluctuations once you reach maintenance. Most people experience this phenomenon, as well as the emotions that come along with it. You are definitely not weird, and you're definitely not alone.

Just out of curiosity, have you really sat down and figured out your official TDEE? Or did you arbitrarily set your numbers based on what you believe you should do? I ask because four hours of cardio a day on only 1,000 calories falls, IMHO, into the "dangerously anorexic" zone for most human beings. I would love to know where you came up with that equation?

If you don't mind sharing your stats w/us I'd love to calculate a basic TDEE for you and just see how it compares to what you're currently doing. Do you mind posting your age, height, current weight, and activity level on a normal day (not exercise, but like your daily routine at work such as sitting at a desk vs. construction work, etc.)?

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Specific advice aside, the biggest thing is patience.

-Take diet breaks at the upper level of maintenance: add 200 cals to your 2000 and hold for a few weeks, then up again until you begin to gain, that really the upper limit.

I fully recommend this.

I also think that you might be eating at the bare minimum for maintenance and so your body keeps trying to refill and then shedding glycogen stores in response to calorie variations that bring you over and under that level. That might be what's causing the fluctuations. You should eat a little more, expect an increase of about 5 pounds and then consistently holding that steady weight.

There is no possible way you were at 9.9% BF.

10-13% for women is the bare minimum for life. That is competitive body builder status.

The "ideal" category for women is 20-24%. As a reference point I am 5'2, 121lbs, have a muscular build and am 23% BF.

Drop the cardio, start lifting weights. Heavy ones. What are you doing in your 45 minutes of lifting a day?

it's more possible for a male but 180 at 5'8" it sounds off.

He would be pretty jacked at that height and weight with only 9.9% BF%... would love to see the pics of the OP, big and ripped, nice combo. That said OP 2000 would not be nearly enough with that much LBM. Try 2600 and 3500 on weekends.

First of all, congratulations on the tremendous weight loss and getting yourself to 9.9% body fat! That is an amazing accomplishment, congratulations!

Secondly, just know that you are in good company in terms of feeling nervous about weight fluctuations once you reach maintenance. Most people experience this phenomenon, as well as the emotions that come along with it. You are definitely not weird, and you're definitely not alone.

Just out of curiosity, have you really sat down and figured out your official TDEE? Or did you arbitrarily set your numbers based on what you believe you should do? I ask because four hours of cardio a day on only 1,000 calories falls, IMHO, into the "dangerously anorexic" zone for most human beings. I would love to know where you came up with that equation?

If you don't mind sharing your stats w/us I'd love to calculate a basic TDEE for you and just see how it compares to what you're currently doing. Do you mind posting your age, height, current weight, and activity level on a normal day (not exercise, but like your daily routine at work such as sitting at a desk vs. construction work, etc.)?

Age: 23
Height: 5'8"
Current weight: 175 last weigh-in.
Activity level: Not high, mostly desk with some walking around during the day for errands. My "job" for the past few years has been to lose weight.

Great, thanks!

I'm using the following calculator to figure out your TDEE: http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/tools/Calculator-Daily-Calorie.html

I'd love for others to double-check my work as well.

Here are the numbers I'm getting for maintenance (and this includes exercise calories, you would not eat them back, in this case). BTW, I'm using the "Very Active" category for the "Your Activity" setting, since you exercise 2+ hours each day but sit at a desk for work, and also said you might want to scale the cardio back a little more.

Your BMR is 1860.71 and you would eat 3,210 calories a day for maintenance.

Is this what other people are getting?

Indeed I am male.

Not to sound weird, but why not post a photo of your new, fit body! Wear it proudly!

Indeed I am male.

Not to sound weird, but why not post a photo of your new, fit body! Wear it proudly!

Generally I don't post my picture on the internet, it can lead to some iffy situations and I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Fair enough. :happy:

Any thoughts on the TDEE calculation? (above)

Indeed I am male.

I mean, I don't know what to say about the 9.9% body fat. I went to the hydrostatic weighing, got tested for breathing, dunked in a tub, weighed multiple times, and got a whole official neat-oh paper telling me about the 9.9% calculation and result.

are you very muscular with very little fat? Because 9% is low, not that I don't believe you but at only 5'8" you must be pretty muscular and lean. My husband is 6' and 165-170 lb and I don't think he's that low,

Great job on your weight loss,amazing.I'm 183lbs and around10-11% bf and my maintenance is about 3200 calories.I train 5 days a week with no cardio so I'd imagine you'd be around the same give or take

Indeed I am male.

Not to sound weird, but why not post a photo of your new, fit body! Wear it proudly!

Generally I don't post my picture on the internet, it can lead to some iffy situations and I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Fair enough. :happy:

Any thoughts on the TDEE calculation? (above)

I'd love something like that to be true, but from what I've experienced over the past few months it doesn't hold up. Being able to eat 3,200 calories a day for maintenance would be amazing, but right now I'm doing 2,000 and fluctuating, so increasing it in any way feels terrifying.

Actually, fluctuating is totally normal. I'm on maintenance and can "lose" 4 lbs overnight. The "needle" on my weight stats goes up and down and up and down in all sorts of increments. If you were to look at my MFP chart over the course of 3 months or even 6 months you'd see that it looks like a heart monitor. But if you look closer, you would see that, on the average, that heartbeat-like line stays within the 128-131lb range. This is my "safe zone" and when I start to get out of it, I adjust a little lower for awhile and regain control. Been doing this now for 1.5 years.

I'm no nutritionist, nor a doctor, so you should totally take my advice with a grain of salt. Ultimately you will have to figure out what calorie range is best for you and this takes trial and error when you are newly on maintenance. I had to do that myself. I just wanted you to see the numbers when done with a traditional TDEE calculator so you wouldn't feel so confused.

That being said......I think the real issue here is the terrifying feeling you're experiencing, not the weight fluctuation. This is completely understandable considering you are so young and were 400+ lbs to start with. I, and many others here, know all too well the horrible spectre that was our life as an obese person. We know the "addiction" to eating, the hours spent bingeing, the money wasted, the life that's passed us by, the people we hurt, the potential we had when we were younger that we cannot reclaim.... We know what "going back there" will cost us and we'll do ANYTHING to protect it.

Thus, any weight gain you feel you might have would be a terrifying prospect.

I would highly advise a couple things for you right now (as you explore this stuff):

1.) Think about sitting down with a good counselor who works with issues of obesity and compulsion and vent your fears. Even if just for a couple sessions. Just get it out, explore the mental and emotional side of this stuff. It's real, very real. And if you don't grieve it, get it out, and deal with it, you just might find it coming back to haunt you later. In fact, I almost guarantee it.

2.) Relax, breathe, and learn to give yourself some grace and slack as you experiment with your calories, exercise regimen, etc. Trust that you have been doing this weight loss thing, this caring-for-yourself thing, for a LONG time now. Trust the process. Rest on your discipline. Remember that you will be okay. You will not "lose it all" in a few days. The more fearful and upset you become the greater the temptation to either restrict, overeat, or binge exercise....neither of which is helpful for your continued future success.

If you feel comfortable sticking w/2,000 during the week and 3,000 on the weekend, record your progress over time so you can measure your AVERAGES (not your day-to-day fluctuations), and discover that it all shakes out just fine, then stick with it! If you find you're gaining large amounts of weight then perhaps it's time to visit a doc or nutritionist, because that math would not add up and there may be a medical issue going on. But only time, and experimentation, will tell. Good luck!

At 180lbs and doing as much cardio as you are you will lose weight quite quickly on 2000 calories I'd say.That's not enough