How do you maintain your new weight?

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cubsterofthesea
cubsterofthesea Posts: 32 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I have nearly reached my weight loss goal! Just want to lose 4 more pounds. Once I have reached this, how do I keep my weight the same? Do I just go back to 1500 calories a day? which I think is what is recommended for women? I feel like if I do that, the weight will start to come back. Any advice from those who have lost weight would be really appreciated :)
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  • BeTheChange352
    BeTheChange352 Posts: 253 Member
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    there should be a setting in MFP that will calculate your calories needed to maintain weight. you will probably see a little bit of a gain at first but it should even out after a week or two. if not, you're eating too much and you'll have to reduce calories a bit until you find an equilibrium.
  • bunnypy
    bunnypy Posts: 109 Member
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    Congrats on ur weight loss. What is ur height and current weight?
  • cubsterofthesea
    cubsterofthesea Posts: 32 Member
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    bunnypy wrote: »
    Congrats on ur weight loss. What is ur height and current weight?

    5ft6, 123 pounds,
  • cubsterofthesea
    cubsterofthesea Posts: 32 Member
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    bunnypy wrote: »
    Congrats on ur weight loss. What is ur height and current weight?

    Thanks, by the way.
  • cubsterofthesea
    cubsterofthesea Posts: 32 Member
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    BeTheChange352 wrote: »
    there should be a setting in MFP that will calculate your calories needed to maintain weight. you will probably see a little bit of a gain at first but it should even out after a week or two. if not, you're eating too much and you'll have to reduce calories a bit until you find an equilibrium.

    Thanks, i'll look out for that on the mfp.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Where do you get 1500 from? 2000 is often given as an average for women. Obviously if you are tiny and sedentary you are going to be under the average!

    What are you eating now and how much weight a week you are losing will give you a good idea of maintenance calories. Or if you set your weight loss goal to "maintain" that also gives you an estimate (+ exercise calories remember).

    You keep yourself at goal weight (or in reality around goal - a range not a single number) by eating the correct number of calories over a period of time. That's going to be found by trial and error. Adding 100 cals to your daily goal and increasing week by week is a common way to find maintenance.

    Clear that mental block that weight can magically come back - it only does that if you overeat for an extended period of time and ignore the number on the scales creeping up.
  • cubsterofthesea
    cubsterofthesea Posts: 32 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    Where do you get 1500 from? 2000 is often given as an average for women. Obviously if you are tiny and sedentary you are going to be under the average!

    What are you eating now and how much weight a week you are losing will give you a good idea of maintenance calories. Or if you set your weight loss goal to "maintain" that also gives you an estimate (+ exercise calories remember).

    You keep yourself at goal weight (or in reality around goal - a range not a single number) by eating the correct number of calories over a period of time. That's going to be found by trial and error. Adding 100 cals to your daily goal and increasing week by week is a common way to find maintenance.

    Clear that mental block that weight can magically come back - it only does that if you overeat for an extended period of time and ignore the number on the scales creeping up.

    Thanks for the advice :)
  • yesimpson
    yesimpson Posts: 1,372 Member
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    I'm the same height and weight as you, and I maintain at a base of 1850, plus exercise calories on top of that, so probably 2000-2100 a day averaged over a week.

    I did have to change the goal MFP originally set for me as it was too low, so be aware this is just a starting point and not necessarily the right intake level. The number of calories required to maintain any given weight will probably vary within a range for most healthy individuals, depending on many factors, so it will take trial and error. I increased my calories by 100 a day for a fortnight at a time until I found the level at which I maintained - this took a few weeks to accomplish, and did mean I dipped a bit low initially, but once I knew my maintenance level I could put those few pounds back on.

    You will find when moving to maintenance that your weight jumps up a pound or 2 at first - I think this is just your glycogen levels replenishing after being in a calorie deficit, plus the weight of a little more food (I'm sure someone wiser than me will correct if this is wrong).
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    1500 isn't average cals for a woman as above have already said, its nearer 2000 - it takes time to figure out our own personal TDEE's but what I did was bumped my cals up a few 100 cals every few weeks until I found my number.
    I'm 5ft 2/ 45/ active/ TDEE is 2100-2300. I eat around 2000 cals a day (gross) just to sort any inaccuracies in food logging and its working perfectly. I've been maintaining my goal range for a year.
  • alida1walsh
    alida1walsh Posts: 72 Member
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    I'm the same height as you and fluctuate between 122 and 125 lbs.

    I'm fairly active in that I run 5 km 3-4 days per week as well as doing weight-bearing exercises and an average of 16,000 steps a day. I'm on 1,510 calories and find that if I eat any of my exercise calories back I tend to gain a few pounds. Still meticulously weighing everything too.

