Loosen up more?
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mom2ava07
Posts: 186 Member
Has anyone decided to just "wing it" in maintenance and it worked for you?
I was on vacation all last week, and for 7 days I was on a "logging break." I was at the beach for 4 days, and I ate my usual breakfast and lunch and logged those meals. At dinner I ate whatever I wanted (including fried seafood) and had dessert most nights. I will admit I likely wasn't eating as much as I used to would have because it didn't take much to make me feel stuffed. The last 3 days of the week I was out of town with my daughter for a softball tournament. I ate breakfast every morning at the hotel, ate out for lunch one day, even had pizza that night. I tried my best to log everything, but I'm sure it wasn't that accurate and I was eating approx. 3000 calories per day.
I came home and weighed my first morning home and had not gained or lost a single ounce in the week. Day 2 of being home, and still nothing has "caught up" with me.
It makes me wonder if maybe I can loosen the reigns some and stop sticking to strictly eating 1650 or less calories per day (my maintenance at 5'5 and 130 lbs) and never eating my fitbit calories I've been getting daily (average 300-600). I don't mean I will quit logging all together, but loosen up a bit. Has anyone had success with this, or is it a slippery slope and I likely just lucked out for the week?
I was on vacation all last week, and for 7 days I was on a "logging break." I was at the beach for 4 days, and I ate my usual breakfast and lunch and logged those meals. At dinner I ate whatever I wanted (including fried seafood) and had dessert most nights. I will admit I likely wasn't eating as much as I used to would have because it didn't take much to make me feel stuffed. The last 3 days of the week I was out of town with my daughter for a softball tournament. I ate breakfast every morning at the hotel, ate out for lunch one day, even had pizza that night. I tried my best to log everything, but I'm sure it wasn't that accurate and I was eating approx. 3000 calories per day.
I came home and weighed my first morning home and had not gained or lost a single ounce in the week. Day 2 of being home, and still nothing has "caught up" with me.
It makes me wonder if maybe I can loosen the reigns some and stop sticking to strictly eating 1650 or less calories per day (my maintenance at 5'5 and 130 lbs) and never eating my fitbit calories I've been getting daily (average 300-600). I don't mean I will quit logging all together, but loosen up a bit. Has anyone had success with this, or is it a slippery slope and I likely just lucked out for the week?
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Replies
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This is interesting, sorry I've no insight into maybe why, but it seems positive nontheless. Maybe you were more active on your vacation or maybe your maint is a little higher and your bodyweight had somehow plateaud at your existing maint calories and had refused to lose anymore before u went on vacation. I'm maybe on a similar boat as im maintaining, not eating exercise calories back and have increased my excercise recently, but still maintaining weight, I have been for around 4 months now. I dont wanna lose anymore however and just wonder what'll happen when i go on vacation and inevitablly eat/drink more/slack on logging.
Hopefully someone with a better theory will be along soon... maybe you can go up 100 odd calories for a couple of weeks then review if your still maintaining. It does seem promising though;)0 -
Even in maintenance, it all comes down to calories in vs calories out. Maybe you had an increased activity level over this same time period? Or possibly you over-estimated what you ate more than you thought. Also, weight gain and loss don't happen on a schedule. I don't know how long it would take for a week's over-eating to show up on the scale. But if you ate an extra 1,000+ cals for 3 days, that still would only give an extra pound, which could I think easily be offset by a water weight change or increased activity.
You can always try adding another 100 cals per day to your goal each week and see if anything happens with your weight. If you see the numbers start to trend up, just readjust it back down.0 -
Our height/weight stats are the same. I log/weigh all my food during the week (most of the time), and I'm pretty strict with it. On weekends I don't log and I'm not as strict. This has been successful for me for many years.
I do eat at a small deficit on my logging days. It gives me a lot more freedom on the weekends. Your maintenance calories seem pretty low. Is waking your only exercise? Granted I work out quite a bit, but my maintenance cals are closer to 2200/day.0 -
I loosened up during my maintenance period and gained back 40 pounds. Yeah, no stopping to my logging anymore.0
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Do you remember any days when you were in a deficit and you were frustrated when the scale didn't move? It works both ways. Just don't get lackadaisical0
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Our height/weight stats are the same. I log/weigh all my food during the week (most of the time), and I'm pretty strict with it. On weekends I don't log and I'm not as strict. This has been successful for me for many years.
