1st week of maintenance

MargueriteMuguet
MargueriteMuguet Posts: 230 Member
edited November 14 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hi everyone, wherever in the world you may be,

Stats: female, 25, 1m69, 63.3kg, active: stronglifts 2x/week and running 3x/week rest is yoga.

So I know it's a bit early to take notes on how I'm doing on maintenance, because I still have to find the 'magic number'. But I wanted to share my findings on those first days and maybe get some people to chime in on their own experience.

Well first and foremost, I NEVER thought I would be so stressed to eat more.
I upped my cals by 250 and was very pleased the first 3 days, then I reconsidered everything I did.

After even more reading on this forum I calmed down, I refocussed and realised I didn't have a goal (except from upping cals but not being really sure of the results it would give and how to react).
And I was constantly asking myself if I did not need to lose a bit more... (Well no!)

Secondly: I am training for a 10k at the end of april and i kind of used this as an excuse to 'balance' the upping of cals. But obviously it was unconsciously to still lose weight and create a bigger deficit.
So I reassessed my goal again and now I am genuinely training for something that is challenging to me and brings me joy. Appreciating every run more and more.

Thirdly: i also realised I was striving to reach a number on the scale. So that is something I am working on with a therapist right now. But I am getting more confident by the day and being in maintenance is helping a lot.
And understanding that our weight is a measure of everything inside us at that point in time is sobering.
Remembering that is always bringing me back to my senses.

Fourthly: after eating at 1500 for a week, I have not gained a pound. I know it's too little for my activity and that is also something I did not want to admit because I was scared. But I am upping it to 1750 this week and see where it takes me.

All in all, this happened over the course of 7 days, it's a lot to take in but i am over the moon to be making such progress mentally and physically. To not think about losing anymore. I am much more relaxed now that I am giving myself a range of weight to be in, and also to enjoy the journey. Learning more about myself every day.

Hopefully it is clear and not too long.
I hope to get your stories on how your first week went and how you dealt with the new changes.

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Congratulations! :smiley:

    Lovely post.
    Can't remember much of my first weeks of maintenance apart from the pleasure of being able to eat more of the food I enjoy and the sense of achievement in managing to achieve something I had previously failed at for twenty years.

    Like you I replaced the goal of weight loss with pushing myself to new fitness targets.
    Two years on I'm still happy - fitter than ever and chasing new goals.

  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Congrats! It's wonderful being able to eat more and glad you're already seeing that you can maintain on more :smile:
    It took me a few months rather than weeks to figure out how much I could eat, 6 months on I'm doing ok but I've had to cut back a little again as gain was starting to trend.
    I thought I could eat 2200 a day but it's looking more like 2000! Bah humbug lol
  • deevah62
    deevah62 Posts: 32 Member
    I haven't quite figured this out yet so I've left my calories at a slight deficit knowing I can go over a little bit!
  • whitebalance
    whitebalance Posts: 1,654 Member
    Congrats on your loss!! Remember how it took some figuring out and some plateaus to make it through that phase; maintenance is no different. A week's worth of data doesn't tell you much. I'd suggest taking it slow, making small adjustments and seeing what happens over time. And setting new fitness goals is awesome -- performance-based ones work especially well in maintenance, because they give you something to focus on other than the boring-ness of the scale not moving (or the panic over daily fluctuations).
  • MargueriteMuguet
    MargueriteMuguet Posts: 230 Member
    Thank you all for the replies :-) i enjoy this forum soooo much and I get a lot of good information. I am having a better second week than the first one, taking things slow, learning more everyday and enjoying the process, running and challenging myself on small things. (I have a new PR too !)
    After all we are in maintenance for the long haul!
  • dopeysmelly
    dopeysmelly Posts: 1,390 Member
    Congratulations! Doesn't it feel great to have achieved this?

    My head was spinning for the first 3 weeks of maintenance. Moving away from deficit was mentally tough, but it settled down.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    It is an adjustment, going from losing to maintaining. Its a habit to want a drop on the scale and you have to remind yourself that staying the same (approximately) is good.
  • MargueriteMuguet
    MargueriteMuguet Posts: 230 Member
    Yep! Very true. It a transition and i am just getting the hang of it :-) and also being more flexible with food choices (i know i should have done that too in the losing phase but oh! you learn).
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