Maintenance Thread

Wow i think I need to check my maintanance thread a few times a week, so many posts and I enjoyed reading them.

Gail- I liked what you had to say about shopping. I love to buy clothes now too. Very excited to be able to wear the youger styles and pull them off. Love going to work and turning heads and love my low riser jeans. I use to think they were discusting when my girls wore them but not any more. It is fun.

This week was an emotionally challenging week for me. My appetite decreased a little so I really tried to make sure that I ate all of my calories, and I did. When I weighed myself this morning my weight had gone down. I do not want to go below 124 lbs and I was at 123.4 lbs. So it is time for me to raise up the calories a little. i was thinking 50 extra calories a day for this month and see if that will work.

Any suggestions on that number from anyone would be great.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

Mia






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@RaiN81 - Good luck with the race! When is it? When I did my half marathon I had a big bowl of pasta with tomato sauce about 2 hours before and a banana 45mins-1hour before. I don't know how that compares to other options in terms of performance but it worked really well for me

@Mia - I'm sorry you've had a rough week - I hope everything is ok :flowerforyou: An extra 50 cals a day sounds good. I don't know how often you weigh yourself but you could always check after 1 or 2 weeks instead of a month? If you're anxious not to lose more then you may want to add more calories sooner if you need to?

So I had a pretty rocky week trying to juggle my new job with good eating, but I've got a few days off now and I'm back on track. Woohoo! I weighed in today and it said I'd gone up 3lbs which, despite my 2 bad days, is definitely crap. So I'll drink loads of water and try again tomorrow. I think it may be because of my very salty pasta and yummy cocktails (all within daily goal of course!) on friday I have a chance to get back to the gym too which is nice... I hadn't been for about 10 days before friday (had a little outdoor run in that time but that's all) and was shocked to see it actually made a difference to my fitness level! Hmph :grumble: But I'm definitely glad to be working out again. I think if I go every day that I'm not working (just toooo shattered on working days - 5.30am starts = not my thing) or when I'm starting late then that should make 3-4 times a week. Good enough for maintenance I hope.. I think it should be.

How do you all manage your exercise calories? I used to eat them all when I was trying to lose because I went 6 times a week, but now I'm thinking maybe I should only eat an extra 150 so that I can eat more on non-exercise days... I've heard negative things about calorie banking though. Any thoughts? It wouldn't be saving up to binge on chocolate or anything, just so keep consistent calorie levels throughout the week.

Hope everyone's having a nice, relaxing sunday!

Maxine - I used to count cals and eat roughly half my exercise ones back so I could eat a little more on non exercise days.

I don't count calories now but am in a routiene about what I eat and stick to it most days. I get weighed once a month but check myself at the gym more regularly if I've been away for the weekend etc so I know if I have gained.

I hope that we all have a great week. Special good wishes to everyone experiencing difficulties.

Gail x

Hi everyone -- Pleased to report that I am back up to 135-136. At least that's what I was at before my little "end of the winter" break for 4 days last week. I really ate a lot. Rarely did I go over my new, maintenance calories which are set pretty high (over 1,700), but I did go over in sodium and fats a few days. It is so very difficult when you are traveling around with others who are not following such a controlled eating plan.

I am right back at it late yesterday and today. Eating "healthier" and being more active is my "norm" now. However, you still have to be flexible around others. The awareness, though, is just so important.

It sure didn't take long to gain back those few pounds. Now I just want to stay at that 135-136 range until the end of the Spring. Any other adjustments can be made in May or June.

Thanks, everyone, for your awesome support!

I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact I'm in better shape, my clothes are actually loose, I know I'm not bigger..... It's just such a hard concept to grasp that sometimes you weigh more when you are stronger, and that it's OK. Sometimes I happily get it; sometimes I stew about it.

I go through this too. I'm deliberately trying to put on muscle and I know that means the scale may go higher. But I still freak out when it does. I try to keep my eye on my body fat percentage instead.

My mfp fast starts tomorrow, and for the first time, this morning, my bmi is my actual target of 20! I chose it because lower can affect fertility and I'd love my son to be a big brother some day. I hope I'll still be around there when I see you again at Easter.

The best of luck to all of you, in the meantime, and I hope you achieve all of your goals.

My first race went well. Thanks for the tips on nutrition--I think it's something I should look into more closely. I actually had sushi about 2 hours before the race and this worked well for me since it is high in both protein and complex carbohydrates. I think a little extra sugar (like gatorade or something) right before the race would be helpful.

My time? 23:57 for 300 m swim and 3 km run. (I'm guessing the swim was about 6 min and the run was about 18 minutes). I took yesterday off from working out but I am back on for training for the next race which is an actual triathlon called "See Jane Tri for the Cure" near the end of June. Some of the proceeds will be going towards breast cancer research which is a nice added bonus.

Hello all,

I finally found the maintenance thread! Yay!

I recently got back to my goal weight after losing about 20 pounds (about half with MFP) of baby weight. I want to stick with MFP to track my protein, vitamins, and calories to make sure I get enough of the good stuff and not too much of the bad. My main goal is maintaining lean muscle and building endurance. My exercise goals are to run a half marathon with my hubby next spring, which will be difficult since I am primarily a swimmer, and to keep up my swimming endurance. Once my little one is a bit older, I would love to get back to a masters swimming program!

I would love to chat with folks about switching from a dieting frame of mind to a maintenance one and how to eat right for building and/or maintaining muscle rather than losing weight.

Not something that's easy to measure, but my confidence and how I view my body is so much more positive since I lost the weight that I want to keep the weight off as I know how rubbish I would feel if I put it back on.