    I find it's good to still have goals while maintaining so I'm focusing on running faster.
  • djscavone
    djscavone Posts: 133 Member
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    I've been the same for a year now. I didn't use any special science or calculation. Its just from day in day out repetition of doing pretty much the same thing and looking at the scale. I now just have a feel for knowing what I ate and I know 3 miles a day at a basic pace keeps me where I am. After all the time spent losing the weight smaller portions,healthy meals, and exercise are now normal. I am really no longer dieting and calorie counting. I am more "calorie aware" and its my lifestyle. On weekends I know after pounding down the beers and burgers that Monday I am 3 pounds heavier but by Wednesday I am right back to where I was Friday as I am back into my routine.
  • RaspberryTickleChicken
    RaspberryTickleChicken Posts: 629 Member
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    First of all congrats!

    Second of all I did go back and run my new TDEE #s using this IIFYM Calculator to determine the # of calories based on my activities.

    If you go to CALCULATOR then select IIFYM CALCULATOR - after you input your info & scroll down it will actually give you macro options depending on your goals. ie. build muscle etc

    It's not gospel by any means but it is a good starting point for most novice folks like myself.

    Make sure you continue to set goals for yourself because there is no end to maintenance ... not really.

    It's more a 'loosing weight phase' then a 'rest of your life' phase so that may be a bit daunting at first.

    The other thing I did do differently in maint vs. wt loss is that I purposely tried to add MFP folks who are also in maint. It's a different mindset with its own set of challenges which needs a different kind of support.

    Best of luck to you!
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Don't just arbitrarily use a number like 1500 or 2000. Everyone has their own number. If you've been using MFP to track your calories, you have enough information to predict your own. Begin with the average number of calories you've been eating (without exercise calories), but add to that your average weekly weight loss in pounds multiplied by 500.
  • withoutasaddle
    withoutasaddle Posts: 191 Member
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    I would start by increasing your goal by about 200 a week. If you loose weight with it, raise it again. If you maintain, you found your perfect daily goal. It can sometimes be a weird mental thing if you suddenly jump up in your calories too so it makes a nice transition while finding your perfect calorie amount
  • sgirl2009
    sgirl2009 Posts: 57 Member
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    To be safe, I would just do what I did when I lost the weight.
  • mirrim52
    mirrim52 Posts: 763 Member
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    sgirl2009 wrote: »
    To be safe, I would just do what I did when I lost the weight.

    But then you would keep losing.

    OP - How much are you eating now, and how much weight are you losing, on average, a week?
    I eat approx. 1700 cals a day and lose on average 0.8 lbs a week, which works out to a 400 cal/day deficit.
    So my maintenance level is about 2100 cals (including exercise, I do TDEE)
    Someone eating 1500 cals and losing 0.5 lbs a week would have a maintenance level of 1750.
  • cubsterofthesea
    cubsterofthesea Posts: 32 Member
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    yesimpson wrote: »
    I'm the same height and weight as you, and I maintain at a base of 1850, plus exercise calories on top of that, so probably 2000-2100 a day averaged over a week.

    I did have to change the goal MFP originally set for me as it was too low, so be aware this is just a starting point and not necessarily the right intake level. The number of calories required to maintain any given weight will probably vary within a range for most healthy individuals, depending on many factors, so it will take trial and error. I increased my calories by 100 a day for a fortnight at a time until I found the level at which I maintained - this took a few weeks to accomplish, and did mean I dipped a bit low initially, but once I knew my maintenance level I could put those few pounds back on.

    You will find when moving to maintenance that your weight jumps up a pound or 2 at first - I think this is just your glycogen levels replenishing after being in a calorie deficit, plus the weight of a little more food (I'm sure someone wiser than me will correct if this is wrong).

    Thanks for the information, it helps when I know you are my size too.
  • cubsterofthesea
    cubsterofthesea Posts: 32 Member
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    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    1500 isn't average cals for a woman as above have already said, its nearer 2000 - it takes time to figure out our own personal TDEE's but what I did was bumped my cals up a few 100 cals every few weeks until I found my number.
    I'm 5ft 2/ 45/ active/ TDEE is 2100-2300. I eat around 2000 cals a day (gross) just to sort any inaccuracies in food logging and its working perfectly. I've been maintaining my goal range for a year.

    Great, thanks for that and congratulations on maintaining your weight :)
  • cubsterofthesea
    cubsterofthesea Posts: 32 Member
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    alida1walsh wrote: »
    I'm the same height as you and fluctuate between 122 and 125 lbs.

    I'm fairly active in that I run 5 km 3-4 days per week as well as doing weight-bearing exercises and an average of 16,000 steps a day. I'm on 1,510 calories and find that if I eat any of my exercise calories back I tend to gain a few pounds. Still meticulously weighing everything too.

    I find it's good to still have goals while maintaining so I'm focusing on running faster.

    Thanks for the info :wink:

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