Maintaining Weight for Beginners

bump.. I'm at the same spot... hoping to see answers..

Have you gone into your Home page, goals tab, and changed your goal to maintain? That would be a good place to start. MFP will give you a new calorie goal to work with. You can still do whatever exercise you like and log it; you will get to eat even more that way. After a few weeks, you can reevaluate. It is a bit of trial and error to see what your actual maintenance is.

fraserkr wrote: »

I read this journal article "Long-term weight loss maintenance" via American Society for Clinical Nutrition http://bit.ly/1I4QuRa

The summary says six key strategies for longterm success at weight loss maintenance:

1) engaging in high levels of physical activity;
2) eating a diet that is low in calories and fat;
3) eating breakfast;
4) self-monitoring weight on a regular basis;
5) maintaining a consistent eating pattern; and
6) catching “slips” before they turn into larger regains.

I agree with 4,5 and 6. Breakfast isn't necessary in my opinion and I can't see why it would be necessary for maintenance. If you're hungry in the morning then have it, if (like me) you prefer to wait until midday and just eat a slightly bigger lunch, then do that. No need for low fat, and 'low calorie' is very subjective depending on activity level, height, weight, etc. If you eat at TDEE you should maintain and TDEE generally isn't a low number for most people. 'High levels' of physical activity is also subjective and I wouldn't call it key. Some exercise is important for health, fitness, motivation and to allow for more calories but a fair amount of people can maintain just on exercising a few times a week.
I'm not on maintenance yet, but what I know is going to help me is staying logging. Even if it means I always have to log, for the rest of my life.

The trick .. look at what you did in order to lose .. 1300 cal and determine how much weight you lost per week. If that was 1 lb .. it is 3500 cal or 500 cal deficit per day (debatable but we will go with it). So that means if your exercise level stays the same .. and all things being equal you could START at 1300 + 500 .. 1800 calories. Doing the math you can try that .. and see if you are maintaining. I maintained successfully for 6 months and am now gaining (on purpose), and I can just say it could take a good month til you figure it out. Then after that .. you should be good, just eat the same amount to maintain .. your exercise will of course alter what you need to eat. Too much exercise and you could find yourself in a deficit and a loss. Good luck.

PugBug20 wrote: »

So, basically, do what I've been doing, just up my daily calories by 100 or so (and if I continue to lose, eat more, and if I gain, eat less)?

Works for me! Have been maintaining within 5 lbs of my goal weight for over a year.

Train for strength. If you don't lift you should start and lift heavy! Increase the weight incrementally which will help you gain muscle mass, limit your cardio to 1-2 times a week. Eat healthy, drink water and sleep. Muscle burns fat and you have to eat to feed muscles, so learn you macro and micro nutrient needs. You will want to up your protein and limit your bad carbs ie. (low nutrient/hi cal) No Sugar,No sugar No sugar. You get enough in your regular diet! Your Carbs and Protein should be about 1.25g and 1g per pound of body weight. your fats should be around 25g If you are legitimately Working out 4-5 times a week 1500 cals/day doesn't sound unreasonable. This stuff is all ball park avg. you have to find out what works for you. 5'/98 sounds pretty HWP so you probably have pretty decent glucose tolerance. Remember learn to lift right and lift heavy. you will not get big like a guy. skinny girls look good in clothes strong women look good naked. Don't believe me pay close attention at the gym. The really good physiques on women are strong and they lift.

just want to add.. Sleep - and Good Posture all day long

sijomial wrote: »

1/ Be happy!
2/ Slowly add calories, try to ignore odd fluctuations in weight that don't seem to match a small increase in calories.
3/ Set a goal weight range to allow for normal fluctuations. Monitor your weight in the way that works best for you (daily/weekly/fit of clothes...). Look for the trend not the small detail.
4/ Set new goals (strength, fitness, whatever) to replace the weight loss goal.
5/ If you enjoy your exercise routine carry on, if not change it to match your new goals or do it for fun.
6/ Find a way to fit in special events like meals out, vacations into your life without freaking out about temporary gains.
7/ Eat the foods you like and intend eating for the rest of your life - just eat the correct amount.
8/ Be happy! I know it's a repeat of #1 but don't be a stressed out miserable maintainer, be a happy and successful long term maintainer.

^^This. Just everything @sijomial says right here.

fraserkr wrote: »

I read this journal article "Long-term weight loss maintenance" via American Society for Clinical Nutrition http://bit.ly/1I4QuRa

The summary says six key strategies for longterm success at weight loss maintenance:

1) engaging in high levels of physical activity;
2) eating a diet that is low in calories and fat;
3) eating breakfast;
4) self-monitoring weight on a regular basis;
5) maintaining a consistent eating pattern; and
6) catching “slips” before they turn into larger regains.

I agree and do all of these. But number 2 isn't explained well enough, you have to up your calories and eat more 'healthy' fats to be holistically healthy and maintain weight when exercising 4-5 days a week (if that's what your doing). Kind of sounds like eat less, move more which is kinda more of a weight loss way of thinking then maintaining. Should be eat more, move more

Hee Hee RunRutheeRun, I am old so I get even fewer calories than normal in the winter (hibernation mode has set in Boo Boo). Summer is better when I am more active, need the extra cals for wine at the end of a hot sweaty day.
Cheers, h.