I do eat at a small deficit on my logging days. It gives me a lot more freedom on the weekends. Your maintenance calories seem pretty low. Is waking your only exercise? Granted I work out quite a bit, but my maintenance cals are closer to 2200/day.
My exercise calories come from my fitbit charge HR. I do Jillian Michaels DVDs 4-5 days per week, but I don't log then per se, rather just rely on my fitbit. However, I'm not and haven't been eating any of those added calories (and yes I have negative adjustments enabled). My calories burned in any given day (according to Fitbit) average 2000-2200 and I eat 1650 usually. I'm betting I could likely go up 400 or so more per day and be fine, so I think I'm going to go with that and see how it goes.
I don't think I was more active on the 4 beach days as I did lots of sitting in a beach chair and not a whole lot of swimming. The 3 days at the tournament were definitley active with lots of walking back and forth to the car.
If I did loosen up a bit, it would be still logging breakfast, lunch, and snacks and dinner but maybe not stressing it too much if I actually eat the added fitbit calories. After all, the goal is to maintain while eating as much as possible, right?
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I have been maintaining for about 6 years and most of the time I wing it. I come back to count if I notice a steady climb or decline in my weight, or to work out my calorie burn for a new routine.
I have just ended a 3 month vacation with a 2 lb gain and am not even going to worry about it as it was a long term gain that will burn off as soon as my regular routines are established.
I rely on fullness, not stuffed, just sated, and knowing my particular portion sizes most of the time. It works for me with a 5 lb sliding scale that I like to be in the centre of.
Cheers, h.0 -
Eat your fitbit calories. That will give you a lot.0
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Has anyone decided to just "wing it" in maintenance and it worked for you?
Maybe I can loosen the reigns some and stop sticking to strictly eating 1650 or less calories per day (my maintenance at 5'5 and 130 lbs) and never eating my fitbit calories I've been getting daily (average 300-600).
I don't mean I will quit logging all together, but loosen up a bit. Has anyone had success with this, or is it a slippery slope and I likely just lucked out for the week?
I've maintained for a year using MFP + Fitbit + Trendweight.
Your Fitbit burn is TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), the number of calories necessary to maintain your current weight. Set your goal to maintenance, enable negative calorie adjustments in your diary settings, and eat back your adjustments.
You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users0 -
Has anyone decided to just "wing it" in maintenance and it worked for you?
I was on vacation all last week, and for 7 days I was on a "logging break." I was at the beach for 4 days, and I ate my usual breakfast and lunch and logged those meals. At dinner I ate whatever I wanted (including fried seafood) and had dessert most nights. I will admit I likely wasn't eating as much as I used to would have because it didn't take much to make me feel stuffed. The last 3 days of the week I was out of town with my daughter for a softball tournament. I ate breakfast every morning at the hotel, ate out for lunch one day, even had pizza that night. I tried my best to log everything, but I'm sure it wasn't that accurate and I was eating approx. 3000 calories per day.
I came home and weighed my first morning home and had not gained or lost a single ounce in the week. Day 2 of being home, and still nothing has "caught up" with me.
It makes me wonder if maybe I can loosen the reigns some and stop sticking to strictly eating 1650 or less calories per day (my maintenance at 5'5 and 130 lbs) and never eating my fitbit calories I've been getting daily (average 300-600). I don't mean I will quit logging all together, but loosen up a bit. Has anyone had success with this, or is it a slippery slope and I likely just lucked out for the week?
Aren't you hungry not eating back those FitBit calories? And why would you wing it when you paid money for a device that gives you a fairly reliable indication of your maintenance? (I guess I'm cheap that way.) I've had the same experience while not logging on vacation, and I think it's because I tend not to snack in between meals.0 -
As long as you continue to check the bathroom scale about once a week, so you don't know when you're gaining or losing weight, there's really no reason why you have to log anything during maintenance. Once you get a few pounds away from your goal weight, you may want to start logging for a while to get back where you need to be, but the rest of the time, it doesn't matter.0
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I've been in maintenance for over 2 years...I don't log, but I wouldn't exactly call it winging it either. I'm pretty mindful of everything I do and what I put in my body and very committed to good nutrition and regular exercise.0
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I was maintaining for a few months without logging but moved to a different state and fell off track so I'm logging again to lose some of the weight gained. I didn't gain a lot so that's good but it's easier to just track so you know your feeding your body properly.0
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Yes, I've been pretty much absolutely starving not eating back any fitbit calories lol
I've tried eating them back for the past couple days and I've felt a little less hungry but I also lost rhe first day doing that and then gained 2.5 lbs overnight
Granted, I had Mexican (chicken fajita) the night before which was likely loaded with sodium0 -
Yes, I've been pretty much absolutely starving not eating back any fitbit calories lol
I've tried eating them back for the past couple days and I've felt a little less hungry but I also lost rhe first day doing that and then gained 2.5 lbs overnight.
Remember when you started MFP and lost a whole lot of water weight? Well, it comes back when you stop eating at a deficit. Don't panic!
Set your goal to .5 lb. per week, enable negative calorie adjustments in your diary settings, and eat back 100% of your Fitbit adjustments. Your Fitbit burn is TDEE, the number of calories at which your weight will stabilize.
No need to log any step-based activity—your Fitbit is tracking it for you. Log non-step exercise (like swimming or biking) in Fitbit (that's what I do) or in MFP—never both. Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your Fitbit burn during that time.
Trust your Fitbit for several weeks, then reevaluate your progress. Once you switch to maintenance, your weight will fluctuate. Don't panic! Choose a goal range rather than a specific weight. For example, +/- 2 or 3 lbs.
I highly recommend syncing your Fitbit with Trendweight.com (it's free). It's made maintenance easy peasy for me. TW plots a moving average to show your trend without the "noise" of water weight.0 -
Yes, I've been pretty much absolutely starving not eating back any fitbit calories lol
I've tried eating them back for the past couple days and I've felt a little less hungry but I also lost rhe first day doing that and then gained 2.5 lbs overnight
Granted, I had Mexican (chicken fajita) the night before which was likely loaded with sodium
You can't gain 2.5 pounds of fat in one night. You can gain that much water from a high salt fajita. And you know that!
Eat your fitbit calories. You may have to adjust a bit, but give it a month and you'll work it out.
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I wish I could, but I'm stuck in that mode of watching the numbers. However, I have been slacking off on the weekends alone, not logging, and it helps me feel better that I am keeping track but not going nuts over it. I took a few days off and am preparing the holiday weekend without logging (no plans however, so maybe not as big a deal).
It takes a little bit of mental work. I have stopped logging on vacations, done whatever I wanted, and not gained more than a pound (which is quickly lost! so don't panic), so my mind just needs to catch up with reality, that it's not going to come all back without significant doing. Maybe your vacation experience will teach you the same.0 -
Has anyone decided to just "wing it" in maintenance and it worked for you?
I was on vacation all last week, and for 7 days I was on a "logging break." I was at the beach for 4 days, and I ate my usual breakfast and lunch and logged those meals. At dinner I ate whatever I wanted (including fried seafood) and had dessert most nights. I will admit I likely wasn't eating as much as I used to would have because it didn't take much to make me feel stuffed. The last 3 days of the week I was out of town with my daughter for a softball tournament. I ate breakfast every morning at the hotel, ate out for lunch one day, even had pizza that night. I tried my best to log everything, but I'm sure it wasn't that accurate and I was eating approx. 3000 calories per day.
I came home and weighed my first morning home and had not gained or lost a single ounce in the week. Day 2 of being home, and still nothing has "caught up" with me.
It makes me wonder if maybe I can loosen the reigns some and stop sticking to strictly eating 1650 or less calories per day (my maintenance at 5'5 and 130 lbs) and never eating my fitbit calories I've been getting daily (average 300-600). I don't mean I will quit logging all together, but loosen up a bit. Has anyone had success with this, or is it a slippery slope and I likely just lucked out for the week?
Some people can, some people can't.
... I can't - I have ZERO spacial assessment abilities! LOL
Some people are able to regain their internal portion calculator to shockingly accurate & if you're one of those people - that's awesome!
There's no right or wrong it just whatever works for you personally although I would set some sort of range weight so you can have a general idea.
Good luck!0 -
Our height/weight stats are the same. I log/weigh all my food during the week (most of the time), and I'm pretty strict with it. On weekends I don't log and I'm not as strict. This has been successful for me for many years.
I do eat at a small deficit on my logging days. It gives me a lot more freedom on the weekends. Your maintenance calories seem pretty low. Is waking your only exercise? Granted I work out quite a bit, but my maintenance cals are closer to 2200/day.
Exactly this.
IMO you're eating more than you think you are.0
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